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Riffe Euro gun

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Bill,

Everyone has his own Heidi, but I think that the Wong’s are much closer to Heidi that the Riffe’s.

In real life Heidi is much more attractive than Daryl.

Cheers

Ivan

www.freediveforlife.com
 
Asturven said:
In real life Heidi is much more attractive than Daryl.

Cheers

Ivan

www.freediveforlife.com

Not when I'm looking at the biggest fish of my life, then for those few seconds, Daryl is a beautiful man...just a few seconds. When I'm posing with the fish for a photo, I wish it was Heidi and not the fish or even Daryl's gun.
 
Spinal Tap,

You are sooooooo Rigth.

Daryl is the man!!!!!!

Cheers

Ivan
 
My 0,02¢

Setting the record straight. In English, euroguns are rigs whose basic design concept originated in Europe, not where they're made. There are euroguns made in Africa, Asia, South America and, next, Australia too. Guess what? The designation "eurogun" is recent and originated in the internet, among Freedivelist subscribers.

Also, to call wooden guns like Riffe's, Wong and others American guns is basically wrong. This concept (and many of its parts design) is original to Australia. The thoroughbred American gun is JBL, formerly Voit, which you can trace its origins back to Jack Prodanovich designs.

Ted
Rio
 
Luiz (Ted) you're right, everyone knows "Euro gun" is just a euphimism for the particular rear handle more streamlined speargun. The mind just plays tricks on you and can't stop but wonder when you hear an American made speargun referred as "Euro" :hmm

Now I better get off this thread before the Daryl Wong Task Force jumps on me rofl

Mark
 
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Right - as I understand it back in 'the day' (you know; 'the day') they were called arbaletes. I don't think it has jack to do with the band's being inline with the shaft - there are plenty of open muzzle euros with offset bands. And ugly things like JBLs with inline bands.

Nemrod and usd were both making mid-handle guns way back. The Nemrods had a very nice grip - they were, of course, made in spain. (both band and pneumatic mid-handle)

Near as I can tell 'euro' just means a relatively light gun with the handle pretty much right at the back end.

Personally the autometaphor doesn't fly for me - there are no american cars comparable in quality to a riffe that I am aware of.

I like the euro guns lightness and precision. I want one of those too. :)
 
It amazes me how some people pretend these terms "Euro gun" and "American gun" are universal while they are used only in the US. In Europe and everywhere else, a speargun is mostly known as a "speargun" (translated). If it has wood in it, then it is sometimes called a "wood speargun" (translated). rofl .
Arbalete in French translates to crossbow in English and that is how French company Beuchat named its first spearguns over 50 years ago; a latex sling pulling on either side would propel the shaft, much like a crossbow and the design has been adopted everywhere ever since.
 
I would think in france it would be 'a speargun with wood' as opposed to a 'wood speargun' whereas the Italians might be completely unconcerned with identifying it as a distinct category - at least until the conversation had become more involved by, for example, someone actually asking what the speargun is made of - or perhaps a question relating to some aspect of it's function that is affected by wood etc..

As americans - rather than merely describing the item - we invent an entire category including items which, in reality, have no single unique identifying quality in common - this reveals the persistance of 'Neutonian Thinking' - wherein qualifiers must be added - add- infinitum/absurdum in order to somewhere indicate some difference without sacrificing the allready-strained-beyond-all-credibility categorical scheme.

Thus we have the alarming development of the 'wooden euro-gun' which may or may not have a track and/or open muzzle and could, conceivably even have a shaft with tabs!
 
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More on speargun trivia zzz

Arbalète was indeed a trade mark in France--and it does mean crossbow. But guess what? It caught on, as much as in many countries arbalete means...eurogun (as called by English-speaking spearfishers) , all of them Latin-origin :duh spearfishing powerhouses besides France, like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Peru, etc.

Man, the must clear before we bore to death our forum fellow members :mad:
 
For what its worth, the first real speargun, other than Hawaiian slings and variations on them, that I bought, probably in about 1954, was a Champion. But we all just called them "French Arbaletes." I was not aware of any other brand available in my home town in Florida. As I recall, the gun also had "Rene Cavalero" somewhere on the handle, but we didn't use any of those names in referring to the guns.

It wasn't like telling someone today that I have a Riffe, Alexander, Wong, etc. Since it was the only gun of its kind that we were aware of and it came from France, it was just a French Arbalete. It came in two models- one with a single pair of screw-in bands, and another with two pair. We called the latter our "double-rubbered arbalete" and that was what we used for big jewfish.

There was one accessory available- a handle to attach to the center of the length of the barrel to make it easier to swing, and we used those.
 
It was a couple of decades later - but I had a 'Champion' at one point' It was a huge arbalete with a grey metal handle, red safety on the top and a black tube. Never used it much - too long for the visibility back then.
 
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