Who's Bow is BEST???

jbl · Post by **jbl** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:52 pm

What did I say -I said I have not shot any other Saluki model other than that Western Recurve with siyahs. My point was there is no way that, that bow is worth almost 1,000 American dollars. It was a fiberglass recurve. The other mass produced bows at least could be shot with a thumb draw and most people could afford the bows and they outperformed that bow. Even the guy who owned the bow said the Kassai was better and could not believe the performance vs cost. Lukas may have just had a bad day and the bow didn't turn out just right.

ginni · Post by **ginni** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:22 am

I had the opportunity to shot my korean bow into a chronograph.
Is 67 lbs @28 in theory, in practice was about 60 lbs@28?.
I shot a 48 grams arrow (about 750 grains) with 215 fps (drawn at 34?).
With another hwarang 52lbs@28? (measured was about 44@28) I shot the same arrow with 183 fps, a 500 grains pyon-jon with 246 fps and a 500 grains carbon (only 32? in lenght) with 210 fps.

jbl · Post by **jbl** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:12 pm

Thanks for the info I had heard those bows are speed demons. I also like how light they are in the hand. I have not heard a single bad word about them or the seller.

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:00 pm

Ginni,
I don?t know how about Hwarang bows, but I reckon that usually traditional Korean bows meant to be shot with the thumb draw (made with man-made materials) are measured for their draw weight not at 28? but at 30-31? of draw, did you check it?
A couple of weeks ago I shot with my friend?s Windfighter Korean bow, 45# @? (thumb draw) and the draw was really effortless, it felt more like 30#, you could hold it at full draw literally for hours. No stacking, no hand shock, fast, and very lightweight in hand.

For comparison my 50# @28? Grozer Hungarian, at the same time, seemed really harder to draw using the thumb draw (I should mention here that while using the Mediterranean draw I?m comfortable with the higher draw weights, with the thumb draw I still struggle to draw a heavier bow.)

At the same time I also had a try at a Grozer Turkish TRH model, 55#@28?, this bow seemed really ?stiff? to me, with some stacking at the end of the draw and quite unforgiving (though the owner of the bow shoots very accurate with it), with my Hungarian I don?t feel any stacking with a longer draw, but there is hand shock due to the clumsy thick siyahs.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:33 am

I had a hwarang 60#@28" , a 2 WindFighter 60#@28" and a hungarian Toth fiberglass 40#@28" .
From that bows , actually from all the bows I ever pulled , WindFighter is the smoothest . And the lightest . But not the most efficient . The hwarang is noticeable faster . And WindFighter is not that stable . With 2008 WindFigher model , often my string flew away from my bow . The limbs was too weak . 2009 WindFighter model have somehow stiffer limbs . WindFighter is a bow that not accept too much torsion in the handle . The hwarang is a more stable bow . Have stiffer limbs and acccept a large amount of torsion . After some shooting , the string of the hwarang is always centered , with Fighter is going left . If you do not correct that by hand , you risk that string flew away . 2009 model is better than 2008 model , and the performance is close to hwarang . Is close to hwarang , but is not a hwarang . Is a good bow for his price .
Hungarian Toth fiberglass is not worth mentioned .

ginni · Post by **ginni** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:15 am

Ashbow, I weighted few hwarangs with three different scales and all showed about 6 to 10 pounds less than it was right. I mean my 67 lbs@28 as it was specified is 60@28.
Another 50@28 is about 43@28. So I started to ask myself if the bowyers make the measurement at 28 or at 30 or 32 inches. I don't know but all the hwarangs I measured are less that indicated weight.
It is e good part of this, the performance of bow is related to a less draw force so that involve a bigger efficiency of the hwarang.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:12 pm

At 2009 WTAF everyone was buying bows from Song Mu Gung company. The bows had a number on them corresponding to draw weight. The arrows being sold were 31 to 32" draw length which I assume would produce the draw weight indicated.

Does anyone have an opinion on these bows? The Koryo bow given to me at WTAF 2007 is a real screamer.

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:14 pm

Osmiu,
What you write about your WindFighters is pretty much what my friend told me regarding his WindFighter
I see that your experience with WindFighters is pretty much like that of my friend, he also has some problems with limb twist and alignment of the string and he has to correct the bow by hand from time to time. He used to shot a Samick SKB before and told me he can?t be as accurate with the WindFighter as with the SKB, stability problems etc.
I also have heard some complaining about some recently bought WindFigters.
On this short video you can see a 50/55# SKB, a 50# base Hungarian and two WindFigters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E7wmKsL ... rofilepage

As to the Toth bows and similar, well, I really don?t want to offend anyone but I can?t even stand the look of them, they have particularly ugly siyahs, not mentioning the fancy finish and nearly rope-size bindings. Forgive me Osmiu

I can somehow stand the siyahs on my Hungarian base Grozer, but still they are too big and weight a lot, those siyahs are all-wood (ash) and the wood isn?t very well selected for quality so probably going thinner and lighter would not be safe though.

As to the marked draw weight, this is probably not that rare that the bow actually pulls less or more, depending on the bowyer/ producer, not mentioning the weighting scale used.
Some time ago we were measuring a couple of Grozer bows supplied for one of the Quicks archery shop. A digital bow-scale was used and the readings were either a couple of pounds higher or lower on each bow than stated, I?m not sure though if the digital scale was really reliable.

I also had a chance to see some recently made prototype Turkish bow (made with fiberglass, I reckon), made by the Turkish bowyer. I don?t know if the bowyer will start making his bows in larger quantities in the near future, but the bow I?ve seen was much more closer in look to a Turkish bow than Grozer bows, it had noticeably slimmer and more elegant siyahs and longer kasans in comparison to Grozer bows.
Now I?m sure I would be rather buying a bow from him than from Grozer?s.
You can see the bow on the top of the picture.

jbl · Post by **jbl** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:21 pm

That bow is sharp looking and does look pretty authentic. I love the Turkish bows, and Magyar, and Korean, and Hun I guess I get carried away.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:02 pm

I forgot to tell 2 things :
1. WindFighter must be served in string-bridges area and in above-handle , below-handle area .
2. I have one more bow , a bow that I am particulary very proud , a bhutanese traditional 2 pieces bamboo bow . It's a colection bow for me , a souvenir from WTAF 2009 .

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:20 pm

Osmiu, you mean that the bow must be served, you didn't mean the bowstring? Could you tell why it should be the case?

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:11 am

the bow must be served . because is not (and hwarang is ) . because if some arrows break in the bow , WindFighter start to delaminate in siyah area . at least mine did . serving prevent that . extend life of the bow .

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:41 pm

Ashbow, that bow pictured abowe and discribed as "made by the Turkish bowyer" looks like Grozer's JUNIOR TURKISH

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:14 pm

Daniel, sorry for the late reply. Thank you for pointing out the similarity. I had the look at the Grozer?s website and indeed you are right, the bow looks exactly like the Grozer Turkish Junior. Now I?m really not sure, I clearly remember that at the event I was shown this bow the Turkish team had brought some Turkish made bows, I remember the discussion regarding the very above bow. I recall not seeing any Grozer logo I think?There was so much happening and talking to several people that maybe some mistake had taken place and some other bow was actually meant, if this indeed is a Grozer bow then I?m sorry for misleading you. I hope I?ll soon get an answer from Turkey regarding the bow.
If I were buying a bow I would go for such a bow because it has much more a closer look (and size) to a original Ottoman bow, this would be when the choice would be influenced by the financial aspect. The relatively low cost of such bows in comparison to, for example, Mysa?s Saluki Turkish would be a factor here, so a brilliant cast wouldn?t be a criterion here for me, I just liked the overall ?look? of the bow.
The Grozer Junior by the way seems to be quite a new model, there were some smaller pictures of the bow on the Grozer site before and the bow looked a bit different.

JJ · Post by JJ » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:41 pm

Hi all,

according to information from Karl Zeilinger, Koreans measure the draw weight of traditional Korean bows at a draw length of 6,5 chi, which corresponds to 80,3 cm or 31,6 inches. I found that this seems true for the Koryo bows ("carbon traditional") by Mr. Park...

Best regards, JJ

Who's Bow is BEST???

Poundage of Korean bows