Arrow Rest Nostalgia

[Arthur P]

The latest Whisker Bisquit thread got me thinking... Bad thing to have happen, for sure, but that's how it is.

One comment in particular got my attention, something about going simple and sticking a 'centershot' flipper rest on the bow. I figgered the poster meant 'Centerest'. So, I got to digging around in the depths of one of my old archery tackle boxes and found an old NAP Plungerest. Remember those? A flipper mounted directly onto a plunger. It had the small head on it, from the days of the ol' pultruded carbon arrows. It's too small to work with anything but a pultruded arrow, and that's why I tossed it in the box.

Well, the great experimentor came to the fore. I pulled off the old head and replaced it with a new head from a Centerest flipper. Sonuvagun! It fit!! I stuck felt on the side plate, bent the last 1/8" of the flipper arm up slightly for containment and slid a teflon sleeve over the arm. Stuck the rest on my ProTec and eyeballed centershot.

About 15 minutes later, after tweaking the spring tension in the plunger a bit, I was shooting 3-arrow groups, all touching, at 30 yards with fingers release. Excellent arrow flight. I didn't bother trying a release. I didn't want to mess with a good thing and, besides, I've shot releases over flipper rests many times before and had nothing but good results.

I've got a boatload of springies too. The only drawback about springies is, it's not wise to shoot plastic vanes with them. Found that out the hard way when a nicked vane grabbed the springie. The arrow stuck in the dirt 10 yards in front of me and turned the coiled springie into a piece of wire sticking straight out from my sight window. But it only cost me a tournament championship instead of a big deer.

GKF still makes a springie mounted on a plunger. It costs about $12. I let my old one get away from me on a bow swap I'd made some years back. Gotta get a couple ordered in. Very simple, accurate and reliable rests. That is, as long as you either shoot feathers or keep your vanes in excellent shape.

Then there's the Golden Premier, Star Hunter, ArrowTrac, Huntmaster Supreme, TM Hunter, Cavalier FreeFlyte... various others whose names I've forgotten, even an old leather backed Hoyt stick-on rest in that box. Still got an original Berger Button plunger or two. A bunch of old broadheads of various varieties. My own little private museum in a box. LOL

Anyway, of all the rests I've used over the years there's still nothing that is quite so simple to use, nothing that's as versatile, nothing quite so reliable or accurate as a plain ol' flipper rest. Fingers or release, it doesn't matter. Seems like I always try new stuff and wind up right back with a flipper on my bow. (I actually took off a flipper to put this Plungerest on my bow!) Maybe that's why I'm so slow to try new stuff nowadays. I've been around the block too many times and wound up right back where I was, only with less money.

[DoninVa]

It's funny how people have different experinces with the same gear. I shot pins and fingers for years and won several tournements and finally took third in the state one year. My biggest problem was with arrow rests. I tried springys, flippers, and anything that came along but was never satisified with the results. When I went to a release, same story. A few years ago, I put the compound down and went to traditional for the simplicity and the dislike of prong rests. When the Muzzy zero effect and Trophy Taker came out, I picked the compound up again and wow, what a difference. All of the clicks ,pops and fletching contact was gone. The Muzzy was simple and what a hunting rest. Keep your eye on the deer and draw with no worries of the arrow making a noise, falling off the rest, fletching hitting and being able to shoot from any position. I would lay the wheels down before I would use a prong, springy or flipper again. My blood pressure has dropped 50 points since getting away from these rests. Don

[Arthur P]

Yep, Don. I've been lucky. I'd been shooting recurves and stuff for more than 20 years before I ever picked up a compound. I joined a club when I first started shooting compounds and made many friends that were serious tournament shooters. When I started shooting tournaments myself, I was a careful observer of what the veterans were doing. If you want to win, you have to know your competition. I learned many things, many little tricks from them, which has probably saved me from being plagued by the problems so many folks have talked about on the forums.

[c903]

Yep! Been there done that. Once past the state of confusion, I have never had the tuning problems that so many seem to have these days. Maybe I have just been lucky. I know it is probably not the case....I think, but it seems that many of today's bowhunters spend more time tuning, fixing, and replacing their gear, than bowhunting.

Once I began to comprehend that the most critical aspect of bowhunting was to get the arrow away from me and my bow as quick as possible and as hindrance-free as possible; simplicity, reliability, and the capability to fix a breakdown in the field, or miles from my tackle box, and put the rest back together and reinstall the rest so that the "tune" was the same or near the same, became the order of the day.

These days, once I have installed (anchored) and tuned my rest on my bows, compounds and recurves, my arrow rest is not something I think about unless something in my arrow flight changes or a rest breaks down"¦..which (breakdown) has never happen to me. Thank you, GKF!

[Cougar Mag]

Arthur, the flipper rest is modern compared to the ole Saunders stick on rest. Thats when I was shooting PSE and they came out with the movable rest plates. When I first started shooting it was my rest.....simple and reliable, until the small finger would break[]. But you could replace the rest for a $1.

[Arthur P]

I used those stickon rests with my recurves for a long time before I ever got a compound. And my first 3 compounds wore 'em too. They were fairly decent, as long as you kept 'em outta the cold. I snapped off a bunch of those fingers when it was below freezing outside.

[JOE PA]

Arthur:

I had excellent results with that rest shooting with a release for quite a few years. I still remember 3 or 4 Pro Shop guys telling me that I was "defeating the purpose" with a rest like that. Still shot well with pultruded carbons and full helical. I too had to use the Centerest Flipper end, but only because I dropped the original head on the floor of my messy workshop, and never did find it![:@]

And..That is some pretty impressive shooting with fingers.

[Bigpapascout]

when I was shooting recurves I shot off the shelf and shot my first compound off the shelf with no sights.

then I slowly began to turn into a techno junkie as my quest to be as accurate as I possibly could be became an obsession with me.
I have drawers full of old stick on flipper rests, springy rests, plunger rests
GKF Larry wise signature series rests, Flip Master, Hunt master, pace setter On And on

[Arthur P]

Only compound I ever had that I could shoot off the shelf was that ol' Browning Cobra. Remember that'n? Wood, non adjustable... basically a one piece recurve with chopped off limb tips and wheels installed. Maybe 40% letoff. It really was a pretty good bow. Shot pretty fast for it's day. Actually, the one I had pretty much demanded to be shot off the shelf. It wouldn't tune up with a stick-on rest.

Then I sold it to buy a Browning Excellerator and that was the LAST Browning I ever bought.[:'(] Really and truly, that Cobra and my old Golden Eagle Hunter are the only compounds I've ever had that I wish I'd hung onto.

[Bigpapascout]

Arthur my first recurve was a wood Browning I had a browning Nomad stalker recurve then I bought the Browning Nomad which was the compound. In the day browning was top of the line.