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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here!

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Old 02-14-2012, 02:29 AM   #16
spearq8
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

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Originally Posted by stevemc1 View Post
The reason why those old Riffes kicked up is because of poor geometry. The bands are not aligned with the spear. The more power, the worse it is. The lead will help with a band or maybe 2, but not 3. A speargun should push back, not up. The wings work by lifting the bands up to align them, but they are a poor thing, they cause huge drag moving the gun around. A simple stainless steel rod set just under the track about 1/4" and sticking out about 1 1/2" on each side, that the bands could go over would help immensly with this problem, and make the gun very accurate and easy to move underwater. It is always a lot better to start with a gun that shoots right, than to try and fix it later.

I have to agree with a lot you say but I wouldn't go as far as saying it is a poor design. I will agree that the newer designs by Riffe such as the Euro series are much better. The Riffe standard works quite well once you have a wing on it, but then of course you need to add lead weight as the wing sold really is too much wood for the gun and will have the front way too buoyant. The Riffe Euro though, the bands are much higher up ... AND ... much more importantly I think is that the grip sits much higher to the CG of the gun. This allows recoil to go into the palm rather than to be below the palm and thus twist your wrist (painful). The Euro still has a problem in that the bands don't sit parallel unless you use steel wishbones or you manually fix them. My solution for that was to add a small wing up front which is also ballasted where the gun still has excellent balance. I have both guns and it is immediately apparent when you put both guns in the water that from the factory the Euro gun is designed with ballasting in mind while the standard is not.
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Old 02-22-2012, 09:25 AM   #17
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

So, I just saw these ballast weights are available on the website now.

http://www.neptonicsystems.com/Riffe...ast%20kit.html
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Old 02-22-2012, 10:30 AM   #18
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

i bought one a couple days ago. i test fired the gun in a pool with 3 fresh 5/8 bands and it still has a slight jump in the muzzle but it was noticeably different!! i think a little more weight might make it less. im gonna try drilling into the weight body and putting in some tungston for more weight.. worth the money for sure. thanks josh
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Old 02-23-2012, 12:50 PM   #19
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

This is awesome! Glad to see shops producing quality upgrade parts.
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Old 02-24-2012, 05:03 AM   #20
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

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Originally Posted by garret View Post
i bought one a couple days ago. i test fired the gun in a pool with 3 fresh 5/8 bands and it still has a slight jump in the muzzle but it was noticeably different!! i think a little more weight might make it less. im gonna try drilling into the weight body and putting in some tungston for more weight.. worth the money for sure. thanks josh

Actually that weight might just be perfect with the Riffe wings. The Riffe wings give more buoyancy than required and having the weight more up front is better than having it in the wings. Great idea where form most certainly follows function!
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Old 02-24-2012, 10:53 AM   #21
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

I want one, for my Island. And can I just trim some lead off in order to suit my No Ka Oi?
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Old 02-26-2012, 07:06 AM   #22
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

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I want one, for my Island. And can I just trim some lead off in order to suit my No Ka Oi?
It only extends past the profile of the No Ka Oi about a 1/16 of an inch. Looks fine. I wouldn't even bother trimming it.
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Old 03-08-2012, 11:41 PM   #23
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

Does this fit the riffe c3 with three bands? it's pretty snug in there with the bands alone... But I guess you can always squash them in there.
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:48 PM   #24
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

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Does this fit the riffe c3 with three bands? it's pretty snug in there with the bands alone... But I guess you can always squash them in there.
The current design fits the Riffe Island as well as the Riffe No Ka OI
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Old 03-09-2012, 03:53 PM   #25
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

The C3 does not come with the muzzle reinforcement screw needed to retain the lead weight. It would be easy to add the reinforcement screw, however you would be limited to two bands. With 2 5/8" bands it would be good, as 2 5/8" bands on that gun produces quite a kick.

Last edited by manoa matt; 03-09-2012 at 04:03 PM.
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Old 03-10-2012, 03:03 PM   #26
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

Sweet idea! I had my Island ballasted with lead and it really helped. Much better than wings.
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Old 07-13-2012, 11:39 PM   #27
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

I have a newer No Ka Oi, it shoots great from the factory with 3 9/16 bands. I have no complaints about the gun as it, it handles great and is very accurate. I wouldn't mind powering it up with 3 5/8 bands. I don't like the wings bit could definitely live with the Neptonics ballast. Has anyone had experience with a No Ka Oi with 3 5/8 bands and the Neptonics ballast?
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Old 12-06-2018, 07:42 AM   #28
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Re: Ballasting a Riffe Gun

This is the greatest thread ever for the No Ka Oi. I just got mine and immediately went to Neptonics to grab the ballaster. Can’t wait to test this beast.


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