Hey all,

I have been starting to put back a little money here and there to hopefully buy a TD Longbow in the fall.

There are so many beautiful and great TD Longbows out there and one I have read about is the SAPPHIRE.  Over time I have read several really good comments about these bows.  Owners compare their performance to some of the really BIG NAME bows that we all know and want.

The Sapphire Archery TD longbow is also affordable and that's important to me right now cause I am on a rather restrictive budget.

He has a website but it is not coming up right now.  It is at  www.sapphirearchery.com

I would like to hear from those that own or have had some experience with these bows.  What do you think of them?  How do they shoot for you and would you recommend them to others looking for a good TD Longbow?  Any comments or thoughts you have would be appreciated.  Also if you have any pics of these bows it would be great if you could post them.

Thanks for your time and help.

BD


PS...If you have any other recommendations for a TD Longbow that performs with the BIG BOYS yet is priced for those on a budget..by all means post your thoughts.

Your post leaped off the page at me!   Ernie lent me one of his TD bows to play with while I was working on a new bow of my own and trying to build and test a shooting machine.  Great bow!   Light weight and very fast.  He's been giving me a lot of help as I learned to build a bow.  Great guy and you won't go wrong with one of his bows.

I have one of Ernies Sapphire Hawks.  Very nice shooting bow.  Great guy to deal with.  
Another you may look at is the Cook's Mtn Archery.  The El Puma TD is a very quick, smooth and stable bow.

Ernies bows are awesome! I have a BearsPaw longbow & shot a tolke whip longbow to see which one I would settle on. Ernies Sapphire Hawk T/D longbow at 59# won out for both speed & smoothness.
 I was fortunate enough to take 1st at the ISB tournament this year with it as well as fill my elk tag with my 1st pass-through as well. I love this bow! It is extremely quick! I'd add a photo of the bow but can't seem to see how you do it?

ElkNut1

PS... I dont know why my website is down... it'll be squared away soon.

Thanks guys...

E

Thanks for the opinions so far.

That pic he posted of one of his TD bows is beautiful.  I'd like to see more pics if you have them E.  You can email me the pics if you want.  I have a cable modem so it doesn't matter how many or how big the pics are.

In the pics above you can clearly see much more detail in the riser than you can in the pics on his website.  I didn't know they had that much detail and curves to them.  It looks great.  Keep 'em coming if you can.

Thanks everyone.

BD

Thanks Ernie! I believe that is my Longbow there! (grin) It is an absolutely beautiful bow!

 ElkNut1

My 'wish list' of bows to own, has only 3 bows on it.  A Sapphire is on that list.

This bow is beautiful, has a good reputation and is a steal at $450.

Nala... you got me in trouble, darn you!   After replying to your post, I just had to go out and shoot that borrowed Sapphire Hawk some more before shipping it back to Ernie on Monday.   So I did... I shot it... and shot it... and shot it...    and called Ernie and told him I didn't want to give it back!  All I can say is "Thank goodness for Pay Pal!"  It's very light bow, both in physical weight and in draw weight... 62" and 33@25 for my draw.  I shoot a light 1516 arrow.  Yesterday I clocked it through my chrono at 196 from a machine release.  I'm used to slower straight longbows, and let me tell you this thing leaves a hole in the air.  I had to go from holding over at 30 yards to trying to find out just how much under I had to hold.

Ernie makes a very pretty bow.

I know this is pushing the limit here..since I"m not a sponsor..I will try to stay out of the thread for now on, but wanted to say that the $450 is now $550 and my website needs to be updated....

Thanks for all the kind words though...

Ernie

Sorry about that Mr. Dick.  I didn't mean to get you in hot water.....

At least you didn't have to get rid of any of those Hills you love so much so it ain't all bad.

I'd love to have one of those Sapphire 3 piece TD LB's myself.  I have a TD Recurve and a Longbow and now all I need to complete my setup is a 3 piece TD Longbow.  There are just so many beautiful bows out there.  Fortunately my budget kinda limits my choices.

It sounds like the Sapphire is a great bow.  They look great too.  So the base price is now raised $100 to $550?  How much extra are the Single Carbon bows?  Any pics of those handy, or the Double Carbon?  I'd like to see what those look like.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.  Feel free to add more.  I know there are more out there, so lets hear from them.

BD

Nala, the bow pictured is a double carbon & it is the one I have at this time! It also has carbon in the riser, there is no handshock in this T/D model.

 ElkNut1

Ernie has a web site:

http://www.sapphirearchery.com/

I would buy Es bow in a heartbeat! If you get him to build you a double carbon it will outperform bows 3 times the cost. It is among the fastest rigs available. The great thing about a highperformance LB is that in order for it to be fast it has to be quiet and shock free as noise and shock are just wasted energy. His bows put all the energy into the arrow. You will love it!

Bonner

Ernie is a good friend and hunting partner of mine. He is an excellent bowyer. He pays attention to detail and he is always looking to improve upon his already excellent designed bow. I have shot many of Ernies bows and can tell you they are: Fast, smooth, accurate and very shootable.

His craftsmanship is superb. His bows are very easy on the eyes and deadly in the hand. Quite frankly I think Ernie is making one of the better longbows today. His prices are much to cheap and once word gets out as to how sweet a bow he is making...look out! Sapphire bows will be the talk of the internet.

I highly recommend Erine and his bows!

Peter Iacavazzi
Pro Staff Director Sitka Gear

Ernie's Sapphire bows are great. They are very fast and quiet, stable shooters. The design he uses is what makes the bows so great. I have a beautiful riser and 2 sets of limbs for mine. One set is 50#@28 with carbon on the belly and back and another set that is 54#@28 that is glass and carbon. both sets are very quiet and FAST.
If I could compare Ernie's bows to others..it would be a cross of a Pronghorn and an ACS.
Ernie is an hornorable bowyer.
I will be at the Howard Hill shoot, TN Classic and the Ky. Classic shoots this spring. If anybody wants to shoot mine, send me a PM.

Ernies one of the "good guy's and works very hard to produce the best bow possible.