I think it' s a great quality bow for a beginning archer or someone on a budget. The Rage can be adjusted from 21" to 31" without the use of a bow press. That' s a great feature for a younger archer since the bow can be adjusted to grow with them. At 36" axle to axle, and an 8" brace height, the Rage is a very forgiving bow to shoot. I would consider the speed to be decent, but no where near the 290 fps IBO listing on the bow.
I have a friend who shoots for Browning & recently had the opportunity to shoot with some of his former students who are using the Rage (check out the " current news" section at
www.browning-archery.com). The max draw is listed as 65lbs, but we were only able to get it up to around 62. He was shooting an arrow that weighed somewhere around 375-400 grains at 250fps.
We were shooting 3D at the time, so he didn' t have any of the limb savers, string silencers, etc., but the bow didn' t seem any louder than any of the others out there.
Browning has just begun to advertise their 2004 lineup on their web site. They are coming out with a single cam version of the Rage with 6" adjustable cams. If you' re interested in Browning but the Rage doesn' t seem to be a good fit for you, I would suggest cheking out the Tornado or the Mirage.
The Tornado has been completely redesigned for 2004 so you might be able to pick up an ' 03 model at a great price around the beginning of the year. The Mirage has a new cam for ' 04 so you may also be able to find an ' 03 at a nice price also.
I currently shoot a Browning Ambush & am looking into upgrading to the new Mirage after this season. Browning may not be among the more popular brands, and they' re certainly not near the top as far as speed, etc., but they do make an excellent product for the price.
Comments about the Rage
