Spear Gun Safety:
- Never load your speargun out of the water for any reason whatsoever.
- Never fire your spear gun out of the water. The spear may break the shooting line, whiplash dangerously around, or may bounce-back at you.
- Never point your speargun at anyone at anytime. While we make best efforts to make our safety-catches as robust as possible, if the gun is aggressively jarred there is the potential for an unexpected discharge. So always handle your speargun as if it were loaded and ready to fire. And always keep the spear tip pointed away from your body and away from other divers.
- Always put the safety "ON" before loading your spear gun.
- Do not swim with a loaded speargun through heavy surf. Rather load your gun once you have got past the backline.
- Always unload a speargun under the water before removing it from the water, Never pass a loaded speargun onto or off of a dive-boat.
- When loading your speargun make sure that the handle is securely positioned against your chest, with the spear tip pointed as far away from you as is possible. The number one cause of spear gun injuries occurs when loading guns, particularly large guns with more than one set of rubbers.
- Always look behind what you are shooting at, particularly in bad viz. A rock might cause the spear shaft to bounce back at you, or another diver may have drifted behind your intended target.
- It's very tempting to shoot at fish that have been attracted by the fish your partner has just speared. Most pelagics are curious and school around the struggling fish, providing attractive targets. So be doubly careful in these circumstances.
- Always anticipate recoil. A large speargun is capable of removing teeth, smashing face masks, and breaking noses if not firmly held while firing.
- Never modify or change the operation of your speargun by permanently disabling the safety or interfering with the firing mechanism.
- Always secure your speargun in the boat and store it pointing towards the back of the boat.
- Always keep the spear rubber on the tips especially when children are near and particularly when spears have been recently sharpened.
Speargun Maintenance:
- Always rinse your speargun in fresh water after each use and allow it to dry fully in the shade before storage.
- It often helps to give the handle a few good knocks with an open hand to help jar any sand that has collected in the handle out of the trigger mechanism.
- For top performance, always inspect your speargun rubbers for wear and tear. We recommend replacing rubbers at least once every diving season. We also recommend that you check your wishbones prior to getting on the boat. Few things can be as frustrating as having a wishbone break and not having a handy replacement.
- Store your speargun in a dry cool place.
- All speargun shafts and mechanism should be lightly oiled periodically.
Please review the following safety sections carefully before using Sumora dive gear:
