speargun choice

[gman]

I know you all are probably tired of recommending spearguns to newbies, so I apologize in advance. Here is my unique situation, I plan to be freediving in coastal California. I will be doing shore entries through Kelp. Most of what I will be doing will probably evolve into photography with opportunistic hunting depending on what shows itself.
I am thinking about a small gun that can be stowed on a leg holster so it is out of the way most of the time. I have a Technisub Ranger Pneumatic that I liked shooting pretty well. I never bought the leg holster for it though. It seems like there was a shorter version at the time. I think the Ranger would be too long for what I plan on doing with it. I have also lost the "pump" used to recharge the cylinder.
Cany anyonme recommend a replacement gun? If you think this is still a good gun for me, where can I find a leg holster and a pump? I am not necessarliy committed to pneumatics, it was just the one that fit my needs when I bought it.

Thanks again,
Gman

 

[spaghetti]

IF you hunt breath-holding, I would not recommend leg holster, as I view it as an unpractical and unsafe item: it's cool looking, but makes your figure bulky while diving, unbalanced while finswimming, can get dangeously tangled in everything, and is basically useless because it's not safe to keep a gun loaded in it. It's quicker AND safer to keep the gun unloaded attached under you float.
One more reason: leg holster can fit only for very short guns, such as Mares Miniministen, Sporasub Rafal 42 or Omer Tempest 40. Good guns, but with a short shooting range.
On the contrary, IF you go scuba hunting and go deep, of course a leg holster would help for second shot or rocky hole fishes, but still the gun would have a short range.
I think you may ask Deeper Blue forum member ZOHARA: he's the rep for Mares/Sporasub in the US West Coast.
Last, a short, practical but yet effective and decent range pneumatic for hunting in the kelp could be a 70cm with power reductor button.
PS: Don't take my opionion as truth: for sure it's just an opinion. Make a happy choice and have fun.
Cheers

 

[gman]

Excellent point regarding safety while freediving and a leg holster. How would you attach to the bottom of the float? Just ties and clips? So what about a replacement pump?? Would I really gain anything buying a new gun over the one I already have? Is there a big advantage using a band gun over my pneumatic? Especially considering what I plan to use it for and the fact that I already have the pneumatic....

 

[spaghetti]

Excellent point regarding safety while freediving and a leg holster. How would you attach to the bottom of the float? Just ties and clips? So what about a replacement pump?? Would I really gain anything buying a new gun over the one I already have? Is there a big advantage using a band gun over my pneumatic? Especially considering what I plan to use it for and the fact that I already have the pneumatic....

-Float attachment: a strong and well made knot with dyneema on the gun (muzzle or handle), and a reliable clip on the float.
-spare pump: I hope not to violate their privacy, but I remember from a recent topic that DB members ZOHARA and Asturven were trading pumps for airguns. They are both friendly and helpful guys.
-Air or band? It's a long time debated controversy. My idea: short Airgun for fishes who stay into rocky holes (and even kelp beds too), medium and long rubbergun for all the other purposes. Just my idea. In my country we all go hunting with two guns, and more than half of us carry a short pneumatic and a longer rubbergun. But this habit is related to OUR specific terrain and fish behaviour.

 

[gman]

Well I got a message back from Technisub. They stopped making guns "years ago" and so no parts are available. I contacted a few other folks and they are unaware of where to get parts. Dang I feel old :head !!! All my kit is out of date.

So now I know I am heading to well charted territories with y'all. I am leaning towards a short single band gun. I will tie it to the bottom of my float like Spaghetti suggested. Again, I will be hunting all shore waters and surface kick to my dive site. I am leaning towards the band guns because they seem simpler and less inclined to give problems, ie: pump threads crossed and no replacement available :head !!!!

Any suggestions??

Thanks again,
Gman

 

[ihab]

Hi Gman:

Although I'm new at this, I got through the same situation like you.
About a couple of months ago, I bought my first Tecnisub pneumatic gun, 50 cm.
When I contacted the company, they said they've stopped making guns 12 YEARS AGO !!!!!

Don't Panic
I contacted OMER and they advised that they have all the parts that are compatible to the Tecnisub pneumatic gun...such as shafts, tips...etc and I did actually buy from them.

Let me know what parts you need and maybe I can help.

Ihab

Well I got a message back from Technisub. They stopped making guns "years ago" and so no parts are available. I contacted a few other folks and they are unaware of where to get parts. Dang I feel old :head !!! All my kit is out of date.

So now I know I am heading to well charted territories with y'all. I am leaning towards a short single band gun. I will tie it to the bottom of my float like Spaghetti suggested. Again, I will be hunting all shore waters and surface kick to my dive site. I am leaning towards the band guns because they seem simpler and less inclined to give problems, ie: pump threads crossed and no replacement available :head !!!!

Any suggestions??

Thanks again,
Gman

 

[jimdoe2you]

If anyone is interested, I have two things for sale: C4 blades and Rabitech spearguns.

Send me a PM if you are interested because my play room has stuff just laying around that I will never use. Here are some pics.

Jim

 

[gman]

Hi Gman:

Although I'm new at this, I got through the same situation like you.
About a couple of months ago, I bought my first Tecnisub pneumatic gun, 50 cm.
When I contacted the company, they said they've stopped making guns 12 YEARS AGO !!!!!

Don't Panic
I contacted OMER and they advised that they have all the parts that are compatible to the Tecnisub pneumatic gun...such as shafts, tips...etc and I did actually buy from them.

Let me know what parts you need and maybe I can help.

Ihab

What great news Ihab!!! I will contact Omer and see if they can find a pump that will fit the threads of my gun.

THANK YOU

 

[ihab]

Glad to be of help

 

[gman]

Well things have finally run full course. I got an e-mai lback from OMER two weeks ago. They were very apologetic but informed me that there was nothing they could do for me. They did, however, foreword my request directly to Technisub. I was hoping for perhaps a different response since the request was coming from another company and not Joe-public. Well I just got an official response from Technisub saying that there was nothing they could do either. My best bet would be to try yard sales and back rooms of dive shops. I guess I am a polespearer now afterall.....

 

[David Sutton]

Hello Gman, I was wondering, do you still have the ranger? if so i would be intrested in it e-mail me at rangerdave4@comcast.net

Thank you
David