Help out the Newbies: Best bows for under $500

[AdamH]

Holm-Made by Chad Holm on this site, EXCELLENT Bows & Some in stock @ Great Prices, ALOT of Bow for the $$$ & A Super Fella that puts everything he has into building these FINE pieces of ART .....

[Lenny Stankowitz]

Samick Sage.  At 130.00 you'd have a tough time finding a better starter bow.

   

  http://peteward.com/2009pages/test.Samick.sage.html

[acadian archer]

Chek out the Chek mate site in the sponsors section. Can't beat the price for quality you get, great service and lots of options available to customixe your bow.

465 for a Hunter II takedown and their one piece bows are priced in the 250 to 350 range. I have on eof each.

[bentpole]

For a Longbow; Mohawk without any second thoughts.      

[Rodd Szmania]

Check out RER.

rerbows.com

[tradtusker]

JK Traditions Kanati RD longbows!!

[Gordy]

Under $500 ?  Thems newbies got some sweet jobs !  

Chek-mate, RER, Dwyer, Holm-made, Bruin, JK, Habu ...  

[tjp]

You might want to look at  http://www.lonesomewindlongbows.com/

I shoot a Lonesome Northern and have a Mortifera on the way. Both shoot great and look great.  

Just my 2 cents

Tom

[HATCHCHASER]

First go to a few trad shoots and handle as many bows as you can.  Find one that feels good in your hand and stick with it till you learn to shoot.  Don't keep trading every month    Find an educated trad shooter to shoot with and don't fall into the magic bow trap.

A few I have had are Mohawk, Whisperstick, and Kohannah.  Those 3 offer the basic designs so you can find what you are comfortable with.

[cjw]

Hi - as a relative newbie I was curious why the Bear Grizzly hasn't showed up here?  Information I have gathered and a number of reviews point to this as a good and reliable starter recurve... any thoughts or advice?

Carl ;-)

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by cjw:
Hi - as a relative newbie I was curious why the Bear Grizzly hasn't showed up here?  Information I have gathered and a number of reviews point to this as a good and reliable starter recurve... any thoughts or advice?

Carl ;-)

griz is a fine trad bow.  heck, all the bows mentioned so far, or yet to be mentioned, are all goodies.

way too much overthinking about bows.  

if yer new to trad, you have no idea what'll work for ya unless you TRY.

get help from friends, go to a club, a store, a shoot.  

can't try?  yer gonna spend a some serious time and money and i guarantee you will make mistakes ... the classifieds prove that to a fair degree at least.

so, after all yer tryin' out, make a choice on the style of stickbow that suits yer fancy and get one in a poundage that suits both your draw length and ability to hold shake free.

now the REAL decisions and testing begins - finding an arrow that'll fly well for you and your new whiz bang stick bow.  

make sure to budget well for your arrows - arrows are FAR more important than the bow.  read that again, please.

[cjw]

Excellent thx, I do have an old Bear '76er take down with metal riser, #45 @ 28 (paid $50 CDN 20 yrs ago!) and can put 29" Easton Legacy with 5" shields into an 8" group at 15 yds (last weekend in -30C).  Also have a longbow from a local bowyer but can't get tight groups, I have straight and helical fletched arrows from 2 sources and found the straights are real tough to get tight groups. I am re-fletching the straights to RW helical.  So, I was leaning to a newer recurve to get shooting form down.  Can't do the club thing due to kids schedules and other stuff...

Carl ;-)

[StickBowManMI]

I second what Rob said. Go to Trad events and shoot some bows and see what is best for you. You have so many things to consider, type of bow?Longbow, Recurve, one piece or takedown. Bow length, etc. Consider buying a lower poundage bow that you can learn to shoot well without learning bad habits that can occur when someone is overbowed. Price isn't the biggest issue its more a personal thing for each of us. One person may love one bow and another may hate it. You really need to shoot some bows before spending a lot of money on your first bow. Just my opinion.

[Shawn Leonard]

RER bows,they are 500-600 dollars to start and you will not find a better performing or better looking bow anywhere!! Shawn

[Apex Predator]

Any Apex Predator longbow!  Your choice of two woods in the riser, your choice of veneers under clear glass, riser and tip overlays, and laminated bamboo cores.  Some exotic woods would run it over $500, but not many.  I build straight profile, mild R/D, and pronounced R/D longbows.  The Pronounced is becoming my favorite!

[buckeye_hunter]

Bob Lee

[bartcanoe]

I think the comments about not being overbowed and figuring out what you like is more important than any advice about a particular bow.

I'm pretty much a newbie myself, after years of not shooting, it feels like starting from scratch.

So here's my story...

I picked up a Dwyer Dauntless #61, a great bow, but it was too heavy and I started getting frustrated.  

Well, I picked up a 45# Browning Wasp for next to nothing on ****, and really enjoyed shooting and started actually hitting with some consistency.  That led me to trade the Dwyer for a Chekmate 54# since I was enjoying the recurve.

The Chekmate has been great, and my shooting continued to improve.  As much as I liked the Chekmate, I missed the challenge that the Dwyer presented, so I bought it back.  Now, I have all three bows and enjoy shooting them all, but I definitely shoot the Chekmate the most consistently.

Lastly, I have a total of about $700 in all three bows.  So, my advice find a bow you can shoot comfortably, then buy used based on what "feels" good, and eventually buy (no matter the price) what you want when you know what you want.  I haven't reached the last part because I'm still learning what I want.

[kbetts]

How pretty does it have to be?  I have two Widows, both bought locally for under $450 a piece and in beautiful shape.  Bought a used Reflex Nomad two weeks ago and can't put it down.  Quiet, quick, shoots where I'm aimin', bullet proof, and cheaper than my used Widows If you buy a new one.

[JCJ]

Mike Steliga has a Bruin Huntmaster takedown on his site right now for $450. Or you could orede his one-piece Woodsmaster for $525. The Bruins are about as stable and nice shooting a bow as you can find.

[ibehiking]

I have really enjoyed the Bob Lee Signature takedown and Hoyt Gamemaster takedown that I have. The Bob Lee is one of the smoothest bows I have ever drawn. I find the Gamemaster to be very fast and accurate.