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Riffe Euro shafts

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

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Does anyone have any input in these shafts for me? How do they compare to others out there? Are they easily bent etc.?
 
the only other euro shafts i can compare them to were a couple of picasso's and one omer and they are much better. they dont bend when they it a rock just flatten the tip a bit. down side is they are not cheap. the only advantave over the omer seemed to be the small shark fins. i guess good spring steel is just the way to go for shafts would be my advice.
 
Cheers dude

How do they compare with Rob Allen shafts? Do you know?
 
Hiya

Pastor, RA now makes a spring steel spear with mini-shark fins!!! Looks very nice, and considering its NOT stainless, its also quite cheap!!! Well worth investigating!!

Regards
miles
 
Reactions: Pastor
Now there is an interesting fact! I didn't know that. Are they the usual RA spring steel?
Trouble is, European Spearfishing supplies the UK dealer don't list shafts shorter that 130 on their website, I would like a 115. If they stocked those I would buy them straight off. I don't understand why the UKs only dealers shafts fit the longest gun really practical here, is it me or am I missing something?
 
I have bent my Riffe Euro shaft several times now by shooting reef/rock.
I was luckily able to straighten the shaft on a vise (by hand). Now I only load one band when near rocks.
In addition, it always bent right at the flopper (that must be the weak spot).
 
Reactions: Pastor
they are very similar to the technosport (omer USA) shafts, the come in 6.75mm and made from spring ss which is super tough, the added advantage in the riffes in my opinion is that the flopper is hawaiin(opens downwards), so never obstructs your view as you aim...
 
I've been doing a bit of research into spears. Subprof site makes good reading. good range of different makes and styles. Spears . Checkout the seatec Aussie ones amongst others.

Dave
 
Reactions: Pastor
In terms of hardness and resistance to bending, euro spears basically fall into 3 categories;

Standard Stainless Euro spears- Cressi, Omer, Picasso etc, all pretty similiar, non rusting but can be a bit bendy, thickness's from 6-7mm

"Deluxe" stainless spears- Devoto, Seatec Extreme, Riffe euro etc; 17-4PH steel, much tougher than the standard spears, will rust very slightly. Thickness's from 6mm-7.5mm

Spring steel spears- Seatec Diamant, RA, Rabitech etc; harder than the 17-4PH spears, but will eventually rust when the plating wears off. Thickness's from 6mm- 8.5mm

If you are bending spears shooting rocks, try a thinner spear

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment
 
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Reactions: Old Man Dave
dave said:
..............If you are bending spears shooting rocks, try a thinner spear

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment
Click to expand...

Or use a gun that you can aim properly thereby avoiding the rocks and hitting the fish rofl rofl

Seriously though I am amazed by the amount of people that use long, over-powered guns to hunt 'rock-dwelling' species; get shorter guns!!!!!! I have a 50 cm gun with a trident which has rarely let me down.
 


Well for Southern California it would be difficult to make that recommendation. When you live on the other side of the world.
 
Rocks are rocks all over the world and shooting fish that live in or near them is basically the same in most oceans. The point I was trying to make was that many spearos will use too 'high-powered' guns when a shorter, less powerful gun might do. I forget his name but in the last few years an Italian won the world championships with a 60cm and 75cm gun, nothing else. I'm just trying to save people from destroying their gear needlessly.
 
Trouble is no matter how long your gun is, a fish at close range between you and a rock is always going to cause a problem, it doesn't happen often but when it does inevitably a shaft will bend. Most of the fishing we do up here is at longish range into open water, whilst we have smaller guns they tend not to to be used by anyone apart from in bad viz. Maybe we are all just bad spearos!
 
I shot a huge rock with my Asso 115 mamba - spilt it in half & killed it outright. :t
 
For close up work in reefs you need an old fashion (non mamba) air gun. My old technisub 60 with its 8mm spear couldn't burst a paper bag at 6 foot but at six inches it would split granite.

I was led to believe short band guns were very inefficient. I thought you needed a minimum length band even at 3 or 3.5 stretch factor otherwise the energy storage was poor. A short thick band needing 100 lb pull does not have the performance of a thin band (or bands) pulled a long way with 100lbs force. Is this not why many blue water guns use multiple relatively small 14mm bands with a long pull?

I'm sure guns as small as 50's can be band powered and the limited power is maybe the whole point. Maybe in crap vis it would be the only option but for me that short a gun for reef and especially hole work would always have to be an air gun.

By pure coincidence this weekend saw me testing the bendability of some shafts. This is part of my half hearted attempt to build the perfect 90cm euro hybrid, which is detailed in one of my last years threads http://forums.deeperblue.net/homemade-spearguns/66796-euro-hybrid-r-d-project.html . Set up three 140cm spears and bent them in the middle to measure the deflection. Used a spring balance to pull 3lbs at their centre my 6.5mm beuchat (stainless 316 - A4) moved 2 inches. Using better quality Abellan and Devoto spears, a 6.5 only went 1.5 inches and another high spec spear (thanks Ed) in 7mm only went 1 inch. Doesn't sound much but looked quite dramatic. I know that my 6.5 mm beuchat is rubbish with a 20 mm rubber although it shoots fine with a 16mm. I'm convinced that this is due to the spear bending. The euro hybrid needs the high spec 7mm x 130cm spear, I think, so as to maintain accuracy with its single 20mm megabooster band.

Dave

PS On the link for Subprof on the previous page you can see what the different spears they supply are made of.
 
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I would agree that a 6.5 standard stainless spear is crap with a 20mm although at full range the accuracy seems to return but anywhere in between is total cac. I have had better success late last season with a 6.5 115cm spear instead of the 130.
I am going to use 130 RA shafts this year to see how I get on, I never had a problem with my old RA, had it for years and didn't need to change the shaft at all, mind it looked like an old bit of garden gate.

Those seatec aussie shafts look good, shame the single flopper ones are 170cm
 
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