Cuban homemade spearfishing gear, pneumatic speargun

During my time in Cuba I was impressed with the ingenuity of the Cuban spearfishermen, finding solutions for diving and spearfishing gear that we take for granted. Some equipment is better made than others, and some is so raw it makes me question whether I'd dive in those conditions. Just goes to show you how tough Cuban spearos are. I'll add to this thread as I come across more examples of the home made gear.

Here's a typical home made pneumatic speargun from Cuba, although many times they can also be seen with a plastic handle of very old Mares production with all the other parts being home made or criollo as they say in Cuba. It's nostalgic for me to see this gun. Of course it's far from ideal as spearguns go. It's 80cm long with the shaft being 92cm and looks like less than 7mm in diameter. I don't know what it's made of, I don't think it's aluminum because it's fairly heavy, 4.5lb as opposed to my Cyrano 70cm which is 2.5lb. Looks maybe like galvanized steel. The handle looks like it was poured in a mold, it's very thick and looks to be the same material as the barrel. The muzzle looks like brass and probably so is the inner barrel. The shaft is obviously rusted so it's not stainless.

I was asked by a friend if this is the gun length all spearfishers use in Cuba. The answer is they try to get the best possible and if this is all that's available then they'll use it and very efficiently. What they lack in fine gear they make up in determination, endurance and diving ability. Usually cuban divers will try to have the longest pneumatic that they can load comfortably. I've never seen a band gun used by a Cuban in Cuba. When asked why they answer that there are no parts for a band gun. By this I take it to mean that there are is no rubber tubing to make bands out of. Other than that Cubans are strongly conditioned to use pneumatics and continue using them when they come to the US even if other options are available to them.

Here are pics of the gun. Thanks to Sergio for bringing it. Click on the pics to see them in full resolution.

Monster, as strange as it seems yes they find it easier. Between La Habana and Guanabo (about 1/2 hour drive along the north coast of Cuba) there were two escopeteros that I knew of. I went with a spearfishing friend to see it one time. He's got a shed in the open air with some basic tools. Drill press, lathe, and boxes and boxes of washers and screws, all pretty shabby. But the spearfishers respect and depend on the guy. It's taken like an actual occupation although the guy may very well be some machinist for the state who does that for additional income. I believe that because industry is much more developed than leisure in Cuba they can steal or salvage all metal parts from factories and stuff rather than buy "parts" for spearguns. It is sad but it also reminds me of my best days spearfishing.

Quote from monster slayer

This is some serious information treasure -Both iconic and conceptual- contained within its few posts.

Your words capture the feeling I have whenever I see and remember these guns and which I wanted to pass on in this thread.

Nice pics Marco. That's a lot of float line he's got there.