I am looking at ordering a long bow. I have never owned a longbow but have shot several. I am looking at three different bows, My first choice is big Jim's Buffalo 3 piece, I love the look/style of this bow. The next is Big Jim's thunderchild take down, I have shot this bow a little and loved it. My third Bow of choice is a centaur, I love the shelf design on this bow and have heard nothing but good things. I was hoping to go with a take down bow, that shoots forgiving for a 27 inch draw with a 56-60 inch over all length, Please let me know by voting 1 ,2 or 3.
An yes their will be some of you that will want to say buy all three, "I would like to stay married a little longer"
I plan on phoning both Jim's and talking to them about options and etc. but thought I would try this out first.
Of the 3 choices, I like the Buffalo best looks-wise. Haven't shot any of 'em though.
I have never shot any of the bows listed so I'll give no opinion. I will offer this, first off before buying any bow do your homework, call the bowyers and get a feel of them and see what they reccomend, if you can shoot the bows. Do some research here by using the search feature at the top and never let anyone vote what bow you will get, what do they care they aren't going to be out any money if you don't like it!
I agree with Chuck.
I have shot all 3 bows and liked them all. Personally if I ordered a custom bow, there would be No doubt in my mind that is the bow I want. If you are on teh fence, it jsut means you need to do a little more home work first.
Good luck and remember to keep it fun!
Thanks cbCrow, I have done my home work, and are still having an issue with which one to get. I know what your saying about picking a bow, but I'm really struggling in this decision.
I'm definitely not using this as my final decision, but as part of my research, their is a lot of wisdom in the keys of trad gang and just wanted to use it as my research.
Thanks for the honesty
Tim
I don't have any experience with Big Jim's bows, but I've run several Centaur bows through their paces and give them a serious thumbs up. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Hummer, "Don't buy before you shoot"!
I'm sure either would be great bows, but, maybe not for you. It ain't Homework! :bigsmyl:
Ouch, two phenominal bowyers. Glad its not me deciding.
I wish I could help but man you couldn't go wrong with either of those guys.
QuoteOriginally posted by frank bullitt:
Hummer, "Don't buy before you shoot"!
I'm sure either would be great bows, but, maybe not for you. It ain't Homework! :bigsmyl:
I will not be able to shoot before I buy, very limited in traditional shops/equipment up here.
either I go it and if it doesn't work out I resell or it works out.
Best to ya, brother! But since ya did say you shot the Thunderchild and loved it, that be the one! :bigsmyl:
As crazy as it sounds to sane person.Most of us will get all 3 LOL....As far as I know you can't go wrong with any of them.
QuoteOriginally posted by frank bullitt:
Best to ya, brother! But since ya did say you shot the Thunderchild and loved it, that be the one! :bigsmyl:
I'm leaning that way too just because you have "some" experience with it.
Maybe you really should just look at this as... "Which should I get FIRST!!!" :rolleyes: :dunno: :rolleyes:
QuoteOriginally posted by Hawkeye:
Maybe you really should just look at this as... "Which should I get FIRST!!!" :rolleyes: :dunno: :rolleyes:
Now I like that thinking....
As a lefty in a city where there is EXTREMELY limited access to trad tackle and forget about lefty, I had to make a lot of expensive decisions without trying a bow first. I would say that the grip has proven to be a MAJOR factor in whether I'll like/shoot a bow. Don't buy a bow new that you haven't tried. See if there's a try-before-you-buy program at all. It's worth the extra money upfront, to avoid waiting (9 months in Big Jim's case) and then having to get on another waiting list because the bow didn't fit you well (not to mention the financial hit). Just my two cents as someone who's had to find bows exclusively by buying without trying for years. Ouch!
Marco
all the bows you mention are top shelf and your question will only muddy the waters for ya. all the opinions of others are just that, and you really need to just make up yer own mind and move forward. pick one, be happy, kill critters. :)
QuoteOriginally posted by Hummer3T:
Thanks cbCrow, I have done my home work, and are still having an issue with which one to get. I know what your saying about picking a bow, but I'm really struggling in this decision.
I'm definitely not using this as my final decision, but as part of my research, their is a lot of wisdom in the keys of trad gang and just wanted to use it as my research.
Thanks for the honesty
Tim
A lot of bowyers will send you a demo to try out...
I love my thunderchild , just sayin :wavey:
Never owned a Centaur but I just got my Thunderchild and i'm likeing it more every day.
Big Jim builds a great bow and is a fine guy to do business with.
If I were in your shoes, I would get a Thunderchild. You already know you liked it, plus its price is great and if you don't like it, you can sell it without losing much money. Get it at a good, conservative weight in case you want a lot of potential buyers later on. The money you would lose if you sold it would be cheap rent on a great bow, at the very worst.
No bad choice.
THUNDERCHILD. I am loving this bow more everyday. Shoot it better than my ILF recurve!
If ya don't like it those Thunderchilds re-sell reeeeal easy!!!
Another vote for TC, although I have never so much as held a Centaur, despite my screen name. Big Jim is easy to deal with and builds a great bow, both in looks and shooting characteristics. No doubt the Centaur is a great bow as well as lots of guys on here love them, but if you already know you like the TC, go for it!
Just try to shoot them all, and then the choice will be easy to make; because one of them will just fit you better.(or at least that is how it is most of the time)
Good Luck!!!
just buy em both. you only live once and cant take it with you when you go
All three are great bows that resale very easily if the weight is not too heavy. My question is what is the waiting list.
Last I heard Big Jim was about 10 months and that was some time ago. Depending on the wait list you could put your name in with both bowyers and have quite some time to decide what exactly you want. If the wait list for both was some time apart you could just do as what most of us want to do and buy both. With a wait at almost a year it is easy to put aside the money for that something extra.
Not worth much but that's my $.02
Oh yeah, I have a Buffalo Bow and I can say that Big Jim is about the best I've ever dealt with be it in person or over email/phone.
QuoteOriginally posted by trad_in_cali:
As a lefty in a city where there is EXTREMELY limited access to trad tackle and forget about lefty, I had to make a lot of expensive decisions without trying a bow first. I would say that the grip has proven to be a MAJOR factor in whether I'll like/shoot a bow. Don't buy a bow new that you haven't tried. See if there's a try-before-you-buy program at all. It's worth the extra money upfront, to avoid waiting (9 months in Big Jim's case) and then having to get on another waiting list because the bow didn't fit you well (not to mention the financial hit). Just my two cents as someone who's had to find bows exclusively by buying without trying for years. Ouch!
Marco
I've been through this dilemma and these are words of wisdom, before you start dropping $800+ for a bow ask if they have a grip you can check out even if it's made out of a 2 x 4. The grip is want makes or breaks a bow for 90% of us, the rest of it is splitting hairs there are so many good bower's out there now days. Never shot any of Big Jim's but I've shot a couple Centaur's and they rock but so do a bunch of others like a MOAB,Whippenstick ect ect..go to one of the bigger shoots near you even if you have to travel 100's of miles with the sole purpose of shooting every vendors bow then start hitting up the shooters and ask to shoot theirs. It will be the best investment ever.