Can't and wont argue with that - you are def spot on!
There are two main issues, I find.
1. You have to take very, very good care that you don't ever, not even for a split sec, load in the directions of others. I know this goes for all guns, but even with my limited experience have I had to swim out of the direction of a few bandgun shooters loading all over the place. For them, it would take a mech failure or a spear that was not fully engaged to accidentally shoot on loading, but I guess it has happened. (And maybe for a few spearos (like the before-mentioned) the bandgun way of loading offers them a bit of false security in this regard).
2. You have to be very aware that you are not pointing the gun towards yourself (your head) when loading. Small pneumatics are loaded on the hip, bigger ones are loaded on the foot (see drawing). The problem is that as you push the spear in, the tip can be just around your face at the last part of the loading. My two airguns are 90cm and 120cm and I am small guy, so I am lucky in the sense that even when "footloading" my 90cm, the muzzle is easy enough to keep away from my head. Not an issue with the 120 at all.
I am not too worried that the loader (plastic handle which one puts on top of the spear) would slip out of my hands or that I could not hold the spear. That has not once been even remotely close to happening. The loader breaking in half would scare me as then yes, the spear would be on its way. But then I have not heard stories of that happening, but if bandgun mechs can fail, a plastic handle sure as hell can as well.
The few reservations I have with pneumatics is that you have to shoot in order to unload it and then you can't easily store the spear on the gun while swimming to shore or boat or when carrying it around. (I tie the spear to the barrel with rubber bands). Also, for air travel you have to dump all the air out of the gun and it's a pain pumping the bigger ones. But on the other hand, the guns are smaller than bandguns for the same amount of power and as such take up less space when traveling.
Again, I haven't done much spearing yet but I did notice that my dry barreled 90 cm Seac vastly outperformed a friend's Cressi model "something" 110cm. The Seac was much faster and shot much longer and though its spear is shorter and thus lighter, I'd say it likely had the same or more punch. I am not 100% sure about his rubbers' age and stretch factor. I think they were stock and less than a year old.
Also, I don't know exactly how bandguns are measured, but I think a 110cm has 40 cm of spear overhang, so perhaps my friend's gun loaded was about 160cm long (and 150 when traveling). Loaded, from tip to butt, my Seac 90cm with a longer-than-stock spear is around 120 cm (and 105 traveling). That piece of "math" was my main reason for getting into pneumatics over bandguns in the first place.
Remember, we are talking about dry barrel guns here - airguns in their stock versions are not as powerful, take more effort to load and are often a bit noisy. Not so when converted to dry barrels.
Best,
David
