Home Tournaments Calendar Weather Merchandise Sponsors

Go Back   Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum > Spearfishing Gear > All About Guns

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

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rating: Thread Rating: 6 votes, 5.00 average. Display Modes
Old 01-17-2017, 06:29 PM   #1
spearq8
Registered User
 
spearq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Finally got to test the Albacore 130. At first I saw that I had quite a bit of lead in the muzzle and handle compartment. Of course I was going to mod the handle ... but then I figured why not instead of lead balls add weight by having a Carbon Fiber skin. This should have been quite quick and easy but it turned out to be a lot more work than I expected. The Abellan guns are cut by CNC so the tolerances are very tight. Adding CF and epoxy meant that I had to re-cut the trigger hole and redo the track and also redo the muzzle to be able to get everything to fit again. Had I known it would have been so much work I think I would have just done the handle and be done with it. Anyway I like how the gun looks now and it certainly is much more durable.

I didn't like the default Cressi bands the gun came with and switched them out with a nice batch of Primeline 14.6mm small ID. I really can't wait to get this gun hunting dogtooth ... it is just so powerful and shoots flat flat flat. All my test shots with same aim point going 5m, 6m, 7m, 8m ... fit inside a fist. And it does that with quick and easy loading and only 3 bands. Was one of the most fun guns to shoot in the pool and can't wait to get it in the ocean!

spearq8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2017, 06:43 PM   #2
kon
Registered User
 
kon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 136
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Awesome. Glad I just ordered one

Which metal wishbone do you use for the 3rd band?
kon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2017, 06:48 PM   #3
spearq8
Registered User
 
spearq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Quote:
Originally Posted by kon View Post
Awesome. Glad I just ordered one

Which metal wishbone do you use for the 3rd band?

I use a Sigalsub titanium wishbone XL size. Only I rounded and polished the pointed ends as I feel it can damage the rubber. You can get it from here

https://www.scubastore.com/scuba-div...nium/1296776/p
spearq8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2017, 10:04 PM   #4
jstiver09
Registered User
 
jstiver09's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Venice, FL
Posts: 1,684
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Groupings within a fist at over 26 feet from the tip? Wow...just wow. Nice job.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jstiver09 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 01:00 AM   #5
Diving Gecko
Shooter & Shooter
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 955
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Seeing how much penetration there was at 8m, I was waiting for a bonus shot on 8.5/9m
And I couldn't help thinking that soon you'll need a scooter to get to the target and retrieve spears!

As always, thanks so much for this.
Diving Gecko is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 02:22 AM   #6
spearq8
Registered User
 
spearq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

I think the most impressive thing is not the group ... but rather that this group was done while changing distances from 5m to 6m to 7m and then 8m !!! That is the impressive part as the aim point was the same throughout. For that to happen a lot of things have to work well ... the shaft has to come out absolutely stable with very high velocity ... and the line has to unravel perfectly without any snag or tangle. Remember this is 3.5 wraps ... which is quite a lot of line flying around. Also I need to make a different target for 7m and 8m testing ... it is just so damn hard to see the aim point at that distance.

Another thing to remember is that the shaft drop in hunting conditions is actually about 1/3 what you see in the pool. When shooting fish ... the vast majority of the time you are shooting fish below you ... so gravity doesn't work so much against you ... so much less shaft drop. When spearfishing I always have to factor that in my shot, because if I would use my shaft drop data in the pool for guidance I would miss a lot of shots high. I was actually quite surprised at how little shaft drop there was at 8 meters ... I actually missed my first shot at penetration target @ 8 m high as I skimmed the top of the target. I expected about a foot of shaft drop and compensated for that ... but shaft only dropped about 2 inches! To give you a point of reference ... the Riffe Euro 120X when setup perfectly with bands and shaft ... has about 7 inches of shaft drop at 5 meters and about 10 inches at 6 meters!
spearq8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 07:59 AM   #7
kwtony
Snorkel Master
 
kwtony's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Lower Keys
Posts: 5,588
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Lol, i think i saw you posted the vid last night and I feel asleep watching it..

I got to see one of these in action last month and we actually did pool tests with it as well.. Castronova and I were pretty surprised with the kind of power behind it. Even shooting cable this shot very flat and very stable. Certainly a gun worth buying.

Poor Harry, I can only imagine the kind of impact when one of these videos gets posted up online, he probably gets flooded with questions and requests every single time. haha
__________________
IG @kw.tony

Last edited by kwtony; 01-18-2017 at 08:29 AM.
kwtony is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 08:44 AM   #8
Castronova
The Conch Republic
 
Castronova's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Key West, FL
Age: 42
Posts: 1,492
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Thanks again for posting Majd.

Yes, Tony and I tested last month. I thought the pool was long enough but it wasn't. I had to lay completely sideways to attempt to shoot close to 7m and couldn't stay down or stable in the corner. The target looks so damn far away at that distance. 8m shot is one you will probably never take but it's nice to know the power is there.

This is a 62" gun with 3 x 14.6mm bands that weighs 7.7 pounds. When compared to other guns meant for this same purpose you really see how compact this platform is compared to the power it produces.

Majd, can you give a brief comparison to the Albacore 120 with 8.5mm shaft? While I own this gun (Albacore 120) I've really liked the idea of the 120. It has so much power and is smaller yet but still can take down 99% of shots needed ever. It would be nice to travel with only a 58" gun and never be short on power.
Castronova is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 08:56 AM   #9
kwtony
Snorkel Master
 
kwtony's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Lower Keys
Posts: 5,588
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

From google earth, aside from the hotels, there aren't THAT many pools that would be big enough in key west to properly test this gun. And yes, we were laying sideways in the MONSTER pool and we still managed to put holes (yes holes) into the 1inch thick plywood behind it. We figured about 100 different way to make it better the next time, but JP has a real job and I have like 92 jobs as well, so one day soon we will do a test...It was really nerve wracking to shoot the way we did but we really learned a lot from the tests. Seriously the pool measured out to somewhere around 50 feet but when you factor in your body, your arm extended and THEN the range of the gun, these numbers start to get exponentially smaller. SOOO many variables that you dont think of before doing these tests.




There is a house called the Tarpon Ranch here on Summerland that we might can use, that place has a pool big enough,

Not for nothing, but Madj is a freaking saint for doing these videos, people have absolutely no idea how much time and effort goes into making these. Probably 2-3 hours for every minuet if he was really hustling, but Im thinking more around 3-5 hours of actual work PER minuet of video he posts...

We shot 6 highly tuned guns that dont really exist on our pool day but the best shooting gun of them all was this one....heres Uncle JP teaching this little fishmonster in training how to shoot his 24biller





Sorry Madj, for blowing your thread up with this....carry on
__________________
IG @kw.tony
kwtony is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2017, 10:39 AM   #10
Behslayer
Registered User
 
Behslayer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Big Island
Posts: 5,098
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Wow, nice shooting! Those 8.5mm spears are a sweet spot. I've tried a few times with 11/32" and felt they kicked just a little too much for the juice to be worth the squeeze. Do you think the CF made any difference in the performance of the gun? What does the gun weigh with the CF wrap? Nice Job on that.
Behslayer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2017, 05:05 AM   #11
spearq8
Registered User
 
spearq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

I am pretty sure the CF had no difference in performance on the Albacore ... now on my thinner Denton 140 it might have kept it stiffer as that gun is much thinner with much less mass. But I like it for ruggedness and durability when a gun is thrown around a boat. After a couple of years you can just sand the epoxy coat a little and give it a new fresh thin coat of clear epoxy and the gun is brand new again.

As for the 8.5mm shafts ... they are very nice. Of course not as nice as the Hunt shafts but with a little dremeling they can become very good. The 14mm small ID Cressi bands it came default with are not powerful enough to push the shaft to terminal velocity ... but 14.5 Primeline small ID had no problems at all. I think it was setup with 14mm small ID bands was to prevent left shift ... but with a custom handle shifting is just not an issue even when I tested 15.1mm bands. 15.1mm bands did not give a performance increase (actually a little less performance) ... but maybe with 9mm shaft they would. This gun still has potential I think with 9mm shaft, but I ballasted it to an 8.5mm shaft and I can't access the lead inside the stock and I have removed all the lead pellets I had access to. I think the weight is just as it was originally but instead of ballast of lead pellets I added some mass via the CF and the handle mod. It is a little negatively ballasted in the swimming pool and that makes accurate shooting a little more difficult ... but in salt water it is perfectly ballasted.
spearq8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2017, 05:26 AM   #12
spearq8
Registered User
 
spearq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Quote:




There is a house called the Tarpon Ranch here on Summerland that we might can use, that place has a pool big enough,

Not for nothing, but Madj is a freaking saint for doing these videos, people have absolutely no idea how much time and effort goes into making these. Probably 2-3 hours for every minuet if he was really hustling, but Im thinking more around 3-5 hours of actual work PER minuet of video he posts...

We shot 6 highly tuned guns that dont really exist on our pool day but the best shooting gun of them all was this one....heres Uncle JP teaching this little fishmonster in training how to shoot his 24biller





Sorry Madj, for blowing your thread up with this....carry on
[/quote]


Yeah you get a lot of information and data in the pool ... it really can be sobering when you think you have THE GUN ... you shoot a few shots in the pool and you immediately realize that your setup is not so good after all. My favorite GoPro 3+ flooded ... that makes testing so much more difficult as that camera had a battery that could last 5 hours! I got a new Go Pro 5 black and have 2 Go Pro 4 blacks ... but even with extended battery you don't really have that much time to do a full run. I had to do the 5m & 6m test twice as the camera battery died during the session and I only found out at the end ... I like to have the camera rolling as this way you know there is no cherry picking of shots ... or that someone is just walking up to the target and stabbing it. It is the first time I do testing where I feel I have to rush things ... and trust me swimming 8 meters ... getting the shaft out of the water and swimming back another 8 meters and loading three bands .... it can get your heart rate up which is not the ideal situation to get good accurate shooting and prevent the human factor from screwing up test results. On a normal gun it is not a big deal as usually you are shooting much more accurately than the gun ... but with a gun like this one you really need to have full concentration as even a tiny mistimed trigger pull can show up immediately. Also going to 7m and 8m ... I think I need a different target shape and size as it is really difficult to see the aim point at that distance ... but personally I don't know if I would ever go 3 wraps on a hunting trip ... and effective range of 2 wraps is probably around 7 meters. With a float line this can go increase to around 8 meters ... so that looks like maybe the maximum distance testing should go.
spearq8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2017, 08:19 AM   #13
seal77
Registered User
 
seal77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 397
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Majd,I respect verry much your shooting skills.The stright arm and the right position of the body are important for repeatable shots,especially with these classic band guns,more important even from the offset of the gun.
Im sure many people wouldnt make such tight group shooting with the same gun,not becouse they are not accurate,but becouse they dont hold the gun same way each time.Actually at these short distances we shoot under water even a child would hit a bullseye,if there was no need to manage with the side effects.
For me,I have prooved that there are up to 20 sm difference at 5 meters if I shoot tight stright arm and shoulder or bend the elbow with.Also the penetration is different.This is vallid for the simple classic guns of cource.As lighter is the body and heavier is the spear the effect is stronger.
Thats why was the whole roller development.In hunting conditions you rare have the opportunitie to hold the gun same way each time or think for the side effects.
Good rollers are easy to shoot for everybody,pleasant to use and much more accurate in variable conditions.The power supremecy is not the main thing here.
Majd will agree that we found and even named this point called terminal velocity.After it shafts looses accuracy becouse shafts are not perfect simetric in the dense water.
I wish that Majd would do one simple test to confirm or reject my theory for the repeatable shooting,using the Albacore.Just two shots-one stright/tight arm/shoulder and one bent elbow and released arm
seal77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2017, 10:58 AM   #14
Behslayer
Registered User
 
Behslayer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Big Island
Posts: 5,098
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Majd, I ran into this issue with wraps as well. What I did was to look at it the other way around. How far am I going to take a shot at. With my 62" Rear Handle, I figured that 26' was the max length I would be shooting. So I put a Line guide at the Halfway point of the gun tailored to this length. 2.5 wraps. As you know, it's that bit of extra shooting line which has the potential to cause problems.
Behslayer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2017, 11:27 AM   #15
Diving Gecko
Shooter & Shooter
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 955
Re: Abellan Albacore 130 Test

Sorry, for the slightly off-topic question but is the the bands interacting with shooting line that creates the tangle, you reckon?
Reason I am asking is that on my pneumatics I am running 3-4 wraps (!) and I don't think I am getting tangles. Well, at least not until after the shot as four wraps is just a heap of mono (I am cutting them down to three, now).
Diving Gecko is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:13 AM.


The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Social Media Forum Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2002 - 2014 Spearboard.com