Archery Research bows? Shopping for new Bow.

[holzy]

Does anyone know anything about the new Archery Research line of bows? I was at Jay's this weekend shooting several bows and I'm extremely torn between several bows......Hoyt Razortech, Archery Research AR-34, and Bowtech Justice VFT. The AR-34 was fast, minimal to no shock, and quiet. I've seen this bow on several hunting shows on the Outdoor Channel lately.

I've been shooting a Jennings Buckmaster since '98 and it's time for a change (especially since my brother bought a new Mathew's and I just can't stand him having a nicer bow!!).

Let's hear some of your expertise fellas!

[brdhntr]

One of my buddies just switched to an AR bow and he loves it.

[Trushot_Archer]

IMO the AR's are about the best there is. I Love my Bowtech but I want an AR and will have one very soon.

I really like the fact that they Tap the riser in 3-4 different spots to allow fo dampening devices or just to "heavy" the bow up a bit. The AR34 with the sims modular stab system in 2 spots on the back of the riser and on in front is the most quiet and shock free bow I've shot...ever.

You really can't go wrong with any of the bows you mentioned though. All are great.

[holzy]

It appears as though I will not be getting a new bow now.......ran the idea by my wife today and did NOT get a good response :sad:

[thornapple]

Rule #1 dont tell the wife until after........ :bash:

[Banditto]

New Updated Rule #1: Resist the temptation to tell your wife and act like you always owned it (keep it in your old bows case). Hide the money somehow--$1 a day adds up. Buy everything including groceries and gas on your cabelas dollars and each year you will have an extra $250-400 for hunting stuff that she will never know about or miss. Have a secret hiding spot for your hunting stuff. My hunting buddy has loaned me money for a gun before (even though I have the cash to do it). I paid him back a little at a time.

Thought of another one. Buy stuff at the store that has rebates without her knowing about the rebate. Mail it in your name, but to your parents house or whatever.

And don't for a second think she isn't doing the same thing, because she is!

[thornapple]

Thats funny you should mention that Banditto. I bought a new .280 Rem Mountain rifle this past April that my lovely wife thinks I have had for 5 years. :p

[Trushot_Archer]

Now tehre is some experience talking....I am taking notes feverishly :D

Better to ask forgiveness than beg permission :lol: Until she kills me ;)

[Pinefarm]

Did you see the August 2004 Outdoor Life? They have some pretty good side by sides on a lot of bows. The big sleeper was the Reflex Grizzly for like $299. It was in the top 1/3 of all tested, but by far the cheapest. I can't find a link yet on the OL page, but check out a copy. Lots of good info.

[east bay ed]

i just got my ar 31 ram and 1/2 cam in on friday. so far i really like the bow. extremely quiet no hand shock and it seems very accurate.
down side is with selling the new ar's i just had to order a new bow press from apple. what a waste of $400.00.

john "maggie" magee always says take your new gear down to the basement and put it in a dark corner. after a while the wife gets used to seeing it and thinks you have owned it all along.

[holzy]

These are great suggestions but she knows EXACTLY what gear I have. She basically knows the model of my current bow and the name and look of every gadget I have on it.

I worked on her some more last night and might get away with it in a couple weeks:)

PS - I do buy all groceries, gas, basically everything on my Cabelas Visa.....gotta rack up those Cabelas points!

[Pinefarm]

Sorry, I just can't resist, and don't take this as anything but a snappy smart***** comment, but you might want to consider buying some pants. ;) :lol:

[east bay ed]

bob,
like i told my wife the first time we went out," i was hunting and fishing long before i met you and i will be hunting and fishing long after you are gone".

that said i am really lucky. we live on a tight budget and i still end up going on hunting trips at least every other year. she never says a word about the money i spend. but come christmas time she knows she will be getting 4 or 5 hundred dollars worth of jewelry from me and my gsp.

[holzy]

I hear ya Bob! Believe me.

I get to go on a hunting trip almost every year, play in 2 summer baseball and softball leagues, 3 basketball leagues in the winter, and spend an enormous amount of time in the woods and fishing. I get away with quite a bit so when she asks that I be reasonable when it comes to paying that much for something that I really don't need, just want, I have to give her that respect and remember all the things that I do get away with. It didn't help that I just picked up my head mount from my 2003 buck 2 days ago and had to foot the bill for that.

No offense taken:)

[Pinefarm]

Cool. I just couldn't pass up that easy punchline. Now you just need to dump your softball and B-ball league's and go all hunting 24/7/365. ;)

[holzy]

I GOT THE BOW :)

Brand new AR34, alpine soft-loc quiver, string leaches, vibrachek icon stabalizer, Trophy Ridge Matrix, Trophy Taker Shakey hunter, string loop, and c-peep.

She finally got sick of hearing me whine about a new bow :evil:

[Trushot_Archer]

Congrats Ry...your going to love it. Check out my post to Robert McCoy on putting the sims systems on them. Unbelievably dead, quiet and shock free setup like that.

[holzy]

Kelly - I saw that post regarding the sims. I also saw your post on Archerytalk:)

[Byron]

Holzy,

Congrats on the new bow. Way to lay down the law! :lol:

Every bow deserves SIMS.

Best Regards,
Byron

[Trushot_Archer]

Every bow deserves SIMS.
I (don't) hear that :D

[Robert W. McCoy Jr]

Congrats on your new Bow I'm putting my in lay away this weekend. ;)

[Swamp Monster]

Congrats on the new bow! Must be doing something right at home!! ;)

Single cam or ram n' half hybrid?

[Banditto]

Sounds nice. I was just reading about it on another archery site.

Have fun setting it up and working out the bugs. Don't forget to take a break and drink a beer, bear in mind kicking the dog DOESN'T help if you get frustrated. :)

oh, nice accessory list btw

[Quakmaster316]

Just bought the outback that bow is sweet so smooth and quiet.
Its worth every penny.

[east bay ed]

holzy,
congrats. its a nice bow and i am sure you will love it. we set my buddies 34 ram cam up last week. with a 361 grain arrow he was shooting 314+ at 29". went to a heavy 465 grain arrow and got 285.

i am sure you will kill many a critter with this new bow.

[Banditto]

Ed, did you chrono it yourself? The reason I ask is Bowsite did a blind test with the AR34 as one of the bows. With a 28" carbon arrow @ 350 grain they only got 267 fps, and with an 28" easton aluminum 540 grain they got 224 fps. I am not saying you guys were off on your accessment, but that is a pretty big stretch from what bowsite got.

blind bow test (http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/features/articles/equipment/2004headtohead/)

extremely tired... but forgot to mention the bow in the test was 65lb draw, your buddies could have been much higher to account for the speed difference.

[east bay ed]

banditto,
we ran the bow through the chrono here at the shop. i tend to belive it only because the shop in the next town has a new chrono set up with there techno system and we are no more then a foot or two difference. hard to belive both would be off, but it is possible.
the other thing about that that i have a hard time with is in the 6 years i have sold pse bows they usually are pretty close on the ibo speeds. 32fps off is a lot. i tend to belive 314 fps, 5 fps more then stated, then 267 fps, 32 less the stated.
he is shooting a 70# bow at 72# on the scale.

[Trushot_Archer]

I'm not sure about Bowites testing but the ones I've chronoed have all been right up there. Bout the same as Ed's results...71-72# with a 360-365 just over 300 with a peep and loop.

[GVDocHoliday]

314? Man that's smoking. Especially for a bow that's only rated at 309fps with a 350 grain bare shaft arrow at 30" draw and 70 draw weight. Something tells me you need to have your chrono calibrated or you need to get a new one, or you need to check the lighting where you have it set up. Because realistically you should be in the mid to upper 290's with that bow, nowhere near 314.

[east bay ed]

we were outdoors in good daylight. about 3pm on a sunny day. the same chrono shows my 300 ibo bow shooting at 285 with the same arrow. does that seem wrong? with my hunting arrow i shoot 264 fps.