Small, Spare Pneumatic for Crevices

[Green_Griffin]

Hi to all,
I am not a true fan of pneumatics, I am more into wooden guns. I live in Malta (small Island in the mid of the med) and go hunting with a custum made 115 wood-euro hybrid. The problem is that somtimes I get these prize fish in creces where my long gun cannot be manouvered into.
Thus I opted to start carrying a small pneumatic (preferably attached to my leg) for these situations. I have searched the net and came up with Mares Mini-mini and mini sten. Sporasub also manufacture something with a leg holster.

Any of you own the guns mentioned above? What is your opinion?
Furthermore any other brands make small guns with a leg holster?
What about the prices, aren't they too much for such a small gadget or am I underestimating these guns.

Thanks for your wisdom.

Green_griffin
People unaware of the sea lead plastic lives.[/I]

 

[PhilLJCA]

first of all its probably important to know what size of fish we are talking about. none of these guns will take down a fish over 12 kg, even at point- blank range...they are, after all only pistols.

i am familiar with the mini-mini. all its essential components work and indeed they have amazing durability and efficiency (no need for service in 5 years), but some of the peripheral ones (im thinking specifically of the line release) are made of plastic and tend to fall off. although the service is probably better in malta than in the west coast of the USA, i had problems dealing with their reps in America (they never seemed to answer the phone and wouldnt return my call either). the neoprene holster is pretty nice and you can draw pretty easily from it. my recommendation is to call mares and see how easy (or hard) it is to get help (and parts) from them in malta. If it isnt bad, then thats a plus...also if youre going to free-shaft it you wont need the line release. other than the line release i would recommend the mini-mini. best of luck, Phil

 

[spaghetti]

leg holster looks cool, but is not a good technical solution in my opinion: i find it's unhandy and makes your shape bulky, with high risk to get wrapped in lines, noisy in the contact on rocks, useless because you can't keep the gun loaded into it (for safety reasons). For me its better to keep short pneumos hanging under the buoy rather than strapped to the leg.
I still have an omer tempest 50 and a sporasub rafal 42, same sizes of mini and mini-mini. They're good for cave (especially with 8mm threaded shaft and 4 prongs) or for second shot (for example, to finish a grouper you've hit before with your main gun). But the shooting range is very short: the mini is 2 meters effective or even less, the mini-mini just 1,5 meters or less.
So if you spear in the med its a good thing to take them hanging under the buoy, or in hand when you scan the cavities, but if you try to shoot a fish in open water you won't reach the target, unless you are so clever, silent and "aquatic" to get close enough.
I will always proudly remember a gilthead (very difficult fish) I got with the rafal 42 in open water, simply the best dive i've ever made in 15 years spearing: no splashing, no bubbles, silent as death, i got really close to it without being noticed. But that was a one-time ever hi-light for my "carreer".

 

[Green_Griffin]

Spaghetti ,(cool nick)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't carry a buoy with me since personally I find it provides me with as much risk as safety.
That is why I need a small gun, to attach it to myself and use it as spare of for crevices.

Philca,

It is very rare that we catch milti-kilo fish here in the med. In fact it is even hard to go over the kilo!!!!!!

GRIFFIN
people unaware of the sea lead plastic lives

 

[spaghetti]

Spaghetti ,(cool nick)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't carry a buoy with me since personally I find it provides me with as much risk as safety.

my nick is autobiographic: guess what i had for lunch?
but let me tell you a thing. If i had a younger brother diving, i wouldn't let him go at sea without a big red buoy with a big red flag. You say it's not safe, but it's better than nothing when you're in water and a boat is pointing you at 25 knots speed.
Maybe you don't feel comfortable with it on the belt, maybe you're afraid of getting wrapped by the buoy's line, i understand. But if this is the problem, just don't link it to the belt: just bind a 2kg weight to its line and let it float around you. If current is not too strong it will work.