A fun weekend ahead

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Graps
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Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:39 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#11 Post by Graps »

Sounds like you had a great time.
Looking forward to the pictures when you get the chance.
"Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Longtrad
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:26 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#12 Post by Longtrad »

I'll load them up when I get home graps. Oh yeah something else that was pretty interesting. Joel Turner was there at the shop just hanging out like a regular guy showing people how he likes to work his elk call and giving someone some compound bow tips . From what I overheard I got the jest that he and Tom clum teach archery siminars together. Either way I was surprised to see him.

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Shadowhntr
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Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:47 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#13 Post by Shadowhntr »

Clay...howd your Toelke hold up to other bows?

I've wanted a Centaur for a while now too.
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.

Longtrad
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:26 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#14 Post by Longtrad »

Sorry to respond so late, had some family issues come up.

I spent the large majority of my time working on tuning an arrow to my pika, but I was able to test several of the bows on my list.


The first shoot off was between my toelke pika 54" 51# and a shrew classic hunter 54" 53#

The shrew has a very nice grip, I would be happy to have that grip on anyone of my bows, I also noticed it had a thin black strip of material between the limb cores just like my pika, idk if this is carbon or what? The shrew had thicker limbs and larger limb tips compared to the pika, the fit and finish was also not as good, I found large file or rasp marks on the thumb rest, for a premium priced bow I found this odd.

The nice grip was really about all the shrew had going for it, it felt much heavier to draw than the pika, I would have guessed it to be 5 or 6 pounds heavier instead of 2. it also showed the same arrow I had tuned to the pika to be a bit stiff.

Next I shot a wapiti recurve, a palmer, and a holme made river runner side by side. all were 44 pounds If I remember correctly.

http://www.rmsgear.com/palmer-palmer-44 ... -2317.html
http://www.rmsgear.com/wapiti-wapiti-44 ... -198g.html
http://www.rmsgear.com/holm-made-holm-m ... -k815.html

Again I had some surprises the finish on the wapiti was very "dry" for lack of better word, the wood grain was not filled and it just seemed like it needed a few more coats, once again i found this a bit odd for such a high dollar bow.

I liked the palmer the most, the shot felt about the same as the wapiti and the finish was much better, I also liked the grip shape more.

The big let down was the holme made river runner it felt way heavier than the wapiti or palmer and had a bit of hand shock, it also had my least favorite grip. I had been looking at this model pretty seriously, glad I didnt buy one :lol:


Up next was a palmer and centaur longbow (I couldnt find the toelke whip)
http://static.shoplightspeed.com/shops/ ... 120711.jpg
http://www.rmsgear.com/centaur-archery- ... 00823.html


The palmer longbow was nice but after I shot the centaur I forgot all about it. Man oh man that centaur was a sweet shooter.

The grip shape is simple yet refined, it fit the hand very nicely and the draw was smooth as silk, it felt lighter than 50# to me. It was also the bow I shot the best groups with. I was a little worn down by the time I got to the centaur but it stacked the arrows for me. Like I said I quickly forgot about all those other bows after shooting that bad boy. The only thing I would change about this bow is that the tip overlays are really thick and bulbous, it didnt seem to have any impact on the performance though, the bow was fast and dead in the hand.

After that I did a quick run to the bear section and picked out a black phenolic super kodiak 64"er and an old static tip kodiak

http://www.rmsgear.com/bear-archery-bea ... 8y413.html
http://www.rmsgear.com/bear-archery-bea ... 13660.html

The phenolic super kodiak was a beautiful bow and shot well, but just not my style, a bit too heavy in mass for this stick flicker.

The static kodiak has really small thin limbs, and really bad hand shock, The draw stroke didnt feel like it changed any toward the end either, which made me wonder If I was able to draw it back far enough to open the tips. I did not like this bow at all, 6 shots was all I wanted before I put it back on the rack.

By this time I was pretty fatigued and my wife was telling me it was time to hit the road. I went to the counter, bought my shafts, some field points, and a t shirt and headed south toward home.

Longtrad
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:26 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#15 Post by Longtrad »

Shadow, the Toelke did not disappoint. It and the centaur were my favorite shooters by far. I know it's all a matter of opinion but they just felt the nicest to draw and shoot for me.


I didnt take many pics, just a few of some of the bows I was shooting.

Here they are though
ImageImage
Image
Image

Image
Image
Image

I wish I would have taken more but that place it busy, its hard to not get other people in the shot, too be honest I was also busy trying to test out all the bows I could with the time I had.

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Shadowhntr
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Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:47 pm

Re: A fun weekend ahead

#16 Post by Shadowhntr »

Wow....very nice write up and pics Clay, thanks. You did NOTHING to ease my desire for a Centaur though. :cry: ;)
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.

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