Setup for rabitech 140cm stealth carbon ?!?

[getawayFK]

Hello everyone;

So after trying out the rabitech guns at the hands of my buddies, I completly fell in love with them and decided to add it to my collection of spearguns (90cm Imersion concept, 100cm omer cayman HF, 110cm beuchat marlin, and 120cm riffe euro) so I went on yesterday and got a 140cm rabitech stealth carbon.

I initially intended to get the rabitech apex carbon, but the longest one they had here was a 110cm and what I was looking for was more of a blue water gun, as my 120cm euro riffe seemed inadequate in certain situations. I will use this gun mainly when hunting in blue water where we can get visibility of 20m+ and big pelagic fish such as giant king mackerels (40kg+), baracudas 2m+, and amberjacks (50kg+) !!!! YES we get those in the territorial water of qatar, in addition to a 5m tiger shark I swam with 2weeks ago !!!!!

Anyway, initially the gun came with the standard closed muzzle, but I changed it to the open muzzle (same head piece that comes with the apex). I had to do some work in order to fit the muzzle piece, as the open muzzle piece was approx. 1mm larger to fit into the barrel so I had to sand paper it, I also had to drill 1 hole in order to fit the pin that will hold the muzzle piece into the barrel. The main reason I changed to open muzzle is because I am used to open muzzle with all my other guns, and also I will be initially intending to use the gun with twin 16mm rubbers.

Now sorry for the long introduction, but I have couple of questions in head

1- I have read from other threads here on DB and other forums about all sort of stretching length ratios for 16mm bands etc..., but what would be the best optimum power length for twin 16mm bands on my gun keeping in mind that I am using a 7.0mm shaft and not 7.5 or 8mm (those also were unavailable)!!!! and Btw I am pretty muscular so short bands aren't much of an issue... But i am looking for a setup that will give me optimum power ratio but without causing considerable loss of accuracy and woobling, and keeping in minds that most shoots will be taken at a distance of a minimum of 5 or 6m !

2- Is the single pin to hold up the head muzzle piece into the barrel adequate enough for the rabitech stealth? As this muzzle piece that is originally intended for the Apex is supposed to be held in place with 2 pins that run horizontally on the lateral side (versus a single pin that runs vertically on the median bottom side to hold up the muzzle piece of the stealth).

3- Reel vs float? I have always used reels and only use floats to tie the gun up, keep an extra gun, and keep fish on... I bought the gun with the rabitech reel and with 70m of 300lbs dyneema line. The reason why I would rather use reel is that I will be spearfishing around oil rigs (and in some places depth is 100m+ and I only free dive up to 30-35m max depth) and dnt want to risk the gun to be lost and deeply tangled around the oil rig pipes where its impossible to retrieve it... whereas with reel, I can always resort to the last final option of sacrificing reel line by cutting it if I feel its impossible to retrieve the fish as there is too much line tangling.... Or instead, what I was thinking of doing is using both reel and float line; that is with a float lagging 30m behind the gun (for safety just in case I get to shoot a large fish that takes all my reel line and start dragging me down; which happened many times!!!

Also I am planning within the next few weeks to get a 120cm Rob Allen carbon to use mostly in reefs (15 to 20m deep) in clear water conditions Any word on this gun?

Finally sorry for the many questions and the long thread !

Thanx all in advance blackeye:blackeye

 

[mishu1984]

bro i would say that a reel sounds good as you can open it up and head for the surface with your gun in hand, but a float will help you fight big fish like that hamour you caught. im going back to the emirates on the 19th and i will most likely be back to doha for eid, so we can compare prices while im gone.

here is a pic from RA abt gun length and band length

i hope this helps.

 

[chrismar]

1: The above post probably covers this adequately.
2: The single pin should be fine. The way the forces are distributed, there should be bugger-all pressure on the pin itself.
3: Float with a breakaway would be the best option if you're worried about losing the gun. That way you can fight big fish and you won't lose much gear if it all goes pear-shaped.

 

[getawayFK]

Thanks chrismar and mishu1984 for your help

I bought bulk rubber and used the chart that Mishu provided me to appropriately cut the rubber and tie my own bands (5/8inch riffe bulk rubber), and will use this gun with the reel (with 200feet of 300lbs dyneema line, and double wraps 300lbs mono) as well as a 25m floatline attached to this gun and a 20liter float for safety (as not to lose the gun in case of a bigger fish).

As for the single pin, I also asked again about it and it should be alright as the direction of the pull of the band is in the same direction and not opposite to the pin so that would only reinforce it !

Anyways thanks for your responses and help !