Archery.. Going full send

[Precision Swag]

I am going to be taking the plunge into archery this year. I am a fairly competent long range precision shooter/hunter/reloaded and have decided to get into archery, compound specifically.. I have in years past shot trad and am somewhat familiar with arrow/bow tuning for that setup. I would like to buy once on gear. I would like some input as far as what to buy, tuning gear wise. Vise,Press,saw,draw board, etc. I have seen full kits that include all that stuff, but I have already played that game when I got into reloading and I ended up upgrading most of the parts of those kits. Budget is around 2k. Could go over that if it is necessary. Thanks

 

[def90]

I would go to a couple local shops and see which one you gel with most, then try as many of their bows as they will let you. Like everything else in this world one guy will tell you the Hoyt RX1 is the best while someone else will tell you PSE. The only way to know what is best for you is to shoot a bunch of them and see what you like. Have them initially set it up, you can buy all the tools to do it yourself later once you have some shooting experience under your belt so that you can have a better understanding of how everything operates.

 

[Hoot]

I have a specialty archery pro press, and pro draw. I think it has a lot of advantages over the last chance archery press/draw board, but it will eat up most of your budget.

id recommend October mountain products for a vise.

weston arrow saw. And make sure you get a squaring device, firenock makes a great one that you can also spin your arrows on.

 

[Ac338]

I use an apple vise and can do everything I need to do with it, if you have to have better the omc versacradle wide is very nice. I wouldn't skimp on the press, the ez green is popular but I went with a 92safari modular press with draw tower and capture bar built in which is made by a guy on archerytalk. You could also make a drawboard cheap or look into archerydesignz if you don't want to build one. Only used a weston arrow saw so far and have no complaints. As far as tools the things I use most are pine ridge arrow spinner, d loop pliers(mine are needle nose with a sanded notch on one side), arrow squaring device i use a 3d printed one i bought on AT, string and arrow level, hamskea 3rd axis level although with my mbg sliders I haven't found a way to be able to use it properly,fiskar scissors, lighter, good Allen wrench sets, tape measure to measure bow specs, bcy3d and bcy24. If you have time watch the archerytalk classifieds and you can find everything you need at a discount.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

If your $2k budget is just for tuning/maintenance equipment, you should be able to easily outfit a top-notch home shop for that amount of money. The press would be the most expensive item. Last Chance Archery's EZ Press (around $400 new) is a popular choice. A draw board is an easy DIY project if you have access to some basic power tools. Add in a vise, arrow saw, fletching jig, and a set of hex wrenches and you'd never need to set foot in a bow shop.

If your $2k budget is intended to cover a bow with accessories and arrows in addition to the tuning/maintenance equipment, then you'll have to be pretty selective. You could easily spend over $2k on bow + sight + rest + release + quiver + arrows + broadheads buying new top-of-the-line items. Not saying that you need all new top-of-the-line equipment, just saying that it wouldn't be hard to burn through $2k on that stuff. If you're looking to be thrifty, good values can be found buying a used 1-3 year old flagship bow, which will offer 99% of the performance and features of a brand new bow at 2/3 or less the cost.

 

[Zac]

The LCA kits are awesome and great value. They are the best so you definitely won't be buying twice. 2k gets you everything including a sweet jig.

 

[Precision Swag]

Bow is handled. The 2k is for shop gear only.


I purchased a VXR 31.5 60lb and 75lb mods, from a local shop and had them set it up for me. Going to run the integrated rest and an option 8 site I picked up in the classifieds. Also had the shop cut some arrows for me. Shooting some GT 340 black labels cut to 27.5, finished around 400gr. Calcs @ 276fps but I haven’t run it through a chrono.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Precision Swag]

A couple of 22yd progress groups.

 

[Precision Swag]

Ill be diving into arrow building in the next couple of weeks.

I think I'm starting to get there as far as form. I am finally starting to be able to feel when everything is right and the pin just parks on the spot with minimal float. I extended my draw to 28" as I was having to bend my left arm a bunch which felt a bit odd.

I'll post up some pics when I get the arrows made up and shooting.