first hand experience with pneumatic spearguns

[DBS]

Hey guys, new to the board but I've been reading it pretty steady for the last two weeks.


Seems that all of you guys use band guns and there isn't much info on pneumatics so I though I would post my experience with them for others to read if they ever browse through the forum.

I live in Southwest Arkansas close to several very nice lakes. That's all I dive and visibility usually isn't too great. Probably nothing like you ocean guys get to see. Hunting conditions usually involve grass lines and/or rock cliffs with 10 - 15 ft being the max shooting range. Most shots less than 10.

I chose a 70cm Sporasub Stealth pneumatic speargun mainly cause all my family and friends use is air guns. The price after shipping was $168. This gun is almost identical to the Mares Cryano 700 (which my stepdad uses). I put a 16' spring coil line on my gun (which is also what everyone else around here uses). My first impression after getting my gun was that reloading with this setup is fast and very simple. However the speed and the range of the gun (the original pressure in the gun) kinda sucked. Good things about pneumatics is you can air them up!! :) after draining all the air out of my gun to put in the max number of pumps I would stop pumping after hitting 5 bar, 10 bar, 15 bar, etc.. to test the strength of the gun and to see what pressure others had their gun at. about 15 bar on a pneumatic is all you can load with your "bare hand". anymore pressure you will need a loader tool that comes with the guns. To my suprise most folks are only shooting 10 to 15 bar... around 200 PSI, because they like an easy loading gun. Effective range of this?? maybe 10 ft.

Well I didn't buy a dang gun to maybe get 10 ft out of it. So I pumped mine up to the max 30 bar (435 PSI or so). You have to have good arm strength and a gun loader to load the dang thing. But I will tell you, it shoots very fast and extremely hard. I have no worries of making long shots. And the power regulator (low/high) is great when shooting around rocks.

70 cm is the perfect length for my hunting situations. some have 85cm or maybe longer once in a while but we dont' need the range and we're not shooting any really big fish. Nothing here gets big except for catfish and the occassionaly stripped or hybrid bass. And the short length (28") makes it GREAT for manuvering and turning to shoot when visibility is less than spectacular.

As far as reliability - Excellent. Many of the guns people use are several years old and have never been rebuilt. Parts are cheap enough and a LDS rebuilds them so no worries about that end of the spectrum. I'm sure mine will fail sooner than most cause I plan to always use mine at max pressure. Using a spring coil line is common practice around here and I can't imagine having to wrap a line. Just load - shoot, load - shoot with a spring coil :)

Is it loud? yep, or mine is anyways. It doesn't scare fish off around here though so it really isn't a concern. Those that are loaded mid-pressure aren't bad loud at all. actually I think they are quiet.

Recommendations: if shots less than 15ft is your thing and you want something simple and FAST to reload I say go for it. I am Very Very happy with my gun. Of course, I'm a freshwater lake hunter so take it for what it's worth.


I just wanted to write this to give some positive feedback on pneumatic guns. For you band guns owners that are curious about a pneumatic gun then give them a try. It may not suit you but I doubt you'll hate it. BTW - try the new guns and don't base judgement off of older/obsolete models.

[Mobile Diver]

Watch out, man. You're going to get an earful. I am not as good at spearing as a lot of the band gun folks I have seen, but I have never seen a reason to switch from my pnuematic (Mares Cyrano 970).

[WreckDiver]

Steve is really attached to his pneumatic:) rightfully so too. I have seen him land some big fish with that thing. hey Steve give me a call when ya get a minute.

[OceanEd]

DBS:

I have a SCUBAPRO Magnum 80 pneumatic gun that I was working on today. I have built a PVC tube holster for it so I can attach it to my tank and carry it "hands free" during lobster season and still have a gun when I want one.

I got out my trusty pump and really pumped up the pressure and found I had so much pressure that I couldn't load the shaft, so I had to relese some of the pressure. It is a balance between being able to load it and how much pressure you have.

On your gun how is the pressure (high/low) regulator set up? Is it a switch or a knob that you push from one setting to another? On my gun I have a forward setting that is placed a bit lower on the handle and a higher, farther back second setting. You manually push the knob from one setting to the other. The trouble is that I have not used the gun in so long I forgot which is the high setting and which is the low setting. I would assume it is the same for most pneumatics. Which is high on yours?

Don't be worried about using a pneumatic. I used to use them in Europe all the time and loved them. I use a band gun here in Florida and I love that too. Whatever it takes.

[f94gator]

Bah! Rubber good! Air bad!!! :D

[David King]

I shot a Mares 970 for a couple of years. I enjoyed it and the accuracy was fine. I got tired of having big grouper bend up my shafts so I started using a .357 poewr head and that worked pretty good. I have now changed to a Spearfishing Specialties 52" gun and love it, but I am not ashamed of using the pneumatic for so long. I liked it, just outgrew it. Sounds like you found the perfect set up for where you dive. Congratulations.

[DBS]

OceanEd:

the high/low switch on mine and others i have seen is a little knob that you push forwards and down for "low", and for high the knob is in the position closet to you.. the one closest to the back of the gun.

[OceanEd]

DBS:

Thanks for confirming what I thought, but had forgotten. I am in your debt. Stick to your guns (no pun intended).

If you ever get a chance look for a pneumatic gun that used to be made by Nemrod about 20 years ago. It was as big as a bazooka, mid handled, and you fired it by placing it on your shoulder with the trigger in front of you, just like a bazooka. The air chamber was massive. I would love to get my hands on one now.

[OceanEd]

CT:

I will check with Mares and see if they did make something like that. If so, maybe they have one collecting dust in some closet at their factory in Rapallo, Italy.

[frogman]

Short pneumatics are good if you mainly shoot holed up fish. But so is a pole spear for a lot less money and less hassle.
However, some Italian and Greek enthusiasts have "tweaked" the production pneumatics and have produced "high-press" varieties. Such guns can be inflated to pressures exceeding 60 bars and have a TRUE range of 30 feet. Several bluefin tunna have been landed with such guns. Of course, loading them is not an easy task and I think comparing these guns with the "regular" pneumatics would be equivalent to comparing a cheap eurogun to a big Riffe or Wong.
If you want to find our more about these "specialist" guns you can check out www.maorisub.com . Check under "fucili". However, I think I will stick to my railguns.

[Mobile Diver]

Hey Gator,

I knew we'd hear fom you; nice to know some things are dependable.

Frogman,

Very interesting post. I will check it out.

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for the link Frogman; it looks like an interesting site. BTW, do pneumatic guns float without the shaft?

[DBS]

not that i know of. mine doesn't with the shaft, but it floats easily without. I think it would be easy to make it float even with the shaft if you sealed up the handle.

[DBS]

Hey Frogman: I've seen the video's and read about the modifications they do. It's crazy, but cool. I think using a big band gun would definitely be better than using one of the monsters they create. but hey, if it works it works.