Speargun Trigger Safety Importance

[Noah spearfishing academy]

yes you are absolutly right , but you can only control yourself , not everyone else
i had been pointed for over 10 times , everytime the reply were the same "dont be panic, my safety is on!"
it was like it was my fault.....

 

[ShakaZoulou]

I have noticed that at least one speargun mfg. doesn't put a safety latch on their speargun trigger, SigalSub for example. I always thought that the safety latch of some sort is important (not 100% reliable however) and don't quite understand why these manufacturers don't implement this features in their guns. Can anyone here clarify what the rationale is for these mfgs. that don't use a trigger safety please?

Sea water is an harsh environment, the safety mechanism will fail at any given time. So you need to handle the gun like it doesn't have a safety, so the only purpose of that mechanism is to be on when your trophy passes in front of you. that is why lot of people simple glue the mechanism. Even i go if the hook for an octopus inside its den i unloaded the gun, i wouldn't trust in a lose loaded gun near me and an octopus even with safety on.

 

[ShakaZoulou]

Your brain should be the safety. If your brain is incapable of taking that role then stay away from weapons.

I often see spearfishing videos where they film their buddy or wildlife like a turtle or a seal with their gun-mounted camera. There's even one here on the island who does this, who is a freedive and spearfishing instructor! The way I see a gun, is that whatever you point it at, dies. Even if it's unloaded.

That is really important, you just point an loaded gun, even with safety to something you don't mind to kill. If someone wants to just video tape something like a marine mammal or a sea turtle simple unload it.

 

[ShakaZoulou]

First thing we all did when getting a new gun was remove the safety. The reason was losing fish, in large part because the safeties are not intuitive to use. We never used the safety and occasionally lost a fish when it was on accidentally. We were also damn careful with loaded guns and any diver pointing a gun in a direction were there might be another diver was jumped on. My first gun was a 1960's era mid handle with a double trigger. simple, super easy to use, and intuitive, should be the standard safety style.

Popgun Petes comments are well taken. Safeties should be on all guns and would be used much more if their use was intuitive.

The faiiled atempts of shooting with safety on is the main justification why the safety isn't really a safety, because it can happen the way around. The safety being off while the spearo thinks that is on.

 

[popgun pete]

The latest "Avatar" handle from Ermes Sub has a safety incorporated in the DR trigger mechanism which blocks the top of the trigger. The US is a very litigious society and speargun accidents can result in court battles for damages, so the manufacturer no doubt thought it was a wise precaution with the US being such a large market. In Australia spearguns used to be a legal afterthought, it was years before they came to the conclusion that a pneumatic speargun was not an air rifle and should be treated separately. I endured long correspondence with a government department before this was sorted out after initial battles with Customs to bring in some pneumatic spearguns. The fact that Mares, Cressi-Sub and Nemrod guns of similar layout had been sold here for decades did not cut much ice as the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing in terms of the weapon definitions. Rather than open a can of worms the question of spearguns has not been examined too closely here which is to our advantage. While the sport stays out of sight and out of mind it can continue by not making any waves. That includes not having speargun accidents.

"F" is fire and "L" is lock or load as in cock the bands. The trigger mechanism will not accept the spear tail being pushed in if the lever is set to "L" as for the relatch the trigger needs to move as the nose roller on the sear lever pushes it forwards at the top.