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Saetta Pro or similar recommendations

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

Member
Sep 28, 2021
41
4
13
Good day future friends!

I'm a full time liveaboard sailor up in Norway, coping with recent spearfishing addiction. This last summer has found me smitten, spearing a number of species with my 100cm long, 6mm shaft bandgun and keeping the wife and dog happily feed.

After some badly penetrating shots on a few larger fish I have decided it's time for a punchier weapon and maybe something slightly more manageable in low visibility, at the same time hopefully able to shoot farther than my current gun when the winter brings better visibility. The Cressi Saetta Pro 88 seems to be an ideal all rounder even though my lady would prefer a shorter gun (Saetta Pro 70) as she wants to pick up spearfishing too. I'd love to buy multiple guns but space and budget is currently at a premium! Our main critters on the menu are the various cod species, flatfish and fat mackerel whenever they pass by. The consensus among local spearos is that anything over a 100 -110cm bandgun is overkill. Pneumatic guns aren't popular but I can only see advantages, and being mechanically minded enjoy the extra complexity (despite having never seen one in person)

Thanks for reading this far, reckon the Saetta 88 will fit the bill or can I go even smaller (cooler?) and still get good range? Any other candidates to consider? I plan to design and 3d print a green laser sight housing whatever the outcome... I'll share the project here first!

Best regards
Frosty
 
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Thanks Pete. I'll admit to already having looked through a bunch of your posts, you really know your stuff! Having worked as a machinist once upon a day, I'd love to get my hands on some of those titanium guns to tinker with. Terrible shame importing from Russia to this side is a complete pain in the neck despite us sharing a border. So you would go for the 110cm? My girl might strangle me in my sleep! Looks like I'll have to order an 88cm and report back...
 
Thanks Pete. I'll admit to already having looked through a bunch of your posts, you really know your stuff! Having worked as a machinist once upon a day, I'd love to get my hands on some of those titanium guns to tinker with. Terrible shame importing from Russia to this side is a complete pain in the neck despite us sharing a border. So you would go for the 110cm? My girl might strangle me in my sleep! Looks like I'll have to order an 88cm and report back...
Well the price is right as that gun usually sells for 400 plus. Scubastore can have widely varying prices for the same gun in different lengths depending on how hard they are for them to sell. However the 88 cm is only 268 bucks which is not a big difference. A friend bought the Saetta 88 cm some years back and I think it was about 350 bucks and that was said to be then on special!
 
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For sure, very cheap. Makes me wonder if the components are all manufacturered in China and assembled in Italy. I've now had my previous message intercepted by my lady and will have to buy a 70cm after all... They should handle slight overpressure right? Otherwise I can attempt to reinforce or make my own components...
 
The Cressi guns are made in Italy, as are Salvimar. Omer were made in Taiwan and Mares may have their components made in China, but they used to be made in Italy. About the time that Mares acquired Sporasub their guns under that brand looked like they were made in China as the quality dropped, but the situation now I don’t know. Sporasub went on to be sold to Omer and then they were definitely not made in Italy.
 
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I notice that the Pro version has a wire frame front line wrap hook and a line anchor molded closer in to the forward projection on the nose cone, whereas the ordinary Saetta has both these features in a front line hook laterally drilled through the base. I have not heard of these busting off, but the hole does remove a lot of material from that hook. Now some line attachment instructions tell you to form a loop using a bowline knot to create the connection here, but be aware that under some circumstances a short line loop can drag across catching on the tip of the hook while a fish is desperately wishing to depart and deflect the tip of the hook and snap it clean off. A better attachment method is to tie a granny knot in the end of the line so that it cannot escape through the hole and any pulling on the line will only be borne by the base of the front line hook. Some manufacturers of guns, not necessarily pneumatic guns, beefed up their front line wrap hooks to stop this from happening when their initial versions proved to be too weak.

The Pro version has a 7.5 mm Tahitian spring stainless steel shaft as compared to an 8 mm threaded end shaft in the wet barrel gun. The latter now appears to be Inox, but my friend's gun was supplied with a plated steel shaft that looked like it was stainless but had the slightly bluish colour such shafts have when new. It seemed a bit cheap at the time and Cressi appear to have upgraded it in the later editions.
 
I hope they have indeed beefed it up on the Pro version I ordered. Experienced exactly what you described on my current bandgun, the awful aramid line supplied chafed and send spear off into the murk after snapping... Taught myself to dive much deeper in order to to retrieve it that day, lucky I didn't hit the fish after all!

Now I'm wondering where to source extra parts for the Saetta Pro. I'm quite dependable at retrieving respectably sized fish around rocky ridges in these parts, but my spearhead definitely gets its fair share of abuse glancing off hard surfaces. Have you any idea if the seals are standard industrial items, or should I contact Cressi directly?

Cheers Pete!
 
The vacuum cuffs are about the only thing you need and they should be available as spares from Cressi-Sub. Whether they are the same as the STC ones I don’t know, but the muzzle is said to be derived from the STC version made for a variety of guns. A spare spear with a screw on tip would be worth having and provided that you can buy the spare tails you could get a spring stainless steel spear even if Cressi don't have one in their catalogue. The shafts have the same rear end threads, so it is easy to swap tails provided you don’t scratch the shaft running surface while doing it.
 
Outstanding Pete! I'll need a few as we plan to sail up north next year... Looks like I have to go through Cressi then, potentially get someone to translate my request into clean Italian so that I can order direct from an Italy based dealership. Local Norwegian supplier markup is as a rule extortionate, I'd expect a bonus codliver oil backrub included at those prices.
 
You could ask Edosub as they offer spare parts for STC muzzles.
A photo is said to be worth a thousand words, so add this image to any request.
Cressi_SaettaPro vacuum seal.jpg
 
Shot, I'm on to it!
By the way, I seem to be spraying all my rubber gear down with silicone oil these days... Reckon it might prolong the seal lifespan if applied after each dive?
 
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