Blogging and not even on nights!

After a brief flurry of activity this morning I find myself clock watching and kind of hoping it stays that way for three more hours before I can return home.
This will probably be the last blog before Christmas, so a chance I suppose to catch up.

What has happened in the Ratcave since last time?
Not a lot really, I didn't used to be overly bothered by the weather, this year it's been batten down the hatches. The Ratbike awaits repairs and the cave really needs a tidy up!

We took a run over to see Percy at Bowsports and for me to test drive a few bows. First I had a look at Prestige. The bow is very similar to an Apex7 but shorter. Mathews have designed the bow just for me! well short draw length people anyway. Not speccing mega poundage limbs or gorilla drawlengths allows them to optimise the set up for mortals (oh and they do it in matt black!) and the speed IBO'd up exceeds 330 fps
Also on the agenda had to be the Drenalin. Percy had commented on preferring the Switchback previously and I went with this in mind. There were also a number of characteristics that don't quite tick the boxes for me (VFT , short a2a, no draw stop)
Bowsports has filled out a bit since our least visit a year or so age, last time the concrete floors and spartan wall covering gave a rather boring visit. This time there was much more to look at, includuing the new bowtech range.

Unfortunatley there wasn't a left handed prestige on stock (I was told this prior to the visit TBH) but I got to molest a Right handed one, the proper velcro fastening box exuded luxury although I wasn't too sure about the leather mathews cap contained therein. The prestige felt good, a narrow un torquable grip, good weight, perfect balance. lovely. It drew more harshly than the LX but not stupidly harshly like some bows (the Martin Slayer. more on that later) But where the LX feels under 60lb, the Prestige felt every bit of 60lb. The cam comes from the legendary Z Max NICE! The perstige was put away and from the rack I was supplied a Switchback and a Drenalin.

The Switchback felt just like the LX and to be honest didn't light my fire, I love the LX, just can't see a reason to replace it with an LX clone. The Drenalin felt light, and it was very very smooth on the draw. Although there was only a 27 1/2 cam in stock left handed it was set up for me and I took the bow and chrono into the 18m indoor range. I drew back, and then wondered if I had shot. Dead, smooth, no feedback at all. I shot another, no hand shock at all. This could have been my old allegiance, it really could. The chrono indicated @ 288 with plenty of duplicates so it is consistent. The half an inch deficiency in draw would maybe account for 5 fps,maybe a touch more, but the speed still doesn't really equate to the reported 320+. I shot a load of arrows with the bow and really liked it. The nag is, it feels and performs like a 2005 Allegiance , in fact maybe a touch lower on speed as I used to shoot 300 fps at 58lb on the Ally. Later (at Merlin) it was pointed out that the speed is gained from having a 14 strand string as standard. Maybe materials have moved on a pace but I have to question the practicality of shooting 1000's of arrows from this platform. So we returned from Bowsports with a prestige on order (no obligation). Man I love the look of that bow, I hope it shoots well. A good friend of mine from Italy shoots one and he swears by it, we are both similar in style and build , it bodes well.

We did get chance to take run over to Merlin in the week, bumped into Liam (signing in blood for an XV, good choice). we shot 6 doz 70m fita style.
In the few days previous I had took the LX apart and rebuilt it, this left the loop and nock point a bit high and I was struggling to get 70m or even get any sort of tune. I managed to wreck two arrows (one acutally struck the underside of the scope! I bought some vanetec vmax, a smaller scope and planted 100grs into the pdp points in readiness for the FITA mentioned above.
I reset the nock point and a new loop, quickly French tuned the bow (a truly brilliant and quick way of setting a rest). The new scope and fletching combination gave bags of clearance. The new and extremely cheap Cartel scope gave far better clarity, I'm convinced this is due to the smaller peep aperture I'm using. I got myself on the boss at 70m and let battle commence.
My first dozen was still pretty much sighting in and I managed a really poor 103
I followed this with 2 59's and an a 58, unfortunately I mixed these with a 53 and a 54. It seems that I can torque my beautiful new side plates, so one will have to go! When I kept the grip right I was peppering the 10, but when I didn't... I even managed a 6 (it was with 3 10's and 2 9's though)
In the last dozen I really started to feel the 60lb. It is a long time since I shot this many in one go and it was the most I had shot from the LX period. So I wasn't too disheartened. I finally ended up with a 650 , so plenty of room for improvement. Of course Ruthy beat me,although the cold had got to her and she had stopped trying really hard. I'll wind the bow down 1/2 a turn, to help me out but apart from that the set up appears really good.
Next year will hold a lot more fixed distance shooting and the LX seems a good vehicle for this. Unfortunatley I may have to move onto ally/carbons

The best match I can find is 2-39 hyperspeeds but I'm not sure if these are easy to get, no one lists them in the UK, so I fear the worst and it may end up being navigators

Oh and the Martin. sorry it was horrible. I couldn't even draw it back at 60, I had to drop it down to 55 by which point the LX was quicker. A ebay bargain was had and the Ratfighter a sad, poorer but wiser man
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segolden · Moderator

Just went back and re-read this, surprised you had any shoulders left after your little jaunt.

Just one question: What is "french-tuning", and is it worth an explanation for we amateurs?

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"For I have drawn Judah taut and applied [My hand] to Ephraim as to a bow." Zech. 9:13
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