Hi all,
Firstly, love the site, it has been quite helpful to me for a while now.
Down to business.. I received a speargun for Chrissy ... I have been using (and quite happy with) the H.Sling as everything I have been going after makes the sling quite sufficient. Anyway, the gun is about 60cm with (I think) a 16mm rubber about 48cm long. It was all rigged up when I got it so measurements are taken with everything intact.
I was wondering if anybody has any ideas on how far this should shoot and still be dangerous to fish.. it came with about 4mtrs of cord to attach to the spear, which I have found to be more than enough, I think I could get away with a little over 2mtrs of cord as the rubber on the gun doesn't seem to be able to shoot the spear far enough. When we were out the other weekend, I managed to get close enough to a red mullet to shoot it and the spear didn't even go through the fish. Thankfully, the spear tip got in far enough that I managed to chase the fish and catch it by hand and then dispatch. From what I have read on this forum and others, the spear should have gone through the fish, enabling the flopper to do it's job and not let the fish get away...
Has anybody got any advice? I can't really throw the gun away and get something bigger and better.. the gun has no brand name, it was purchased at the local fishing shop (Cranbourne). The gun does have provisions on it for another rubber but I read somewhere that too much power can cause other problems, like random inaccuracy etc.. soo.. not sure what my next step is going to be, to try and get some more power into the spear and make it a bit better at longer range....

Cheers, Raven.

I went through the exact same thing when i started mate. I had a 75cm Undersea Woodie, and had to be about 2ft away from the fish to penetrate it. I added a second rubber trying to get more range, which kinda worked. You will NEVER be able to take long shots with that gun, about 1.5m will be you max, and the shaft will be dead slow by then. People will say 2 rubbers on such a small gun is overkill, but when you have to be so close to fish, any shaft whip from overpowering will be negligable, and it will give the shaft that much needed extra oomph to get through a fish.

I sold the woodie to a mate, and he's been using that for about 2 years. Managed a 36cm snapper with it!

Anyway, that's what i'd do; add a second rubber (so you've got 2x 16mm's) and enjoy learning how to spear. Don't bother with removing the line slide (if it's got one), or putting on thinner shaft, it's not worth it on such a short gun.

cheers,
Luke

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The sea was angry that day my friends...like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli

Red mullet aren't the best things to be testing the 'penetration power' of a gun on, being both small and having large scales they have a habbit of just bouncing off no matter how big a gun you are using (I have had this happen several times using a 1.2m gun with 20mm rubbers, although the point was a little 'mashed.' This did make the fish very unwell, however).

There are only a few ways to increase range and power; shorten your rubbers, add extra rubbers (or increase rubber diameter), buy a heavier shaft or buy a longer gun. Keep in mind overpowering a short gun will give fairly minimal improvements while accuracy turns to crap (not to mention safety with the possibility of overstressing the trigger mech). Depending on the make of gun, you may find that you get a little extra power switching to an 8mm shaft and short 20mm rubber, but it wont come close to the performance of a longer (1m or so) gun.

If a new gun isnt realistic, another option is to look at shot selection. For small fish (especially goaties) try to get a perfect broadside if you are trying for a holding shot. This gives the best chance to pierce the scales. Otherwise aim for the head and try and grab the very groggy fish if the spear doesn't sink... Shooting fish angling towards or away from you doesn't tend to work, they either bounce off or seem to be able to 'dodge' the spear.

Of course your other (and probably best) option is to switch your tip for a pranger or cluster head.

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That's where I saw the leprechaun. He tells me to burn things...

i think claymore makes a good point in regard to putting pressure on the mech. Because it's an "unknown brand", you really don't know what the quality of the components are like, or how much the mech can handle. So just bare that in mind when you've got it loaded up, and don't rely on the safety. If you decide to put on a second rubber, when it's loaded up in the water, give it a good shake, and knock it around a bit while pointing into clear water to see if it's going to missfire. sounds dodgy, but better to find out when your expecting it rather than having it go off at the wrong time...

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The sea was angry that day my friends...like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli

Thanks for the info... I thought maybe shortening the existing rubbers might be helpful but don't really want to fight putting them back together.. I have a couple of old pranger heads from my cousins when they used to spear, but sadly, this gun has everything different sizes, so until I can get an adapter made up (which shouldn't be too hard, got one for the sling to use these heads), I might try and go for head shots when we go out..
With your comment on the red mullet scales, Claymore, I guess the same can be said for the leatheries I shot too? hard skin makes it difficult for penetration by the smaller gun...?
If I decided to try having 2 rubbers on the gun, how does the second one attach to the shaft? there is one groove for the existing rubber bridle to attach but there is no way this would handle a second one in the same spot....

You might need a new spear if you want a second rubber. Most standard spears come with two grooves, you would use one for each rubber.

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Taking the fight to the fish!

smaller guns under 75cm barrel length are really only good for holes and flathead/flounder. they don't have the range or power generated in such short rubber length.. i think the sling would still be better.. a 95cm - 1.1m barrel length is an ideal allround gun for here and nsw for a beginer to advanced diver.
eg- comp divers in vic use prodominately 1m barrels.

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i know it smells fishy... just eat it!!!

Spears bouncing off red mullets? That's new to me, usually they seem to self destruct or become "instant burley".

If your spears bouncing off red mullet I think you may have made a mistake when you rigged the gun. The thinner rubber is what we call a bungy and we use these on the spearline, not to power the spear.

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT