First Impressions of the 115 Beuchat
Marlin Carbon Elite
Beuchat have really kicked into action these last
few years, although they have always had a good and well built product
range. We are now seeing some real forefront technology with their new
wetsuits and guns. But today we are going to focus on the Beuchat Marlin
Carbon Elite. After already producing an already very accurate Mundial
Carbon Elite they now have the Beuchat Carbon Elite. What I like about
this new release is that although others have already implemented different
aspects of this gun like stainless line
release, open muzzle, a shorter spear and spear rail. This tells me
that Beuchat have been listening to the spearfishing world and responded
with the Marlin Carbon Elite. First looking at earlier Beuchat spearguns
and then looking at the new Elite, one gets the impression that although
continuing a legacy of Beuchat”s own style they have redesigned
every part of the gun. In fact the only part of this gun that has not
been overhauled is the spear. And even that has been shortened. Standing
this gun next to a rob allen 120 one can see that although the Marlin
is labeled as a 115 it is actually the same height at least at the muzzle
as the rob allen. The Rob allen gun uses a 1.6m 7mm spear where as the
Beuchat has a 1.5m 6.5mm spear.
The Muzzle
The muzzle is the open variety which gives a clear
line of site when targeting prey. The rubber slings essentially just go
through a hole in the muzzle which means there is less mass at the muzzle
end than the South African style which make the rubbers line up with the
spear. This has a trade off too, When loading a SA speargun the rubber
sling doesn't move from side to side as they are locked in place and stay
centerd. The muzzle has long hooks which allow the mono or spearline to
easily hook over the top to keep the spear in place. But this muzzle has
a backup plan for keeping the spear in place when reloading. It has an
adjustable clip which allows the diver to just push the spear down into
place. This is quite cunningly designed. On the underside of the muzzle
there is an adjustment screw to widen or decrease the clearance. This
means two things, one the diver can decide how loose or tight he wants
the gap, secondly the diver can choose to use a thicker or thinner spear.
The Bridle
The Bridle is wide which has several benefits, one
it gives the diver more room for his fingers when bringing the rubber
slings back to the spear notch secondly it keeps the slings away from
the barrel which can cause resistance lastly it has no moving parts which
means there is less chance of failure.
The Barrel
The barrel is a piece of work in its own right. Although it’s a
standard 28mm OD carbon barrel at the muzzle end. It soon takes on an
oval shape with a snug rail to steady the spear. As we move to the trigger
end of the barrel it becomes thicker or taller and by the time it goes
inside the marlin hand piece it’s an impressive 40mm high. So to
all you d.i.yer who want to use a the marlin hand piece to build their
own gun, make sure you get the standard marlin trigger which has a standard
28mm id female fitting.
The Trigger
The revolution continues as we make our way to the
trigger. A side mounted stainless line release which makes it more user
friendly with reels. The line release can be changed over to either side
of the gun which could appeal to a lot of our left handed hunters. Underneath
they have changed the reel mount slightly so if you have one of the earlier
model reels lying around sorry it’s not going to fit on here. At
the entry point of the mechanism there is a slight upturn to guide the
spear in with ease. This mech has been designed to be loaded with 2 rap
around 18mm rubber slings. One thing is missing compared to the Mundial
trigger and that’s the trigger travel adjuster, which for me is
insignificant but that’s a personal thing. The angle of the handle
has been increased to make it more ergonomic and to keep the recoil more
in line to decrease the amount of potential lift in the muzzle when fired.
For a long time the Mundial trigger had its attachment point at the top
of the mech which now has finally been moved the base of the handle which
speaking for myself is nicer to use. The loading pad (or loading T)at
the back of the trigger can be removed by temporarily removing the stainless
pin and then reinserting the pin afterwards Which is a continuation from
the Mundial trigger. Which I think was a good decision on Beuchat behalf
as many divers including myself prefer their gun without.
O.k. so the Elite is a very pretty hunting device. So pretty in fact I
could see one of these hanging on my wall as a show piece, but that’s
just silly. Beuchat designed this gun with the tapered barrel and a heavy
duty mech so it could be used as a single rubberd gun when hunting around
the reef but could also have a second sling added for those who need more
range for let say pelagic species.
First impressions in the water.
Like the Mundial Carbon Elite this gun is very light
in the water, so light it only just sinks when let go. The grip of the
trigger is slightly thinner than the Mundial trigger but still taller
than the new Omer cayman. So this could appeal to those with larger hands.
Personally I like the feel of this trigger, Beuchat have continued with
the soft grip just like the Mundial trigger. Raising and lowering the
front of this gun is comparable to any euro gun of this length. Panning
from side to side I do notice a little more resistance than a standard
euro tube gun but very similar to a South African rail gun of the same
length. Looking down the gun we have a clear line of sight as one would
expect with an open muzzle. Taking my first shot I noticed like Beuchats
previous trigger it’s nice and light. And although my first shot
with a new gun is never very accurate, I soon found it to be right on
the button. Although there was sound when it was fired, it is no means
a noisy or loud speargun. I soon realized one of the benefits of having
the spear holding clip on the muzzle. Normally on an open muzzle gun the
shooting line holds down the spear and in order to do that well there
must be quite a bit of tension. Often the consequence of this is the line
release pushes the spear up at the back and lifting it from the rail or
spear guide. Whereas with the Beuchat Elite there need not be any tension
at all. Having the deeper hooks at the front was very easy to string the
gun and there was no risk or it undoing itself which does happen on some
guns.
The Beuchat Carbon Marlin Elite was a joy to uses, accurate and quick
to restring after shots, but one thing that became more and more evident
the more I used it was the lack of range. I was taking shots that I was
comfortable taking with the gun I normally use but it just didn’t
have the hitting power. In some ways I was not surprised as the rubber
slings looked longer than normal than the length one would expect for
that length gun.
Conclusion
Although I was a bit disappointed with the lack of
power I felt this could be easily remedied with shorter rubber slings
and I don’t think it would have too much of a negative impact on
the accuracy. The Marlin Elite is a brand new design from head to toe
and very precisely made. Who would want this gun? Someone who wants one
gun to do several types of hunting. Although just about every speargun
on the market has provisions for a second rap around rubber sling, many
are not engineered for twin 18mm slings without compromising the trigger
or flexing the barrel. This speargun would do well as a single rubber
gun or double. Although I have not used this gun with double rubbers I
would say that it would then have a lot of hitting power.
