Rob Allen Tuna Speargun Review
To start off I will say that my review of the
Rob Allen Tuna Speargun is way overdue. When it comes to railguns, the Rob Allen Tuna is by far my personal favorite. I have been diving with them for some years and it is also my customers favorite and best-selling speargun at NEF Spearfishing. The Rob Allen name is world famous in the sport and known for being a leader in product development. Many of the products Rob Allen has designed in South Africa have been used and applied all over the world. His dedication to innovation and quality standards have made me a believer in just about everything with the Rob Allen name on it. So let me break down all the features that make this speargun the preferred piece of gear by many spearfisherman.
I will start with a feature I think that is the basis of this railgun design and often overlooked when divers are shopping and comparing spearguns. Everyone can pick up this speargun and see that it is a “railgun”. Meaning the barrel is designed with a full rail on top of the barrel to support the shaft and keep the path of the shaft accurate when it is fired. Where the Tuna is unique is it is designed with a thicker walled aluminum barrel than most other euro style railguns. I have reviewed and tested a lot euro style railguns that are designed with ultra-light aluminum barrels, which does make them easily maneuverable in the water. But I also see there are three negatives of a light weight aluminum barrel.
The first being they can be more easily damaged. The second is that when you get into lengths 100cm and longer the thinner walled barrels can flex when loaded with two or more bands, affecting accuracy. The third and most important in my opinion is “muzzle kick”. Muzzle kick is the result of speargun being overpowered for its design/materials and components such as bands and shaft. When the speargun is fired the bands retract and the recoil energy causes the muzzle end of the speargun to kick up. As the shaft is leaving the speargun its trajectory is changed by the rising muzzle hitting the mid to back area of the shaft…. usually resulting in “shooting low”. Some spearos begin compensating for this muzzle kick in how they aim. Many do not even know they are doing it.
This inaccuracy may not be that noticeable when shooting at close range, but frustrating in longer shot placement. One can adjust the speargun to create less recoil and better accuracy like using smaller diameter bands and thinner diameter shaft. But when it comes to hunting the larger more powerful fish, we have in most saltwater zones of the United States, a setup of 7mm shaft with two (or more) 16mm bands is really ideal for providing the proper amount of power for penetration and a shaft durable enough to withstand large fish.
Rob Allen has seemed to eliminate all that with the thicker walled aluminum barrel on the Tuna speargun. Along with the thicker walled barrel it also has a slightly larger barrel ID, which creates the correct amount of buoyancy for ballast and balancing in the water. When combined with the increased mass of the larger barrel to absorb the energy when fired and eliminate muzzle kick…. The result is a highly accurate speargun. And we have the ideal setup of bands and shaft size for the prey we are pursuing. The full shaft rail on the top of the barrel supports the shaft and keeps it’s trajectory true as it travels the length of the barrel and exits the speargun at the muzzle.
Having a smooth operating and reliable speargun is something desired by all spearfisherman. The Tuna is designed with a simple, strong and maybe one of the most dependable trigger mechanisms in the industry. The trigger mech is housed in a removable cartridge that sits in the world famous Vecta handle. It features a stainless line release and trigger sear and rugged acetal trigger. The mechanism cartridge is held in the handle with one pin and can easily be removed. All three pieces of the trigger mechanism can easily be removed as well, each held in place with one pin. The design is simple, which is probably what makes it so reliable. I have never had a customer tell me they have experienced a problem with their Tuna mech, which is a component on other brands which can fail over time.
This “South African” made railgun does not come stock with a loading butt on the back of handle like most euro style railguns do. Rob Allen designed the shape of the Vecta handle to be easy for most divers to load without a loading butt. However, they do offer a replacement mechanism cartridge that has a loading butt in the design. *I do prefer loading it with the loading butt and use it on all of my Rob Allen Tunas and offer this feature to my customers as well. It is a simple switchover of the mechanism components from the standard cartridge to the “Custom Loading Butt” cartridge. The cost is about $32 for the blank cartridge and you/I can switch over the mechanism. Once installed, the loading butt falls in line with the design of the speargun and allows for a perfect line of sight aiming.
A stainless line release is positioned on the underside of the handle, forward of the trigger guard. This keeps the shooting line situated along the side of the barrel and anchored underneath on the line release. Each Tuna speargun4 inch tuna clip mounted in the handle for an attachment point for your float line. If you prefer to not have the tuna clip on the handle, simply remove one screw to separate handle and it removes easily.
Rob Allen offers the Tuna in both open and closed muzzles. I only stock the Tuna spearguns in an open muzzle because that is the more desired setup for American spearfisherman, but I will gladly special order one for anyone who desires one. The bi-directional rigging design of the open muzzle on the Tuna speargun allows it to be rigged for either left or right-handed use when loading. Due to the placement of the line release on the underside of the barrel, one can simply run the shooting line down the left or right side of the barrel.
Next, we come to the rigging. The Rob Allen Tuna comes rigged and ready to hunt fish with two 16 mm bands with spectra wishbones, 7mm diameter shaft, and 400 lb. black mono shooting line which is connected to a muzzle bungee (shock absorber) at the muzzle. One should note that the Rob Allen shaft is one of the strongest on the market. While it is a notched shaft (notches in the shaft where the band wishbone loads), the notches are designed with smooth edges, as to not cut the spectra wishbone. This is a cool feature I love about these shafts as using spectra wishbones is preferred for safety over using wire or metal wishbones many other spearguns are designed with. The shaft also comes with a “Tuned Flopper”. Flopper tuning is something we usually do when buying other brand flopper shafts to optimize when the flopper should stay open for better holding grip after penetrating a fish. This shaft is already tuned, you can go straight to diving with it.
While the Tuna speargun does not come outfitted with a reel (common for almost every railgun) , it is designed with reel mount installed on the speargun so you can easily add one. *I highly recommend the
Rob Allen Vecta Composite Reel as it is designed to be a perfect match for the Tuna speargun. However, the universal dovetail style reel mount will accept many other brands. Like the entire design of the Tuna speargun, its reliability is made possible by the simplicity in design and quality construction. It features a drag that is smooth and strong for putting the brakes on tough fish. Spool this reel with 50 meters of 1.8 to 2mm spectra line and you are ready to go.
If you start looking to purchasing a Rob Allen Tuna with a reel, have a look at my
NEF Spearfishing Rob Allen Tuna RTS (Ready To Shoot) Speargun Package. I offer a complete package with reel, reel line, upgraded stainless muzzle line guide and gun rigging to your desired setup at a great discount compared to purchasing all the components separately. All you have to do is dive and shoot fish.
With the Rob Allen Tuna spearguns being available in a wide range of sizes (70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 cm) it offers a model capable of taking on anything that swims.
If you want the Tuna in longer length like 130cm and larger for hunting pelagics, a Rob Allen threaded shaft to use with a slip tip is also an available add on. They are popular here at NEF Spearfishing as I offer the Tuna in Bluewater Package with 1 flopper and 1 threaded shaft, slip tip and shafts rigged with breakaway rigging. Contact us if you are interested.
I hope this helps any spearos looking for info on this popular speargun. You are always welcome to come into NEF Spearfishing and see one for yourself. If you think I missed something or would like to add your input on your experience with the Rob Allen Tuna Spearguns, please leave a comment below.
Dive Safe,
Mike
NEF Spearfishing Co.
