Riffe Euro Series Speargun

It is with great pleasure that I write this review on Riffe International’s recently released new breed of speargun known as the Euro series.

These guns have been manufactured in the USA and designed by Jay Riffe himself, with the aim of being the most advanced rubber - powered guns on the market.

These guns would cover any fish and environment that 99% of spearo’s could encounter. Made with 5 layers of laminated teak they are strong, but not bulky - and can easily track fish through the water.

One of the biggest advantages with these low- profile teak spearguns is that beneath the waves they become neutrally buoyant, no matter what depths you dive to.

This is a big consideration when greater depths are being achieved as a heavy gun in the water can make a lot of work for you when you’re trying to get back to the surface for air.

While on the surface they will sit quite steady due to their solid mass and are not affected by wave motion, like a lightweight gun, making those shots up in the shallows far easier.

The nature of laminating the teak ensures that you will never have any bowing or warping of your stock or barrel and it will last for many years. Also, the strength this adds ensures the barrel won’t bend under the pressure of your loaded rubbers. This is one of the most critical elements; as a bent barrel will always throw your shaft off course as it tries to straighten out after being fired.

The Euro series haves a routed groove for the shaft to sit in which gives a very secure channel for the shaft to slide in once the trigger has been pulled. Added to this is the "Mag-Track", a magnetic track at the muzzle end of the gun - which improves and aids with the loading of the shaft. These muzzles are 'open', meaning they have no plastic or aluminum hole for the shaft to go through. The advantage of this is that you can sight straight down the barrel to your target with nothing interfering in your view of fire.

The trigger pull on all spearguns - much like a rifle’s is very important and often overlooked. A crisp trigger is vital for an accurate shot. If you have to force the trigger, or it is rough and unpredictable then the shooter can start to flinch. This is a sure way for your shots to go astray. All Riffe's triggers are engineered much like what you would expect from a good quality-hunting rifle; which is crisp and smooth with added silence.

Their positive safety mechanism locks the trigger in place with no chance of it going off accidentally.

They can be powered up with three 16mm rubbers, but come standard with two -which is more than enough for most uses.

The Euro's come in 5 sizes from 90cm, 100cm, 110cm and 120cm right up to the 130cm gun.

The 120 and 130 are very versatile guns and are deadly on kingfish and snapper. The 130cm gun is more than capable of handling tuna and marlin; they can prove very useful in clear water when long range and added power are needed. The shorter guns have their place with your smaller species. All Riffe 's spearguns come with a 3 year extended warranty.

Some of the other features include:

• Side rotating spring- loaded safety

• Glass filled nylon with over moulded soft grip handle

• Rear loading pad - giving you full vision for aiming down the spear shaft

• Automatic side- mounted line release

• Riffe Euro shafts of 6.35mm, 6.75mm, or 7.1mm

• The 7.1mm Euro shafts come standard with small sharkfin or large tabs which accept 3 power bands

• Designed to fit the Riffe Instinct reel.

We conducted an experiment with the stock of these guns to see how strong they really were.

Placed on a hard surface, an 8kg weight belt was dropped from chest height onto the gun. This had no effect on the gun at all, just a couple of wood bruises. Any carbon gun would have crushed and an aluminum gun would have dented.