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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here!

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Old 09-19-2009, 06:03 PM   #16
popgun pete
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

Speargun sights have been developed in Europe for target shooting events, some with a height adjustable open rear sight to allow for shaft drop over longer shooting distances. One problem with this additional equipment fitted is the line snagging potential of the often more bulky sight, not during the shot, but afterwards. That is of no concern in a pool while shooting at a fixed target supported on a metal stand.

In Europe and the former Soviet Union countries spearguns are routinely modified for pool based target shooting competitions, but the special sight equipped spearguns used are not really designed for underwater hunting in that form. Some more elaborate sights are banned, it depends on the rules of the particular competition.

As a means to check out your gun's precision and accuracy while hand shooting your gun they do have a certain use, as has been stated here by others, however change over the shafts or bands and the gun's accuracy will always change to a certain degree (side to side band pull, slight shaft curvature, flopper position, tip alignment, etc.). Precision may stay the same, but the accuracy will vary, however at shorter range the effects are not so great as angular trajectory variation translates to less radial displacement from the target centre.

Mordem used to make sights for their small eurogun, the sight was used along with a gun stabilising disc under the front of the barrel to resist muzzle lift. The URL is, or was www.mordem.it, however I have not checked it recently to see whether their target shooting model is still on display.
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Old 09-20-2009, 06:32 AM   #17
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

well you have to calculate the waves, surge, currents, and tracking a moving fish. Having sights would just be useless, i just go out and shoot fish most of I time I hit 90% of what I'm aiming at.
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Old 06-05-2017, 05:15 PM   #18
Joe Wortsmith
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

We manufacture Speargun Sights using red and green lasers. Call Laser Tools Co., Inc. in Little Rock, AR.
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Old 06-05-2017, 07:36 PM   #19
Fat Larry
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

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We manufacture Speargun Sights using red and green lasers. Call Laser Tools Co., Inc. in Little Rock, AR.

Does your red laser have some special property that allows it to remain visable under water???
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Old 06-05-2017, 08:01 PM   #20
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

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Does your red laser have some special property that allows it to remain visable under water???
I could be wrong, but red light will still be visible at depth since you have a different source of light than the sun. Red disappears at depth because the red wavelengths from the sun don't penetrate the water that far.
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Old 06-05-2017, 09:08 PM   #21
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

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I could be wrong, but red light will still be visible at depth since you have a different source of light than the sun. Red disappears at depth because the red wavelengths from the sun don't penetrate the water that far.
You're right on. I used to have a red waterproof laser, I used it to tease small reef fish with, ya get lots of action. Kinda like teasing a cat or dog with a laser dot on the floor and walls. I also tried to mount it to a speargun once..worthless, or at least I thought it was.
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Old 06-06-2017, 01:37 AM   #22
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

Wow ... I actually posted this 8 years ago

Move forward 8 years ... I believe sights simply have no place on a speargun. The range that is now possible to shoot a gun accurately simply is too far for an eye to see a laser dot. Also a green laser freaks the crap out of fish as even with a little stuff floating in the water, the laser looks like a super long ray that is out to get the fish. Totally not practical.

What I found critical to get great accuracy is to have a clean line of sight (bands not all jumbled over each other) and a good crisp trigger that has an absolutely predictable trigger pull that breaks at exactly the same point with the same effort every time. Also as you push up the power, you need a customized handle that pushes recoil directly to your palm ... this prevents left shift. Of course we are assuming that the gun and band and shaft setup is shooting accurately and I am only talking about the human factor. Once you have all the above sorted out ... the next step is practice, practice ... and more practice. Good accuracy is all about timing ... never fight movement and always flow with the movement. Whether it is a small current pulling your gun a certain direction, or a fish swimming under you and you are moving your gun from top to bottom ... or whether you are dealing with small tugs pulling on your gun from waves pulling your float and floatline a certain way ... you need to time the shot as your gun moves over the target. Never go to the target and hold an aim point and fire ... this sets up tension on your wrist and makes the shot inaccurate.
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Old 06-06-2017, 02:08 AM   #23
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

(Well, the thread was being brought back to life by someone who just joined trying to sell something...)

I can see one possible use for a laser and that is actually in the pool when dialing in a new gun or a new design. If the laser stays on target and your shots are all over the place, then for sure the gun and not the shooter is to blame. But would I spend the time and money to use a laser in this fashion? I am not so sure - it is more a luxury diagnostic tool in that regard.
I do think, though he will not admit it, that Majd shoots better than most spearos, kinda like a human laser;-). When I last tested, I did find it surprisingly hard to just keep the gun on target and not swaying around - but it was in the ocean, too. So, perhaps pool sessions help tremendously in that regard.
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Old 06-06-2017, 05:14 PM   #24
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

Actually I joined to learn about blue water spearfishing. The fact that my company builds application specific laser products including underwater Laser Scalers for the ROV market and speargun lasers is coincidental. With that said I can answer some questions with credibility. I have been using a laser on my pneumatic gun for over 5 years and it works well in both red and green wavelengths. I hit Bass, Crappie and Walleye in the head every time. But I'm in freshwater and my shot distance is less than 10 feet.
I can see the dot on the reflective scales of the fish in both colors but green is brighter. The green lasers used are switchable direct drive, diode lasers at 5mW Class IIIa power. Even thought the beam is increased in size to be more visible on a pelagic at 8m. This means that the laser dot is only on when the spearo is taking aim so other school fish are not aware. The dot is more visible and battery life is conserved. Beam steering optics can be included for windage and elevation compensation but the laser body has a longitudinal groove that self aligns the concentric beam to the long axis of the speargun. This is usually close enough. Attach the laser with silicone and let it rip! Or not.
I'm a believer in head shots with minimal blood loss so as to not attack predators. A Speargun Laser sight helps me do this.
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Old 06-06-2017, 05:19 PM   #25
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

Joe Wortsmith;2142924]Actually I joined to learn about blue water spearfishing. The fact that my company builds application specific laser products including underwater Laser Scalers for the ROV market and speargun lasers is coincidental. With that said I can answer some questions with credibility. I have been using a laser on my pneumatic gun for over 5 years and it works well in both red and green wavelengths. I hit Bass, Crappie and Walleye in the head every time. But I'm in freshwater and my shot distance is less than 10 feet.
I can see the dot on the reflective scales of the fish in both colors but green is brighter. The green lasers used are switchable direct drive, diode lasers at 5mW Class IIIa power. Even thought the beam is increased in size to be more visible on a pelagic at 8m. This means that the laser dot is only on when the spearo is taking aim so other school fish are not aware. The dot is more visible and battery life is conserved. Beam steering optics can be included for windage and elevation compensation but the laser body has a longitudinal groove that self aligns the concentric beam to the long axis of the speargun. This is usually close enough. Attach the laser with silicone and let it rip! Or not.
I'm a believer in head shots with minimal blood loss so as to not attack predators. A Speargun Laser sight helps me do this in both blue water, reefs and freshwater green water.[/quote]
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Old 06-06-2017, 05:51 PM   #26
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

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I'm a believer in head shots with minimal blood loss so as to not attack predators. A Speargun Laser sight helps me do this.
Sounds like a good idea, not to mention kinder to the fish. How would you calibrate a laser on a spear gun though?
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Old 06-06-2017, 08:57 PM   #27
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

In the late nineties the Russian "Seabear" was offered with an optional laser sight; the lasers were produced in the USA. Different powers to suit underwater visibility and lighting were available. I saved the advert and price list which is attached here. The barrel clamp fixed the laser alignment, but where the spear flew with respect to the line of the beam would have been down to observation and experience as to how the gun performed at various shooting ranges. Any "add on" gun sights can be knocked out of alignment, so may be more trouble than they are worth unless the gun never receives rough handling.
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Old 06-06-2017, 09:20 PM   #28
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

There's other ways to use Sights on a Speargun and they are effective. Even just a Little scoop at the back of a Rear Handle can be lined up with a Bead on top of the mech. With Poliplast you already have the Clean line of sight and all Rollerheads stick up a bit and have those two sides. It would make sense that you could put a little high glow paint on those tips and it would offer another point of reference to your sighting.
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Old 06-06-2017, 11:55 PM   #29
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

I am not against sights at all - heck, I have been working on fiber optic sights for my pneumatics, too and have been talking about lasers on other forums. It's one of those things that are pretty easy on an airgun. On bandguns it gets trickier.
I do have to say that after having watched how much accuracy people like Majd has come to get out of their guns, I think the scales might have tipped to a point where a laser is more hassle than it is worth (on a bandgun).
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Old 06-07-2017, 12:01 AM   #30
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Re: Has anyone worked on developing speargun sights?

I've put them on a few recent Hawaiian sling builds using hi-vis acrylic. More for the design, but could be functional.
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