Want one that has never been shot before by anyone or are you happy with one that has been shot/tested a few times?

The only reason I ask is I know that many bows are tested by quite a few different people each day before they leave the shop as new. If you addded up the shots day in and day out before leaving the shop I would bet some bows will have a easy 200 or more shots fired through them. It would be fun to take a poll from 50 some pro shopsthroughout thecountryto see the actuall results. I wouldbet that80%(or more) of the bows that leaveanypro shophave been shotby someone else other than the actualbuyer.I know that all the pro shops that I have been too are more than willing to let a would be buyer test out any bow on the shelf.When buying newI always want a bow that has never spent a day on the shelf. In my 16 years of archery hunting I havehad only one problem with a bow that needed to be shiped back and repaired by the manufacture. I know it had been in the shop for almost 3 months before I bought it and sometimes I wonder how many shots were fired through the bow and if it was dry fired? Anyway whats your opinion or have you even thought about this before.

I have thought about this and I prefer a bow that has never been shot by anyone but me. I test fired some bows before purchasing mine. I got lucky b/c he had just got a shipment in and I saw my Hoyt come out of the box.

Most bows in a shop are not shot as often as you think. Most people will buy the bow they shot, very few will say "I like this one, but I want one that is brand new". The results are that the bows generally do not have that many shots threw them.

The thing that makes me nervous is if the bow has been dry fired by some unsuspecting customer. For this reason, I like them out of the box!

I don't mind a bow that has a few shots on it. Most of the shops I have gone too, will gladly let you shoot but they don't just let you draw it back without an arrow to avoid dry firing. That seems to be a safe policy.

I am left handed so every bow that I have bought was ordered and I was there when it came out of the box (but that is also because it is a Mathews). I have been to several bow shops that have a "test" bow for each model that someone can shoot. I agree with getting a new bow that has never been shot and I believe that happens more than getting one that has been shot. If you are totally against it, any bow shop will order you a brand new bow.

One time our Pro shop had the PSE truck visiting his shopp. I looked at a couple of bows and setteled on a Thunderbolt. I didn't have all the money with me so I gave him $150 and told him I would be back in a couple days to pick up my new bow. He was suppos to get it all set up and ready for me, When I got back to his shop he coulden't find the one in the box in the back needless to say I was not happy. So he went to his display rack and said as he picked one up this is the same bow. I told him I wanted the new one in the box that I paid for not a display model. Any way I took it but made him throw in a free rest and quiver. The bow was fine and I ended up saving a bunch of money. Mike

Doesn't bother me in the least if it has been shot in the shop or not. I don't want a fresh bow for hunting/shooting anyway. It needs several hundred shots through it until I'm ready to tweak it into what and where I want to use it anyway so it doesn't make a difference to me if someone else did the shooting. The warranty is still with it as a new bow the day I buy it.....usually tho and I'll be honest, although I might test them off the shelf, I'll end up ordering a new one. There are times however when the one on the shelf that has been "broke" in is a better bow than one from the company freshly assembled. Remember, each bow of the same make/ model are exactly alike when it comes to off the shelf perfomance.

I've only bought two bows, and the shop I use has tons of inventory and 99% of them aren't set up to shoot. Both bows I've bought were bare nekked when I bought them so I doubt they were ever fired.

Sounds like you guys are getting a little anal! I work in a pro-shop and the above comment was right on about the bows being shot less than you think. Just because a bow is hanging on the display rack doesn't mean it's been fired. If your shop had to order a brand new bow just so you could pull it from the box, would you be willing to pay more?? Alot of dealers get hit with shipping charges from the mfg. and hence the idea of keeping some in stock!! The bows all carry a lifetime warranty, so why worry??

It never was a problem before but a month ago I bought a new Bladerunner Iso-Force. The only dealer in Pa was in Pittsburg and he offered me a really good price but the way I found him was that someone on HuntingPa.com posted that they had finally seen and shot the bow. Since the dealer only had one in stock, I was pretty sure that it had been handled AND shot a LOT! I ended up buying a brand new one right from the manufacturer for about $40 more.