When I started shooting, I had a penchant for buying budget guns and trying to improve them to compete with much more expensive guns. With some home tweaks, such as trigger jobs and recrowning, a certain level of success could be achieved. The two things I would spend money on would be a good scope, and a stock from Boyds.
While we have access to some great optics in New Zealand, it’s been almost impossible to get a Boyds rifle stock for a long time. With the US$100 export limit on certain firearm-related items, New Zealanders have had to try and buy the cheapest of the stocks on offer, with no upgrades or customisation, or wait for a run-out special that matched their firearm/stock combo. Unfortunately as prices have naturally risen, even the option of squeezing in under $100 has just about disappeared for most items.
Are there any NZ Boyds dealers?
There have also been various businesses in NZ that have had a Boyds dealership at one time or another – but they’ve always been bloody expensive. In many cases, the stocks would have cost more than people had spent on their rifles to begin with – and the options were limited too.
So – we’ve tried to fix this issue.
I’ve long been a fan of Boyds stocks, and you can read about stocks I have used over the years in the product review section of the website. In order to give everyone else access to the same stocks that I’ve really enjoyed using – and at a reasonable cost – we’ve established our own Boyds dealership in NZ.
This Swedish Mauser was my second ever Boyds project, in a Prairie Hunter stock.
The Gun Rack and Boyds Hardwood Gunstocks
Yup, you can get any Boyds stock you want, with any customisations. There’s no federal export limit, and you don’t have to pay a retail store half of the deposit of an Auckland 3-bedroom house either. In fact, we can get you a basic Boyds stock, delivered to your door, for around NZ$525. If you want to spend more and get an adjustable comb, custom colours, change the LOP, or whatever, you can do that too. We’re also able to sell the At-One stock, at around NZ$640, delivered.
So, how come we’re able to do this? Well, we can bring in the stocks because we have a federal export licence from the US government, specifically for Boyds stocks. And how do we do it so cheaply? Quite simple. We’re not greedy. We make a very small amount of money on each stock, and that money means I can buy ammo and other bits and pieces to keep this website going. I’m much more interested in bringing something cool to NZ shooters than I am in making a shed load of money.
We all heard about the noise complaints at Auckland Pistol Club (APC). We were all instantly worried about our own clubs, and the directions our shooting sports could take if established venues such as this one could get shut down. Well, the news, for once, is good.
It should be clarified, APC was never shut down. They entered into a voluntary closure of 3 months, to get out in front of what could have been a messy situation. The club and its members took proactive measures to ensure their pistol shooting range would not be in danger of having its doors closed by anyone else.
Substantial effort has been put in, to ensure Aucklanders have a safe place to train and compete. Image credit: APC
Their club secretary had this to say to The Gun Rack;
“We closed voluntarily for 3 months at the time of the first complaint to allow us to engage with the complainant and council. Needless to say the complainant has never engaged with us. We are in frequent contact with the council and working with them on the issue. We have been opened ever since that initial 3 month closure.”
The club has put substantial effort (and $$$) into making sure shooters in Auckland have a safe place to train and compete. The 16-bay turning target ISSF range has been sound-insulated and has proven to be very effective at containing noise, with sound dampening material at the mound and down the walls of the range.
The Auckland Pistol Club has great facilities and is open for business! They’re busy making sure all of the ranges capture as much escaping sound as is reasonably possible, in order to ensure the club can continue to operate at full capacity. Image credit: APC
Also fully approved by the club for use, is the large IPSC range which is used by members for casual practice, and weekly competitions. There is more soundproofing to be done on this range, so there is a restriction on ported handguns and magnum calibres until this is sorted.
So, how can you help Auckland and national shooting sports? Well, you can do two things:
Always obey the instructions of the range you are shooting on, to help protect the ongoing use of that land, especially if your range has a resource consent in place or fussy neighbours.
Chip in. Lend a hand, gift some materials or donate a few bucks to help the cause. APC has a ‘Give-a-little’ page, helping them to fund work such as the IPSC range soundproofing – that’d be a good place to start.
In a market saturated by black rifle parts and accessories, is there room to stand out? The Vortex Strike Eagle has been around for a couple years, and it has certainly carved its niche in the landscape of optics for the ubiquitous AR-15. So, what sets this scope apart?
Image credit: Vortex
The reticle
Really, to gain traction in the glass game these days, you need to be offering innovative sighting systems. It wasn’t too long ago that grid reticles weren’t even a thing. Now, most long range shooters wouldn’t look past them for practical or tactical style shooting competitions. With the Strike Eagle, Vortex went the other direction, tending towards the simple and easy to use.
The AR-BDC (AR Ballistic Drop Reticle) is designed to give easy elevation holdover using common .233/5.56 loadings. With a 50 yard zero, the crosshair is good to use from 20 yards through 200 yards, on any magnification setting. On 6 power (top of magnification range), the hashmarks equate to a holdover for 300, 400, 500 and 600 yards.
This makes for very fast shooting for competitions such as IPSC or 3 Gun, and combined with a switchview throw lever, extremely quick transitions from near to long-range targets can be achieved, without relying on a secondary optic or BUS (back up sights). Another feature which aids quick target acquisition is the halo that surrounds the crosshair, drawing your eye to the centre of the reticle.
A Vortex V-4 Switchview Throw Lever is installed in literally a minute, and makes your life so much easier.
There is a newer version of the Strike Eagle, which comes with a 1-8x magnification range and the AR-BDC 2 reticle, which follows the general principals discussed above. It also, however, has holdover notches for 5 and 10 mph winds, again, aiding quick decision-making while engaged in a course of fire.
What if I’m not shooting .223 Rem?
One of the wonderful things about the AR platform is its versatile and modular nature. As such, many of you will likely have an AR-10 or AR-15 in a different calibre, and the AR-BDC hasn’t got you all giddy yet. Well, the manual for the reticle does include drops for your average .308 Win load. And if you’re getting more exotic than that, you can easily use the Vortex LRBC (Long Range Ballistic Calculator) to work out drops for your specific rifle and ammunition.
I’ve been using the Strike Eagle 1-6×24 on my .22LR trainer, which is a Carl Walther produced HK416D. By plugging in my ballistic data for CCI standard ammo (which I verified with a chronograph), I was able to find my drops on the various hashes in the reticle. In preparing for the PSNZ22 practical rimfire shoot, which had known distances of 40 m to 150 m, I zeroed at 50 m and used the LRBC to produce the below reticle image.
The Vortex LRBC web app is incredibly useful for figuring out drops and wind holds, and can give you traditional drop charts or reticle images such as the above.
As you can see I had a pretty good holdover for 70, 95, 120 and 150 metres on the 5x setting. Getting used to the magnification settings (or writing them down) you could actually get quite a precise drop on a specific hashmark by change your zoom level.
Outstanding features
There are a few nice extras that help to keep this scope top of mind when considering an optic for ‘run and gun’ style comps. The included flip caps mean you don’t have to worry about losing or forgetting a bikini style scope cover. It also adds to the ‘tactical’ look that many strive for with their black rifles.
Also included is an illuminated reticle, with 11 brightness settings. Sure, this isn’t anything new, but it’s well thought out. The dial is on the side of the sccope, rather than near the ocular bell. This means you hardly have to lift your head to see the setting you are selecting.
I don’t often make use of illuminated reticles (black targets at extended ranges probably being a notable exception, with my Viper PST), but I found this one particularly useful for the inaugural PSNZ22 shoot, which was shot in overcast conditions in pouring rain. I mean, bucketing down at some points. Having the illuminated reticle on very bright setting (it was still daylight after all), I was able to easily pick up on the subtensions and holdover, despite shooting against black or dull targets, obscured by rain.
Speaking of rain, if you get it on your scope lenses – don’t try and blow it off with your mouth before you shoot. You’ll just fog up the glass for a few seconds, which is very disorientating. And I did it twice!
Build quality
The Strike Eagle is exactly what you pay for. The glass is not the same quality as the Vortex long range scopes, but you don’t need it to be for this style of shooting. The construction is solid, yet refined. Not to mention, backed by the Vortex unlimited lifetime warranty. Did I mention the rain before? Because, damn, did it rain! The Strike Eagle 1-6×24 held up its end of the bargain, delivering outstanding reliability, and has done so on several trips since.
The turrets are capped – so if you’re wanting the ultimate tacticool sniper rifle scope laser sight with external tactical tactile turrets, this might not be the one for you. However, if you’re interested in shooting quickly from a defined zero while holding over at known or ranges, this scope will fit the bill, without the risk of bumping your turrets while throwing your gun around the course.
A cantilever mount with 2 inch offset assures correct eye relief and proper alignment of the 30 mm tube.
The negatives
When I first looked at the Strike Eagle, one of the other writers from the blog noted that when they had seen one in-store, the 1x magnification setting, was actually smaller than normal vision – in otherwise less than 1x. I was concerned about this and wrote to Vortex, and they pointed out that eye relief can make a difference in this department. After playing with the eye-relief adjustment ring, I found the perfect spot, and the magnification was true to what it said on the dial. So, not a negative, but something to keep an eye out for (pun intended).
There was one negative. I found the battery cap on the illumination knob wanted to unscrew when I manipulated the dial in the same direction as the thread. This may have been a missed thread on my scope in particular, or it could be something to watch out for when checking out the scope for yourself. Either way, I did not feel it was a big enough deal to try and send back for repair or replacement. In fact, if I just grasp the dial by the body of the knob, rather than near the edge, there’s no problem.
It’s inconvenient if you’re trying to maneuver yourself and your firearm quickly – it’s just one more thing to be mindful of. However, as I mentioned above, Vortex have the best warranty in the business, so if you find yourself with a part that doesn’t feel quite right, don’t be lazy like me – ask them to fix it, and they will.
Overall impression
Ten out of ten, would buy again. Yes, there are ‘better’ AR optics out there. You could have a very sophisticated piece of equipment, or you could go rugged and basic, I’m sure you could find something that beats the Strike Eagle in one way or another. However, I personally think that very few optics deliver in all the ways this Vortex unit does, and at the same price point.
If you want a reliable and easy to use scope with great features at a reasonable price, I don’t know what more you could ask for.
Hopefully you’ve read part one in this two-part series, and figured out you could not only save a lot of money by reloading, but produce match-grade ammo at the same time. In this article we’re going to look at some of the basic pieces of equipment you will need to make your own ammunition.
Context
So, when will you be reloading? For most shooters it will be in the garage or the gun room, with something on the telly or radio, cranking through a 20 or 100 rounds at a time. However, this has not always been the case (and for some, it still isn’t). Manufacturers used to put a lot of effort into creating reloading kits like the shotshell one in the video below, that you could use on the range, or wherever.
They’re not that common these days, but you do get handheld metallic cartridge reloading tools which will do exactly what your bench mounted press will do. Sometimes you will see these at competitions or when someone is working up a load on the range, or if they simply don’t have much room for a massive setup at home. Still, by far the most common types of reloading setups you will find will be single-stage or progressive reloading presses, which are bench-mounted. These are what we will concentrate on.
The manual
Don’t skimp. Buy at least one reloading manual. There is plenty of stuff online, sure. But you should always have an authoritative source of reloading info on hand. It’s a great tool to compare the internet forum wisdom to as well. ADI does publish a good selection of data on their website, and some other powder and component manufacturers do too.
I personally quite like the Lyman reloading manual, and have it alongside a few others on my bench as well.
The press
You will most likely start out with a single stage press. That is, it is designed to do one operation at a time. So, you decap and resize all your brass in one step, you then trim the cases as needed, prime them and fill with powder, before changing the die in the press to a bullet seating die, and seating your projectiles. There are extra steps you can take, and limitless variations on the process, depending on your load, tools, preferences, etc., but this is essentially what you do.
If you are a high volume shooter (or plan to be in the near future), you might start with a progressive press. This is a press that has several stations, into which you load all of your components, and each time you pull the handle, you get a complete, loaded round. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the guts of it.
In between these two options you have a “turret” press, which gives you more flexibility than a single-stage, but much less “process automation” than the progressive.
You’ll start noticing some colour schemes among dies and presses on a particular reloaders. My bench is mostly red and green.
Single stage press
There are many fine manufacturers of single-stage presses, and they are not all equal. You can get top-end presses from Forster, Lyman, Redding, and more, which are all very precise. You can even get arbor presses that take you into a next level world of precision and measurability, for bench rest and F-Class type shooters. However, most first-time reloaders will make their press choice based on their budget, and upgrade to one of the above setups as they expand their reloading bench beyond the basics.
For those looking at the cheaper end of the single stage press spectrum, you will land on a Lee press as a matter of course. They are affordable, and sturdy units and will last you a lifetime if you don’t ever feel the need to upgrade to a higher-end press. For a basic Lee press, you are looking between $80 and $200, depending on the style that floats your boat, and also depending on where you buy it.
If you intend to only load for rifle, and only a few calibres, then a single-stage press should be sufficient for your needs. You may want a turret press or even a second press, so you can have one for sizing and one for seating. For a good press line up, check out Workshop Innovations.
If you want to load for shotgun, Google “Lee Load All”. I don’t know many people that load for scatter guns, as the ammo is pretty cheap. But, you can save some $$$, and customise your loads as you like.
Progressive press
As mentioned before, a progressive press spits out one loaded round for every pull of the handle, with minimal intervention in between (some models require you to place the projectile, or whatever). Of course you don’t skip your brass prep stage, as you do all of this beforehand. But, once you are setup with all of your components ready to feed in, you are good to go and can churn out dozens, or even hundreds, of rounds in an hour.
For this reason, a progressive is almost essential if you want to take up reloading for pistol. Given the sheer volume of ammo expended in most matches, you won’t want to be doing this on a single stage press. There are those who are proponents of loading rifle on progressives too, and again, high-volume shooters would find this the way to go. For example, a 3-Gun shooter may buy their shotgun ammo, and load their huge amount of pistol and rifle ammo on the same press, by changing the tool heads, etc. There are also plenty of tools and attachments to get your progressive churning out match-grade, super consistent, ultra concentric rifle ammo – depending on how far you want to take it.
A progressive ProChucker 5 by RCBS. Image credit; RCBS
If you’re looking on the cheaper end of the scale, you will again encounter Lee as the basic of basics. The Lee Pro 1000 is probably the cheapest progressive I have seen (at time of writing, $489 from Reloaders Supplies). It has its place in the market, but if you’re going to invest the money in a high-volume reloading setup, you may as well do it once and do it properly.
If you’ve looked at progressives before, you’ve seen the big blue machines. Yes, Dillon dominate the progressive market, but there are green, red and other colour progressives out there too. Being so prolific, many people have put a lot of time and effort into creating add-ons and betterments for Dillons, and you will find an endless array of optional extras. Every progressive machine I’ve ever seen has a huge range of optional extras, so make sure you find out exactly what you need before you purchase, as the base price on the machine is often only the beginning.
If you don’t know where to start, check out these Dillon setup “builders” which take you through all you need for your new blue machine.
Dies and shellholders
Dies and shellholders are calibre specific, so they won’t usually be included with the press you buy. In order to use your press, you will need a shellholder for your intended calibre (this is what you seat the case in). These are about $10 – $15, or you can buy a set of them for multiple calibres to save some money in the long run. Depending on your die set, a shellholder may be included.
For starting out loading rifle, you will need a minimum of two dies. One to full length size your cases, and another to seat the projectile. Lee produces a basic set of RGB (Really Good Buy) dies that consists of simply these two dies, and they have them for most common calibres at a very cheap price, usually less than $50, depending on where you go. The quality of these dies is great, so don’t be fooled by the price. They will, however, not have some of the extras other die sets have, such as shellholders, neck-sizing dies, crimp dies, etc. Your more highly specced die sets will probably run you around $80 – $160, depending on what flavour of die you want.
Lee produces a range of die sets, from the more costly/comprehensive to the simple and affordable.
The great thing about dies and presses, is that they are almost all compatible and have common thread dimensions. Most FLS (full length sizing) and seating dies will do a great job, so my advice would be to get what is available for your cartridge and in your price range. If you want to start getting into precision seating dies with micrometers, etc., then you’re probably not even reading this article, as that is more advanced than the basics of getting started in reloading.
Neck sizing is something you will hear about when researching dies and reloading. I really like the Lee collet dies, as they do not require any case lube, and they size over a mandrel, instead of use a pull-through sizing button, which induces excessive stresses on the neck and can push imperfections around in the brass. If you want to load for hunting only, or if you’re tight on cash, skip the NS (neck-size) step for now. If you want to get really accurate ammo for a specific rifle, either invest in a die set that has a NS die included, or buy a separate one. Reloaders Supplies in Onehunga usually has a good stock of the Lee collet dies, or could order one in for you if needed.
Case lubricant
When you are using a FLS or most NS dies, make sure you are using case lube or some kind of powder. I find graphite powder great for neck sizing when not using a mandrel-type die, and it doesn’t react with gun powder. Lanolin spray on lube is apparently the bees knees for case lube, but I’ve not personally tried it. Watch this interview with the 6.5 Guys and they’ll convince you of its merits.
Some common case lubes – you do also get lube pads and lanolin spray.
Case trimming and measuring
When you reload your spent cases, you will need to ensure that they have not stretched beyond maximum tolerances for that cartridge. You can get a cartridge specific case gauge, or you could get a multi-calibre case gauge. Again, showing my preference for red reloading equipment, I quite like the Lee case trimmer and lock stud. When combined with a (different type of) shellholder and a cause gauge guide, it will measure and trim your cases in one easy step. I use these with an electric screwdriver to speed up my case prep.
Case measuring tools are essential for safe ammo.
Once you’ve trimmed your cases to size, you’ll want to chamfer the edges for uniformity of escaping gasses, as well as ease of bullet seating, and easy chambering. Don’t forget to clean out the primer pocket too.
A vernier caliper is a great tool for checking trim length, as you can use it again for COAL length (tip to tail, not to ogive to base) and other measurements. You can get these with normal scales, like a ruler, or with a digital or dial readout.
Priming tool
Simple decision here, you can either get a hand priming tool or a tool that mounts to your press. It’s really user preference. Do you like the feel of seating the primer exactly by hand? Do you want to prime your cases while you watch the rugby? Or do you want to have a mechanical stop on your primer-seating depth, and prefer to do all your stages in one go at the reloading bench?
A few options for your powder measure – a thrower, dipper and a trickler.
Powder measure or scale
Your simplest way to measure powder is by volume. A powder thrower will “throw” a relatively consistent volume of powder each time you pull the handle. Great for loading pistol, hunting rounds or high-volume stuff. Don’t forget you will need to weight it to start. and check the weight every now and again, to make sure you are throwing the right amount.
Your most accurate way to measure powder is by weight. You can use a simple (yet effective) balance beam scale, or you can use a handy-dandy digital one. Both can be had relatively inexpensively. If you want to get into super-accurate reloading for precision shooting, you’re going to want to drop some serious cash on lab-grade equipment. Usually a powder trickler/meter and scale combo can be bought.
Ammo case
You’ll need something to store all of your shiny, reloaded ammo in! Any old gun store will have MTM or Plano boxes for you to keep your freshly rolled ammo. However, if you’re planning on doing a lot of reloading, or loading for multiple guns and chamberings, it may be more economical or easy to use TAC-PAC clear ammunition boxes. They are cheap, stackable, and come in a multitude of sizes.
What about a starter kit?
Excellent question! As you can see from the above, there is a lot of variety out there. If you want to customise your setup with bits and pieces from different manufacturers, or based on the recommendations of friends (or people who write stuff on the internet), you may want to go and buy each thing individually.
However, if you really are budget conscious, or if you just want enough to get started because you don’t really know your left from your right yet, anyway, then you should probably get a starter kit. A Lee Anniversary kit will set you back $249 – $259 if you know where to shop. Or $399 if you don’t. You can get high-end kits closer to $800 or a grand, like the Lyman T-Mag II Expert Reloading Kit Deluxe from Workshop Innovations for $939.95 at the time of writing.
If you get the Lee, the press itself will last you for ages, and you will probably upgrade the accessories as you go. If you go for the more expensive kits, you may find it will be quite a while before you spend anything else on reloading gear (yeah, right…).
With any kit, remember there will still be things you need to purchase, so factor that into how much you spend. Ask at the store or check online to see what else you will need. You will need a case gauge (unless a universal one is supplied) and you will need dies and shellholders for all the cartridges you intend to start reloading with. My recommendation is to start with a single chambering, because you will have a lot to learn. It also means you won’t have to shell out too much on reloading consumables as well, at the start.
Extras you don’t need now, but will want in the future
Loading trays and die trays (I prefer to keep my dies in their boxes with silica gel packets anyway)
I stumbled across Tac-Pac while browsing gearlocker.nz for hearing protection. I’d been thinking of a way to store my pistol reloads without paying ten bucks per ammo storage box, and I couldn’t believe how perfect these boxes appeared to be as a solution.
I ordered some… well, I ordered a fair few. I got ten each of the small, medium and large rifle boxes, and ten pistol boxes. At the time of writing there is a 5% discount when you order 10 or more, or a 10% discount when you order 25 or more. At $1.60 per case for the small pistol boxes I was looking at just over $15 to store 500 rounds, compared to $40 – $60 if I went and bought some MTM Case-Gards.
I do have several MTM and Plano ammo boxes, and they’re great, but for storing large volumes of ammo, I’d much rather have a cheaper solution.
The Tac-Pac small pistol case is similar in dimension to a factory box, so doesn’t take up too much space. The MTM case on the right does fit 100 rounds (compared to 50) in a similar space, but costs $8 – $12, depending on where you shop.The 50 round small pistol cases stack nicely (as they all do), and as you can see, these half-dozen cases actually take up less room than 6 packs of factory ammo.
Tac-Pac positives
Clear cases. Be 100% sure of what ammo you are grabbing when you leave the house for a hunt or a trip to the range
Cheap. You can buy stacks of ammunition boxes compared to the hard-case ammo containers available
Water-resistant. Much better than cardboard boxes when it gets wet out there
Stable and secure packaging
A range of sizes to suit your rounds
Recyclable
7.62×39 rounds don’t fit particularly well, being too large for the small 50 round case and too short for the medium 20 round case. I think they would fit in the small 20 round case, but I don’t have any on hand to try out. Anyway, not many people reload these, so if you’re stocking up on Russian ammo, it’s probably in spam cans.
Tac-Pac negatives
Certain sizes are less space efficient than factory boxes or hard-case containers
Will probably not last as long as a hard-case (but will far out last cardboard packaging)
Not all cartridges are going to have a Tac-Pac box to call home
Tac-Pac users
So, who is the Tac-Pac storage solution for? I’d say it’s perfect for volume reloaders and competitions shooters. If you load hundreds of rounds at a time, these stackable, clear containers are perfect for storing your rifle or pistol rounds. For those competition shooters who want to keep weight down in their bags, but still take hundreds of rounds of ammo, these light containers are perfect, and the price means you won’t feel nearly as bad if you lose one or two when you pack up at the end of the day.
You might also consider yourself a volume reloader if you load for yourself and friends or family. These would be the perfect way to keep your orders separate and visible. Speaking of which, I use these to separate out identical looking rounds for different rifles.
For example, my 6.5×55 Tikka has 4 different loads I regularly use. The 142 gr SMK and 143 gr ELD-X for target shooting inside 600 metres, and the ELD-X for larger deer. The 123 gr SST for goats and fallow. And a load I’m working up with the 140 gr ELD-M for 1000 m shoots (they get humming when seated on top of some ADI AR2209). I also have 123 gr SST, 129 gr Interlock, 140 gr A-MAX, 142 gr SMK and 143 gr ELD-X loads for my 6.5×55 Husqvarna M38. The Husky loads are obviously loaded to very different pressures, and need to be kept separate.
The medium rifle case on the left is ideal for my M305 .308 Win loads, while the large case on the right houses my 6.5×55 ELD-X hunting loads for my Husky.
The target loads live in Plano boxes, while the hunting loads now live in Tac-Pac cases. This means I can label them individually and have plenty of each on hand for whatever shooting I intend to do. It’s fantastic knowing I can grab a clear box of 20 rounds, know which rifle they are for and how many are fired or unfired at a glance. I also think a box of twenty is ideal for a one or two day hunt, giving you a few rounds to check your zero and warm your barrel, and plenty for any unlucky creatures you encounter.
I used to save factory ammo boxes for uses like the above, but when the cardboard gets wet they fall apart, and if you load longer than factory spec, the rounds often won’t fit.
Overall, these are a great product for those who have a use for them, and I would highly recommend grabbing some. Check out the Tac-Pac website for more details and a size guide. If you are in New Zealand, you can buy them from Kerry at the Gearlocker.
Bow hunting is one of those things I have always liked the idea of. It complements the usual rifle hunting so well, but adds a number of different elements. In recent years I have seen more and more bow hunting photos and trips popping up on my favourite hunting shows and Facebook pages, which started to whet my appetite even more.
I decided I would try and get myself behind a bow to give it a go, I had never even shot a compound bow before, so didn’t really know if I was going to enjoy it or not.
Full disclaimer time, I’m writing this as a reasonably knowledgeable newbie, I’m not an expert by any means. There are plenty of very knowledgeable “pros” on the internet so please do plenty of your own research, I’m writing this to help others who may have thought about giving it a go to get into the sport from a novice’s perspective.
Initially I did a fair bit of internet research, saw what you should look for in a bow, how to shoot one, what others were using, and what sort of things I thought I might want in a bow, should I ever get one. I gave myself a bit of a budget to keep in the back of my head. It wasn’t huge, as I had all my hunting gear and it was only the bow-specific things I needed, but I also didn’t want to buy something cheap and nasty, which I would outgrow in a year or so.
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Fit for purpose
With all this in mind, I rang a couple of local archery stores, told them I was a complete newbie and asked what I should be looking for, and if they had anything that may suit me. Everyone I spoke to was extremely helpful, and I learned a great deal from the phone calls alone. In particular, how important it is to get a bow fitted to the shooter, rather than just grabbing something off the shelf. You need to adjust draw length, poundage, arrow length, peep sight placement, etc., for each individual shooter. This is all easily done by an experienced archer, but for the completely uninitiated, I would highly recommend going along to a store and getting fitted correctly, rather than just buying off the shelf.
During one of my phone calls the guys from Advanced Archery invited me down after work one evening to shoot a few different bows and get a feel for it. Obviously an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
Compound bows and their accessories are probably quite a bit more modern than you expect. Pictured – bow sight with holdover pins. Image credit: Advanced Archery
Getting measured
I walked into the store having never shot a bow and knowing only what I had read about, or seen on videos. The guys at Advanced Archery sized me up and showed me a huge range of bows that could be adjusted to fit me. They suggested I try them all and were only too happy to spend the time setting each one up for me to shoot. We spent several hours on their indoor range, shooting all different types of bows in all different configurations, and learning lots of little tips and tricks. By the end of the evening I was shooting like a pro (well, shooting a heap better than I was expecting to), and knew exactly what I liked and what I didn’t.
This type of customer service and support is fantastic to see, and as such I would highly recommend going along to check them out! (I have no affiliation with them other than being a happy customer).
What should I look for in a bow?
So, if you’re interested in getting a bow, what sort of things do you need to be looking at?
Well, obviously, each person is unique and has their budget in mind, but in general I would highly recommend getting a bow that has a good adjustment range. Some of the very expensive bows are quite specific. Yes, they are probably better at their intended job than the cheaper bows, but as a newbie you probably want a slightly more forgiving bow (you don’t want to try and learn to drive in a Formula 1 car), but likewise you don’t want a bow that you’re going to outgrow in a short time. For this reason all the big bow makers have started releasing a range of bows that cover a wide range of users (Hoyt Inferno and Mission Craze both come to mind).
There are higher end bows that are modular, and will allow you to adjust by adding or removing modules. There are also adjustable cam models. Of course, this comes down to how much you plan on spending on your bow hunting venture.
Draw length is the adjustment that determines how far back you have to pull the string to load the bow. This is usually measured based on the height of the shooter (Da Vinci taught us that height = arm span) so it’s a fairly simple calculation for those who know what they are doing. There are a few more variables to consider, such as the draw length on your left- and right-hand-side, so getting a custom fitting is a great idea for those new to the sport. Its important to get this measurement right as it will have a huge impact on your repeatability and overall accuracy. A bigger adjustment window will mean it will suit a wider range of shooters (and therefor may help with resale if you ever decide to sell).
What will you be hunting?
Bow Poundage is the next measurement, Most high-end hunting bows should give you a range of at least 10 lbs. This means a 70 lb bow can be adjusted down to 60 lb, a 60 lb bow to 50 lb, etc. There are a couple of schools of thought on what you should set it at, one is that more is best, the higher the bow poundage the further it will fly and more powerful your shot will go. There is some truth to this, however based on conversations I have had with some of the countries best bow hunters there seems to be a feeling that most new bow hunters here tend to over poundage for our conditions, think shooting turkeys with a 50BMG.
The down sides of too much poundage is that it takes more effort to draw the bow, this has a direct result on how steady you can hold it and how many shots you are comfortable making in a session. You have to remember with a bow you’re not shooting for long range distance, your shots are generally going to be between 10-40 yards, so you only need enough poundage to humanely kill the animal you are hunting at that range, any more is really a waste and has impact on your accuracy.
What you intend to hunt will have a direct result on where you should set your poundage. (For those who haven’t shot a compound bow before, when you draw you are pulling through the maximum weight. When you get the bow drawn completely back, it hits what they call the valley in the cams, and the poundage you are then holding is only a quarter or so of the bows actual poundage. This means it is relatively easy to hold at full draw). Again a proper fitting from an experienced shooter will help here as they can watch you shoot and adjust the bow accordingly.
Selecting arrows for hunting
Most shops will sell packages of everything you need (walk in, walk out, go hunting), expect to pay $850 to $1400 ish for a middle of the road bow package or $600 to $1200 for just the bow. Obviously just like firearms you could spend less or spend a lot more, but for a starter package your not going to grow out of in 5 minutes this is what I would suggest.
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Arrow length, weight and thickness are more variables that are best left to the experts. There is a calculation to be done which takes into account your draw length, the poundage you are shooting, and what you are going to be shooting at. This will all have a direct impact on how the arrow will fly, and therefore accuracy. Arrows aren’t overly expensive, expect to pay $12-$15 each for your first set of arrows depending on what you need, and you can use them many hundreds of times (until you lose them). These will be included in most packages. I’m not going to go into detail on arrow tips in this article, your arrows will come with field points (sharpened tips for target shooting) which can be unscrewed and switched out for hunting tips, tips are a whole article on their own…
Peeps & sights for bows
A “glowpeep” which gets spliced into the string. Image credit: Advanced Archery
Sight wise, as you would expect, much like rifle shooting there are a number of options. Hunting Bow sights have two parts, the front sight and the peep sight. The front sight attaches to the riser of the bow near the grip, they generally have 1, 3 or 5 pins that extend into a circle, which are set like crosshairs at different ranges (e.g. 20, 30, 40 yards). Again these will come with the packages, but if you want to buy one separately expect $60 – $350, depending on what you want (some come with inbuilt lights, bubble levels, etc.).
The peep sight is a smaller circle which is spliced in to the bow string at the point at which your eye sits when you draw the bow, the idea being you look through the peep sight to align the front sight.
Quivers
Quivers. These attach to the bow to hold your arrows close at hand and keep the sharp tips covered while you’re climbing through the bush. Again as you would expect there are plenty of manufacturers and styles available so its down to personal preference, but one thing to consider is by putting weight (quiver and 5 arrows) on one side of your bow it will want to cant to that side when you draw it.
Tight Spot quiver. Image credit: Advanced Archery
Not a problem for many people but If I was doing it all again I would pay a bit more to buy a quiver that is light and fits close to the side of the bow to reduce this cant instead of the one I got with my bow. (A company called Tight Spot makes a great quiver for this but expect to pay for it). Packages will come with a basic one which will be fine, or you could buy a basic one for $40ish but if you want a Tight Spot or similar expect to pay around $200ish.
Release aids
Release aids, when you picture olden day archers you think of people grabbing the string with their fingers and drawing the bow back. These days bow hunters and the majority of target shooters use release aids. For hunting, these generally consist of a strap which tightens around your wrist with a small clamping device which extends out. The idea is you clamp a small string loop which is spliced into the main bow string behind where the nock in the arrow sits, this holds the string tight and allows you to pull the string back without any weight on your fingers. When you’re ready to take the shot you pull a small trigger that extends out just like a rifle.
A release aid – this shouldn’t be too difficult a concept for those familiar with firearms. Image credit – Advanced Archery
Again there are plenty of different brands and models available, they essentially all serve the same basic function, but you are paying for the cleanness of the break much like aftermarket rifle triggers. Most packages will come with one that will work fine, but if buying one expect to pay $40 to $250 depending on what you want (and more if you’re really keen).
A good trigger release aid is one that has no trigger travel. It’s worth the spending the money on, as it will make you a better shooter. If you have any more money in the budget over and above the minimum, this is the first thing to spend a bit extra on – it will make you a better shooter.
That’s essentially all you need to get out there and do it.. If you’re a hunter looking for a new challenge, or a way of simply complimenting your shooting sports I would highly recommend adding a bow to your Gun Rack.
I’ll try to keep you updated with my progress as things happen, but if you have any questions let me know and if I can’t answer them ill find someone who can.
