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Old 05-03-2020, 09:05 PM   #1
popgun pete
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Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Omer have dropped their pneumatic speargun line and the same will apply to the Sporasub versions. Thus owners of Airbalete and One Air guns might be wise to buy any spares that they may need in the foreseeable future. The 2020 catalog only lists pneumatic gun accessories such as spears and loading handles.

The Airbalete and One Air use pistons with angled face mushroom tails, so they will be difficult to replace with anything else.
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Old 05-15-2020, 08:35 PM   #2
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Unlike most pneumatic spearguns which use a rocking sear lever that is in a sense a flattened out single-piece trigger operated by an external trigger using a small transmission pin, the Omer Airbalete family use an angled tooth unstable sear lever caught by a sliding column with a catch step in it. An annular rib pressed into the outer tubing/tank limits how far the sear lever can tilt once the gun shoots. Rather ingenious, but the mechanism is not actually locked, it relies on the sear lever tail which revolves away from the catching step not being able to press it forwards without you doing so by pulling the external trigger which propels a thin control shaft that presses the sliding column forwards.
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Old 05-20-2020, 08:49 PM   #3
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

​I recently had a look at an Omer "AIR XII" brand new in its shipping box and noticed that in very tiny letters on the end of the white cardboard box it said "Made in Taiwan". So assumedly are the "Airbalete" and the Sporasub "One Air" which all share the same rear handle and internal trigger mechanism which is shown above. Thus they are not made in Italy out of shipped in parts, they come ready to go from Taiwan.
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Old 05-29-2020, 04:50 PM   #4
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Anyone with one of these Omer/Sporasub guns needs to periodically check what is going on under that removable rear handle. These photos explain why and were taken by Diving Gecko.


That corroded pin is the trigger transmission pin and when you pull the trigger it is pushed forwards through a seal to operate the internal slide and sear lever. Now in pneumatic spearguns these pins are always stainless steel so that they remain smooth and don't damage the seal, you don't use plated parts like brass rod with either nickel or chrome that can blister and break off. But as we can see here the Taiwanese who make these guns evidently have not thought about that. If the outer rubber seal damages it does not depressurize the gun, but it allows saltwater to access the region of the shaft much further in which once it corrodes it will damage the inner pressure seal and then you have big problems as pressurized air will escape from the gun.
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Old 05-30-2020, 04:35 PM   #5
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

At the moment these guns are being sold off at considerable discounts. https://www.scubastore.com/scuba-div...00/137076498/p

Out of curiosity I ordered an 80cm "One Air" to check it out and once it arrived I knocked the stainless steel pin out that holds the removable rear handle on the gun. Sure enough the transmission pin that slides through rubber seals is made of plated brass and the long rod inside the handgrip that pushes on it is the same. Now these guns were around 600 bucks originally, so you don't expect el-cheapo plated brass parts and usually such items (i.e. pins) are stainless steel, although plated brass inlet valve bodies are very common as its function is basically that of a nut that holds the gun together front and rear with the screw-on muzzle.

I am wondering if this has always been the case and whether the first issue “Airbalete” guns are the same as possibly they were made in Italy where they should know better.
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Old 05-31-2020, 05:24 PM   #6
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Loving how high the handle placement is, no band guns can compete with that. Guess it's a moot point now though.
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Old 06-01-2020, 12:23 AM   #7
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

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Originally Posted by AEgir View Post
Loving how high the handle placement is, no band guns can compete with that. Guess it's a moot point now though.
True, the shaft axis is a bit above your trigger finger. And in the case of the beefier, heavier One Air it leads to a shot that's so devoid of recoil or flip, band gun shooters who've shot mine think the gun didn't go off.

The downside of this design choice is that the shooting barrel does not run all the way into the handle as it does in most other airguns, so in effect the price you pay for this high handle is a reduced "band stretch". It's a big price to pay on a shorter gun and still fairly substantial on the longer ones.

That said, I think it's the last time anyone in the mass produced Euro-airgun market actually did something truly new design-wise. Every other gun out there has the internals of guns from 40 years back.

On one hand, it's a pity Omer drops their airguns but on the other, in light of the manufacturing issues, maybe they are just not willing to invest the time and resources it takes to do it properly so they should pull out. I have been based in China for quite a while now and I often say that if you're manufacturing there, you should station your own QC and engineering staff on site to make sure materials don't get swapped for cheaper ones, tolerances still stay correct and assembly workers take their time to do things correctly.
Or... choose the "Mako model" and just send out replacement parts no questions asked if anything breaks. But that works less well if more advanced disassembly is required of the end user.
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Old 06-01-2020, 01:17 AM   #8
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

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Originally Posted by AEgir View Post
Loving how high the handle placement is, no band guns can compete with that. Guess it's a moot point now though.
If you want one now is the time to buy it as they are clearing them out. The "One Air" I bought has now had another 30 bucks knocked off the price (Oh darn). There are a few sellers selling them at full price which is double what you can get them for at Scubastore and others, it pays to look around. Given the material problems they are selling at about what they are worth, however they could plunge once the stock is reduced just to get rid of them.
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Old 06-01-2020, 09:08 AM   #9
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

I won't waste my money in one of those...
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Old 06-25-2020, 03:20 PM   #10
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

This is the red warning sticking that wrapped the "One Air" gun just forwards of the detachable rear handle. I had to stick it back together as it tears when you remove it, hence the slight misalignment.
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Old 06-25-2020, 03:24 PM   #11
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

The firing at the completion of muzzle loading must have given Omer, or more likely the Taiwanese, the heebie-jeebies as not only did you have warnings in the operating manual and red stickers festooning the gun, they also put this hieroglyphic on the muzzle of the gun. I did not notice it at first and was gobsmacked when I saw it. This has to be a first!




The matt black finish on the tank looks more like paint than anodizing, maybe another short cut. If you know what the sign is saying it is kind of funny as it is completely over the top. Omer must have been embarrassed when they saw it as I am sure it was not on earlier models.

This gun is the Sporasub "One Air", but is really an Omer as Omer acquired Sporasub from Mares and launched this triple tube tank gun using most of the "Airbalete" innards. Unfortunately this heavier gun was still equipped with the feeble 11 mm inner barrel, so I don't know what they were thinking. Only the central tank held pressure, the two crescent shaped side tanks only served as buoyancy floats.
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Old 06-26-2020, 07:03 PM   #12
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

The on-line pdf version of the Sporasub "One Air" manual has the warning page incorporated rather than being an afterthought which is stapled into the booklet. When someone decided that it would be a good idea to actually display this message on the body of the gun they obviously took it literally!
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Old 06-26-2020, 07:05 PM   #13
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Interestingly at one time early "Airbalete" guns had a return spring on the line release lever, but it was later deleted. Possibly the spring was weak and useless, or too strong, particularly as with the "One Air" with its front tied spear as soon as the spear moves it pulls on the line release lever.
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Old 07-05-2020, 09:15 PM   #14
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

Removing the rear handle frequently for post dive cleaning may do in the tight fit on the big pin that has to be removed and replaced each time.

After studying the rear handle I think the best way to allow water in and out is to drill down either side of the boss inside the handle so the holes emerge in front of the trigger. That way the cup created inside the rear handle will drain if you place the gun muzzle up for a while before standing the gun on its nose. Small holes in the barrel cup section would allow it to drain, but water would still stay in the inlet valve opening and as you need to up end the gun to let the water out of there the drain holes are better placed in the handle section. You could drill below the boss, but the hole would pass through the location that the fixing pin is located and that would prevent the area draining. The holes only need to be small, so don't drill holes any larger than they need to be.
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Old 07-13-2020, 04:20 AM   #15
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Re: Omer discontinue their pneumatic guns

One way to remember to swing the line release lever back on these "Airbalete" family guns is to apply the safety lever after a shot and the victim has been collected and dispatched. This is because the safety will not move fully forwards to be "on" until the trigger is swung forwards, and that requires the line release lever swung back. You can then muzzle load the gun, complete the line wraps and when ready to resume hunting switch the safety lever "off" by swinging it back to lie horizontally. Personally I don’t like the safety on these guns, but here you can put it to good use.
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