Best bow for about 300.00
 

I was given a Darden bow. I've practiced for eons and the best I can do is a 5 inch pattern at 20 yards. I was told by a bow shop that I need to buy a bow with an off set window for more accuracy. The Darden is a compound with a standard window. and many hunters I've talked to said they are hitting a maynaise lid at 30 yardswith their bows and some even better.Is there a bow out there that can consistently shoot 30 yds. for 300.00. If not how much higher do I need to go. I just hate to go to all the trouble and miss a deer.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Any modern day compound bow should be able to shoot accuratley. It has to be set up properly though. At 20 yards you should be able to shoot a 2 or 3 inch group every time. I doesn,t matter if you spend a $ 1000 on a bow, if it is not set up right it will not shoot good. I had an old Bear Whitetail2 I could shoot 3 inch groups at 30 yards. It was slower than than an oily grandpa fart though.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Reflex Excursion. $239 at Bass Pro.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Now that was a visual I didnt need.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

The best one would be my Used Mathews Legacy. I would sell it ready to shoot for $350. e-mail if interested. [email protected]

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

There you go that is a good deal I would expect.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

BassPro has PSA Typhoon that normally sells for $300 on sale for $225. Take the Interent ad to get that price in the store.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Truth of the matter is you may not be any more accurate with a newer bow then you are with the one you have now. How is the one you have now set up? Are you shooting with fingers or a release? Do you have the right arrows? Some of the best indoor scores ever recorded are with that type of bow.

Now a new bow would be faster, quieter, have less vibration and recoil and have more let off. And would also be a bit easier to tune. But really an out of tune bow can be shot just as accurately if you have good form and release. It's just not as forgiving is all.

I think there is a good chance your bow doesn't fit you well, you may have the wrong arrows with the wrong type of fletchings and could possibly benefit from some shooting lessons. Your shop most likely doesn't want to got thru all that trouble and would rather you just buy a new bow from them. You will have to do the same thing even if you get a new bow.

I'm not telling you not to get a new bow if you want one, but what I am saying is the one you have can be shot just as accurately, especially at 20 and 30 yards.

I am going to ask you some questions about your current set up. If you don't know the answers or understand that is OK, just ask and we will explain it to you. There is no dumb question, if you don't understand just ask.

Do you shoot with a release or with your fingers?

What sort of sights do you have if any, and are you using a peep sight or a kisser button?

What is your draw length and what is the draw length of the bow? This is one of the most critical things in archery, the bow needs to fit you. If it is too long or too short it will be hard to shoot well. You can't just grab someone elses if it doesn't fit you and shoot it well.

What is the draw weight, how many pounds does take to draw the bow back? Don't go by what the limbs say, have it measured on a scale.

What kind of arrows do you shoot, aluminum or carbon and what size are they? Aluminums will have numbers on the side that are something 2116 or something like that. This is also very important and you need to know what the draw length and draw weight is in order to get the correct arrows.

What type of fletchings are on the arrows? Does it have plastic vanes on the back, or feathers?

What sort of rest if any is on the bow?

All these things would effect how well you could shoot the bow or not. A good shop should be able to check all this for you and suggest any changes that need to be made.

If the bow is way off on draw length and draw weight you may be better off with a newer bow. But if the bow can be adjusted to fit you well then there is no reason it can't be accurate. If it were set correctly with proper arrows and some decent instruction there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to hit a 3 or 4 inch circle the majority of the time at 20 yards or so. Probably within a few hours in most cases. Archery is pretty frustrating to learn if you are just winging it, get the help of a good shop and it will pay off. Then if you feel confident purchase a new bow from them when you can afford it.

Remember when you get a new bow you will still most likely have to get sights and arrows and the such for it as well. So it will not just be 300 for the bow. By the time you are done the price will be a bit more for a complete set up. Also remember that people have been killing deer and winning events with stick bows for years. And these bows don't have sights, wheels, rests or anything on them. And they can be shot accurately with the right knowledge and practice.

What I'm trying to say here is that just plunking down 3 or 4 hundred dollars of your hard earned cash will not gaurantee you will shoot better. There is waaay more to archery than equipment, but on the other hand it's not as hard as people think if you get the right person to help you out in the beginning. If you can find a shop that is willing to work with you to make sure the bow fits you, you get the correct arrows and it is set up, plus give you some tips on shooting, then get a new bow if you can afford it. If not, I wouldn't waste the money on a new bow unless you have it to throw away. Alot of people are turned away from this sport from this sort of thing. They spend good money on a decent bow, only to have it set up wrong and have no idea how to go about shooting well right from the get go. They get frustrated because they can't hit what they are aiming at or can't do it consistantly and just quit. Most end up selling thier archery stuff for next to nothing and end up fishing or getting a shotgun;). However with a decent shop and some time being shown some basics right from the beginning the same person could be very confident and end up loving the sport. This is what happened to me, so I know it's true.

Good luck,
Paul

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

There are plenty of good bows on the market for 300$. IMO the pse line is damn hard to beat. I've owned two compounds, both pse. The first was a thunderflight I shot for 11 years without any problems or issues. the second is a firestorm lite I bought in March and I have yet to have any problems. There bows are great and resonable priced and IMO should not be excluded when searching for a bow.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

GOOD imfoo PAUL

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Unfortunately you have to become your own Pro Shop. There are three areas that greatly effect accurate archery. 1) the bow 2) the arrow and 3) you. Once you know the ins and outs of each you’ll know what kind of bow to look for. I personally require a solid back wall and a long brace height. No pro shop explained these things to me I found them out on my own.
If you can figure out why you are not shooting as well as you would like you won’t be throwing good money away.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

First of all ,I sincerely thankyou for all the time you've taken.
I was told to shoot lighter arrows but I tried them all and this one does the best for me.Quattro 2413 Easton.I shoot 100 grain field points but when I put on the 100 grain broadheads they drop a foot. I use a peep sight which helped a ton. I tried a quick release and hated it. I use fingers.I have a steady hand. I had my bow set at 60 lbs.I'm 50 years old but can handle 60 ok. The bow is a Darden Trailmaster.
I believe I know what the problem is. No matter how hard you try; because I don't have an off-set window part of the fletching is always touching the restas they are released. I just looked at that. My rainbow sight is a 30.00 Cobra. The Archery man measured my pull and said I need 31inch arrows. I'm 6'3''.They seem to work fine. I tried shooting other arrows and they were everywhere. Don't get me wrong. Some of my arrows go so straight that I've split other arrows. And then some don't do so well. A little game I play is to hit 50% in the vitals out of 10. I have a hard time doing that and I believe it's because of the rest .I've bought 4 different rest.This one cost 29.00. The rest is a Quick Tune. My vanes are 5'' plastic. I use uni nocks and it doesn't matter which way the cock vane is positioned it always touches the rest. At least if I bought a newer bow with an off-set window I wouldn't have the rest problem.I guess?
Thanks again,
Chuck

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

the best thing you can do is hit a few pro-shops. make a list of bows in your price range and shoot them all. and buy the one that feels the best to you. thats what I do. figure out my price range and shop around and shoot as many as I can. you might be surprised on what feels best for you compared to someone's comfort zone.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Take a look at the Fred Bear TRX and the Martin Tracer Mag.........have shot them both and they are well worth their price.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Here are some problems I see right off the bat. For one thing fingers are a bit harder to shoot, not that it can't be done because people have been doing it for thousands of years I suppose. I for one am not very good at it. However if you are shooting an older bow without a cut out riser and with fingers there are some things that need to be considered. One, spine is VERY important. You need the arrow to flex around the riser at the correct time in order for it to miss it. Number two, I don't think you have the correct rest for your set up. I would think a plunger rest or something with some side pressure would work better then a prong rest. And number three I think you would have better luck with feathers instead of vanes with that set up. You most likely have some sort of contact issues with plastic vanes.

These are all guesses of course, there is no way to really know without seeing your set up or you shoot.

I wish I could help you more, but the honest truth is I don't have that much experience with these older bows and I have never shot fingers. I was hoping one of the more experienced guys (older;)) would help you out. They could most likely suggest a better set up as far as a rest and the correct arrows and the such. Arthur or Len would be great if you could get them to respond, maybe we could PM them or something.

I know for a fact your bow is capable of shooting well, people did it for years and years before the newer bows came out. Infact some did it better then the guys do now with the newer bows. But you are correct a newer bow might solve some of the problems, but sometimes it brings a whole new set with it.:D. Even if you did get a newer bow, I would still like to see you get this one set up so you could shoot it better. And if you get a newer one, especially a shorter one, you might want to think about using a release.

Lets see who esle responds to this and maybe I will contact someone with more knowledge on these set ups to help you out. You could also try posting something in the traditional section, someone over there may know since the set ups more simular than a modern compound.

Or maybe rename the post to "help with an older bow and archer" or something like that. Lots of guys just zip past the posts about which bow is better and that sort of stuff, I almost did. All the newer bows are pretty good, it just depends on what you like is all.

Good luck,
Paul

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Reflex Excursion is retailing around $250 these days. It's been a great bow for me.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Thanks for the reply,
Often when I visit a bow shop I see hunters getting new limbs put on. If I bought a used bow how do I know if it needs a new limb? If I bought a new bow how long shoud limbs last. I'm a teacher ,so after school when the students are gone I get my target out of my truck and shoot maybe 50 times at a session. I leave my bow at about 20 lbs until August. Then I get it set around 60. I practice about twice a week at about 50-75 shots at a session. Our season last 1 month. Then I return the string tention back to around 20 . If I do this I shouldn't ever need new limbs should I?
Chuck

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

I can't say with an older bow, but with a newer bow it is fairly rare to have to change limbs. If your shop is doing it a lot I think something may be wrong. I have a friend that has a 13 year old darton set at 72 lbs, still has the orignal limbs on it with no problems. Every now and then you get a new bow that will have a cracked limb or something and need replaced, but it is not the norm and should be a rarity. In most cases from what I am seeing on these boards it is due to improperly pressing these style bows with short limbs. If your shop is having problems with limbs on newer bows maybe they are doing something wrong. Limbs should pretty much last the lifetime of the bow.

As far as turning your poundage up and down, you don't really need to. And really shouldn't with the set up you have. Because of what I described in my last post about the arrow having to flex and snake around the riser (archers paradox) you need the properly spined arrows. One of the main things that effects spine is the draw weight of the bow. There is no way you could shoot that bow at 20 or 30 lbs and then turn it up to 60 or so and have it tuned correctly. The arrows would either be severly over or underspined at one of the settings. You would need different arrows for each setting in order for it to work correctly. And man that is a lot of draw weight range! Most new bows are only adjustable for around 10 lbs. Like if you get a bow with a peak weight of 60 lbs you can only turn it down to 50 lbs. You might get a few lbs less then that, but not much more than that in most cases. I think martins have a larger draw weight range, maybe 15 lbs or so.

You should find a draw weight that is comfortable for you to shoot and stick with it year round. Unless you are going to shoot spots where you will be shooting a lot in one session and will get tired. But often when you change anything on your set up your bow may need to be retuned. Everything effects everthing else to a certain extent.

I think you need to find a shop with some experience with older set ups and pick thier brains some. I will see if I can get you some help here. Someone with more knowledge than I have. None of what I am telling you is from personal experience, just from what I have learned from other people and research I have done. All my experience shooting and tuning is with newer style coumpound bows. The oldest bow I have messed with would be that 13 year old darton maverick I was talking about earlier. And I am not a professional bow mechanic or anything, I just shoot and play alot and spend way too much on sites like this reading information and talking to others.

I think once you get some of these issues straightened out with your bow and arrows you should shoot a little better. Providing you have good form and release. 90 percent of archery is mental any way.

Good luck,
Paul

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Paul gave me a shout to look at this thread and see if I could help you out. I think the bow you have is just fine, unless you just want to spend $300. It's not as fancy as new bows, but it is still plenty capable of doing the same job it did when it was new, which is sending an arrow downrange with enough oomph to kill a deer.

Going to a bow with a cutout riser WILL NOT solve your problem with the rest. A prong style rest like that is very hard -next to impossible- to use with a fingers release. They are made for using a mechanical release, where the arrow needs to be cushioned in the vertical plane. A fingers released arrow needs to be cushioned in the horizontal plane, due to the flexing Paul mentioned. The very fact you can hold a 5" group at 20 yards using that rest is impressive.[:-]

Switch to an NAP Centerest flipper. They generally run about $15 or less. They're easy to install and about as simple as you can get. The arrow rests on a little wire which is pushed out of the way as the fletching passes, so rest contact is minimal. The picture shows it looking down from the top.

On non-cutout riser bows, arrows need to be long enough that they stick out beyond the front of the riser at least a half inch when you've got the bow drawn fully into the stops. That will keep the broadhead well away from the riser. Reason for that is simple. Some guys get excited when a deer is in front of them and overdraw the bow. The broadhead hits the riser and pulls the nock off the string. The arrow falls, clattering down the side of the tree. Cutting them where the broadheads can't contact the bow eliminates that problem. If your current arrows are already that long, then you're in business. If you need longer arrows to get there, you might need to look at going to a different size. Install the nocks so that the cock fletch - the odd colored one - is sticking straight out to the side. That's how they need to be set up for a fingers rest like the flipper.

Check out the tuning section at Easton's website. Lots of good info there, but I recommend forgoing the paper tuning stuff. I've never considered it applicable for fingers shooters. www.eastonarchery.com

By the way, don't get too upset at the guys at your pro shop for sending you down the primrose path. Probably not a single one of them have ever shot a bow with their God given fingers, and probably have never shot a bow without cutout sight window. Ignorance is their fault, for sure, but remember. They're working in a business where a 5 year old bow is practically an antique and you've got one that's probably closing in on 20 years old. it's beyond their realm of experience. And, naturally, they're main job is to try and get you to buy a new bow.;)

Might be a good idea to get one within the next couple of years, but the one you've got will serve until you're ready for a new one.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Thanks for confirming some of my thoughts Arthur. I wasn't sure I was giving good advice or not. So he would be ok with vanes and that rest? or should he use feathers instead?

Paul

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

From what I see, the PSE Firestorm lite is around $450. Where can I get one for $300, like the original post was asking.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Livbucks,

I scored my Firestorm lite as a left over off ebay. I'd been patiently waiting (in no rush for a new bow) and found it from a dealer about an hour and a half from my home. The bow brand new and the dealer is a PSE dealer so it came with a full warrenty.

If you know what you're looking for you can find good deals. I do virtually all the work on my bow myself so I wan't worried about offending my local shop.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20838&item =7164775212&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Here's a buy it now for $335.00 including shipping.

Here's a primos to watch at $300.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20838&item =7165046291&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

I got my Alpine Archery Impact X-treme on clearance from an academy store for $232. I really like it. It normally sold for $339. With my hunting set up it shoots 265 fps and at 30yds I'm shooting a group of 5 arrows in 5". I believe that will improve as I improve.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

reflex grizzly

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

PSE Fire Flite 33 From Cabelas runs 329.99 and i have one and would reccomend one.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

I also had a PSE Fire-Flight. I was very accurate. As Arthur P has mentiones, give the flipper rest a try. It could solve your problems.

RE: Best bow for about 300.00
 

Fred Bear vapor 300