....travel-speargun....

[subunit]

....i am very intrested in getting one of the riffe euro-modular-travelguns, specially since they offer them finally
in different sizes then the 90model that they offered for some years.
thats why i never considered to get the gun before, because a 90 is much too small for me.
now i am thinking of getting a 120. the gun seemes to be well made, and i have been shooting other riffe guns
for many years.
is there anyone having some experience with that gun, the 90 or any other size ?
any feedback,info ?
my biggest concern about the breakdown-concept is the shaft.
over the years i have seen all kind of shafts bending and breaking.
and i fear that a 160cm shaft that is srewed together in the middle will snap as the minimum impact..?
any experience or thought on that ? any of the speargun-craftsmen and mechanics have any input ?
thanks in advance, dive safe..have fun

ps. here a video about the riffe modular travelgun..for those that havnt seen it....

 

[subunit]

....i posted a similar thread yesterday, but it never showed up.
something said its been moderated..?
so i wrote this one today and as i posted it, finally the one i posted yesterday is also showing..
so dont get mixed up, its basically the same thread with the same questions....

 

[popgun pete]

I have two different guns that use two-piece shafts and have never had a problem. One is the JBL "Travel Magnum" that I have had for decades and the other is a "Gunslinger" hybrid made using the KISS Enterprises telescopic "Gunslinger" and a Sea Hornet "Pacific" handle. A professional "underwater gunsmith" created many of these "Gunslinger" conversions, in fact I own two of them, but only one gun is complete.

Riffe Enterprises don't make things that are not thoroughly tested, unlike stuff sourced and "mixed and matched" to produce a "model range" from sweat shops in China, but with a "Western sounding" name.

 

[subunit]

....hi pete,
thanks for your reply.
my only concern about the breakdown-concept of the gun is the stability of the shaft.
i have seen shafts breaking specially at their weak-points.
the hole for the flopperpin, the notches, and spears with wire-sharkfin at the hole to insert
the wire,etc.
its just logic that a shaft will break at its weakest point, and even more once you shoot bigger, stronger
and more fish with it.
so the thought of having the comfort of fitting a 120-speargun in my normal-size travelbag,
saving money and having less hassle to get around, against the possibility that my shafts will break
with the first bigger impact at the thread-point have to be wisely jugded.
so far i have searched the net a bit, and didnt found any reports of, particular the riffe shaft, snapping.
havent really found any positive reports neither....
so really hope whoever have any expirience or input about this breakdown-shafts, positive or negative,
can share it here.
thanks again in advance....dive safe..have fun

 

[popgun pete]

The threaded join is a dowel type fitting in a matching bore hole, with the male/female threads at the end in each case in order to provide an overlap section. That is how they retain strength at the joint between two, or sometimes three, shaft sections.

 

[subunit]

....thanks again pete on your info....
its clearly to see in the picture how they trying to improve strenght with this long overlapsection.
unfortunately i can not see that kind of thread-style on the riffe breakdown shaft.
right now i am thinking of getting two of the riffe travel- shafts with 160cm length,
instead of getting the whole riffe-travel-gun.
thinking to cut down a 120 rob allen in half and reattach it simple by inserting a 30-40cm fitting aluminiumpipe
in both cut-ends.
will first have to check if the riffe euro shaft will fit properly in the rob allen mech.
but since both are euro-shaft style it should work.
dive safe..have fun..

 

[popgun pete]

Why not ask Riffe (i.e. phone Julie) and get some advice/feedback on what you want to do? I had a look at the shaft sizes that Riffe offer and attach the relevant table section here.

 

[subunit]

....hi pete,
the shaft size chart you uploaded is the one from the riffe website.
this chart showing only regular euro shaft size.
funny thing, the travel-breakdown shafts are not listed on their website.
this is not the first time that i found information on their own products missing on their website.
apparently the travel-breakdown shafts are available only in 7.5mm with hawaian flopper.
so i will go with the 160cm shaft, put them in a cut-down 120 rob allen,
and hope the threadpart will not snap or bend.
found them here :
http://www.spearfishing.de/product_...aft-Riffe-Euro-Hawaiian-TRAVEL---7-5-mm-.html

 

[popgun pete]

....hi pete,
the shaft size chart you uploaded is the one from the riffe website.
this chart showing only regular euro shaft size.
funny thing, the travel-breakdown shafts are not listed on their website.
this is not the first time that i found information on their own products missing on their website.
apparently the travel-breakdown shafts are available only in 7.5mm with hawaian flopper.
so i will go with the 160cm shaft, put them in a cut-down 120 rob allen,
and hope the threadpart will not snap or bend.
found them here :
http://www.spearfishing.de/product_...aft-Riffe-Euro-Hawaiian-TRAVEL---7-5-mm-.html

Are you sure of that? Please take another look at the table!

 

[subunit]

....hi pete,
i did saw you highlightning the part of the 3 threaded shafts wich are marked "travel".
these are only sizes for guns in size 55cm,75cm and 90 cm stocklength.
you cant find any other breakdown-shafts on their website offered for the modular-travel gun.
but apparently they do produce and sell them.
by searching the net again, i finally found an older report on the original riffe 90 travel-gun.
someone wanted to buy the exact same gun and had the exact same concern about the strenght of the
the breakdown shaft.
so two person replied, stating that they used this gun on many occasions, shooting good size fish
(jacks,snapper and mackerels 10-20pound range and even amberjack up to 60pound) without encountering
any problem on the shaft.
i did make up my mind. will order the 7.5mm- 160cm breakdownshaft, fit it into a cut down 120 rob allen gun,
and start hunting as usual. will observe and report about the shafts performance.
but even without testing it, i think the dowel-kind of threading you posted looked like a better option
that riffe should consider....but thats just my theory, lets do the field-testing first....
if anyone else still like to write about his experience or thought about the breakdown travel-guns, please do so.
thanks again....dive safe..have fun..

 

[subunit]

....still havent order the sbreakdown-shaft with the 160cm lenght....but will do so soon,
and sure report about it.
meanwhile riffe advertising their new travel gun....
http://www.apneapassion.com/en/noti...ma-show-2016-arbalete-riffe-modular-euro.html

 

[popgun pete]

A retail price of US$620 to 690 would make it an expensive gun here as our Aussie dollar is now worth around 70 US cents. A year or so back it was worth US$1.05, but that lasted only for a short period and then it fell abruptly. Great article and good photos, especially the close-up of the metal alignment rods, or dowels, at the connection section of the timber stock.

 

[subunit]

....so finally i ordered the 7.5mm riffe breakdown shafts with lenght 170cm.
they look well made, the threading is done very precise, will see how that will hold up under pressure of a big fighting fish.
also got the rob allen tuna gun 130cm, and have already cut the barrel in half.
tricky part is to find the exact fitting pipe to insert to reconnect the two barrel-pieces.
inner barrel diameter size given online is : 26.5mm
but in reality it turned out to be 26.8 mm
eventually i found a bicycle saddle post with the exact 26.8mm.
now waiting for some barrel plugs before the final set up.
so will be finish the construction by next week, but things looking promising.
demounted gun and shafts will be fitting in my dive bag easy, they are about 4cm shorter then my fins....

 

[subunit]

.so finally i ordered the 7.5mm riffe breakdown shafts with lenght 170cm.
they look well made, the threading is done very precise, will see how that will hold up under pressure of a big fighting fish.

....and today i shot the first fish with the spear. the 6-7 kg fish was fighting on the spear in open water,
at no time the spear got stucked at any structure.
after taking the fish of the spear, the spear was bend at the threading part (wich is in the middle of the spear) with appr. 15-20 degree.
i decided to bend it back in shape right away, well aware that this could be risky.
and the spear was almost back straight again, when with the final bit of force it just broke right at the threading into two pieces....
so much for the strenght of the riffe breakdown travel spear....
the same day i was in close range on a 50kg plus fish....that fish would have probably given the name "BREAKDOWN SPEAR"
a new meaning....
i still have one more of those spears, since i ordered two....what next ?

 

[popgun pete]

I suggest you contact Riffe and report the outcome and see what they have to say. It is not like you shot a monster, so you would think the spear would be capable of surviving this sort of encounter as others must have used them in similar situations.

 

[subunit]

....hi pete,
i do think about to send them a report of the incident.
i once had an issue with a bend competitor gun, and spoke to them about what could be done.
on a scale from 1-10 i would give that experience of customer service maximum a 5 .
so i decided not to bring up any issues with them again....but thats many years back,
and i will give it another shot. and if it is only to let them know what happened, so they might find ways
to improve the strenght of the threading to prevent such happenings for other in the future.
in the mean time i will use the other spear with no mercy and lets see what will happen....
maybe the one that broke was just a bad apple on the tree....

 

[popgun pete]

I think feedback is important as manufacturers can only make improvements if they know about problems and how often they are occurring. It might be worthwhile to photograph the shaft in close-up, showing the nature of the break and where it actually snapped off on the threaded end section and send that image, or a set of images, to Riffe.

 

[subunit]

....will send them a note and the pics....
Here is where the break occured..

 

[popgun pete]

I see that it has snapped off where the base of the screw thread meets the shaft alignment shoulder, the busted off threaded end still inside the other section of the shaft. I had a quick search earlier to see if others had reported such a break, but nothing came up.

 

[subunit]

..ok, part two of the story..
Went out yesterday and used the second riffe breakdown-travel spear 170cm on a 130 rob allen gun. This is how the spear looked after the first shot on a 5kg fish with no contact to the bottom....bend at the exact same spot as the first one, at the threading.
I decided to bend the spear back straight after taking the pic. It did not break during the process like the first one did, probably because the bendind was not as bad as the first one....
Dont think i will take another shot with it, afraid a bigger fish will break it right away.
At this point i really cant recommend those spears. Maybe the shorter ones holding up better, but i wonder under how much pressure riffe have tested those longer ones before releasing them on the market ?