Anyone own a Bruin One piece in the 60 or 62 inch length? How big are the risers it is hard to tell from the website. I would also like to hear your thoughts on Mike's one pieces never have held or seen one in person. I have heard nothing but good things about him and his bows and know he has been building bows a long time. If you have pictures of either 1 or 2 pieces please post them. Thanks
One of the best bows of all times,I have a one piece ,60 inches long it does everything a bows suppose to do.I've studied Mikes bows for years and have built a few as per the way he does .They shoot unreal.grab one if you can you won't be disapointed.
No one ever quite believes this, but Mike's bows shooting his endless loop B50 strings are as fast as anything out there. Extremely sweet shooters too, not just a speedbow. Mike's a funny guy; He doesn't even go to the trouble to advertise his top gun, which he calls his "Master Elite Express". This is the fastest recurve I've ever shot, but he only offers this in a 3 piece.
Dave
Of all the bows that I've owned or shot they rank as one of the top 3 three.
Plenty fast and really easy to make whisper quiet.
I have owned three one-pieces.
A 62" Master, a 60" Huntmaster, and a 58" Deflex Express. Here are some photo's:
Master:
(http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/jcj138265/3k93p53o91fb1251478cu2be5dfb736cc19.jpg)
Huntmaster:
(http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/jcj138265/3n13me3le1f91251g18cu827d1f405deb1c.jpg)
Deflex Express:
(http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/jcj138265/Bruin1.jpg)
They are as smooth as you can get. I have huntmaster one piece. Just a great bow.
(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/nyazel/IMG_1978.jpg)
I just looked at the Bruin website. Boy, Mike makes some great looking bows. I've never read anything but positive comments about his bows.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
The best buys are the Woodsmasters. They shoot just as good as the fancy models at a fraction of the price.
Thanks for the replies. TTT anyone else. Iwould even like to see some pictures of his 3 piece curves.
Woodsmanster T/D
(http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/jcj138265/Bruintd1.jpg)
I owned a one piece bow from Bruin and it was as nice as anything I've ever had including my beloved old Rocky Mountain Recurve and my BWMAII. It shot flat and hard, was smooth and quiet, and was completely stable in my hands.
I like the larger riser--and Mike Steliga knows how to make a good bow. Unfortunately. my Bruin was stolen in a burglary and I am without it these days. I do miss it.
I owned two of Mike's bows. A Huntmaster takedown that is the first custom recurve I ever purchased. Won't ever get rid of that bow. Killed 4 bull elk before I moved on to Longbows...I nicknamed it Big Boy because of its 65lbs draw weight. I owned a one piece Huntmaster that I sold to a lifelong friend. Killed a bull with that bow. I miss it sometimes, it was so smooth to shoot and was beautiful to look at. If I had to do it over again, I would have kept it for my boys...Bruin Bows are underrated and somewhat under appreciated for the excellent bows they are.
Mike makes some of the smoothest pulling short bows I've shot. I was playing around with one of his 54"ers awhile back. Incredibly smooth. Should have bought it.
Anymore photos of these bruin bows? T/D or one piece?
I have owned many of Mike's bows,all TDs thougt,still I own a few. They are always been at the top for craftmanship and performances.I am sure the one piece are very smooth.
I've had one of Mike's Deflex Express recurves and one of his longbows. Both were nice shooters and the craftsmanship was excellent. Unfortunately, that was back when I frequently sold/traded bows instead of keeping them. My Deflex Express looked a lot like JCJ's, and was all a guy could ask for in a bow. Another good one that got away...
I had one....ready nice shooting recurve....
(http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/gabedard/IMG_1282.jpg) (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/gabedard/media/IMG_1282.jpg.html)
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Glenn
I was looking at older recurve designs from the 1960's and looked at images of Staghorn archery. I then noticed that Bruin are very similiar in design to Staghorn.
I have two Bruins. A 60 Inch Takedown and a 56" one piece. The one piece is my hands down favorite bow.It is the Zebra wood one that is pictured on the site. Mikes bows are incredibly smooth drawing and fast. Mike is also a super guy to deal with. My TD Bruin is listed in the classifieds. Awesome bow that I have had for many years and killed a good many deer with it. Still looks pretty much new. I just have a bow buying problem, LOL.
Bill Pyle taught Mike had to build bows and all Bruins are patterned after the original Staghorn design. Due to illness, Mike stopped building bows for awhile but is back. He now offers a one piece recurve identical to the original Staghorn.
The very first Bruins were one pieces and were built on the Staghorn XP-60 and XP-64 forms and I was fortunate to own a couple. They wereabove 60#, shot great but sold/traded them as soon as Mike started offereing the takedowns.
If one does not travel so no real need for a takedown IMO the one pieces shoot better-as did all of the Staghorns. Back in the day I was a dealer for Staghorns and Bill and Ellie's shop was about 15 miles from mine. Bill Pyle was one of the forerunners in recurve production with his first ads appearing in the late 1950's in Archery magazine. Staghorn was building and selling recurves before the likes of Wing and many other companies.