Bows; lengths, curves and handles..

[Jim]

Hey guys, I was fiddling with some bows this morning and just happened to think these three looked neat lined up alongside one another, from shortest to longest, most recurved to least and most forward handle to straightest...





They are a 45# 48" Bear Super Magnum, a 53# 54" Shrew Classic Hunter and a 70# 64" Barta Bow (a Martin product). I just thought it looked like a neat progression

Jim

[greybeard]

Very neat, the Bear Super Magnum appears to have a high brace height, what sort of power stroke does it have?

Daryl.

[Jim]

It is incredibly high Daryl, the recommendation from Bear is 8-9" and that is set at about 9. So for me that's about a 19" powerstroke. You won't be surprised to hear that I've never received any string slap from that bow

[Mick Smith]

What's your opinion of the Super Mag as an effective bow Jim? Does its very short length hamper it's effectiveness? Have you taken any game with it? Why did you buy it in the first place?

I'm interested because I have often thought about buying one myself.

[Jim]

Mick I haven't taken anything with it. Pound for pound I reckon it's the slowest production bow I've shot. It's by no means terrible, I just reckon you could probably add 5 or 10 pounds to what you might think would be adequate and shoot 8-9gpp to get the most out of it. I bought mine as I had access to some waterways with pigs and I liked the idea of paddling down a creek with a strung bow sitting on the deck and this 45# was the only 2nd hand one I could find in Australia. I've actually fallen in love with it and I've been after some fowl in VERY close country and it's very handy. My lack of success has not been the fault of the bow

As for the pigs I wouldn't be terribly confident with this bow, but if I had a 60# version I'd be happy to go after just about anything I've ever come across. I've also written to a bit of a short bow enthusiast in the US and he reckons the Kodiak Magnum is quite a bit better performer than the supermag without being too much longer. He also highly rated some 54" Browning recurves, but the model name escapes me.

[Mick Smith]

Thanks Jim. Actually, I also have a 48 inch recurve. It's not a Super Magnum, but a 40# Ben Pearson 'Ambusher'. It's a pretty little bow that looks very similar to one of the older Bear Kodiak Magnums, with the white overlays, etc, except it's 48 inches long, not 52 inches.

I bought it for my son around 10 years ago, when he was 9. His draw length was short, meaning he was only pulling about 30lb at the time. He used it for a few years and then his little sister used it for a few more years. Neither of my children had any trouble drawing it back to their ever increasing draw lengths. I picked it up on ebay for less than $100 and it's in good shape.

Of course, over the years I would have a few shots with it. It struck me as having more power than I thought it would, but it was still a long way behind my bows. I found that it shot very well, but only if I did everything perfectly. If I made a slight mistake, the arrow would miss by a wide margin.

It loves Gold Tip Traditional Hunter 35-55 arrows. I've never even tried to use it for hunting, but my kids have used it on bunnies. I wouldn't feel badly handicapped using this little bow on bunnies, using broadheads on Gold Tip arrows.

I did own a 50# Bear Kodiak Magnum a few years ago. It's the bow you can see in my avatar. It was a great little bow and I took lots of bunnies with it. The extra 4 inches in length made a huge difference in it's efficiency, compared to the Ambusher, taking into consideration the different draw weights.

I see that 3 Rivers in the US are currently selling new Bear Kodiak Magnums for just US$399. They're nice looking bows, with white overlays and exotic timber risers. I have been tempted to buy one.