PATHOS SNIPER R 105 SPEARGUN

HYBRID PROPULSION

We had the pleasure to test what we believe is one of the best commercial spearguns that have been in our hands: the pathos sniper R 105.
It is an hybrid propulsion speargun characterized by the combination of a traditional circular band and a roller one. We tested the intermediate size (105cm) so let’s see it in detail.

BARREL
The barrel is made of aluminum and features a cuttlefish section. It has an enclosed track for the shaft that runs along the whole length of the barrel and which "encapsulates" almost completely the shaft. Only the upper portion remains open to let the shaft pins slide through. The track is characterized by an inner rail that allows water to flow beneath the shaft and consistently contributes to friction reduction. The barrel is 4.5cm in width and 3.5cm in height.

Next to the reel it is installed (permanently, with no chance to be moved to another position) a polypropylene cuttlefish shaped float which performs the dual function of buoyancy compensator (provides a thrust of 20gr) and support for the roller band hooks. In the lower part in fact there are 3 robust hooks and each of them is 13cm distant from the other.

The presence of the float therefore helps to increase the above-mentioned width of the barrel, bringing it up to 7cm for almost all its length (35cm).
The whole speargun is 134cm long (from the muzzle to the chest support), the standard shaft protrudes only 14cm bringing the overall length to 148cm.

SHAFT
The speargun size tested comes with a 7mm (thickness) x 140cm (length) shaft on which an inverted barb is mounted. This shaft is also characterized by a very sharp tri-cut tip. It is equipped with four shark fin pins located in strategic positions:

first fin 136cm from the tip

second fin 130cm from the tip

third fin 117cm from the tip

fourth fin 70cm from the tip

The fourth has exclusively the function to facilitate the loading operation of the roller band but clearly the most important one is the first which is so close to the chest to be welded next to the shank enabling you to exploit precious space. It is also important to note that the third pin has a hole for the connection of the monofilament.

MUZZLE
the muzzle is made of lightweight polypropylene with two pulleys and a housing for a traditional band. It has to be noted how accurately the grooves, the line/monofilament passes through, have been designed and made. In addition it is astonishing how everything looks perfectly fitting in. just consider that a little plastic tip keeps the barb closed during the descent to the bottom when the speargun is loaded. These small details allow the line to not get tangled when shooting. Finally in the portion of the muzzle that connects with the barrel there are 2 slots for additional ballast or foam if needed.

HANDLE
The standard handle is the "angel 3" for ambidextrous which has been improved by reducing the 4mm the part that houses the insertion between thumb and forefinger to allow even those who have medium/small hands to get optimum grip. It features a 100% stainless reverse mechanism that is so reared to the back of the handle that is  almost difficult to stretch the bands to the first pin as this is really close to the chest.

BANDS
The standard bands are the TNT 16mm black mixture and red external coating (thin) for both types of propulsion, which are supplied with cord wishbone. To understand the optimization of the measures that was implemented on this gun just think that the traditional circular band can be stretched for 115cm, so 10cm more than the nominal size!

CONSIDERATIONS
As mentioned before this is an excellent speargun that was accurately designed. During the test at sea we did appreciate how perfectly horizontally balanced this loaded speargun is. However on the surface it tends to sink. While on the surface you get the impression that the speargun is slightly heavy at the tip but once you dive to the bottom there is no re-balancing effort that must be exercised by the wrist, the gun remains perfectly horizontal.

The well designed shaft track allows the use only of shafts with fins like the one supplied and you cannot mount another. Due to the shape of the shaft track, the monofilament can be connected only through the perforated fin and not through the hole on the shank or the one along the shaft. In addition if the shaft is not perfectly straight, it cannot slide through the track so the speagun cannot be loaded at all. However we have to admit that if the shaft is twisted at any point covered by the  shaft track you must dispose of it anyway…

Rubber bands are highly performing and with the traditional one hooked at the first pin and the roller one hooked at the second pin (hooked at the first lower slot - the closest one to the muzzle) they develop such an high shaft speed that following the trajectory with the eyes becomes difficult. 

In the video below you can see that the shaft with the above settings ran for 6 meters after the shot, passing through a fish and ending its run into a rock that it penetrated for 10cm.

The combination of two propulsion systems together with the choice to mount a shorter shaft equipped with reverse barb neutralized the well known problem of low trajectory that characterizes the roller spearguns and which force spearos to compensate with a higher aiming. In the video below that portrays a catch, we performed the real first shot ever with this new speargun. It turned to be absolutely instinctive and the shaft hit in the center its target!

The classic procedure to load the speargun would be stretching the roller band up to the fourth pin (the closest to the muzzle), then hooking the roller band to the desired lower slot and in the end stretching the band to the second pin. Finally you just need to hook the traditional band to the first pin.

I decided to install a cord “handle” in the roisub style so that you can skip the passages mentioned above and load the speargun with just 2 “stretches”.

 
The speargun as it is does not need any modification because it is the result of several tests, however, for convenience, we remade the Dyneema eyelets to make them slightly wider so as to facilitate the replacement of the wishbones in water and the installation of the above mentioned "handle".

The only negative point we noticed is related to the chest support. On the latter is applied a rubber cover that tends to detach / tear easily. To solve this problem you just need to simply wrap it tight with electrical tape.

In conclusion this is an excellent speargun that if you are lucky enough to buy, will permanently go in your personal arsenal as you will no longer live without!