Ossage

I think you are right Black Frog, but that doesn't mean they won't come loose. There are a lot of people who are cordage challenged. I also doubt there is anyone out there who is actually making cordage for loops, and in many cases the stuff used doesn't melt consistantly. I know that when I went to the PSE shooting school they used both epoxy and melting on the loops, which told me something. I don't do that myself, but I probably would if I charged for my services, and was likely to be sued.

I know all the arguments (well most I suppose) in favour of loops, but I can't prove to my own satisfaction that they add anything to my performance. Now if I was a great shooter where a point spread over the year was a big deal, I might feel differently. Unfortunately I still have some crude erors that need work. (Like if I wanted to shoot better I would need to get some of my own targets, and set them up, so that I could learn distance a little better.)

I shoot a low anchor, under the jaw, and don't really understand why some sight release shooters shoot a corner of the mouth anchor (though I know some who do it really well), It seems a throwback to the days when sight windows in mag risers were very short. I think that if you had a loop unload on you, and had a low anchor, and were shooting with good form so that during the draw phase your points of reference were in place, then I don't think you would wack your mouth. But there you go, another nuance.

The metal loops make absolutely no sense to me. With two stage nocks, the arrow isn't going to fall off you string on the letdown, not the first time around. Other than that, I see no advantage to metal loops, and would certainly prefer to shoot right off the string. That isn't to say that there aren't metal loops that shoot great, but better?

Several posters have mentioned string wear. This is no longer an issue with braided servings. I would rather see someone learn how to maintain their serving, that to install loops, both require only minimal skill, but I think the serving repair is a better skill to know, if you are tech challenged, and had to pick one. You would need to do a prodigious amount of shooting to need to repair your serving, they seem to last as long as loops. This seems another concern that is a throwback to the dark ages, in this case of the nylon serving. Whne I learnt about loops, years ago on the Burley Hall tape, he was preaching serving replacement in the same segment. In other words, part of the loop excitment goes back to a time when not all bows were coming with braided string servings. Shooting off braid is a great solution to all the wear issues. You are left with torque and nock issues. The modern nocks are near perfect on the nock front, though I have to conceed that if you draw back several times, you may loose your arrow off the string. If this ever happens to me hunting, I might feel differently about the merits of the concern. Again nock torgue is an issue that doesn't move me, there may be a few points in it, but I have never seen it.

Metal loops may wear a particular release, so the wear issue doesn't convince me. I fyou are set up properly overall, then it won't matter for any of these systems.