simple question pros/ cons thanks
My personal opinion is that they are one of the very best bows out here. I have shot them for the last 7 years and been happy with it. I shoot a lot of bows, but when 3d season comes around I turn to my 21st Century.
I have found 21st bows to be fast, quiet and shock free. They have been reliable top performers for years.
In my opinion, 21st Century in an original and unique longbow design - different from all other longbow designs except for those that have since copied it.
Cons 1) they look plain or odd to most folks. and 2) the fit & finish doesn't rank among the best on the market
Pros 1) they look unique & have a visual appeal to some folks. and 2) they have a reputation for outshooting most other longbows
I have had 2 and if I where to have some more longbows, I would for sure have at least one in the herd....
I have an older 21st Century Nova and a newer 21st Edge,they are both great shooting bows.Fast,smooth drawing bows and outstanding shooters in my opinion.
Another Pro - 21st Century longbows are custom made to you specs but they're relatively inexpensive. You can just about buy two 21st Century longbows for the price of one of the closet competition.
That should read closest, not closet competition.
The one bow that I regret selling,wish I had it back.
imo, depends on who built the bows. previous, startup owners jim & buddy were innovative, top notch craftsmen. i've owned and loved more than a few custom edge's and nova's. and their constellation and gold star models were just incredible (no longer offered). j&b even offered twin limb nocks, for dual bow draw weights! if you can find a j&b 21st, grab it!
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000309
I can't speak to the qualities of the newer 21st Century bows, but I do love my J&B Nova.
I have one - I will never get rid of.
vtmtman, that thread is insane!
The new owner, Milton, builds one heck of a bow too. He has been very easy to deal with as well. Give him a call and see.
I had a J&B century nova, wish I had that one back...It was quite unique as Jeff Massey had put his finish on it...definitely fast, steady, and a pleasure to shoot...
I can only speak of the older models, the Jim & Buddy bows. They are fast, no hand shockand very consistant.
For Scott Toll IAM article on the Buddy/Jim 21st bow company, here are the pages in image format ...
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p17.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p17.jpg)
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p18.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p18.jpg)
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p19.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p19.jpg)
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p20.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p20.jpg)
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p21.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p21.jpg)
www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p22.jpg (http://www.tradgang.com/rob/jploen/p22.jpg)
I am a big fan of the 21st Century bows.I have some J&B bows and one of Miltons as well.No doubt finsh wise the older bows were better but Milton's bows are still fine shooting bows at better than average prices.I also have a Big River bow built in the 21st Century design that shoots great with excellent finish work and detail compaired to the others.I like them all as they allow me to shoot a 70" bow that outperforms most other bows even with my short draw length.Perfect for 3ds. :)
My only experience with owning a 21st Century (a Jim and Buddy model) wasn't good. Jim and Buddy still owned and operated the company at the time. I bought a used one from a fellow. The finish was, to put it nicely, awful. I was told this up-front, so no biggie. When I got the bow, I noticed it was strung upside-down, with the larger loop on the bottom. The reason for this was because the string groove was cut wrong on the top limb, and if the top loop wasn't tiny the string would jump out of the groove (this happened).
This was obviously a mistake from the factory, so I contacted them about a fix. They said they would re-finish the bow and fix the string groove for $150 (this was SEVERAL years ago--I don't think I paid that much for the bow to begin with).
I contacted a different bowyer and he agreed to fix the string groove and re-finish the bow for me for $50, which he did. After that it was a great shooter and looked good to boot. I sold it anyway--it was a good shooter, but not great, for me anyway.
Moral of the story here, if it's a J&B bow I'd check it out good before buying. I have no experience with Milton or his bows.
Chad
Chad, are you sure that was an original, J&B bow? that sounds strange for a bow they made. I would say it has been 12-15yrs since they owned the co. Just curious. I have had a few over the years and the originals all looked good and shot well. the few that I had from the new owner had some fit and finish issues hat needed attention. never shot one of the new ones. ecept in the shop.
I once bare-shaft matched a customer who shot one, or at least I tried to. The only way it would shoot a bare shaft straight was with the bow turned upside down! I think the handle was turned upside down when it was laid up. One of the strangest things I encountered in the arrow shaft business.
No doubt it was a J&B bow--had their sigs, and they still owned/operated 21st Century when I bought the bow. My best guess is it was around 15 years ago.
Like I said, I knew the finsh was bad before I bought it. I'd done a little research and even one of their top tournament shooters at the time said that the finish was hit or miss--some looked great, some looked pitiful.
Even the string groove being cut wrong didn't bother me a whole lot. Any bowyer who's made any number of bows has goofed. What bothered me was they wanted top dollar to fix what should have never gotten out of the shop to begin with. The icing on the cake was when a different bowyer who had absolutely nothing to do with that bow fixed it for 1/3 the price quoted by J&B.
I might have had a one of a kind, but it was enough to raise a flag for me if I ever consider buying another used J&B 21st Century.
Chad
wow, that's incredible, chad. i've owned or shot others j&b 21st bows, perhaps more than 20 bows, and everyone was superbly crafted. i couldn't even imagine them letting out such a dog! yikes!
It was actually a pretty decent shooter, once I got the string groove fixed. It was just the customer service, or lack thereof, that bugged me about that bow more than anything else.
here is the deal.. I've got a 21c bow. I've had it for 14 years and I've a killed a dozen big game animals with it. It's been to 0 Fl, Ga, Ne, Al, Va and Colo. I must say it now is my back up bow. BUT... I've bought and sold a bucket of other bows. Never once have I even considered treading or selling my 21C. Not even a passing thought.
Joe
PS. shot it today....
Wow Chad....I would have liked to have kept that bow just for the heck of it. Jim and Buddy bows....I have 4, every time I put my "custom" bows down, and take up a J&B , I am still surprised how fast, smooth , and accurate they are. They may well be the most under rated bows EVER. JMHO
I have two b&j bows. One 21st edge model, and a newmoon eclipse with brush nocks. I like both of them. I use the edge model to hunt withmost of the time. I did buy an edge from Milton, but I felt like the finish could have been better comparing it to other bows. I finally sold it. No thoughts about selling the b&j bows.