Speargun Bands / Rubber

[tbouhil]

Hi All,

My Speargun Configuration:

- Beuchat Marlin Carbon 125 cm
- 6.5 Rockwell Triface spear, Tahiti stainless steel Obus, and ultra-supple 18.3mm fast slings.

My problem:
This is a long speargun and it takes some effort to load it, after one and half hour of loading this gun, my arms start hurting me very much.

to solve this problem i'm thinking of i changing the bands to 16 mm instead of 18 mm but at the same time i don't want to lose the power.

Can someone recommend some type of bands that are highly responsive and easy to stretch?

Thank in advance

 

[landshark sa]

Hi tbouhil,

Although this is a very personal preference, the first thing to check is that your current bands are the right length. 18mm bands should really not be massively difficult to load. A general rule of thumb is a band should approximately stretch to 3 times the length of the gun. This is from the spear notch to the eye in the muzzle. In your case it should equate to around 83cm per band.

Loading technique is also something to look at. Using a smooth single motion to stretch, fit and load per band will cut down on the exertion required to load a gun.

2x18's is quite a bit hitting power and in even in clear water (iow long shots) 2x16's on a 125cm gun should be enough.

Not sure if your spear will have enough notches to accommodate them but you could possibly fit 3 x 14mm bands which should take you up to the hitting power as the two 18's. If the spear doesn't have enough notches you can always have an extra one machined in or have a special spear made up with 3 notches . If you are using articulated metal wishbone, with some prepping of the notches, switching over to thin dyneema wishbone may allow two bands to be loaded into one notch.

There are however some drawbacks here, it's slower to load 3 bands, more expensive to maintain and I think cumulatively during a dive session the energy expenditure will be more or less the same as loading 2x18mm bands. Also be careful of not overpowering the gun.

As for the type of band, natural dipped latex is definitely more stretchy and easier to load. Have a listen here to what Rob Allen has to say about bands:

 

[tbouhil]

Thank you Landshark for your detailed reply and the helpful link to Rob Allen.
The length of my band is indeed 83 Cm.

i will indeed try to install 2 x 16 mm in two sizes:
- Primary band: 83 cm
- Secondary band: 85 Cm

i found an italian brand that manufactures ultra progressive/reactive bands

• ATLANTIS - Advanced Progressive Power
• Sigal Reactive Brown Ages
• sigalsub Extreme

Personaly i think i will go for the Sigal Reactive (16 mm), because they are more comfortable to load.

Did anyone here tried these bands, if yes, what is the experience?

Thank again