mares cyrano 850 + mamba

[peacenluv]

awesome to have a board like this to get us beginner's moving. very glad to be here.

trying to make a choice on what speargun to get. i'm a just startin to freedive in taiwan and have gone out to the reefs a few times. the water is pretty clear (>15 ft vis), but gets even clearer on nicer days. most of the larger fish i've seen are pretty shy and usually dart away when i'm within around 10 feet. i've gone out with an ab biller 6' polespear with paralyzer tip and caught some smaller fish but can't seem to get close enough to the bigger fish to use it. so thinkin bout gettin a speargun.

in taiwan, spearguns are controlled arms. each citizen over 20 can apply for maximum 2 guns and each gun takes 30 days to get approval for. it's illegal to let anyone else use your gun, so not easy to get a loaner obviously. every several months, gun owners need to take their guns back to the police station to re-register. being such a painful process, it's pretty important to choose the right gun. i'm leaning towards gettin the mares cyrano 850. that is the only size and model available from mares here. but i've heard a lot of people complaining about the weak shaft. i was wondering if anyone knew if the maorisub mamba is the same as the mares gun (if added with mamba kit) and if the shafts sold by maorisub are better quality than the mares.

other options available to me are on this website http://taiwansport.com/diving/speargun/. for some brands, this company seems to have older models and i've been to their warehouse and they seem to be the manufacturer for all of the guns they have on their website. i'm wondering if they r copies or something... hmmm...

it's along post for first post. any advice would be appreciated. hope someone reads it without fallin asleep.

[Marwan]

well depending on the size/kind of fish an vizibility....unless its murky or unclear....there are some choices you cant go wrong with:
beuchat mundial carbon elite 100
rabitech apex carbon 100
and the gun you mentioned originally

do you require gun permits for band guns as well or only pneumatics?? seemds weird to consider band guns as weapons...

[peacenluv]

hi marwan. thanks for the input. i'm going over to the factory again to take a look at the beuchat and rabitech carbon models.. is the gun suppose to feel very sturdy? cause the last time i picked up the beuchat mundial carbon in the factory, it didn't seem so well-built, hence I thought this factory might be making copies or something.. i'll guess i better send beuchat and rabitech an email and ask if these guys are legit distributors..

in taiwan, need permit for band and pneu guns.. the laws are so tight for the guns, yet, there are no laws put in place for catch restriction size.. and when i mention skin-diving to spearfish, most people laugh and tell me to go scuba if i really want to catch any fish.. then again in this country, i often go fishing along the coast and see so many people keeping anything over 2"!!! yep, 2 INCHES!!! nuts.. and when i see the scuba spearfishing guys with their band guns bringing in little petite 4-5" fish, it really makes u wonder what the **** these guys r thinkin..

[peacenluv]

btw, do u know about the shaft strength between the mares cyrano shafts and the maorisub mamba shafts? from what i see on the board, the weak shaft on the cyrano puts a lot of ppl back...

[Fondueset]

You can allways get a different shaft. The cyrano shoots a 7mm shaft - or a 6.5 mm. The one that comes with it is nothing to write home about but it is very easy to get spring steel shafts for these guns. I don't imagine it would be much of an issue with an 850 mamba though. Quite short and the mamba lets you use very little pressure.

[Marwan]

I have a mamba 90 with a 6.5mm shaft but top quality spring seel...i agree with fondue that the standard shaft that comes with the guns are **** if you are afraid of replicas then definitely check..but i would be surprized if someone were to counterfeight spearguns i wouldnt imagine that they sell a lot of volumes (not like mobile phones for example) but worth the check in all cases

[peacenluv]

cool, thanks for the info on the shafts. i just got info from spearmantw that he uses guns bought from that store so i think their ok. i asked them to see if they can import the mamba 90 for me.. let's see what happens. importing spearguns is apparently a pain in the ass due to the tight control but i'll wait and see if can be done before seeing about the band guns.

peace out

[Fondueset]

You can get the cyrano and just import a mamba kit - if I'm tracking what you are saying correctly. The kits are easy to install on your gun and SpearoDave says the cyrano/mamba combination is great. Maorisub has shafts - but so do quite a few other places.