TEST: FIREBLADE 95 

BY GRANDA SUB

It’s with pride and satisfaction that I write this review on the fireblade 95 produced by the Croatian company GrandaSub. First of all, it must be specified that these spearguns, built up with ten strips of fine mahogany, are shaped with a CNC machine and finished by hand. The weapon is presented with an attractive design thanks to the carbon sheets wrapping both the handle and the initial part of the barrel and to the black lacquer which finishes the rest. Finally, this aggressiveness image is completed by the carbon inserts applied to the leads compartment and below the handle. The barrel, 118cm long, has a profile which narrows towards the front end with a section ranging from 6.8cm (near the mechanism area) to 4.2cm, while the center is about 6cm wide. Its height is 3.8cm and remains constant for almost the entire length, because only at the tip it gets slightly thinner (3.4cm).

This speargun is designed with a shaft guide running from mid-barrel to the head and two band guides with same length. These modifications provide several advantages since for example thanks to the flat profile in the mechanism zone, the operation of hooking and unhooking the bands is facilitated. Furthermore the guides of the bands are designed to accommodate their silhouette under tension by creating a more uniform profile that avoids the generation of vibrations during the swing, making a silent weapon of it. The release mechanism is a patent by Granda Sub made with laser cutting machines and belonging to the family of the “reverse” ones. Thanks to the position of his tooth it allows to gain a few inches of traction. It has no sensitivity controls and has a long stroke of the trigger that avoids the possibility of accidental shots as it often happens with too sensitive spearguns. The trigger must be pulled for about 2cm to release the shaft.

The ergonomic and anti-slip handle accommodates well the hand providing the thumb with a a strong point of support for its entire length through an accentuated protrusion. The fully laid index reaches intuitively the end of the hilt and it easily gets through it even when wearing a 5mm glove as shown in the picture. The tested speargun is equipped with an horizontal reel with a 1.5mm line capacity up to 30mt, however GrandaSub also produces reels with greater capacity. They are installed in a groove carved in the barrel that allows, if you wish, to accommodate also other models from other manufacturers. The strength of these reels is the friction that actually plays its role, opening and closing with ease. These weapons are standard supplied with bands and pinned shafts by Sigal Sub, which is already a guarantee itself.

In the water it soon turns out that the weapon is already balanced and does not sink in any direction. The handle ensures a secure grip and swinging it provides a feeling of stability also because of the large section of the initial part of the barrel. Taking the aim is easy and the trajectory of the shot remains clean because the mass of the arbalete absorb the recoil that turns to be then barely noticeable. It is important to consider that this speargun has a 99cm stroke for both bands and it has been equipped with two 17.5mm black ones. The shaft instead is a 6.75mm by Sigalsub. A double traction of almost 100cm on a 95cm speargun could hardly stress many other products with the same dimensions! It is a very powerful weapon and it keeps an ease of swing despite the total weight (including shaft, bands, etc) is approximately 2.5kg.