Asbell era Bighorn - fast flight string?

[vintage-bears]

I picked up an old curved limb bed Bighorn TD recently.
The tips on these old bighorns are named
"bombproof" from the factory.
Just a clever name? Is fast flight string ok on these tips?
Or should I just use Dacron and move on?
Thanks in advance

......Philip

[cacciatore]

Usually the bombproof option was for the ff string!

[Whip]

I wouldn't.  Fast flight wasn't around when those were made (I don't think) so they couldn't have been designed with that in mind.

I blew up a limb on my old Bighorn in the mid-80's.  I delaminated near the tip shortly after I got it.  It wasn't the tip itself, and can't blame fast flight for it, but the limb wasn't exactly bomb proof.

They had a new set of limbs in my hands within a week and I used the bow the next week to take a bear as my first traditional kill.  Good memories, and I wish I still had that old bow.

[shick]

Phil, I believe 'bombproof' tip option was offered on the flat limb bed bows.  It was a wedge of phenolic? that was about 1 1/4" and inserted between the limb cores at the tip.  Cost was about $21.  This was for fast flight string use.  Many here have been shooting high performance strings on old classic bows with no problems.  You have a nice bow there, I would stick with the B50 type strings.  Hope this helps.
Just late thought; the limbs may have been made at a later date.  You will be able to see the wedge in the limbtips.
Shick

[Orion]

I know a person or two who had limbs delaminate on Big Horns back in the 80s.  Wasn't a big problem, but it happened occasionally.  That was before fast flite; they were all using dacron.  I had several T/Ds and one-piece bows in the 80s and early 90s and never had any problems with them.

More recently, I have owned a Bighorn or two from the 80s era.  I put D-97 on them, padding the loops.  No problems.  The overlays on those older limbs are quite large. Aside from loop cutting action if the skinny fast flite type strings are not padded, I feel the low stretch properties of the strings are actually easier on the bows than dacron. They make the bow quieter, faster and reduce limb vibration.  

Given that the bow was made before fast flite, using a fast flite type string is certainly a less conservative approach.  You'll need to decide for yourself.

[black velvet]

Phil you know I have been using FF on my older bows. If you want we can make up a string and try it out. I will be home Fri 3/29. See you then.

[vintage-bears]

Thanks guys.
See you soon Moe.

.....Philip

[tradlab]

I have an original curved bed bighorn. It came with a dacron string and there was no fast flight at the time.I had an upper limb blow up while drawing and personally wouldn't put a fast flight string on one.