Loading pad

Loading a band gun means putting the butt of the gun against your chest and pulling the band back with both hands. A single 16 mm band takes 25 to 30 kg of pull; two bands on a long gun, twice that. Without a pad the butt bruises the sternum in a session and the diver starts loading badly, off-centre and in a hurry, which is how bands slip and guns go off.

A pad spreads the load, gives the butt a non-slip surface to sit on, and makes loading a calm, repeatable movement.

Two kinds:

• A pad built into the wetsuit jacket, a thick patch of dense neoprene or a plastic plate under the outer layer, over the sternum. The best answer, and worth specifying when buying a suit.
• A separate pad, a plastic or dense-foam plate on straps that goes over the suit. For a suit without a pad, or for a roller gun that needs a harder surface.

What matters:

• Position: over the sternum, not the stomach; the gun butt sits where the ribs meet.
• A surface the gun butt does not slide on when wet.
• Thickness enough to spread a 50 kg pull; a plate under foam for rollers and double-banded guns.
• A separate pad must not move when you twist to load.

About 15 by 20 cm, centred on the sternum. A separate pad on straps is adjusted so that it cannot slide down.

Rinse with the suit. A separate pad is dried out of the sun; its straps go the way of all rubber.