Salvimar Hero & Hero Storm speargun test 

Thanks for the kind words! I think I had a Sigalsub carbon gun a while back and it shot fantastic except for the trigger. I changed the trigger to an Ermessub DR trigger and results were fantastic. I think it was a 105 and I put a review for it. But really this Salvimar Hero gun is also very good and very well designed. It has some addition stiffness inside the oval barrel that really makes shot come out straight and stable. Probably the only handle on the market to have a shaped handle that pushes recoil into palm. Only problem was the 7mm shafts.

Thanks!

I think a good 7mm@ 140cm shaft from Hunt or Sigalsub or Sporasub or other good shaft supplier ... then 2 x 14mm or 14.5mm Primeline small ID bands ... that would perform pretty amazing I would think.

No haven't tested that ... but I used Riffe guns with MAG TRACK and built quite a few guns with magnets to hold shaft down ... never noticed any change in performance.

I have yet to see an invert outperform a well setup classic gun. This goes from small gun all the way to large 9mm shooting guns. Problem with invert guns is that once you push the power you lose accuracy ... so you have to back up to retain accuracy or keep the shaft from shooting low.

There was a huge problem with the Salvimar Metal trigger, where with even small loads the trigger becomes impossibly hard to pull. With the Hero this is much better. Of course it is not the silky smooth Ermessub DR trigger, but it works quite well with reasonable loads. I think things can be improved with the Hero Trigger by simply changing out the sear pins with higher tolerance sear pins. This worked for the Salvimar Metal trigger and should work just as well with the Hero Trigger.

A 105 has a lot of band stretch so 2 x 14.5mm small ID at a good stretch will be the best option. 2 x 16mm small ID will probably not have fast enough contraction in the water to take advantage of the 7.5mm shaft. You can check out my video here where I test different shafts with different band setups here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FSK4HkkimXk.htmlfeature=shared

majdq8 damn ur fuckin legend bro ,i love all your videos

For sure I would never use a Salvimar Metal gun again as I think their triggers are defective. But the Salvimar Tomahawk at say 95 against the Salvimar Hero 95 ... that would be interesting test as it compares an invert roller vs. a classic setup.

@@majdq8 defective, how? Can you elaborate your findings pls. Thank you

@@sparcousa The sears have PIN holes that have just too big tolerance, so the shaft sear roller ends up crushing the trigger sear. So the trigger pull becomes almost impossible with even 2 hot bands. You can fix it by removing the shaft sear and trigger PINS and making new ones that are about .15 to .2mm larger diameter. This prevents the sears from moving into themselves and allows the front roller to roll correctly. I call this a defect because this was a problem on all 5 Metal handles I tried. Fortunately this seems to have been fixed with the Hero triggers.

@@majdq8 ah thank you for your input. Really appreciate the details. Apologies for the late reply. It seems that my previous reply never got thru, and only now I noticed it when scrolling thru the comments. Will there be a Tomahawk review? 😅

The Sigalsub shafts I ordered are standard except they have the shark fins way back to max band stretch. Sigal won't do that with their standard shafts as many triggers will not fit those shafts. Any Sigalsub or Hunt shaft would work well, just make sure they have shark fin and rest tab and cone in front of flopper. However the Sporasub One shaft is by far the best as it has a MIM flopper which allows perfect contour around the shaft ... I think they are the only company to have ever done that.

@@majdq8 Great, thank you very much for the info and for your response! Loving your videos btw, super informative and very unique stuff! Greetings from Hungary!

Usually I use 250lb or 300lb monoline.

Yes but you can file and polish them. Personally I think they are way too long.

Ahlein! Actually I wanted to go for the 85 as well but somehow decided a little more power might be better. Looking back at it I would have chosen an 85 as I am sure I can get more than enough power with 2 x 14mm small ID bands and the 95 might be too much for murky waters. Also the tube is oval the full length and is not cuttle shaped ... so quick lateral movement to track fish becomes more problematic the longer the gun is. If you can't change the rubbers then cut about a half inch from each side and remove the wishbones and replace with plastic or metal inserts. The black bands won't get you to small ID levels but will be more than adequate. Any good SS shaft will work well and I would go for a 7mm @ 120cm but of course test it first to make sure you don't have accuracy issues like I did.

@@majdq8 Thanks mate, i will try and will let you know how it worked. Cheers!

The 115 was the Hero Storm with the metallic blue bands ... those are terrible. I am 100% sure that with 2 x 14.5mm small ID bands it will easily pass 6 meters King Mackerel test and even the 6 meter Tuna Penetration test. For sure 360% would pass the King Mackerel test easy at 6 meters but to pass the Tuna test @ 6 meterts I think you would need to push the stretch to 380%. I might actually try that out as I plan to use the 115 on an Oil Rig spearfishing trip next week. The good news is that it looks like the gun can handle high band stretch without losing accuracy ... that means that fundamentally the gun design is good!

@@majdq8 Nice, thank you for your time and effort about these tests!

The black bands on the Hero are OK, but the metallic blue bands on the Hero Storm feel like leather ... not elastic. Shafts need elastic bands that contract to get good energy. Of course both bands cannot be compared to a set of good small ID bands from Primeline.

@@majdq8 i have bluetec 145. It came with strong 3*16mm bands. Band looked nice, but a little bit long. I cut for 330%. To load was difficult. When i shot from 5 meters i was very confused. Shaft went underneath about 30-40cm. Changed on 14.5 sigulsub small id 350%. Accurate shot in aim, less recoil. Thank you for your videos. Maybe test of salvimar tomahawk (the longest version)? And extra test with additional band underneath 3bands total.

@@SpearFisherPitZ I have several Bluetec guns and the 145 OB is probably the worst possible gun you can shoot. It is just way too dangerous to shoot that gun at full load. The handle to trigger distance is crazy long and the dramatic recoil will go into your thumb and the gun can actually go out of your hand and smack you in the face. The smaller Bleutec guns are good and if setup properly and with a handle mod that brings the trigger to handle closer the gun will shoot very well. I haven't tried the new Bleutec guns but they really need to redesign the back end of the gun. Also the old trigger line release was terrible and could hang a shaft sear when you shoot causing a very dangerous situation. I heard that this has been fixed on their newer guns.

@@majdq8 I heard story when somebody shoot from long OB 5-6bands shaft about 9mm and hold at one hand (forgot, usually shoot from 2). Received in a face underwater, it was almost knockout. He managed go up and take on a boat. I shot 3x14.5 for 8mm 180cm and 4x14.5 8mm with slip-tip. Probably need to modify handle as on your video.

@@SpearFisherPitZ I did more than hear stories ... I had that happen to a friend of mine who was lucky to survive as he was very deep. No need for that as things are risky enough without having that happen.

No tool for it you just need some slow cure epoxy and some glass beads (used to epoxy golf clubs). I basically score the area where the cone will go with a file and make sure to clean surfaces with acetone. I use a little of the epoxy mix on the shaft and slide the cone in with slight rotation and wipe of access. The depth of the cone should be where it just barely touches a fully open flopper (gives support to flopper). Use tape to hold the cone and put the shaft upside down until epoxy cures.

@@majdq8 thanks very much! Safe dive!

I tried the Ghost and it shoots very accurate. But I only tried in the pool and not on fish ... so not sure how it is in hunting conditions.

YES !!! sometimes they break ... but most of the time they do ok. I like to use them as back wishbones as they are a little wider and thus give me a better unobstructed view.

It is very easy just punch out the side pin and I think there was a screw under the trigger guard (but not sure you need to remove that. I can't remember exactly but I think you actually don't need to remove the trigger fully. What I do remember was that it was pretty simple to take apart and put back together (unlike some guns where it is very difficult)

Best for the 125cm gun is a 7.5mm or 8mm shaft and 2 x 14.5mm small ID bands. Put a cone on the shaft if you can ... easily passes Tuna test at 6 meters with both mentioned setups.

@@majdq8 What % elongation do you use on the 14.5 small id bands?

Sure send me an email to majdq8 at hotmail and I will send you the autocad drawing of the shaft design I asked Sigalsub to make for me in 7mm.

Please can you tell me did you get the answer?

Yes it could be as the shafts look perfect. That is why I went nuts trying to figure out the problem. At first I thought maybe line release ... then I thought maybe line is snagging somewhere on the muzzle or on the reel. I never thought in a million years it could be the shaft as the shaft was only 130cm long. Usually a good 7mm @ 17-4PH SS shaft will not whip even at 165 cm. But live and learn!

The least amount possible ... just enough so flopper doesn't sit on track. If it sits a little bit on track you need to remove a little off the track to prevent flopper form lifting shaft above track.

@@majdq8 thank you...

I don't believe there are some bands reactive and some bands progressive. Some bands have terrible elasticity and are called reactive. These are bands you never want to use. Best bands are nice fresh elastic bands that deliver smooth power that will not destrabilize the shaft.

@@majdq8 in taly usually use Rob Allen bads from 14mm with classic hole, there is c4 orange product by primeline, from 14 mm with small id, but for me is much reactive. I saw in your videos that you use bands made primeline from 14 with small id, where is to possible to buy on line from Italy? Excuse me for my bad English

@@guidostoca791 I think now all are using Primeline! C4 has it also Cressi new bands are Primeline. Sigalsub also using Primeline (although Sigal purple had some bad non elastic bands batches). Latex is a natural material that can dramatically be different by the temperature it was created in. Cold temperatures during manufacture cause bad elasticity ... that is why it is important to get a good batch. For some reason Cressi and Sigal Primeline are sometimes don't have good elasticity like the bands I buy in the US.

I always prefer pencil point tips as most of the time I hunt in areas where my shaft might hit rock or coral. I did not find any significant loss of accuracy for tri-cut tips ... but I rarely use them and prefer just to keep my pencil tips very sharp. I can see how tri-cut can have better penetration on fish, but really if you have a good setup speargun ... the shaft will be going so fast that it will easily go through any fish ... even through thick spines of big fish.

Well for sure it is not the same as an Ermessub Double Roller Trigger and it takes some time to get used to it. You can improve things if you have access to a lathe and can make a slightly larger diameter shaft sear and trigger sear pins. I think the holes on the sears are about .1mm or .15mm too large and allow the sears to move into each other and thus cause higher friction and harder trigger pull. This was a huge problem with the Salvimar Metal Trigger and I found it dramatically improved things. By using slightly larger diameter pins you are tightening up things and thus the circle geometry works much better. Not sure if it is a hack but I certainly think it would help!

Thanks a lot i ll try it out and let you know thanks!

Maybe it is the shaft. I had terrible problems with the 7mm shaft.

You should do the opposite: use 7mm shaft with 14.5 small id bands

Wow ... thank you for compiling all that information. 100% accurate! For bands Primeline are very good ... with regards to diameter, I think the small ID bands at around 14 to 15mm are best because it seems that contraction speed in the water of the bands is more important than thickness (to a certain point). It seems that water resistance hurts the thicker bands and thus energy is not transferred properly for light shafts up to 8mm diam. On heavier shafts the band contraction velocity is less and thus thickness of the bands becomes more important for transferring energy. However even for 8.5mm shaft I would still not use anything thicker than 15mm small ID. Of course with roller setups the equation is different as band contraction is different.

@@majdq8 New tests on short rifles would be interesting. For example, an Abellan '65 or 75' with a 7.5 short rod could be an excellent Mediterranean agguato speargun ! As for your incredible albacore , also for shorter guns I suspect that a thicker shaft with proper setup ( maybe 3*14 small id, instead 2*14,5/15 small Id) can improve dramatically performance…. Thanks ! waiting for new great videos !

@@majdq8 Hi Again Majd. Thanks for your feedback. I purchased a Salvimar Nightmare 115. The new Salvimar Nightmare is exactly the same as the Hero. The only difference is the name and the upgraded Primeline bands compared to the Hero. This 115 Nightmare comes stock with a 150mm x 7.5mm shaft and thick 16mm ''Primeline'' bands (I am not sure yet if those stock 16mm bands are micro ID or standard ID). For sure, I am looking to change those tick 16mm bands to one of the following new bands from Salvimar : *Salvimar green Primeline ''HURRICANE'' 14.5mm (Micro ID 1.6mm inner diameter) The compact compound with high hardness is developed to maintain power unchanged after the speargun has been loaded. Recommended for spearfishing with the waiting technique and for those who prefer reactivity and explosiveness. *Salvimar black Primeline ''PRIME'' 14.5mm (Micro ID 1.6mm inner diameter) Formula designed to obtain an optimized elastic modulus that guarantees an excellent ratio between loading effort and power return. This makes the PRIME compound versatile and suitable for all types of fishing. It seems like the green Salvimar ''Huracán'' by Primeline bands are denser than the black Salvimar ''Prime'' by Primeline bands, I think the best fit would be those new green Primeline ''HURRICANE'' 14.5 Micro ID bands and combine that with a new 150mm x 7mm Sigalsub Tahitian HRC shaft, or do you think I should better off with a 7.5mm shaft since the gun is a 115 size? Looking forward to your reply, and thanks again for all the information you share with the spearfishing community.

I only tried the 125cm version but I don't think the 130cm is much different. I would go with an 8mm shaft rather than 7.5mm shaft as 180cm is very long and prone to oscillating (which drops velocities). I would add 3 x 14.5mm small ID bands at maximum stretch. You should get extremely good performance with that setup.

@@majdq8 Thanks for your advice. Keep making awesome vids.

Yes, I personally use an 85 speargun the most when I hunt local fish. Check out my Brown Spotted Grouper video where I use a modified a Pathos 85 in classic and roller.

Actually it was an 82cm gun not 85 ... so within the size that might interest you.

@@majdq8 I watched the video about the grouper. Good. I am very interested in replacing rubber and shafts on short guns, for long range and penetration. I really like how you find problems with bad shots and fix those problems. Thank you.

@@Towadi ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Nqzb_50CtwI.html

Hey have u remove the o ring from line release ? Have seen any improvements in accuracy and shootting smooythiness?

@@yussefhassan5223 I haven't removed because I am too scared to open that trigger mechanism🤣. Also I don't really think it would really make a difference because if you see line release after you shot it hasn't moved which makes me think it's not really affecting the shot. Plus my gun feels very accurate anyway.

A 6.75mm shaft is very light and 2 x 14 small ID bands can easily get it to Terminal Velocity at good stretch. The 3rd band will actually get you no additional velocity and might actually give you less velocity. In my testing the 3rd band only starts helping velocity when you go to 8mm shafts and above.

@@majdq8 you made a great setup !! what is the problem with salvimar shaft 7 mm, did you conclude? I have a new one at home that I took from that model 85, I thought I would put it on an invert roller but when I watched the video I wouldn't put it on.

@@sergejvanjaorahovac2627 It could be just a bad batch ... but I tried 5 different 7mm shafts and all had terrible accuracy. It is possible that the 17-4 ph metal was not heat treated evenly and thus will not have uniform oscillations. I have seen that happen with shafts that are severely bent and then even when using an arrow straightener and you get the shaft perfectly straight , it will not shoot accurate anymore. The thinner the shaft diameter the more critical the metal structure is. I have to admit that I have never seen this with such a short shaft ... usually it is longer shafts around 160cm or more.

@@majdq8 OK . thank you very much for the reply

I used 2 x 14mm small ID bands and a 7mm Sigalsub shaft @ 135cm. The band stretch was quite high as the Sigalsub shaft had shark fins all the way back (was a custom shaft). Probably around 370% stretch.

@@majdq8 ok, so 360% will work. What brand of rubbers do you use , also sigal ?

Depends on your speargun. Some 120cm guns are actually 130 guns. Generally speaking you want to keep the shaft overhang as small as possible where the flopper is just out of the track. Too long of a shaft overhang will cause shots to drop for some reason ... maybe more prone to shaft whip. For a 120 Pathos 155 to 160cm is perfect.

I will try but the battery life on the Hero camera is terrible and you end up ruining your spearfishing trip because you are constantly fiddling with the camera as you try to remember if it is on or off. I wish they had those big batteries like they had on the Hero 3 which lasts 4 or 5 hours. You just put a big memory card and turn it on and forget about it.

The Salvimar Metal handle has a defective roller trigger. At least the 4 handles I bought did. It becomes almost impossible to pull the trigger with 2 optimized bands. This issue seems to have been fixed with the Hero roller trigger. If you have been spoiled with an Ermes DR trigger you might take some time to get used to the harder trigger pull of the Hero roller trigger ... but it has a consistent break off ... which is what you want.

@@majdq8 is it possible to upgrade a Salvimar metal handle with an Emres sub double roller mech?

@@gunnarfjelstul9837 Anything is possible if you have good DIY skills ... but it certainly would be a difficult project.

Salvimar must have had a bad batch of 7mm shafts as the 7.5mm and 8mm seemed ok. But it really made the 95cm gun unusable.

I just keep them or give them away.

@@majdq8 ok, I love the hero storm 115cm but I've been trying to find a used one that I can afford. Would you be interested to sell yours if you still have it?

I certainly can't say that "all" 7mm shafts made by Salvimar are defective. But the ones I tested were all not good. In 7.5mm and 8mm they were good.

The Salvimar Hero handle doesn't have any friction layer so it might be a good idea to wrap it with CF and then sprinkle some sand or silicon carbide speckles on top to improve the friction layer. All the Hunt shafts I tried worked well even the ones with shark fins way back. I wouldn't want to go for 3 x 14mm bands but would rather go for 2 x 14mm bands with a good % stretch (360% or over). A 7.5mm shaft would work really well as it is slightly lighter than 8mm and thus the 2 x 14mm bands would really give it some good velocities.

@@majdq8 Thank you very much majd👍🏼 Do you know if the setup you described will pass a 6 meter tuna penetration test? l don’t have any experience with spearfishing tuna, but l’ve got an opportunity with a friend in Greece. About 50 kg blue fin in aspetto. I know there are better guns for the job, but unfortunately this is not something l’ll be doing a lot. So if the Hero 125 can be set up to do the job, then l have a gun l can use for my regular spearfishing as well. Is a 170 cm shaft ok for the purpose or is the overhang or weight to much? Slip tip?/double barb?/single barb? CF as in carbon fiber? Seen your handle modification videos👍🏼

@@Rones74 If properly setup with a 7.5 or 8mm shaft a 125 gun will easily pass the 6 meter Tuna penetration test and should be able to handle 50kg or even larger fish. Of course with a good slip tip you could get away with even much smaller guns as tuna have very tough skin that will hold the slip tip... but most slip tips don't always shoot accurately so you need to get very close. Generally speaking though, BF tuna and YF tuna don't put much stress on your gear if you use a float line and let the fish tire out. Also those fish are usually shot in open water where there are few reefs to get tangled in so you can just let the fish tire out. A 50kg dogtooth tuna will put more stress on your gear than a 100kg YFT!

@@majdq8 Thanks, lot of higly valuable info for a tuna rookie :) Seen your slip tip test. Mori custom made slip tip shaft appears to be the tool of choice. But l also think Rob Allen’s Drop-Barb and the Kimera Sideslip look to be good solutions. A draw-back with the Rob Allen Drop-Barb is that the notches are a bit far from the rear end of the shaft, so you’ll lose a bit of band strech. Also, shark fins or wires would have been quite alright. On the positive side, the The Rob Allen Drop-Barb itself is placed much closer to the tip of the shaft, so there is no need for excessive penetration. The Kimera Sideslip needs to penetrate as much as a regular Hawaiian shaft, and maybe a slight bit more. Also the Rob Allen Drop-Barb is rated to 200 Kg as opposed to the Kimera Sideslip for the same dimension (7,5 mm) shaft, wich is rated to 200 lb. Whether this has any practical impact in the case of a 50 Kg bluefin tuna, l haven’t a clue.

Change out the bands to 2 x 14mm small ID with 7mm shaft and cut them at 360%. Also check the default shaft for accuracy as I had problems with accuracy with the 85cm default shaft.

Yes sure is very easy. Let's say you want 360% stretch ... you take distance from shark fin where you plan to load your wishbone to the band hole on the muzzle ... then multiply by 2 for 2 sides ... then divide by 3.6 for 360%. So if you have a 100cm distance the formula is 200 x 2 = 400 then divide by 3.6 = 56 cm. Of course best is to add an extra 2 to 4 cm and then just cut one side of the band if it feels to easy to load. The formula is just to get you to approximately where you want to be ... bands are different from batch to batch in their stretchiness and in their diameter. You can adjust the wishbone length to give you more flexibility as well.

Yes I was quite surprised how poorly the shaft shot. I mean if it was a longer shaft like 160cm or more I can understand that. But usually not much that can go wrong with a 130 cm shaft. Salvimar should really look into that as that is a non starter for many people.

@@majdq8 salvimar looking into issues? You gotta be less sarcastic. Problems with NOAH belt straps mounts, metal gun trigger isssue I do wonder what else is hiding in those

How did you get on? Really want the 95 also but very worried now

I think maybe the metal is not uniform or maybe the heat treatment of the 17-4 SS is not uniform. This can easily be fixed by Salvimar if they look into it. This problem is especially serious with 7mm shafts and less diameter. The ones I bought in 7mm are just not usable ... and these were 130cm shafts. Longer shafts would have more of a problem. I imagine a 6.5 or 6.75mm shaft things would be even worse.

Yes I am not so good at that part. Will try to improve it next time!

I used GoPro 6 and GoPro 9 all black

You always want the thinnest bands that can get you to Terminal Velocity of the shaft you are using. Thin bands contract quicker and thus give much higher shaft speeds. Of course you reach a point where if the shaft is too heavy the thin bands don't have enough energy. In this case a 7mm shaft does better with 14mm bands. I did a video on this and you can understand this better if you go here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FSK4HkkimXk.html

@@majdq8 Amazing work! Is there a reason why you use single flopper vs double flopper in most of your setups? Also, do you attach the shooting line on rest tab instead of the back for accuracy or easy of use?

@@cannedyamss I do use double flopper some times but lately I am using "hard locked" single flopper and feel it is best. As for connecting line to shaft, the most accurate in testing is line connection to rest tab.

@@majdq8 Do you know if this Salvimar Hero's Heavy metal trigger fits in the older Salvimar Metal handle for round tubes?

@@cannedyamss No, not at all. Totally different mechanism box size.

Hi! what model of Rob Allen's gun do you use? what model do you recommend for mediterranean sea?

@@dnfateev Hi , I have 85cm cheapest RA aluminum rail gun for compare. The cheapest means thinnest wall version since RA has different naming conventions to their gun by sale regions . Sorry I dont hunt in mediterranean sea, and my place is not easy to buy Euro models. I think if you live in Euro, there are many other better options than RA and Salvimar. You can check Meandros (b28) ,Cressi Cherokee (new trigger version), and Pathos (Alma ) . All of them are better made and reasonable priced than RA, of course much better shooting experience than Salvimar. I personally used all of them and think these ones have better Money/Value ratio than RA. There is nothing wrong with RA, just IMO RA is pretty overpriced compare material used and design (around $250 EURO for the cheapest model in my town). I hope this helps.

@@yjwx18 Thanks a lot!

I do have some great roller and invert roller footage but unfortunately I can't share it without getting in trouble! If I find a way to do it without causing problems I might post it.

@@majdq8 Right on. Regardless we all appreciate you sharing what you can. Thanks!

@@majdq8😉 many people in Italy know the truth about “ super rollers, inverter etc) ….But the same people don’t accept the reality you show in your video : 2*14 is enought for a 7/7.5 shaft…So they are passing to pneumatic vacuum guns .

Why would you be in trouble if you share footage of rollers/inverted rollers ?

@@vincenthamardmorel620 maybe because there are sperguns makers out there with 2000/3000/4000€ guns in catalogue with less performance than a classic well set up speargun…

I have actually tested a lot of Roller and Invert Roller guns but I find that the politics of posting actual data can be unpleasant. So I prefer to buy my own guns and test them, this way I don't feel pressure to hide actual data. I haven't tried the Peter Pan gun but heard very good things about it.

@@majdq8 Hello Majd, sorry to disturb u again... I just wanna tell you that I am so astonished with your speargun reviews, I have never seen such in anywhere . Congrats. As mentioned earlier, I have bought recently the PP speargun and would like you to have a look at it, and maybe test it the way u do of course with no embarrasement... your professional opinion is highly valued and appreciated. Sorry again to bother.

@@moemenkabbara1091 Hala habbibi. Sure no problem if you have the gun available I will give it a try.

@@majdq8 thank you for accepting. The gun is ready! This is my number 66465067. Please contact me on whatsapp to make arrangements!

@@moemenkabbara1091 can you give me more details on the gun and setup. What diameter shaft and what length? What size gun? Invert roller or double invert roller? Is there a video of this on youtube?