Safety catch usage?

[RussJ]

Hi all, can anyone offer some advice on safety catch usage?

I've been swimming with my gun cocked and safety set to safe with the idea that when I see a fish I'll switch to 'unsafe' then fire. But today I had my first fish in the sights and had a flap trying to get the safety off. By the time I did, I'd ran out of breath and had to surface. I'm sure I can get into the routine so it's reflex but I was just wondering what everyone else does?

Cheers, Russ

 

[Jegwan]

Hi,
I never use the safety for that same reason. Trusting a safety is in my opinion unsafe.
I only load the gun in the water when I'm hunting. I unload the gun if I stop hunting - when helping a body, resting or leaving the water.
Jegwan

 

[RussJ]

Hi Jegwan,

Haha, yes was a classic newby moment, fish staring at me whilst I flap with fiddly safety catch!

Good call re: trusting a safety is unsafe. I was thinking more of the safety as an extra layer of safety as I was worried about the gun going off unintentionally by knocking the trigger or something.

The handle grip of my gun isn't long enough to fit all four fingers below the trigger guard so the trigger finger naturally rest on the trigger which is pretty light! Also, I've carried the gun whilst moving around by gripping the barrel just infront of the wishbone as I've seen people do in videos but was thinking that if the gun were to go off the wishbone would make a mess of my hand.

Any experience of triggers mechanisms going off from them being knocked or just randomly? Or is that not something to worry about?

* Still amuses me that my gun arrived in the post with no instructions or safety warnings at all! Spearguns seem like seriously dangerous bits of kit to me, they're much more lethal than an air rifle and yet no regs!

 

[Massin]

Hi russ,
Welcome to the forums.
Being a relative newbie myself I've in the last year just mainly getting comfortable with my setup and marks.
I had a similar issue with the safety catch on my gun and now just don't bother for the same reasons mentioned above- it just takes a couple dives and you'll trust it won't fire unintentionally!
With regard to trigger finger placement, not sure what others do, but I have mine extended parallel with the barrel and find it useful as extra leverage to track the gun (in one direction at least) and a short easy motion back to the trigger when required. I've not found any problem with this method thus far so I hope it helps.
Happy hunting mate!

 

[RussJ]

Cheers TreachCon, yeah might just be a confidence / paranoia thing! I'll give your finger placement a go next time i'm out. Would be nice if the gun had a bit of a ridge (something like the fin that sticks out horizontally to keep the line out the way of the spear) just above the trigger to stop you finger slipping down onto the trigger unintentionally whilst tracking or moving. Difficult to tell what's going on at your finger tips when wearing 5mm of neoprene!

More time in the water needed! Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Massin]

I had to go pick my gun up and have a look to be sure, because it's kind of a sub conscious action, I actually have it resting on the hook/bar of the line release, which is conveniently placed for doing so. There doesn't seem to be a way that the line release could activate the trigger unless the spear wasnt present possibly, in which case no issue.

 

[Camanche killer]

The New Picasso Magnum and Cobra Rails have no safety catch, this for the exact same reason as Jegwan states: trusting the safety is unsafe! The only way to really know the gun will not fire is to release the rubbers, this is the only 100% way to be safe.

Regards Kev

 

[Jegwan]

The only way to really know the gun will not fire is to release the rubbers, this is the only 100% way to be safe.
/QUOTE]

...or unloading/taking the spear out if it's a pneumatic..
Jegwan

 

[Camanche killer]

The only way to really know the gun will not fire is to release the rubbers, this is the only 100% way to be safe.
/QUOTE]

...or unloading/taking the spear out if it's a pneumatic..
Jegwan

Lol yes indeed!

 

[vali]

i don't use the safety blocker, but i don't keep my fingers on the trigger unless I see and hunt a fish...
i have an ASSO 75 pneumatic

 

[Coastie]

Ive not relied on the safety either and to be honest I've stuck mine in the off position with two part resin after having the same experience and missing a fish. If I want the gun safe the rubbers are off. (safer with the rubbers off? That don't sound right.)

 

[RussJ]

Thanks for all the replies, seems like forgetting the safety is the way to go. I went out again yesterday and was a bit more confident with the gun / trigger. I think I'll go with the trigger finger out of the trigger cage and straight down the barrel method.

TreachCon - looks like your gun has just the kind of feature I had imagined. Mine is very smooth and slippy in this area and so I'm just anticipating that at some point my finger will slip down whilst applying pressure to track and i'll hit the trigger unintentionally. Think I'll dive with it a few more times then maybe if it still bothers me I'll sculpt a little ridge out of epoxy or something to stop any slippage. Finger above the ridge for tracking pressure, below the ridge to fire.

Incidentally, vis at maenporth yesterday was varied but generally about 2.5m.

 

[RussJ]

Image of my smooth gun handle. It's an Apnea Powerpoint 75. Line release on mine is below and in front of the trigger guard.

 

[Killa]

I use my safety. I don't depend on it but I still use it on both my guns. The main reason is, that it's additional safety that it won't fire. The most unpleasant experience I had, was when I was hunting in some shallow water with some unexpected bigger waves. I released my gun for 1 second to brace against the rocks and the wave swept my gun away :duhAnd that wasn't even the worst thing. The worst thing was that the safety was off and I couldn't see it anymore. So that was a very very dangerous situation, and could become even more dangerous later in the day when tourists arrive (I was in the water very early in the morning).

Luckily I found it after 10 minutes of searching and a big adrenaline injection. :hungover

So what I do now: when I swim on the surface I always have the safety on. When I start going down I unlock the safety (can be done with 1 finger on both guns). When I go back up I put it back on.

 

[RussJ]

Killa, sounds good I might give your method a go - on the surface > safety on, under and hunting > safety off. I like the idea of the safer the better!