Roller gun, Rubber speargun, band speargun, arbalete

[chiarina]

S.O.S! Hello everyone!
I am trying to understand what is the most common term in English to define an ARBALETE (in italian): a speargun that uses bands. I found roller gun, rubber speargun, band speargun, rubber-powered speargun, band-powered speargun.
I would like to know which one is the most natural to english native speakers.
Thank u.

 

[bluewaterdiveshop]

“Speargun” is the most common term

 

[Vitaly]

just speargun may be pneumatic. speargun with rubber bands commonly means arbalete or rollergun

 

[Brochman]

Banded speargun

 

[Andrew the fish]

I would say banded too. Because if this is a roller, it is always mentioned that we are talking about roller.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I guess it depends on locality, but in Southern California pneumatics are so rare that its not necessary to say "banded" in order to exclude them. So its "speargun" unless you mean "roller gun" unless you are talking about pneumatics, and then you should say so. In the last 25 years I've taken a lot of spearfishermen on my boat, and I've never seen a pneumatic. But then there are rear handled guns and mid handled guns and wood guns and carbon fiber guns and aluminum rail guns. So I think its a stretch to even try to come up with one term. Just say enough to describe the particular type of gun you are talking about.