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Riffe euro travel 90

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Fishstab

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Jun 16, 2020
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Got the itch to get another another gun before next summer but putting some thought into it now so I can snag the right one. Currently have a cressi Cherokee 90 which is accurate and powerful enough for the often limited vis in UK waters, and to be honest I don’t find the 90 unwieldly in poorer vis as it’s usually just finding the fish that is the problem rather than being able to track quickly so 90 seems a good size for me.

I love the look of wooden guns and looked into making my own but to be honest it’s not as simple as it first seems to get a nicely balanced and ballasted gun. Plus by the time I’ve bought everything needed (from Neptonics) it’s pretty much the cost of a Riffe euro 90 anyway and I’m sure it will be a pain cutting all the slots for the trigger mech.

Im drawn by the Riffe euro travel as 1. It obviously breaks down for easier travel abroad and 2. The rear of the gun is the same on all lengths, it’s just the front end that’s bigger or smaller depending on what size gun you buy. These front ends can be bought separately which means you can just bolt on whatever you need for that day giving you an economical(ish) range of different gun lengths. What I don’t want to happen is to buy a gun that is too long for day to day spearfishing in the UK so it hardly gets used (as my mate has done!).

Do many people use Riffe euros in the UK? I have a mate who uses a euro 100 but only on good vis days (so not often!). If I’m spending that much on a gun then I want to get a lot of use out of it which is why the 90is attracting me. Down the line I could possibly buy a 100 or 110 front end so I’ve got that option if I go somewhere overseas that requires more fire power.

The cheapest I’ve seen the euro travel 90 is £460 on spearfishing.de (if anyone’s seen it cheaper please let me know!)
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Sounds like a good, versatile choice. I think youtuber Dan Man uses one on some of his travel. I think he sometimes takes a Greek-made, all carbon, 80cm speargun as well/instead. Don't lose it.

I found my super-lightweight, super-slim, fast tracking 90cm Omer XXV the best option for all conditions I encountered in Devon last week BUT I'd already reached that conclusion the previous year. For Dorset, I found my switch from large, heavy RA Sparid 90 to superlight, skinny 75cm Omer XXV was a huge help-- but (a) visibility in Dorset was often worse than Devon, so I was usually targeting fish at close range, often moving fast, (b) I had developed chronic shoulder problems by then and (c) I hadn't got my 90 Omer XXV then - perhaps that would have worked as well or better (although I doubt it).

Yeah building your own speargun can be costly if you need to buy a lot of parts, although the quality of parts are usually a lot better than mass produced spearguns. The overall speargun will only be as good as your skills, your design, your implementation and configuration of course.

The main problem with have 2 spearguns of similar lengths is: which will you use and when! You'll probably favour one and perhaps sell the other or keep it as a spare. I have the light nimble Omer XXV with 1x15 or 16mm rubber - a good all rounder it seems - and a 95cm Apnea Amarok roller, which I look on as my clear water speargun - for those rare days when others might chose a 100-120cm non-roller speargun. At least that's the current theory!

What's your pal's 100cm speargun? I think a fairly light, slim 100cm model might work quite well in the UK. Maybe he should get a 70-85cm speargun for less favourable days, or perhaps just wait for better conditions - which might not be such a bad option (having spent too many days/hours in rotten visibility seeing few or no fish). Or a 60-80cm roller speargun perhaps (actually, I would suggest not, there is much to be said for simplicity and light weight).
 
Reactions: DivingNomad

My pals 100cm is a Riffe euro 100. V nice but set up with a double wrap which isn’t required unless the vis is outstanding

I’d have no problem having 2 guns the same length, would just keep one as a spare. Like I said I’d hate to own an expensive gun that doesn’t get used all the time!
 
Fishstab said:
My pals 100cm is a Riffe euro 100. V nice but set up with a double wrap which isn’t required unless the vis is outstanding
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I've tried double-wraps several times in the past and again quite recently. I hate the double-wraps! Tangles galore, not every shot but too often. Single wraps for me I switch my ST60 back to single wrap this week. I've left my 95 roller with a double wrap, it could potentially need it, but I expect there will be nightmare tangle when I use it, especially with all the snag traps on the cut steel muzzle plates.

BTW I speared a feisty mullet earlier this week and it really trashed my spearline twisting it round and round like crazy. I will actually need to replace the previously good spearline. It didn't help that I caught a bass later that pretty much did the same thing albeit less impressively than the mullet.
 
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I find mullet particularly tough, they fight like mad and even after being brained they often decide they don’t want to die and spring back to life!
 
I have the Travel 90. I don't recommend it. The shaft breaks down into two pieces, and there is a weak point where it threads together. On the first shot into the reef, the shaft bent at the joint. I bent it back and am still using it, but I have doubts about whether it could handle a big fish now. The other problem with it is that it is very heavy, and does not have enough buoyancy underwater to offset it. So if you are hunting in somewhere like Hawaii where you have to lay still on the bottom for a long time, with your gun in your outstretched arm, your arm will be burning and using up your precious oxygen. I've considered adding some of the teak buoyancy wings that Riffe sells, but they want an arm and a leg for them, and I don't feel like investing more money into what is not a great gun.
 
Reactions: Diving Gecko
Sorry for the “bullet form” but I’m a bit busy:

- good travel gun, the left field option: a pneumatic just as long as your freedive fins. It’ll be as powerful as most 90-100 band guns and way, way cheaper than a Riffe - like three times cheaper. And if you’re already traveling with long fins this gun will fit in a fin bag. Oh, and no two-piece shafts to bend with this solution. Did I mention it would be more powerful and almost three times cheaper than a Riffe;-)?

- double wraps? I have no tangles on my Pathos 100 with double wraps in mono ever. But certain guns can be picky. Keeping the line taught can help. Getting rid of clips and pigtails likewise.

- Daniel Mann, I’m fairly sure the carbon gun(s) you see him use the most are homebuilt. Can’t recall him using a travel Riffe but think I’ve seen him using a big Riffe for a bluewater trip (Coral Sea?) and to be cruel, the Riffe was probably a big reason for why he lost out on so many fish on that trip. There are way better, more optimized BW guns out there now.

Finally, thanks to Mauiben for the honest review. I find Riffe is sometimes granted a bit of special “protection” from the online community.


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To be fair the Riffe takedown is a bit of a specialist gun. It’s purpose is to be taken apart for travel & also remain safe for the user & it fits this purpose. The spears are always going to be a weakness where they join, but again this isn’t a secret.
I guess the Riffe name does carry a lot of loyalty even from people like myself who have never used one of his guns other than in testing. During the early 90s when Bluewater hunting was just taking off Jay made his spears & triggers available globally to everyone, (he didn’t have too & it opened the door for a lot of custom builders). I was certainly using his triggers & spears exclusively in big custom guns for two decades. As for comparing someone’s failures when taking a borrowed, untested large Riffe Bluewater speargun on their first overseas tuna trip & a takedown 90 euro it seems that not everyone is so generous towards Riffe?
No I don’t use a Riffe Bluewater Cannon, but plenty of my mates do & I have witnessed a few world record tuna taken with them. They are rugged & reliable, especially in the hands of those who actually spend the time to practice & get to know the guns behaviour.
 
Reactions: DivingNomad
Maybe I was a bit harsh on Mann’s borrowed gun. Allow me to moderate a bit. You’re right, in that you can’t solely blame a gun and I think even Mann would agree it was not the best preparation gear wise.

Through this forum and others I have learned second hand what Jay R meant for the industry, how much of a pioneer he was and supposedly a stand up guy, too.

But not “growing up” with that knowledge and around that reverence I’ve just formed my opinion on a few outings with two Riffes, some tests and experience from other brutally honest people. Riffe guns are one of those brands that have caught tons more fish than pretty much any other guns and have a loyal following and in the right hands are good tools. But there are more optimized tools out there from a pure performance viewpoint.

But I’m drifting here. As this is mostly about a travel gun thread. If you have an affinity for wood and bands, then not many choices. If one doesn’t mind airguns, a 70-85 model (shaft lengths just about the same or 10cm longer) will fit in a freedive fin bag and have the power of many 90-100 band guns.


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Travel guns usually have a two-piece shaft, but you don't have to use it and can substitute a single piece shaft of the same length. When you travel to some place regularly you can leave some long shafts there provided you know someone who is willing to keep them. Two-piece shafts are stronger if of larger diameter and have an overlap dowel section, but this is not really possible on smaller diameter shafts. Longer shaft sections provide more leverage than short, hence travel guns are more successful in shorter lengths as the spears do not get such a bending load on them. Use slip tips if you want to unload a shaft as much as possible from the exertions of the hit fish, or go for kill shots in the head and shoulder area.

 
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Reactions: DivingNomad
Well I’ve kind of gone off the idea of buying a wooden gun off the shelf now and am instead going to make one myself based roughly on a Riffe euro 90 in terms of size and shape at least.

Does anyone here own a Riffe euro? I’m hoping to find out measurements for the height and width of the stock, and also for the band slot for me to use as a starting point.

ive seen a few figures online for the stock size but a couple of web sites seem to contradict each other
 
I think it is a magnet, or the cover over the top of it. The length of the trigger mechanism could be used as a guide. It is just on 7 cm long.

Found a dimension for the stock from another forum stating the width is 1.60" and the height is 1.23"
 
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Reactions: Diving Gecko

You probably have found them by now but there should be 1-2 threads either here or on spearboard with diy travel guns. I remember seeing them but don’t have the links but just in case you hadn’t yet thought of a search...;-)


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Yeah there’s a couple, I’ve actually tried to sign up to spearboard as there seems to be a lot more people over on there building their own guns, I’ve tried twice but my account never gets approved by the admins for some reason!
 
popgun pete said:
You could try scaling it off the diagram on the Riffe website.
https://speargun.com/pages/anatomy-of-a-riffe-speargun
Click to expand...
So I actually took some time and scaled these pictures to get some measurements. I didn’t use the trigger mech as the known length as felt it was too small so worked out which length euros they were and used the stock length to scale.

the top image is a euro 55 and the bottom one with the enclosed track is a euro 100. They both have short spear overhangs too which is odd, I thought riffe went with 30cm or so but I guess the guns photograph better with shorter shafts.

seems the height and width of the stock is 28mm (1.1in) and 40mm (1.6in) respectively.

I’m happy with this as it means the wood I’ve laminated can be ripped down the middle and I’ll have enough for 2 blanks with space for fudge factor. Could possibly even get 3 out of it but I’ll probably go a tad over 28mm height as riffe seem to cut a fine balance between a low profile and maintaining strength- something maybe my DIY skills aren’t up to yet, better leave just a little more meat on it
 
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