Hi Cadiver and everyone!
I'm going to add a PM that I got from a great guy :friday when I was thinking about Riffe Hawaian/No kai/ Or Wong Hybrid, that helped me a lot to choose my gun and to whom I'm deeply thankfull for all his advice, time and effort spent on an unknown newbie, I got this as a PM because this guy was very discret and didn't want to hurt anybodys feelings, I haven't seen him here since very long ago and I think that many of us miss him (and many of you are going to recognize him from the way he writes and so many clues about his guns and preferences).
And please, I'm just adding my two cents, I've never had a wong gun in my hands and I don't mean any disrespect to him or to the great guys that own his guns
![Confused :confused: :confused:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
... Here we Go:
RIFFE is definetly my reccomendation. I noticed wong came up in the forums. There great guns too, but only if you go for th emagnum i think. Here's some pros and cons on the wong\RIFFE
WONG PROS :
A great gun made by a great guy, Daryl wong has great customer service and is a real nice guy.
- Lifetime waranty. Can't beat a lifetime Waranty.
- The Magnum series gun is internally ballasted, meaning that recoil will be drastically reduced without needing to add expensive wing kits, etc.
WONG CONS :
- Wong is in Hawaii and whatever the guns cost... add a heafty shipping charge to get it to you.
- Every gun is made by him. no help, in other words it can take a coupple of months to get a gun to you.
- He started using RIFFE parts, then Jay RIFFE found out and stopped him. He then used Alexander parts and then Steve Alexander stopped him. Daryl wong now uses aimrite parts which are plastic and in my opinion inferrior to RIFFE and Alexander. However, there ttrigger Mechanisms are still great and are rated to 600 pounds.
- Unless you get the magnum series all the guns are not internally ballasted. In other words there normal guns like the RIFFE. However, the RIFFE has a much better trigger mechanism, no plastic and a superrior safty. You can also buy every RIFFE part independently to make repairs on your own.
Wongs can only fire the shaft size that they are made to fire. A RIFFE will fire any shaft on the market. And because the RIFFE's arn't ballasted (like most wongs) you can choose to power down your RIffe if you don't like the recoil. I.E use a thinner shaft and lighter bands, etc. A RIFFE is truly the mr. potatoehead of spearguns, rofl
Wong Hybrds use an allunimum barrell in the front. This gives them the same problem euro barrells have. They fill with water after time and have to be repaired. And although Wong comes with a lifetime warenty, this means you have to send it back to hawaii, wait for a while and then have it sent back. Wood is always stronger and better.... all wood. Wong does make all wood guns, however they cost a lot more.
With that being said, Wongs are great guns! They are made by a great guy who has a great philosophy and loves what he does.
Although the RIFFE does not come with alifetime warenty, i find it hard to believe that RIFFE wouldent repair one of there trigger mechs (there a lot stronger then Wongs i think) if it was broken. There family name is on everything and i doubt they want a spear to hurt someone and have there name on it.
I remember i bought a used RIFFE torpedo float for 50$ and if had a broken part that cost 15$ to fix. I took it into RIFFE to be repaired and they fixed it and said it was only 15$. Then Julie RIFFE gave me a brand spanking new one.. no charge, no 15$ even after i told her i bought the float used, lol!! That's just the kind of people they are.
As for shafts, i would get a threaded shaft and a Hawaiian floper shaft. One 5\16th (threaded) and one 9\32nd (hawaiian flopper) if you can afford it.
Threaded shaft : You can use a "rock tip" which is the doubble barb standard screw on tip, the advantage of this is it's a shorter barb and doesn't require a huge pennitration to toggle. I'd use this for hunting Halibut and anything on the bottom. It's a great tip. The other advantage of this is after smacking it on the bottom for a year or two you can replace the tip without replacing the shaft!
The Other tip you could use with this that i would reccomend would be the slip tip (Ice pick tip by RIFFE). It's a slip tip and works well on bluewater fish and anything with sift flesh (think White Sea bass) I'm not a huge fan of slip tips, but a lot of people love them and swear by them. They just do't work well for what i hunt.
Hawaiian Flopper :
The advantage of this shaft is it's pure simplicity. I'd use this shaft for hunting Reef fish (and some Bluewater) It's so simple that there's less to go wrong. It usually always toggles and is very easy to remove and no resetting is required. If you don't get a slip tip right you can loose a fish. No chance of that happening really on a Hawaiian shaft. I only use hawaiian shafts. I do want to pick up a 5\16th threaded for my hawaiian though for halibut.
In the end, all your choices for guns are great choices. You could not be considering two better guns. I also like the railguns, but as a first gun, you want something that will last. A beautifull wood gun can be an heirloom and you can pass it on. There are 20+ year old RIFFE guns still being use and still working like the day they were made today. Choose whatever looks best to you and whatever suites your pocketbook the best as well =) If you like the feel and look of the wong then go for the wong, if you like the RIFFE, go for the RIFFE. they both have great characteristics.
Sounds like you already caught the bug, lol. you are right though. There is no "best gun" it's whichever guns is best for the conditions and fish you are hunting. I use a 90cm Rabitech Stealth Railgun for dirty water reef hunting and rocks. I use a customized JBL carbine for shooting at fish infront of rocks (although i never take it out) and i have my RIFFE hawaiian as my all round gun for mid-range and mid-good visibility as i know if can take a wide range of fish, i can power it up or down and change shafts to suit the conditions and where i'm hunting. I also take it to new places that i'v never hunted if i don't know what to expect. It's manouverable and it still has tons of punch. I have a 1.2 Rob Allen Railgun for high vis reef that i have rigged with 2X16mm bands and a single wrap of line for reef shots on high vis. ** i rigged my Rabitech with a single 20mm band and aq single wrap of line and my RIFFE with 2 wraps and either 2X 16mm bands or 3X 14mm bands. I use a 9\32nd shaft with a hawaiian flopper. I have a 1.3 Roba Allen i ordered and am giving to my dive partner as well. I'll probly end up getting a BW gun soon. I just don't go BW hunting enough now. I might get a Kitto\kelvstadd or a Merlo or a RIFFE.. not sure.
As long as you don't overpower your RIffe you shouldent need a wing kit. You don't need to overpower it. It has plenty of punch from the start.
In General, for tips, if you go for mainly reef fish, i'd go for a single 932nd hawaiian flopper. If your doing Bluewater, you'll want a thicker shaft. Maybe a 516th or thicker, you should be fine with a 5\16th.