Found a speargun

[AfterDark]

Went diving with CT_RICH at Kings Beach Friday. A nice dive, vis varied from 5-10' average RI. I found a spear gun! It hasn't been in the water long either. No growth on it at all and it works. So if you lost it and can tell me about it, it'll be coming back to you.

Thing scared the crap outa me. It was covered some by seaweed so when I picked it up I didn't know what it was until; I had a loaded and cocked (band extended) spear gun pointing spear first at me! I knew CT_Rich was on my left above me so I turned it to the right as I lowered the muzzle towards the bottom.


Our second dive was at Green Bridge where CT_Rich out did himself! He found what could only have been a case of 40MM ammo that had wedged itself between some rocks. There it has sat for 60+ years the wood rotted but the rounds where held by straps and encrusted to each other and the rocks. These are nice! No dents from rolling around the bottom. So we recovered them and split the booty! I've been finding these things there since I started diving. Years ago they'd be live, powder dry and ignitable with a projectile in place. Those have all rotted away by now if not these would have had them. I used to remove the projectiles and use the powder to start campfires!

A really cool find.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

was it a cressi sub with a reel and line out?

 

[neonstingray]

Sounds like a cool dive. You may have better luck with the gun on spearboard.com

 

[AfterDark]

was it a cressi sub with a reel and line out?

Did you lose one?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

my teammate lost his during the Nationals about a month ago...

 

[CT-Rich]

The ammo that Afterdark and I found was from the Price Neck Anti-aircraft school that was located there. From what I understood, the school was closed after WWII. The ammo was probably washed away during the Great Hurricane of 1944. Hard to imagine all those massive mansions putting up with the constant barrage of 40 mm cannon rounds being fired into the air.

Here are some pictures that I found from the Naval Anti-Aircraft Training School at Prices Neck.

naanb

To give you some idea of scale, here is a picture that I found that show a single round.


The rounds AfterDark and I found are like the one being held, the projectile in ours have rotted away. Imagine having a neighbor that could send 330 of those puppies 4 miles down range in only a minute.

 

[AfterDark]

The 1st and 3rd pictures are of a 40MM weapon that fired the ammo we found. The 2nd picture I think is a 3 inch or 5 inch gun. The smaller round is a 20MM.

That was during WWII those mansion owners probably felt lucky to have the protection.

 

[DaytonaJoe]

I just PMed AfterDark, but wanted to share the story with you all. I was just browsing google for a new speargun, ran a search for "new england speargun." One of the top results was this thread, which I immediately clicked on because in late August my buddy dropped the speargun I had loaned to him and we were never able to find it. So seven months later I may have discovered where my speargun ended up haha, what are the chances of that!

 

[AfterDark]

I just PMed AfterDark, but wanted to share the story with you all. I was just browsing google for a new speargun, ran a search for "new england speargun." One of the top results was this thread, which I immediately clicked on because in late August my buddy dropped the speargun I had loaned to him and we were never able to find it. So seven months later I may have discovered where my speargun ended up haha, what are the chances of that!

Got your PM I have your spear gun. I must have found it within days of your losing it because it looks like it just came out of the trunk of a car! No growth at all. Once you drop something at Kings beach that big wide bottom kelp just consumes it. The band was all that was visible and the color was what attracted me. I was lucky to retrieve it without injury, the safety was off and the spear was pointed right at my belly as I picked it up and realized what I had! Another lucky me diving story, I've got a ton of them!

 

[CT-Rich]

I just PMed AfterDark, but wanted to share the story with you all. I was just browsing google for a new speargun, ran a search for "new england speargun." One of the top results was this thread, which I immediately clicked on because in late August my buddy dropped the speargun I had loaned to him and we were never able to find it. So seven months later I may have discovered where my speargun ended up haha, what are the chances of that!

glad you'll get your gun back.