Hey family,
Recently I purchased 2 Salvimar guns. I got them for a very good price and when it was all said and done I paid 422$ (inlcuding international shipping) for both guns. So it came out to ~210 US a piece. This review will be on the V-Pro 105. The vuoto I'll review later.
My initial thoughts: That this would be a sweet gun. Had some features like the rail being segmented towards the muzzle for easy swinging, handle looked super comfortable, a usable safety, and an included reel, plus the shaft seemed to be pretty innovative. Although right from the get go I didn't like the idea of the metal wishbones, if they performed ok I could handle it. Upon further investigation, I was sorely mistaken.
The first thing I did was take it get some reel line. The next morning I made the mistake of going out with this gun without pool testing first. The first time I tried to load the gun the metal wishbone slipped off the Torsion 2 shaft (90 degree notched sharkfin... WTF were they thinking!) luckily it didn't buzz me too bad. The next thing(s) occurred to me after i was able to get one of the two, 14mm bands to notch on the closest notch to me. I was going to have to pull the other band along that band, and hopefully not knock it loose, breaking a finger or something. It was a terrifying experience. I notched the second band to the rest fin, and went to pull it down to the other rear notch. IT WOULDN'T FIT. just plain and simple, it wouldn't fit. Upon looking at their catalog, it looks like they photoshopped the two bands pulled all the way back... one of the bands is just gone. The demo picture on the other side shows one band on rest, the other all the way back. I guess they couldn't get it to fit either....
So i notch up the rest notch and furthest back, use the conventional muzzle modification they used, and dive down the 50 or so feet to the bottom. Where I am met by the stupidest mutton. At about 7 feet from me, just giving me its broad side all day. I point, aim, and fire. WHOOOOOOO! the spear does a BARREL ROLL (like in the movie wanted) around the mutton. I was very upset and frustrated. I later learned it was the order in which you load the bands(have to do rest/upper notch first with this muzzle), so I can't hold that against it too much.
I ended up taking it to Dan later that night. He was really awesome about everything. We tossed the factory bands/wishbones and set it up with two of Dan's 14mm bands set to 300% with Dyneema wishbones. He also hooked it up with green inserts
I also ended up getting a 6.5 carbon steel shaft. Needless to say it looks pretty badass at this point.
I was able to get in the pool this afternoon to test fire it a couple times. The bands Sat nicely in the rear notches. My fear of losing fingers while loading has dissipated completely, which is really nice. The gun has some kick(compared to the pneumatic, but that's to be expected), shoots nice and fast , and above all straight. I loosened the tensioner on the reel and when fired pulled about 6', shaft and mono included from muzzle to tip 19'. Pretty darn snappy.
Overall the handle is fantastic, mech seems tight, safety is really nice. Barrel seems solid. the gun is useless without new bands and shaft though. Without Dan's help I'd be in a bad place.
i was able to have my roomie take a 1/8th slow mo vid of me firing the new setup. The shaft is hard to follow, but even in slow mo it's pretty quick.
http://vid865.photobucket.com/…22_134021_zps14cbd25d.mp4
Salvimar clearly has some issues when it comes to delivering practical, safe band guns right from the factory. I even did some research; they used to provide true sharkfin and pin style shafts! If you're going to use the 90 degree wire sharkfins, at least pair it with Dyneema wishbones! It just didn't make a lot of sense... Or at least slant the notches to provide resistance from slipping!
With the above modifications I'm really happy with the gun.