Spring loaded spearguns

Thanks Marco. How old is it approx? If you had it in working condition how does it shoot?

Pics of an antique gun that may be spring operated.

As I recall, there's someone on this forum who owned a "Novelties" case. He would travel everywhere with it so he said. As I look through all the parts and accesories in that wooden case, I notice a Vaseline jar so I'm wondering if this is the case he talked about, if so, that's some scary shiat!:bedfun::laughing3:

That spring gun in the timber box, according to the guy who was hoping to retire for life by selling it on eBay, is a "Siama Roma" speargun. It is a forward latching speargun using a coil tension spring, not a compression spring. To load you stretch the spring coils out (the spring is anchored at the muzzle end) as the spear tail drives the aft end of the spring rearwards in the gun. If you push it far enough in you can add the extension tube to make the gun a full length mid-handle gun, or you just use the front half as a rear handle gun, but less power of course as less stretch used on the spring. The spear has a couple of sections to lengthen it or shorten it as the case may be. The spear has multiple notches in the front end to allow the spear to latch at various distances into the gun, thus varying the power of the shot, by changing the length of spear still projecting from the muzzle and conversely extending into the gun. When you shoot you need to pull the trigger right down so that the sear tooth does not rattle on the notches moving forwards from behind it. Steel barrel tubes are used to maintain strength as there are so many anti-suction ports an aluminum barrel tube would be too weak. The number of port holes have gone completely overboard, but the grip handle has been blind drilled grip "scales" to match. The gun looks nice, but is actually a weak design as the spear retention notches weaken the shaft at the worst possible place, right behind the spear tip.

I lost track of this gun, it was out of my price range at the time, I like the box as well.

Cheers, Don

interesting, I never think of springs working in an opposite fashion

These rifles had a force that was limited, the leading Mares Paco Garrido in the picture
trident and ass wearing iron hook threaded aluminum rod spring by compression, needed
to be always well greased, was very goodsoft flesh fish such as parrots, etc. ..

Quote from Don Paul

I lost track of this gun, it was out of my price range at the time, I like the box as well.

Cheers, Don

The details are locked up in my old computer, but the guy listed it at a starting price of $14,000! I sent him a message about what it was (he never had a clue how it worked) and told him that he was out by a factor of seven, even at the most optimistic price. He relisted around ten grand, then gave up and we never saw it again. I wondered how he came by it, where were the receipts and instructions? Had it been acquired by honest means or was it liberated from some old-timer without permission? I guess that we will never know. Pay that sort of price and you want provenance, not something from "Midnight Supplies".

Quote from sdeisen

interesting, I never think of springs working in an opposite fashion

Maxime Forjot had the patent for tension spring guns and produced his "Douglas" line of mid-handle spring guns. Unfortunately he was ripped off at every turn as many copied his design. His story was told in a British "Diver" article which was put up on the Web. The tension spring gun drives the shaft nearly the full length of the barrel, unlike the compression spring gun which only uses half. Tension spring guns can snap their springs at the anchor ends, whereas compression spring guns just lose power as the spring gradually collapses and becomes shorter. In them you can move the rear spring fixing pin forwards to compensate, for the tension spring guns you need a new spring.

Spearguns amazing

Quote from popgun pete

The details are locked up in my old computer, but the guy listed it at a starting price of $14,000! I sent him a message about what it was (he never had a clue how it worked) and told him that he was out by a factor of seven, even at the most optimistic price. He relisted around ten grand, then gave up and we never saw it again. I wondered how he came by it, where were the receipts and instructions? Had it been acquired by honest means or was it liberated from some old-timer without permission? I guess that we will never know. Pay that sort of price and you want provenance, not something from "Midnight Supplies".

Out of curiosity I searched on "Siama Roma" and found another one here COOL OLD GUNS - Page 2 - Spearfishing Planet

This gun is assembled, so you can more easily see how the parts in the timber box go together. "Brevette" means patent, not brand, as the poster has suggested there.

That is cool info Phil. I was thinking that tension springs are a lot more dangerous too

Well, thanks very much:) I always wonder, how these spearguns work/performe, here in the main Acapulco Avenue the "costera" in more or less in the center of the bay is a statue of a local "hero" he was a national swiming champion an he command the navy dive guys "comando submarino" in the early days of Acapulco.

The statue has a speargun like the one posted by MARCO the cressi, in one hand, a pair of fins open heals in the other and a mask in the forehead, he die in the rescue atempt of the bodies of a couple that were kidnaped, that in theory were in a place that has 50 to 60 mts. like 164 / 196 ft. of depht.:(

Quote from Sadot

Well, thanks very much:) I always wonder, how these spearguns wok/performe, here in the main Acapulco Avenue the "costera" in more or less in the center of the bay is a statue of a local "hero" he was a national swiming champion an he command the navy dive guys "comando submarino" in the early days of Acapulco.

The statue has a speargun like the one posted by MARCO the cressi, in one hand, a pait of fins open heals in the other and a mask in the forehead, he die in the rescue atempt of the bodies of a couple that were kidnaped, that in theory were in a place that has 50 to 60 mts. like 164 / 196 ft. of depht.:(

The spring guns must have been reasonably effective weapons as Cressi-sub built a range of different models for different jobs. There were varying lengths and diameters of barrels and the power of the propulsion springs also varied. Some shot tubular steel shafts and others had aluminium shafts for higher velocity shots at more rapidly moving fish. The "Saetta" was for hunting around reefs and had a slightly pre-compressed spring even before you loaded the gun. Most guns had springs that were "loose" in the barrel as they just sat with their front ends at the entrance to the muzzle after the shot.