Hi guys,

I'm looking at maybe getting a pneumatic speargun. Has anyone used them before? I hadn't heard too much about them but they seem like they could be very difficult to load.

But I've also heard they are very powerful.

Any tips would be great.

Cheers

Don't get one

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

Not even something like a 40cm one? Something small for like tite spots around rocks?

No

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I get coastline fever .

A 40cm one .... I have never seen one so small, Does it come free with a GI-Joe ...

The general consensus is that a pneumatic guns are a waste of time and money...

Pneumatic spearguns are very reliable and are powerful for their length as the spear shaft is pushed all the way along the inner barrel when the gun shoots. In a band gun the rubber bands only push the spear for the portion of the gun length that the bands are under tension, so the last part of barrel travel does nothing for spear propulsion, but it does add to the shaft mass which is good for hitting power (i.e. a longer spear shaft).

You can think of a pneumatic speargun as a form of spring gun, except that the compressed air column captive inside the gun is the "spring" instead of a long metal coil spring as used in the old Cressi-Sub and Mares spring guns. A compressed air spring, unlike a metal coil spring, has little friction (the sliding piston has seals which produce some drag on the inner barrel wall), so pneumatic spearguns are very efficient. What energy you put in to load them through physical effort by pushing the spear down the inner barrel comes out again, although there are some small losses, but not as much as a band gun has. With practice the loading operation is very quick, just shove the spear in and wrap the shooting line and you are ready for the next shot.

You can think of a pneumatic speargun as using the same principles that the gas support struts in a hatchback or wagon use to hold the rear door open and no one thinks twice about their reliability. I have used pneumatic spearguns for many decades and have had only a few problems which were very easy to fix (everything wears out eventually) once I read the instructions and saw how the particular gun was constructed. Once you look closely at the parts diagrams for each gun you can see that they are actually very simple devices with not that many major parts.

About thirty years ago the pneumatic speargun was a much more expensive option for spearfishing, now increases in band gun prices have made them look very reasonable, except for the Omer "Airbalete" which is still in the "early adopter" phase where you currently to have pay AU$1,000 for one, although they do come with a reel as standard equipment.

They seem to be pushing the Airbalete as being the "next thing". I wouldn't mind trying one, although I have only ever heard bad things about
pneumatics. (I wonder why that is, as they obviously do sell - maybe to entrants who, upon using a band gun leave the pneumatic in the garage? )

Not sure what it is, but I think they tend to be over-powered, innaccurate, loud and deliver a nasty recoil. There is footage of the airbalete in use though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYTbUvg5 ... ature=fvwp

looks pretty good. But, err, where did all those other holes way off the target come from?

I get the feeling that these things are a real bugger to load from some of the footage.

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Too much gets said about pneumatic spearguns by people who have never owned one or used one. There is a big difference between thinking and knowing. I would hardly classify myself as an entrant having spearfished in Victoria and NSW since 1967. There would be many more like me, but they cannot be bothered entering the pneumatic versus band gun debate. Basically it comes down to personal preference, both gun types do the same job, I use both and just make my selection depending on the task at hand and the water conditions.

In that last post I accidently wrote "I wouldn' try one", but really was meant to real "I would try one". Oops. Edited that out.

I don't know anyone who uses a pneumatic regularly, but a friend of mine bought one ages ago and really hated it (He didn't really give a clear reason why).

If I get any spare cash going I will prob. buy the Airbalete. It looks like a nice design and I am always interested in new product, especially
when it seems like there has some progress been made.

What would be the reasons why you would choose to use a pneumatic versus a band gun on a given day?

I didn't mean to imply that YOU were an entrant, sir.

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Used to have one, they have their applications but I doubt I would ever buy one again! You can get kits to silence them, add power etc but I haven't missed having mine once!

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Like a farken underwater ninja!

The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

The aftermarket muzzle kits that some spearoes fit are "dry barrel" kits (which are really vacuum barrel kits), they give more power for the same air pressure level in the gun, or similar power for less air pressure in the gun and hence a slightly easier muzzle loading task. Without water flooding the inner barrel this means no "hydrobraking" occurs as the sliding piston being propelled by the compressed air "spring" only has to push the spear out of the inner barrel and not squeeze water out which always slows the shot due to the back pressure that the water inside the inner barrel creates. However there is an element of unreliability with the fitting of vacuum barrel muzzle kits and if water slowly sucks into the inner barrel through a poor muzzle slider seal then the shot will be worse, not better than a standard pneumatic speargun. Personally I prefer to use an unmodified gun, if I want more grunt I just pump it up some more and the shots are always entirely predictable in terms of how the shaft will fly, which is what you want in a speargun. Shots need to be reproducible, that way you know where to aim the gun and when to pull the trigger.

Pneumatics are good for reef work and shooting in holes, no taut bands to slice on sharp objects and in the short barrel lengths they are more powerful than any band gun of the same size. Also they are very handy in limited visibility where a longer gun is useless as you cannot see the end of the gun, yet a short pneumatic has plenty of penetrating power and you can limit the spear's flight with the length of the shooting line. The equivalent length in a band gun would need to be a rollergun, otherwise the bands will be too short on a muzzle band anchor gun.

If I use a pranger head then I use a band gun as you can lock the spear in the gun to help yank a pranger out of a well hit fish, you cannot do that with a pneumatic gun as the shaft is just a jam fit in the piston and will pull out of the gun. For rough conditions I use my band guns as they are less likely to be clonked around on reef outcrops when left floating free, modern rear handle pneumatic spearguns float like corks and tend to get thrown around very quickly if left on the surface, plus there are more rigging options on a band gun, like breakaway line systems with floats.

30 years of diving and I've never sliced a rubber on anything in the water.
Roller guns are a load of shit too. if you want more power in a short gun put on a shorter rubber or a second rubber.
You could limit a spears travel on any gun with a shorter line.
Both guns can be rigged with a break away rig and a float.
How much power do you think you need for shooting fish in caves Pete? to much and you risk nailing the fish to the back of the cave?
To finish I will ask you Pete why you think 100% of experienced divers use rubber powered guns?

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

The power is not for the caves, it is for shooting heavy bodied fish with a short spear. As for the majority using band guns that is because shops usually only stock them. Pneumatic spearguns were very popular in Europe twenty years ago and were always a more expensive option being about double the price of a band gun. Australia has never been a place to offer a wide selection of pneumatic spearguns, but when Hartleys was in business they had many Nemrod and Mares models in stock.

Why do you think they went out of business

because they are rubbish.

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

And there is it: a lot of people seem not to like them. Thats why I have avoided buying/trying one in case I waste my money.

I have read that there are guns which work with the "vacuum" principle, but this being built directly into the design such as http://www.maorisub.it/sito.htm .
This is the new standard for pneumatic guns, I belive, and the Airbalete also employs this. They also claim no recoil.

Are pneumatics any easier to load?

If the new breed of guns are indeed quiet, and shoot straight AND are easier to load I would probably look at giving them a real go and seeing wether they suit me. If they are more powerful I would look at getting a smaller one, like about 70-80 cm as opposed to the 95 (which is really about 105).

The Airbalete really does look like a job well done though.

If they new ones do what it is claimed they do, why dismiss them?

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