I received my Black Bear Carbon today, actually about two hours ago. What a beauty. I'll show pictures and then comment:
Here is the bow. I'm not showing a full length picture of it strung... we all know what that looks like. The riser is polished ebony. I opted for that rather than a wrap. Carbon layer on front is, of course, black, also polished, and the belly is black glass. Basic bow structure is the five lam Wesley. This was the third round group from it. I'll comment more on the shooting characteristics further down.
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I opted for the bear inlay, and am very glad I did. I have a Cheetah with a cheetah head set onto the riser, but it was an item provided by the buyer and is not as nice as the Hill inlays. |
Obviously, the designation.
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Bamboo tips
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This is a group I shot with my 60# Wesley, right after using the Black Bear. See comments below.
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OK... It's beautiful... what's it really like. It is 64" and marked 52# @ 25". I put it on my scale and it registered 55# @ 25". This is within the range I specified, 50# - 55#. However, it is stiff! I have several other bows that pull 50 - 55#, and yes, I know that rationally, a pound is a pound is a pound, but this one feels stiff. Normally, I start to have trouble hand stringing at 68", because my arms are short and I can't reach out far enough. This 64" bow is impossible for me to string without a bow stringer. I suspect it is another case of a bow that starts out stronger than you expect. I also noted that Craig set the brace height about an inch higher than my other bows. I might be able to make it easier to string by raising the brace ehight, but I chose not to lower it. It's hitting center and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I shoot three under and set a nock at my usual 5/8". I also had to wrap the string below the nock with some dental floss to get the arrows to grip. Other than that, it was just get out in the driveway and have at it. I started hitting left but tightened up my form. I'm very bad about my head position... tend to straighten it up and the arrows immediately go left. When I payed attention to that carefully, as in the third round group above (first pic) the bow is nicely on... maybe a couple of inches off center if you look at the whole group. Holding it at full draw is a bit more effort than my 52# Cheetah, but not bad enough that it will be a problem at all. In fact, I was surprised I did this well. Between redoing the garage and the bad weather, I haven't really shot for almost 3 weeks.
Now, for what I consider an interesting observation... as you all know, I shoot a lot of different bows, usually one right after another. Since this one was feeling a bit stiff, I thought I'd try my 60# Wesley (Yes, Mike, the one I got from you.) I haven't been shooting it hardly at all, having pretty much been using the various Cheetahs. At first, I felt that the Wesley was no stiffer than the Black Bear. However, after two rounds, I was starting to feel the difference at full draw. What really surprised me though, was that the Wesley and the Black Bear seemed to shoot almost identically in terms of instinctive aiming. I put the picture of the third group I shot with the Wesley up there to show what I mean. It is maybe slightly better centered, but I rarely find that I shoot two bows consecutively that shoot this similarly. They make quite a pair to go shooting with. They also look alike... the Wesley is also a polished ebony riser, but with a black wrap.
Speed.... I don't have a chronograph, but my impression is of speed... of very flat shooting, and it seemed the arrows were burying deeper in the target.
Overall impression... What a bow!
A stray thought... I have had two carbon backed bows. Both seemed stiffer than the rated weight. If you are ordering a Black Bear, you might consider shaving a couple or three pound off of what you think you want.
Dick