New and expensive vs older and cheaper

[jeduffey]

What advantage is there in new expensive bows? Is it possible to shoot well with an old reliable, smooth shooting bow, and a good set of well tuned, matched arrows? It seems possible, but there must be a reason it is MORE possible with newer equipment, right?

I shoot classical gear the vast majority of the time. I don't use a site. I've been spending more time with some guys that shoot compounds with sites and releases. I do have a compound bow, one that I haven't shot in 8 to 10 years. It was old when I got it. I plan on bringing it back from my parents at the end of the month and giving it some test runs. I've no idea if it is still a reliable piece. I have recently shot a few 20+ year old compounds. One of them kicked like a mule and the other would give your palm a pretty heavy buzz. I looking forward to examining the difference between fact and memory.

[Kae]

Old compounds are horrible to shoot. Bulky, slow, ugly, just horrible all round.
New compounds are fast, very very accurate and easy to shoot.

The difference between old and new recurves is not as distinct.

I shot a 10 year old marksman a couple of weeks ago, and it was very stable and although not exceptional still pretty quick.

A good recurve doesn't age IMO, a compound does.

Also I wouldn't trust anything with steel cables.

Kae.

[geoffretired]

I have had ten compounds over 15years. The first one I had was a Merlin TM2. It had round wheels and I converted it to shoot through system.I am now shooting a Hoyt Ultra Tec. The TM2 is still there, and I use it to compare with the other bows as they come along. When the TM2 was new, there were some other bows that kicked like a mule. I bought the Merlin because it didn't. It still feels nice to shoot; a little soft in the draw and at brace height but nice to shoot.

[laminatekid]

One of the guys at our club has Chris White's old hoyt aspen, it's old has no tec bar, command cams but hey it shot 1396 then and I'm sure it still could.

[jeduffey]

So, the Merlin TM2 is about a 1990~1992.

How old is a Hoyt Aspen?

I can understand the difference between new true cams and the old round offset pulley cams. Anything is possible, depending on the dedication or stubborness toward the goal, but typically is it a problem to swap from steel cables to new string cables?

One of the other threads mentioned that with Old Glory bows, 2006 and later had modules for drawlength adjustment. Is there a year, or year range, when the round wheels disappeared, replaced by newer cams, making those bows more upgradeable to even newer cams and such?

Motorcycles and cars are a long time pursuit for me, so I know that certain cars, in certain years, are better candidates for "restification", part restoration - part modification. Is there a pool of info for those sorts of compound bows?
I saw a thread somewhere on converting old compound bows into newer limbed recurves. Is that a better route?

[Jerry Tee]

It all depends on what you want. I have an old Oneida h250 made in 1989 its is as good now as it was then. Smooth no kick in the hand and all the bits are still doing what they are supposed to. It is not fast, but it is accurate and a good finger bow. You don't have to use a release you know.

[geoffretired]

I must say I never liked steel cables, but that is personal really, non scientific.
I modified the wheels to take strings and later changed the wheels for some designed for strings. If you are able to make strings, there is no real problem. Having to get them made is a bit of a fuss.
The limbs have been upgraded too from TM2 to TM4, no problems there;Merlin made sure the fittings at the shoe ends matched the old riser.
Changing cams can be much more difficult to get right as so much depends on the profiles on the cams and the stiffness of the limbs that match with the poundage you want.
Much depends on what you want to do. If you upgrade the limbs, cams and riser; you end up with a new bow!
I suspect that the older round wheel bows, being slower,would not perform so well in the wind as some faster models. Indoors; I can't see that they would be at a disadvantage. I believe Robert Ragsdale thinks along those lines.

[Erika]

Old vs new

For me it is a matter of points. If you want to stay on top of your game, you need to chase the points where you can and if there is any chance that you can gain a few points with a new set up, it is worth it.

With every new bow that I have gotten I have improved. Even if it was only getting a bow better suited to my draw length/size.

Gear is changing all the time. If you don't try to keep in it you may find your future upgrade is a lot harder than you expected. ie they just don't feel right because they are too different.

For all of that, I don't advocate better shooting through big spending. Change because you think the bow is better, not just because you think a new bow will miraculously give you 10 points.

[Meddler]

Originally Posted by jeduffey

Anything is possible, depending on the dedication or stubborness toward the goal, but typically is it a problem to swap from steel cables to new string cables?

Not really, I have a Crusader Excalibur which was >5 years old when I got it, about 12 years ago. The steel cables broke three years ago. I contacted Merlin who sent me a set of wheels and axles, and had it shooting with FastFlite cables. I've remodelled it now as a shoot through system. It cost me £50 for the wheels.

Were I to practise and use it a lot more, I reckon there's still life in it.

[h20vrrq]

I used to own a 1989 Martin Firecat. Just an amazing bow, very smooth & stable. Probably not quite as easy to shoot as modern bows, but still cable of high scores. If I still had it I would still shoot it.