Bow Bolt failures

[Greg Owen]

How many people have experienced failures with this system? I am thinking of retrofitting my Shrew.

[d. ward]

Hi Greg yes I've seen a several of them fail.The one's I did look at looked as if the wood around the bow bolt was cracking rather then the bolt itself failing.Lots of stress right in the handle of some bows.If you like the Shrew and the way it shoots now I would say maybe find another bow to retro fit (IMPO)bd

[wingnut]

I have never seen a bow that the "bow bolt" failed.  That being said, I've had a few fail because the glue or the wood around the bolt gave up.

IMHO I believe a bow needs to be engineered for the bowbolt to be long lasting.  All of the bows that we beefed up the riser by adding more glass are still working great.

Rather then retrofitting an existing bow, I would have one built with it.  That way your protected by the bowyers skill and warrentee.

Mike

[myshootinstinks]

I had a 59er w/ a bow bolt, 48#@28", that I had no problem with at my 28" draw.  I sold it to a friend that has a 30" draw and it hatched on him.  I believe it was the riser, not the bow-bolt that failed.
    I think I'd stick to a super tough riser material like the epoxy or pressure treated stuff.  The riser on this bow was osage.

[fatman]

I think there's a draw weight limitation for the Bow Bolt as well;  not sure that it's anything that can be carved in stone.  Also, short bows don't help.

I bought a 58" bow, 61@27.  Bow shot absolutely great, but the bolt is slowly pulling out... twice...like Mike said, the glue around the bolt seems to be giving it up.  Bow is now back the second time to get the poundage reduced.

Having said that, I have heard of a couple of guys with heavy Shrews with bow bolts (factory-installed) so they must have it figured out....

$.02

[Irish]

I just had one fail.  It was the riser wood rather than the bow bolt.  Ebony was a poor choice for riser wood and a bow bolt I think!  Bowyer is replacing the bow, and this time, riser will be phonolic.

[Bill Carlsen]

i asked Craig Warren to retrofit the bolt to a favorite longbow. He did not want to do it because the bow basically needs to be built from scratch with the bow bolt built right in. some have done it but it is risky  and you will probably ruin the bow. I don't think a Shrew has enough wood in the riser to incorporate the bolt.

[Greg Owen]

Thanks for all the opinions and information. The Shrew handle is small and would probably fail due to the install. Ok, this has made the decision easy for me. Time to buy another bow.

[Danny Rowan]

I have owned a couple of Shrews with the bowbolt. No problems, but the bow has to be built with the bolt, cannot retro fit.

Danny

[amar911]

I have 4 Shrews and one Holm-Made with Bow Bolts, and I have had no trouble with any of them. In fact, I love the ability to take the bows down into two pieces to transport them. Three of those Shrews are Classic Hunters (one 54" and two 56") and one is a Super Shrew (60"). The Classic Hunters range from about 50 to 57 pounds at my 29 1/2" draw length, and the Super Shrew is about 68 pounds at my draw length. Due to the heavier poundage, the Super Shrew riser is made of solid phenolic and has a little larger grip than the lower poundage Classic Hunters. The Holm-Made is an Osprey longbow that is about 55#@29 1/2" and is 62" long. Every one of the bows feels super solid with no loosening or cracking in the area of the Bow Bolt. I think it is a great system if the bow is properly designed and constructed around the Bow Bolt. I definitely would not try to modify an existing one piece bow by installing a Bow Bolt. You would be looking for trouble by doing that.

Allan

[robtattoo]

I've had 2 go on me this year. Like others have said though, it was the bows that failed due to lack of material around the bolt, rather than the bolt itself. Also a long draw & heavy draw-weight was definately a factor. If yI were pulling under 55# & 28" or less I would imagine I would've been fine.

That being said, I'll never have another fitted to a bow again.

[dragonheart]

Bow bolts do not do well if the bow is ever dryfired, but for the most part n bow does well if dry fired!

[tradtusker]

As for the Bow-bolt system iv never heard of it failing ever, only the wood in the riser failing.
some good advise above, i would not retro fit one, i thought about it on one of my shrews and decided it was not a good idea.

i have a shrew with a bow-bolt and love it best system iv used

[Zog]

Once you take the saw to it you're committed.  I would think that a Robertson hinge would be less risky because you haven't removed any wood.

I have a Toelke bowbolt bow in cocobolo. I haven't had any trouble with it.  He cuts it in two when the bow is very rough, as soon as it is laminated, before taking any material off.  He will not retrofit any bows with a bowbolt.

I asked him to make me another and he insisted on making it in phenolic, even though I haven't had problems with the cocobolo one.  I don't think he will put a bowbolt in wood again.  BTW the phenolic one is great!

If I hold either of them to light when strung I can see the slightest gap between the pieces on the back (tension) side.  Time will tell if that gap is going to grow or not.

It sure is a nice system as long as it holds up.

[WINDTALKER]

I had a bow that the wenge accent strip failed but noy the bolt its self.

[wingnut]

I had the privilege of talking with Craig Warren this year at ETAR.  They have made some significant improvements to the system to help prevent the riser failures.  Also they recommend only using the one epoxy for installation.  It adheres to the metal of the bolt better then Smooth On.
I plan on trying one again with a beefed up riser and the new glue sometime in the next year.

I still love the system. . .for sure!

Mike

[Bill Carlsen]

Greg: I got to see Craig's shop this year on the way to the Poke and Hope. If you are looking for a new longbow he makes one that really impressed me and I am a recurve shooter. If i were to get a new longbow I think I would have Craig make one for me with the bolt. One of the guys at the shoot had his recurve blow up on  him. He traveled all the way from New Jersey to shoot and was without a back up. Craig gave him one of his longbows to shoot and that bow was shooting lights out. i was very impressed with the bow and the guy shooting it...Tom Langatol (sp?).

[COMBER]

I've had 2 Bow-Bolts go on me and I've had well over 100 different bows. I've probally had 20 different 2 pc bows and the only ones to ever break were Bow-Bolts. I might have had 3 break because if one of Robtatoos was the bow I sold him that would make 3. I've had 7 total bows with Bow-Bolts and if 3 broke that is almost 50% failure and to me that just doesn't work. If you're wanting a 2 pc bow you can't go wrong with Thunderhorns, Robertson Connexion or any of Treadways designs. I've passed on some awesome bows just because they had the Bow-Bolt system. I will say that the Bow-Bolt is a great concept and might work well in a solid micarta riser. I hate to give negative info but it's just what I've found first hand. I also want to add that all of the bows I had fail were bows I got second hand so that should definitely be taken into consideration.

[L. E. Carroll]

I have had Griffins with the Bow Bolt and can not say enough "Good" about them.  These were bows that were built for the Bow Bolt at the time of manufacture.  John will flat out refuse to retro-fit a Bow Bolt!!!

I have to have faith in the man who built the bow and when John says "NO WAY!!" thats good enough for me.

I did see one bow blow up [ a modified Pronghorn 1 piece] while being weight tested on a scale... about took the guys head off !!! No "retro-fits" for me [ upon inspection it looked as if there was insufficient wood left in the area after the bolt was drilled and installed to support everything when drawn ] Buy the way, the bow bolt did not fail... the wood supporting it "did".

Would I buy another ??? Count on it, if it was "Built" that way.

Gene  

[Smallwood]

talk to gregg coffey or ron laclair first, they do not recommend retrofitting a shrew with it!
It needs to be built into the bow as it's made.
I was going to do the same thing as you are thinking about until I talked to them.