Need advice on gun.

[Smartpart]

Whats a good gun for a beginner to start out with? Low to mid price range?

Thanks for the help.

[harpune1]

get a euro 100 or 90 cm depending on viz and what fish your opting to shoot.
for ex. an omer excalibur or dragon, a beuchat arka or mundial, or something similiar is best to start with in my opinion...
www.supprof.com
they have a lot of em, you may con´sider buying it from europe..

[Mr. X]

As harpune1 said, 90/100cm is probably a good starting point. The sumora, official distributors of Rabitech and Rob Allen website in the USA has a useful table that provides advice on the length of speargun to get -- which depends on the visibility of the water you dive and the terrain (reef/open water/kelp/lake/...). Here is the UK the usual recommendation is 75-90cm, in the med. 100cm seems more common (& perhaps a shorter cave gun?). South Africa, 110cm-150cm are not uncommon.

If you fill in the location field of your profile, somebody in your area might be able to provide a better guide for you. If you'll be shooting mainly big fish, you might want more or heavier elastic bands and a thicker than normal spear.

It is hard to recommend a "good gun for a beginner" because if you take to spearing you'll wish you'd got a good one & if you rarely use it you'll wish you didn't. They all work. I would suggest getting a mid-priced well known brand on band gun (so you can sell it easily & get parts & service if necessary) - e.g. Omer, Cressi, Rob Allen, Seatec (don't know much about the wooden US guns - JBL, A.B. Biller, Wong & Riffe). They do cut corners on some of the very cheapest spearguns, so check details if going for a real low-end gun, but you can always upgrade rubbers & wishbone and add a muzzle bungee later if you feel the need. Omer is a spearo specialist company with a wide range of products that seem to offer excellent service by a forum member Mark Laboccetta in the USA; if I were still in the USA I would probably try there first. (In Europe, try Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment - always an interesting selection, good beginner articles too, or apnea.co.uk or Portland Oceaneering).

[spaghetti]

90 or 100 centimeters euro, as said by the lads! It's the perfect all-rounder, not too big for reef hunting on small fish, not too small for stoning the big ones, compact and simple enough to be handled by a newby.
In the Usa you can find a good deal on the Omer Cayman alluminium: I suggest this gun as high value for relatevely low price.
Check the american online stores and you'll find many good deals. For instance, look at this site and drop a mail to the owner of the store, Jim: he's a great guy. Tell him you're from Deeper Blue and he'll surely be VERY nice to you.
Omer Cayman Speargun [Cayman] - $0.00 : The Spearfishing Store

[Coral Sniper]

Also try Flfreedivers.com they sell the cressi comanchi for like 100 dollers

[Groupermadness]

Cressi Comanche series or Omer T20 Series are a good start even the new geronimo cressi standard is a good bet, just try and stay away from toooooo cheap,,,, as long as you can get something that will sling a long metal rod at a rapid rate of knots in a straight line then you have cracked it.... after comes the addiction to the expensive stufff ....

peter

[Smartpart]

How about the cressi sl pneumatic?

[Smartpart]

and do you have to have a reel?

[harpune1]

that also depends on size of the fish you intend to spear:
small: no reel needed
medium:rell needed
big: get a floatline and bigger gun

[spaghetti]

Yes it would be better to have a reel.
If you buy an Omer speargun, Omer reels are good and they are not expensive so don't worry. (same said for Cressi: reels are cheap).
Floatlines: many americans use floatline system instead of reel, especially for blue water hunting on big pelagic fish, and this makes sense. But for hunting reef fish on shoals, I think that a floatline is just a hassle, my 2 cents.

[apnea_beast]

what is your budget like?

[Smartpart]

LOL i got a sl pneumatic. Well see how it works.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Smartpart

LOL i got a sl pneumatic. Well see how it works.

To the Dark Side he has gone hmm. Sense the change in the force, Darth Foxfish will.

[harpune1]

lol, u still need to learn a lot..

[Smartpart]

I messed up?