Riffe Baja 5 what the heck....

[fishimani]

Hey everyone,

I just purchased a "new" Baja 5 to supplement my arsenal of fishkilling. I am using three 5/8" bands and a 5/16 threaded shaft with the "ice pick" slip-tip. I have no complaints about the power of the gun, since i am used to euro guns, this thing is a friggin cannon. I would like to know how i can get any sort of accuracy with this gun. I am a very precise shot with a euro style gun and i am assuming i am either holding it wrong (one hand on the handle the other one horizontally and holding the butt of the gun, right and left hand respectively) or i have it rigged wrong. The handle is also super uncomfortable and my hand cramps like a mother. Am i doing something wrong or is it just the way this gun is????

-Pete

 

[speareasy]

You will get very poor accuracy with the ice-pick slip tip. I tested it in my pool at 6 meters and was not able to hit a 24" square regularly. The gun is very accurate but not with the ice-pick slip tip. You can expect to hit a 5cm square target very regularly with that gun if the shaft is a flopperless shaft. If you use a flopper then you will group at around 10cm at 6 meters.

If you want to use a slip tip then I highly recommend the Mori slip tip. It has more accuracy than a flopper shaft and almost as good as a flopperless shaft. The Riffe is much more accurate than any Euro gun I have tried (Beuchat, Mares, Cressi Sub, Evolution and some others). Plus the power and range you get simply puts the gun in a totally different category.

 

[Agua Azul]

I have noticed that if you use a 3/8 shaft and a little shorter. I drive nails with mine.

 

[speareasy]

With the Riffe ice-pick ??? Man I tried every shaft and everything to get it to shoot straight but was not able to. I have 4 of those quite expensive tips and I was using them exclusively for hunting King Mackerel and so was my brother. I finally managed to convince him by getting him in the pool and testing it on a target. He was just as shocked as I was, and that explained a lot for the many missed fish. If the tip has moved even slightly to right or left you will completely miss a 24" target at 6 meters. The design is simply very poor and the hydro dynamics are aweful and am sure have not been tested. I have since moved on to the Mori slip tip and I can assure you it is tens of times more accurate. It shoots even more accurate than a floppered shaft. I have done several hundred test shots in my pool testing the various combinations and so I have absolutely no doubt. Don't get me wrong ... the Riffe is very accurate. I have hit 30 shots in a row at a 5cm square target @ 6 meters. I don't know any other gun that can do that ... but the slip tip ... do yourself a favor and test it in a swimming pool.

 

[Agua Azul]

i do actually like the Mori better, but when i changed my shaft for a 3/8 with maybe 5" out the muzzle i was on the money. I shoot lots of sierra mackerel here, and they are very difficult to hit with a big gun.

 

[LunkerBuster]

the shift from the amount of overhang and muzzel/band setup can greatly impact your aiming as well....try to recreate the setup of your euro on the Riffe and you may find that your gut aiming is better...some people cannot switch between guns without a real adjustment.

another thing to consider is about your hand cramps is to use your non shooting hand on the rear stock to stear the gun and that should reduce a lot of the strain....when i had to go back to my old biller for a dive my hand would cramp really bad until i started to help with my off hand on the back.

enjoy that gun, it's a beast

 

[speareasy]

Yeah that is true. In the old days when I used to use an ABBILLER and JBL, I would always have a problem with the JBL shooting higher for some reason and I would have to manually remember that before each shot. Most likely that was because the JBL had less overhang. But I now know that if you shoot the gun looking down the back through the bands into the muzzle, the difference in shooting is not dependent on how much overhang there is.

The best solution is probably to use one gun only and simply change the power by adjusting the bands. On the Riffe Euro when I want more power I simply double up both bands on the back notch. That makes the gun shoot much flatter and can push through an 8cm thick high density foam very easily at 7.5 meters. The drop at that distance is around 25cm with stiff 5/8" bands.

 

[fishimani]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I have been neglecting the Baja since it is such a pain to get that whole rig (three floats 120' line, bungees and all) into the water from shore (i am a shore diver since the wife controls the budget .....and a 10,000 dollar boat isnt her idea of a necessity like it is to me:blackeye) But i will have to try the mori slip tip as soon as i can find a dealer who ships to guam. In the meantime i am thinking about putting a reel on her and getting a little bit more time in the water with her, perhaps a shaft with a flopper will have to do in the meantime ( i have shafts to spare). She looks gorgeous after i put a fresh coat of teak oil on it. do you think a reel setup is feasible for that size of gun or should i stick to the floats?

-Pete

 

[stareed]

You need boat? I need dive buddy. Your in Guam...so am I. You have a PM from me. Any body else in Guam?

 

[SinglerM]

Old post, I know.

But what the hell. I'm in Guam, I've been here for a couple of years.

-Mitch