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Suggestion for 70 cm pneumatic speargun

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Panter

New Member
May 7, 2018
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Hello everyone,

I am new here and I need help with choosing speargun. I tried to find similar theme, but I found nothing about this speargun length.

I currently have a salvimar vuoto air 65, but it does not suit me. Before that, I used an old medisten. For my 10-15 days a year I spent at sea, I don't wanna think whether I will get a broken muzzle (like last year) and ruin the whole day. I need a speargun that I'm going to load, pump if needed and go into blue without thinking about anything else for these 10-15 days (of course, with regular services afterwards).

I'm thinking about next models (but I didn't exlude other models as well):
- Seac Caccia
- Mares Sten 11
- Mares Sten 13
- Mares Cyrano Evo
- Omer Air XII

First of all, I am interested in the concrete experiences with these rifles, especially with seac, since I couldn't find anything about their guns online (though I don't speak italian).

For my needs, I do not need a speargun bigger than 70-75 cm.
What I'm interested in is whether 11 or 13mm, reliability, precision and easier tension with a stronger kick.
Airbalete and One Air are out of my price range.
 
Hi Panter, and welcome!:)
If, for some reason, you are sure you don't want a vacuum muzzle, and you still have the Vuoto Air you could just fit a normal muzzle on it. That would be the cheapest.

If you are dead set on a new gun without a vaccum muzzle, then get one with an 11mm barrel, it should have a slight performance advantage - given that they have to push out less water during the shot than a 13mm gun.

As for durability/reliability, all of the ones you listed should be fine. There has been some issues with the Mares HF line release breaking but I don't know if it is still an issue, it's been a few years since I last heard of an incident. For absolute proven reliability it is hard to beat a Sten, you just rarely see anyone report anything going wrong with those.

Performance wise, they will all be very, very much the same. But while the Omer has a nice handle but it is designed in such a way that it actually shortens the effective length of the gun (the barrel doesn't extend into the handle but stops in front of it).
Rigging the gun with the thinnest mono you can get away with really improves performance. While airguns tend to shoot a spear fast, the spear doesn't weigh much so carries less momentum and thus gets easier affected by drag than a longer, heavier spear from a band gun. Smaller sliders help in this regard, too.

But you know, the biggest gain you can make is a vacuum muzzle so may I ask what broke in your muzzle and why you don't like them?
 
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Hi, thanks for quick response.
As I mentioned, I have an old blue sten that's a little bit longer than my vuoto air 65, but it's easier to load and shoots faster than vuoto.
Also, while I was in water that little rubber into muzzle broke (popgun pete uploaded a photo few years ago when same thing happened to him https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/testing-the-salvimar-pneumatics.100351/) and my day ( and few days after that) were ruined, because I couldn't find anywhere those spare rubbers.
So vuotoair didn't meet my expectations, my old sten now has some trigger issues (before and after service), so I'm looking for something new. I am not against vacuum kit, I'm just not willing to have to think if the gun will work after every shot, like it is with this vuoto air. I want a gun that I could load, shot and relax, not thinking should I shot that fish or not, and will it be possible to load a speargun after next shot. I don't have any experience with any other vacuum kit ( I read a lot about tomba kits here and on some other Croatian forum) and I'd like to keep option of upgrading speargun I'm gonna buy with tomba kit, but first I wanna try it without vacuum kit.
 
I couldn't find anything about their guns online (though I don't speak italian).

Ya, Italians are horrible @ all languages but Italian. Luckily there is the ol Google Translate. Even though the translations are far from perfect, the make stuff understandable. Give it a go! :)
 
Panter, I hate to say it but I am not sure it makes sense to buy a new gun.
As for your Vuoto, the seal broke, which happens to all of us. They should be viewed as a consumable which is why I recommend everyone to buy and travel with spares. But you should be able to shoot weeks or months without them breaking. If it happens too often, possibly your tail end is too big or rough or the shaft's surface is too rough.

All these guns are extremely simple on the inside and many of us, though it feels daunting the first time, have taken our guns apart to service or upgrade them by now. Unless the trigger seat in the Sten handle is busted there are not many trigger related issues that can't be fixed easily.

Let us know if you want to take these guns apart and we will talk you through it.
 
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Hi, thanks for quick response.
I'm looking for something new. I am not against vacuum kit, I'm just not willing to have to think if the gun will work after every shot, like it is with this vuoto air. I want a gun that I could load, shot and relax, not thinking should I shot that fish or not, and will it be possible to load a speargun after next shot. I don't have any experience with any other vacuum kit ( I read a lot about tomba kits here and on some other Croatian forum) and I'd like to keep option of upgrading speargun I'm gonna buy with tomba kit, but first I wanna try it without vacuum kit.

Hi, to my opinion, if the issue of the broken seal was too important for u, i don't think pneumatic spearguns are really made for u. I love pneumatics but i think that a good maintenance is really paramount (at least rinsing, greasing...).

Bands spearguns are not this demanding!
From what i understand of your expectations, i think a 85/90 band speargun would be better for you. Each year before ur trip, you check the bands and take spare bands just in case and that's it... With this you could go and dive without having to think "if the gun will work after every shot".
 
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Hi, thanks for quick response.
As I mentioned, I have an old blue sten that's a little bit longer than my vuoto air 65, but it's easier to load and shoots faster than vuoto.
Also, while I was in water that little rubber into muzzle broke (popgun pete uploaded a photo few years ago when same thing happened to him https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/testing-the-salvimar-pneumatics.100351/) and my day ( and few days after that) were ruined, because I couldn't find anywhere those spare rubbers.
So vuotoair didn't meet my expectations, my old sten now has some trigger issues (before and after service), so I'm looking for something new. I am not against vacuum kit, I'm just not willing to have to think if the gun will work after every shot, like it is with this vuoto air. I want a gun that I could load, shot and relax, not thinking should I shot that fish or not, and will it be possible to load a speargun after next shot. I don't have any experience with any other vacuum kit ( I read a lot about tomba kits here and on some other Croatian forum) and I'd like to keep option of upgrading speargun I'm gonna buy with tomba kit, but first I wanna try it without vacuum kit.
Hi Panter!
I would suggest you to sort out first what was wrong about using your Salvimar Vuoto, what was the cause of damage of sealing..?
Change the sealing cup and inspect your shaft for damages, scratches... See if the shaft`s tail butt step is not sharp to cause damage to sealing while passing through it. You can use sandpaper or a file to make it smooth. It is also good to have it polished. With Tomba kit you also must have nice, smooth shaft. I suppose it is advisable to put some silicon grease inside the sealing cup before using the speargun in water, every time. (Tomba does not require lubricating the O-ring with grease - water is sufficient) Do not load the speargun out of water - dry. It makes the friction high and can cause damage to sealing cup. For good shooting performance the most important is to have small hydrodynamic line slider and thin mono line, if it is possible 1 - 1.5 mm, less is better. This is even more important than having vacuum kit. Vacuum kit improves performance for about 20 % and makes the speargun more quiet, having less recoil and better buoyancy - makes the spergun more accurate.
 
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Thank you all for trying to help me.
I use pneumatic guns for over 20 years, I tried bandguns but couldn't get used to them, so I'm back to using pneumatics, so off course I'm aware of how pneumatics need to be taken care of and I rinse and grease it every day after spearfishing.
I'm not disappointed with vuotoair only because of broken seal (I was aware of that when I bought it, but it's not that simple to buy spearfishing equipment here in Serbia, since there's none spearfishing equipment store), I was more disappointed because my old medisten has more power and is also easier to load then vuotoair, so that's why I wanna buy a new gun and it's probably going to be Mares Sten 11.
As for suggesting to dissemble old sten, thanks for tips, but I'll probably send it to service again to get the trigger repaired.
 
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