Saturday 4 September 2010

Time for a new bow

Well today was a good day having ordered a Gary Evans and Bob Powell from Wales Archery they had finally arrived. So it was off down to Crick to try out both the bows and make a decision which to have. Little did I know how difficult this was going to be to choose between them. Although both the bows were custom orders for 75# @ 30" Graham, at Wales Archery, was happy if I bought one, both or neither so I was under no pressure to buy.

Having finally arrived at Crick manor, the old M48 Severn Bridge was close West Bound, I set to testing both the bows. The Gary Evans bow was Bamboo and Rosewood whilst Bob Powells was Bamboo and Ipe. Both were beautifully constructed and looked very similar rosewood being similar in colour to ipe. I specifically did not ask the price of the bows because I was not going to let that influence my decision and would leave it to how I felt shooting the bow.

So it was time to get out my field Arrows and start shoot on the range at the back of Wales Archery. First up was Gary's bow it was slightly larger and thicker than Bobs and felt good in the hand and in fact it fitted perfectly. Two dozen arrows and I was getting the feel of the bow it was fast, sweet and easy to draw with a great straight trajectory. Next up was Bobs the ipe belly meant that it was slightly smaller bow with a correspondingly smaller hand hold. Again I shot 2 Dozen arrows to get the feel of the bow and again it was fast (slightly faster that Gary's bow), sweet and very easy to draw.

I literally had nothing to choose between the two bows so it was back to shooting arrows alternating between them trying to find some difference on which I could make a decision. After about 45 Minutes of trying the bows I finally made my choice and opted for the Gary Evans bow for no other reason that it was thicker around the middle and hence had a thicker handle which fitted more comfortably into my hands.

With the choice made and boy was it hard because both bows were of exceptional quality it was time to pay, and order a spare string, before heading home looking forward to tomorrows shoot down at South Wilts for their Pre-Nationals shoot. I almost bought both the bows but could not quite rationalise buy two 75# @ 30" bows so if anyone out there is interested Wales Archery have a Bob Powell 75# @ 30" bow for sale.

I will certainly be going back to Wales Archery with a similar request when I decide to order the 100# bow and who knows maybe this this the Bob Powell will be a better fit.

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