JOE PA

Well, when most of you seem to be buying bows like beer (the fresher the better), I usually like the aged like wine approach. Of course, bows do not increase in value like wine can.

Having put together a Frankenstein bow with Black Knight cams, I succombed to curiosity, and bought an actual Oregon Black Knight recently. It is not the original, cast riser model, but one of the machined riser versions. The bow is certainly an interesting one. The first shot with it sounded like a gun, but after taking off the overdraw and heavy, old school sight, which wasn't quite tight enough, plus the addition of Limb Savers, etc. it has a pretty acceptable noise level. Noise wise, it seemed pretty much like the Patriot Dually I had. The bow, with its straight riser, and pretty much vertical limbs, has some forward jump, but it is not nearly as bad as the carbon riser Diamond Marquis that I had last year. The brace height is less than 6", but I've yet to feel the string against my wrist. I even shot it a bit with a fairly bulky nylon jacket on with no arm guard, and the string hit nothing. To me, that means there is little torque going on. I need to add that the draw length of the bow is nearly 1" too long for me. The draw is tough, especially holding on to peak weight way back into the draw, but it drops pretty smoothly for all of the energy storage. Not much valley, but a decently firm "wall." Shooting the bow is pretty enjoyable, not quite as shock free as newer bows, but still not all that much different. The bow seems to shoot accurately enough for a bow that is really too long of a draw, and not much harder to shoot well than many other bows I've had with more generous brace heights. Again, it seems to be pretty torque free. Should be a decent 3D bow that shoots flat to help with range estimation. While the cams are modular, it seemed almost impossible to get modules when I had my other bow, so I will probably end up selling this one after the curiosity is satisfied. One thing that suprised me a little was the look of the bow and machining, etc. I was under the impression that Oregon bows were very high quality and high priced bows. The riser on this bow is pretty simple, and blocky. Though I am impressed with the torque free nature of the riser, it does kind of make most modern bows look like works of art. There is some beveling on the edges of the limbs that looks kind of rough. Somewhat less impressive overall than many of the Hoyts and High Country machined riser bows from the '90s. Of course, it is WAY FASTER! Re-sell this piece of history, or get some aluminum and make some modules to correct the draw length? Decisions, Decisions.

gibblet

isn't that one of the founders of bowtechs' old company.

JOE PA

gibblet:

As far as I know, Kevin Strother was the main tech/designer of the Black Knight. I'm not sure about other models of Oregon bows. He was one of the main people associated with the company at the time it went under. According to the Bowtech story I saw on ArcheryTalk, other people associated with the company had more to do with the folding of Oregon than Kevin Strother. I think he went on to be part of the Horizon bow company, and later was V.P. and main design engineer for Bowtech. Earlier this year, he was apparently fired for reasons that seem to be under dispute, and married Kate Robinson, the step daughter of Terry Martin of Martin Archery. Their new joint venture is Elite Archery, which seems to have emerged very quickly after his departure from Bowtech. If you saw the thread on ArcheryTalk, there was quite a bit of venom in the initial post about Bowtech. IMHO, the guy does know how to get serious speed out of a bow. I can tell you that despite its somewhat crude looking, blocky riser and mid-'90s design, it is a very solid bow, and noise and vibration (with Limb Savers, string stuff, and a good stablilzer) are pretty good, considering the way it puts the arrows out.

gibblet

i thought john was the ceo or president also, the other founder of bowtech. i read the thread on AT. my favorite parts were where guys shooting bows kevin designed were attacking him. i found that part pretty funny. i mean, he made those guys love bowtech and they were being jerks. for the split part, it's like a marriage or relationship, and i learned a long time ago to not stick my nose in there. once you do, you end up the bad guy. stuff happens, people move on. no biggie. i'm looking forward to the elite offerings.

JOE PA

An update, in case anyone is interested.

I took the bow apart completely this afternoon to get a look at everything, and lube the limb bolts, which were a little reluctant to turn. I've not seen any other bow exactly like this one. The limb pockets were deep, fixed pockets. Limb pivots were half-round aluminum, meeting an "ovalish" slot in the pocket. I decided to put some foam into the pockets to see if it would cut the slight ringing sound the bow made. Got the cams in synch, and put 10 twists in the string to shorten the draw some. Probably put the cams in less than ideal position, but it feels better to me now. This powerhouse is very quiet. Nice shooting qualities, no vibration at all, just a little recoil or forward jump. It is now much quieter than the Patriot Dually, Darton Rampage, and a few other more modern bows I've had. Probably on par with the Newberry B1 for noise. Pretty good for an old timer. Looking forward to shooting it through the chronograph to see what is really going on. Have to get over to the range and see how that 5 3/4" brace affects the accuracy (with a hack like me shooting it).

walks with a gimp

The only "jerk" on that thread on AT was the one that started the thread. We'll find out someday why he got canned

gibblet

some of those guys were being awfully mean to him too. i think i got to page 7 or something and couldn't take anymore. he didn't come off as a jerk to me, but i guess that's why they make vanilla and chocolate.

BowTech_Shooter

Let's not bring the dirt over to HBBS. It doesn't belong here or there either, but let's leave it over there...


To set the record straight, Kevin didn't work for Oregon Bowsand he didn't have anything to do with their going under. He licensed his Black Knight cams too them, that's all.


Here's an article written in 2002 that tells the story. http://www.fastestbows.com/articles/guest/taking_aim_bowtech.htm

JOE PA

Pat:

Thanks for setting the record straight. Sorry if I was in error. Wouldn't have said so much if I knew beforehand that gibblet was also Bucknasty. Obvioulsly, he knew what transpired "over there." You, Matt, Frank, everyone I've met who has an association with Bowtech has been class all the way. Hope all that is just a blip on the radar screen.

BTW, with a hasty setup (Whisker Biscuit set back far enough to let my arrows work, tied in nock pt., no loop, no peep) and me shooting (have to say the bow is a little intimidating for now) the bow shot very well for me the last two days. A few unibushing dents, and some sub 2 1/2" groups at 30 and 40 yards, and some things (besides me) are still "off." Promising! It's surprising the lack of left/right misses for the 5 3/4" brace. So far I'm pretty pleased with my old toy.

BowTech_Shooter

No problem Jeff. I hope you didn't take my post the wrong wayas I wasn't trying to say you were wrong, I just like to truth to be known as often and as much as possible. There's more of that to come inthe future too...

I've never shot the original Black Knight but I've had my hands on a few and they were a very well built machine in their time.