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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 06-03-2018, 12:53 PM   #1
monster slayer
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130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

Rob Allen is one of the Big names on spearfishing no doubt about it. Most of their products are excellent products that are a good choice and they generally offer a fair cost/quality ratio.
One of the hottest products available is the so called RA rollergun. The advertising claims that these guns are super powerful, super accurate and negate the need for the usage of multiband guns for bluewater.

These guns come with some pros and cons, here are some of my thoughts bout it.

The gun is a RA roller 130, factory made

Cons:
The gun is super expensive for what it is.
The loading process is a major hassle, it depends on a loading aid in the form of a mini band that you must carry with you all the time. It's super difficult to load, the loading aid is prone to be lost at sea and render your gun partially useless, and to top it off the hook on the mini aid can and will scratch your barrel.
The gun is not suitable for hunting near rocks. It kill fishes but not in a more efficient or better way than a standard railgun.
It's a bit tip heavy
The plastic that is made out of doesn't look very durable, nor the rollers by themselves.
It does have some recoil that goes with a very odd "thump"
It doesn't reach the advertised 6 times the length of the barrel, that's just hype, it has a bit more if not the same reach of a standard two banded railgun of the same size.

Pros:

It looks super cool and it's a great conversation starter
It's a bit more powerful than a standard twin banded railgun
It's fairly accurate.


Bottomline / conclusion

It's not worth it...

It shoots almost the same of a railgun of the same length , it's so difficult and slow to load and its expensive AF...

I hope you find it useful

Here are some fishes speared with my Wong hybrid, none was caught with the Roller, but was placed among them for illustration purposes...
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Old 06-04-2018, 03:28 AM   #2
Mikel_24
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

Hurry up! That Seagul is about to ruin your day!

Thanks for the sincere opinion on the roller. I haven't used one yet but talking to some users seems like the weight of the hardware is a mayor issue with pipe guns (roller muzzels in standar tubes), which end up in tip heavy guns.

Now wooden rollers is a whole different matter.

Thanks!
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:55 AM   #3
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikel_24 View Post
Hurry up! That Seagul is about to ruin your day!

Thanks for the sincere opinion on the roller. I haven't used one yet but talking to some users seems like the weight of the hardware is a mayor issue with pipe guns (roller muzzels in standar tubes), which end up in tip heavy guns.

Now wooden rollers is a whole different matter.

Thanks!
Jaja, that little friend was kind enough to pose for the pic!

Some people say that rollers are better performers in shorter sizes though
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Old 06-05-2018, 07:51 AM   #4
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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Originally Posted by monster slayer View Post
Jaja, that little friend was kind enough to pose for the pic!



Some people say that rollers are better performers in shorter sizes though


I’ve read that you start to lose the ‘gain in performance’ when u go beyond 110. I have a 110 roller and I am really happy with it. I use 14mm bands (with a bridle attached to the rubber at the wishbone) and I don’t use a load assist.


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Old 06-05-2018, 08:44 AM   #5
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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Originally Posted by monster slayer View Post
Jaja, that little friend was kind enough to pose for the pic!

Some people say that rollers are better performers in shorter sizes though
My thoughts exactly. There is a debate out there with roller VS double band standard gun... and the issue about lenght is always there.

Seems like they pack a heavy punch in short sizes, ideal for muddy waters. But as Nicholasclf states, once you start comparing long guns... there is not much diference.

But again, if we are going to talk about short powerful guns... then we should consider air guns!
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Old 06-05-2018, 09:27 AM   #6
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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Originally Posted by Nicholasclf View Post
I’ve read that you start to lose the ‘gain in performance’ when u go beyond 110. I have a 110 roller and I am really happy with it. I use 14mm bands (with a bridle attached to the rubber at the wishbone) and I don’t use a load assist.


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Great idea! I've come to realize that 14mm bands are way more confortable than 16mm's
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Old 06-05-2018, 09:29 AM   #7
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikel_24 View Post
My thoughts exactly. There is a debate out there with roller VS double band standard gun... and the issue about lenght is always there.

Seems like they pack a heavy punch in short sizes, ideal for muddy waters. But as Nicholasclf states, once you start comparing long guns... there is not much diference.

But again, if we are going to talk about short powerful guns... then we should consider air guns!
Exactly... Air (pneumatic) guns are very powerful ....

By the way, Rob Allen himself says that the longer the Roller the less advantage it takes from the set up. That the max length advisable for a Rollergun is 110, still he offers rollers in the 120's and 130's range. But there's no difference in performance between a 130 roller and a 130 standard railgun. According to him a 110 roller shoots equally to a 130 standard railgun, following that logic I'll cut my 130 roller to 110 so it shoots as a 130 back again lol...
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Old 06-05-2018, 10:42 AM   #8
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

I think a “standard” refers to a single 20mm rubber setup shooting a 7mm shaft.

Keep the gun and just convert to 130 double rubber, or cut to 110 but just note that the shaft is lighter and plan accordingly.
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Old 06-05-2018, 03:32 PM   #9
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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Originally Posted by dxb.night View Post
I think a “standard” refers to a single 20mm rubber setup shooting a 7mm shaft.

Keep the gun and just convert to 130 double rubber, or cut to 110 but just note that the shaft is lighter and plan accordingly.
Thanks man, I have another RA 1000 which I really like, probably I"ll just switch set ups with one another...
Thanks again for the advice
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Old 06-05-2018, 04:52 PM   #10
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

I have a 110 RA Carbon Roller and love it!

Nice to see you around Toño!
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Old 06-05-2018, 06:37 PM   #11
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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I have a 110 RA Carbon Roller and love it!

Nice to see you around Toño!
Hola Marco! I guess the 110 is the way to go!
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Old 06-05-2018, 08:21 PM   #12
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

I have a 100cm roller that I recently built that I'm still on the fence about. According to Chris Coates at bluewild, a properly setup roller should be damn near impossible to load without the use of a load assist. Meaning that if your band stretch isn't 400% or very close to it, then you might as well stick to a traditional setup.

I hate having that load assist dangling off my belt or gun handle even. It can get hung up on the reef or just get lost.

Also, I don't know how on God's green earth roller pipe gun Maker's are justifying those ridiculous prices. Just compare a standard 110 RA to roller 110, the price doubles with the addition of 2 pieces of plastic that spin at the muzzle, really?

I keep going back to Maj's videos on simply modifying the handle switching to 14mm small id bands and call it a day.




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Old 06-05-2018, 11:50 PM   #13
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

Well said man! My sentiments exactly... I really think is a speciality gun, for very conspicous situations such as great power in a shorter platform ... 9 times out of ten a regular configuration 'd be the way to go...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Renejr83 View Post
I have a 100cm roller that I recently built that I'm still on the fence about. According to Chris Coates at bluewild, a properly setup roller should be damn near impossible to load without the use of a load assist. Meaning that if your band stretch isn't 400% or very close to it, then you might as well stick to a traditional setup.

I hate having that load assist dangling off my belt or gun handle even. It can get hung up on the reef or just get lost.

Also, I don't know how on God's green earth roller pipe gun Maker's are justifying those ridiculous prices. Just compare a standard 110 RA to roller 110, the price doubles with the addition of 2 pieces of plastic that spin at the muzzle, really?

I keep going back to Maj's videos on simply modifying the handle switching to 14mm small id bands and call it a day.




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Old 06-08-2018, 01:31 AM   #14
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

I just came back from a local grouper spearfishing trip where I used a gun I made and pool tested 2 years ago. It was an 82cm Pathos where I put in a ballast and a roller kit. In my testing I found that with the roller, I would lose accuracy if I pushed the power up and I settled on a band load that gave me minimal pre-stretch. That thing shot super accurate (3 shots 1 hole at 4 meters) but it lacked power (did not pass the KM penetration test at 5 meters). I also used the best classic setup, which was 2 x 14mm small ID bands at 360% ... same accuracy but much more power (passes the KM penetration test at 5 meters). I also took my Abellan 110 on this trip, and first shot on the reef my shaft got lodged in so hard ... wasted like 30 minutes and 4 dives to pull it out. Decided to go with the roller 82cm setup ... and man I was stoning everything ... I had like 5 or 6 consecutive stone shots. But then I had this long shot on a grouper that was running away and I took a shot that I should not have taken, and was really lucky to land the fish as shaft didn't penetrate fully through the fish. I then switched to the classic 2 x 14mm setup ... and results were even better. I didn't have too much power where my shaft would lodge in the reef, but it was more than enough power to land even some pretty large grouper, plus loading the gun was much quicker. The accuracy I was getting with this 82cm setup was phenomenal ... with the classic 2 banded setup I had more power than I remember having with my old Riffe 120 default factory setup !!! The trip was actually a blast from the past as I have not hunted local grouper in like 20 years. It is pretty incredible how much technology has changed equipment.

So ... rollers certainly are an option, and I will say that the Pathos roller head is probably not one of the good heads (doesn't use bearings) and for sure you will get some performance improvement with a better quality roller. Maybe there are some new roller heads out there that deal with the problem of tail lift with pre-stretch (like the SEATEC), and this would solve the problem of keeping accuracy while pushing power up. Need to try those out. But really, you can't go wrong with the simplicity and power of a classic setup. I will try and put out a video of that 82cm setup in both roller and classic configurations shooting fish ... I was blown away by the performance of both setups and they really confirmed results of my pool testing.
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Old 06-08-2018, 11:58 AM   #15
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Re: 130 Rob Allen Rollergun Review

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Originally Posted by spearq8 View Post
I just came back from a local grouper spearfishing trip where I used a gun I made and pool tested 2 years ago. It was an 82cm Pathos where I put in a ballast and a roller kit. In my testing I found that with the roller, I would lose accuracy if I pushed the power up and I settled on a band load that gave me minimal pre-stretch. That thing shot super accurate (3 shots 1 hole at 4 meters) but it lacked power (did not pass the KM penetration test at 5 meters). I also used the best classic setup, which was 2 x 14mm small ID bands at 360% ... same accuracy but much more power (passes the KM penetration test at 5 meters). I also took my Abellan 110 on this trip, and first shot on the reef my shaft got lodged in so hard ... wasted like 30 minutes and 4 dives to pull it out. Decided to go with the roller 82cm setup ... and man I was stoning everything ... I had like 5 or 6 consecutive stone shots. But then I had this long shot on a grouper that was running away and I took a shot that I should not have taken, and was really lucky to land the fish as shaft didn't penetrate fully through the fish. I then switched to the classic 2 x 14mm setup ... and results were even better. I didn't have too much power where my shaft would lodge in the reef, but it was more than enough power to land even some pretty large grouper, plus loading the gun was much quicker. The accuracy I was getting with this 82cm setup was phenomenal ... with the classic 2 banded setup I had more power than I remember having with my old Riffe 120 default factory setup !!! The trip was actually a blast from the past as I have not hunted local grouper in like 20 years. It is pretty incredible how much technology has changed equipment.

So ... rollers certainly are an option, and I will say that the Pathos roller head is probably not one of the good heads (doesn't use bearings) and for sure you will get some performance improvement with a better quality roller. Maybe there are some new roller heads out there that deal with the problem of tail lift with pre-stretch (like the SEATEC), and this would solve the problem of keeping accuracy while pushing power up. Need to try those out. But really, you can't go wrong with the simplicity and power of a classic setup. I will try and put out a video of that 82cm setup in both roller and classic configurations shooting fish ... I was blown away by the performance of both setups and they really confirmed results of my pool testing.


Really interesting. Can’t wait to see the clips.
Can you give more specs about your roller setup on the 82? Was it one roller plus a kicker band?
Would you recommend 14 mm small id bands @ 360% for a Pathos Sniper roller 95?


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