I shoot a certain bow for a while and then the wheels start turning and I buy another and so on. Guess I never have worn a bow out. I was shooting my Jet Bison ASL today and the bow is spot on and the thought came to me why would I ever change?Just how long can one expect a bow to last? I shoot this bow every day and the performance seems as fresh as the first shot.People are always buying vintage bows from the years gone buy and claim that they shoot like ,well awesome.So can one wear one out?Sure strings .tabs, etc. wear out but do trad bows lose there ump?Not sure cause after awhile I get that new bow desire and move on to the next one.

Depends how it's put together, but usually if you are going to have a problem with any bow, it's within the first month or so. If it lasts a thousand shots it will likely outlive you. I sure wouldn't be worrying about it at all....just shoot it as much as you can...life is short.

strings where out , I would search there first . brace , but in my case its just me that has changed. as for them loosing some power , yea I sounds true , but you may also be getting stronger too.

Funny this thread popped up, just bought a new ten ring string form my 1958 Monterey...its in original condition, was just down in the basement and it shoots beautifully...so its a year older than I am and certainly is holding up better...I guess if they are taken care of and well made they will outlast any of us...go shoot!

To paraphrase Mr. McGuire in "The Graduate": "I just want to say one word to you ... Glue."

Just because a bow is old, doesn't mean it was shot a lot.

Sure, glass bows can wear out. Eventually the glass can fatigue and fail. Assuming it hasn't been abused, it depends on design, quality of construction and materials, how many times it's been shot, etc.

I've seen the glass fail on the backs of two recurves, both were takedowns and failed in the same area of the limb, just beyond the wedge and fadeout lam. Both were virtually the only bows shot by these two archer/hunters for decades. Their bows failed, but they'd likely say they got their money's worth.

My 1977 Minuteman developed roughness in the string notches that saws through bow string loops.

I got it new, still have it.

I bought a 70-something Bear Hunter six or so that developed a crack in the lower limb, it's now a wall hanger. But it shot great right up till I chickened out and retired it.

My 70's something Wing Thunderbird still shoots and looks, mostly, like new, except for where I've dinged it up stumping.

I suspect that most of the vintage bows were shot for a year or two and then took a fifty or sixty year retirement. Assuming that they were stored correctly, there should be many years of use left in them. Any thing that has to flex to operate has a definite lifespan be it an airplane wing or a bow limb. Maybe somebody who bought a bow new and shot it nearly everyday for many years can chime in and give us an idea of the lifespan. I personally have a Martin X200 that I am certain has a shot count in excess of 10,000 that is still going strong.

Had my BP Jet since I was a kid, 67 now! It is still a shooter.

Most well made bows should outlast us, even those old Bears with a few stress cracks.

However, you never know how a bow was cared for and other problems can surface, such as glue/stress point problems, etc, so no one knows. Since I like 55 to 58 year old Bears, I have some backups of their similar models, and take care of them the best I can. Even switch shooting them seasonally, as they are all great shooters

My boss of the recent past also collected old recurves and he had a '63 Bear dogleg riser break and I have heard of other old recurves blow up, so it happens, but I would suspect it more with less proven, local, small hobby type manufacturers of the past, not the customs of today who have the experience of those of the past and better materials.

Do remember reading about using Urac 85 for gluing limbs by Drake himself in a tutorial (in an old archery book I had in the early sixties), and he warned about using it carefully when describing how to build a flight bow. Probably was a uniform distribution and limb clamping warning. Since many of those bows using that glue are still around, the glue itself must have been pretty good.

Depands on how you care for them, just like guns and fishing tackle. My older brother still uses 40 year old Garcia reels to catch catfish and says they work just fine, like my old Bears.

I've had more than one professional bowyer tell me that ALL bows are going to fail at some point. The more carefully built, and cared for bows will last the longest, but they are all going to fail.

I wish they did because I am, that way we would match each other.

I used to have beautifully figured pristine '63 Kodiak that I shot and hunted with regularly. One fall day 3 years ago about 15 minutes into a shooting session she smacked me on the head at full draw,lots of bright purple stars and a cut on the nose. Glue line let go at the fade out, I sure hated to see that one go.

In 63 Bear had some models that were notorious for breakingwithin the first year. You can't judge old bows or even Bear bows by those. And Bear made good on them. A HUGE percentage of those old Bears were bought for hunting and shot very little before they were retired till recent years. I shoot a 57 Bear at 32" draw and have had it since 1999.

The heavier the draw weight, the better chance it wasn't shot a whole lot...my experience anyway. I've never seen a "worn out" bow.

The only 63 Bears that had issues were the type 1 K-Mags, the type 2 & 3 were corrected, there were no issues with the Kodiaks or Grizzly's and the 63's shot exceptionally well, my situation was just bad luck. I'll buy another in a NY minute if I find one in comparable condition.

I had a jack Howard for a while, the glass got a bleached look where the limbs bent in about a year. I had a 72 pound Schulz that I shot thousands of arrows a week for about eight months every year, I some heavier ones that I shot hundreds of arrows a week for the same eight months. As my sone got older he took over the Schulz and in the early 90s I got another Schulz that got used that hard. I sold that bow cheap when my right hand fingers started giving me problems, the person that I sold it to has since sold to a Leatherwaller. I generally shoot with ten or more arrows in the quiver at larger targets, i shoot my groups to the outside corners, my own little nerve test. I usually shoot over 100 arrows an hour and my shooting sessions go for two hours then a break and then another hour or two, some days half the day. I use to shoot every day, that is between 2000 to 3000 arrows a week some weeks more some weeks a little less. Anyway that comes out to be over 60,000 shots a year. I do not have the ability to wear out a Hill style bow, but I try. Today, I said I was just going pop a few out of my 58 pound right hander, I need to control myself shooting right hand to keep the release fingers from binding up. I shot for an hour and a half, but I only had 8 arrows in the quiver so there was more walking than normal, but I didn't work on anything, so my tempo was still pretty quick. I believe it is called OCD.

I still shoot a '52 Howatt semi recurve, 66" and 38# at my York target. It's shot thousands of arrows doing double York rounds over the years. It's still going strong. Well made fiberglass backed bows should last longer than the archer if they are not abused. Been shooting that bow for more than 62 years and since I am 82, don't think I will outlast it.

Saying all bows will fail doesn't mean anything. The Pyramids are looking a little shabby, but they had a good run.

The key thing about glass bows is that they are efficient without being "7/8 broken at full draw, like a performing self bow", They have a ton of reserve to them.

I was in the Bear facility where they had a machine that dry fired bows all day long. I forget how many cycles the bow could take but it was huge. If that doesn't kill them what will? Though Bear bows are not particularly red lined. But dry firing them over and over is pushing them whatever their base performance.

The only bows I have heard of blowing up on a regular basis were 80 pound plus 3 piece recurves. I have a pal who is a very expert shot and archer, but has had 3 or more come apart. Recently we were talking about it and I thought he had concluded it was a tendency in that class. But no, he pretty much had a possible excuse for each one. They were all riser failures and several of them had risers that were not backed with glass. In a heavy bow, pretty much always strung, that can be a problem. But 3ish bows is too small a sample to tell anything from.

Bowlim, sayin all bows will fail does mean something as a matter of fact. it means that all bows will fail. And yeah, we all know the story of the dry fire tests conducted by Bear and other folks in the past, and I think that's how bows should be expected to respond myself, but not all of them do. Why do you suppose BW and some other folks have minimum GPP rating on their bows to stay within warranty? Becuase they aren't convinced they are indestructible either.

Now, that being said, I'm not that worried about it myself, but, there are lots of folks who seem to get bent out of shape when soemthing happens to a bow, especially an older bow, simplye beacuse they think that they are timeless,a nd immune to age.

And I'm not talking about bows "blowing up". I'm talking about issues with risers that caused by internal stresse, glue lines coming loose and so on.

if the bow was properly built...and has not had any issues in the first few hundred shots...then it will likely last a lifetime with continued care and handling that is also not improper.

If a bow last me 25 years...I think that is a hell of a return on investment. Name another item that is used and abused like our hunting bows..used in rain, high temps, freezing cold, dropped, shot repeatedly, maybe a couple accidental dry fires from bad nocks or cold fingers...and it still works year in and year out.

Our vehicles, major appliances, and most other outdoor equipment do not last that long...even if well cared for.

keep em sharp,

ron herman

My fishing tackle actually gets used just as much, under very similar conditions and I've never had a rod of any material fail due to anything but trauma related to being crushed in some way. And I have Orvis flyrods that are 50 years old.

I had a friend that I made arrows for, he was over protective of the arrows, I could have made him more. Anyways, at shoots where there was a chance of losing or breaking an arrow, he would dry fire his Redwing Hunter. He claimed that it wouldn't hurt it. Leaving hang strung on his rifle rack in his pickup did hurt it. He parked in the shade and seemed to forget that the sun moves. He had his window cracked open a little, but the sun still cooked his bow. I saw another black glassed recurve die while leaning against a hot car. Keep them in the shade on hot days, especially the black glassed bows.

Allow me to put some numbers to this discussion. I shoot an RER recurve, made for me by Kevin and Sue TerMaat 7 years ago. I seldom shoot as few as 500 arrows per week. My annual total is in the 25,000 - 30,000 range. To date, that bow has sent something in the neighborhood of 200,000 arrows down range.

My RER is as beautiful as it was when I took delivery, and it shoots as beautifully, too. I have no doubt that it will outlive me.

I love this thread. Got myself a "new" old Bear 1954 Kodiak II (Compass). 60", 38#@28". A sweetheart for relaxed shooting (and intense form training!). Walnut handle- strike plates show that it has been shot; grip a mess & I have sanded it down to suede.

Let's see how long it lasts. I have become addicted to the old Bears, plenty of back-ups! Had much newer full-price customs blow on me. NO more! Vintage only for me, now.

The 63 Bear Grizzly has a special place in my heart. Bought mine from Blackhawk 2 years ago. The day I got it in the mail, shot maybe 10 arrows through it and liked the way it shot. Brought it to the woods that evening and killed a doe. I doubt I've shot 50 arrows through it since. But I know it gets the job done. It's 21 years older than me and I expect it'll probably outlast me. It's special to my little girl too so I know it'll be well taken care of for a long time. I hope and pray this one is still useable when it passes the century mark...and is used by my future grand kids to take a deer or two.

"Bowlim, sayin all bows will fail does mean something as a matter of fact. it means that all bows will fail."

From a technical perspective, not busting on you, far too much respect, stuff we don't know when it will happen is meaningless. A new bow owned by a human with maximum life expectancy will outlive him if moderately well cared for, and initially well made.

The OP was talking about an ASL, and ASLs can have continuous glass on the tension, and even the compression, side. They will basically last for ever if they were well put together. Another feature they have is shallow side run out, which protects a little from splinting out the glass.

ASLs are one of those products that while hardly at the pinnacle of bow development, are basically perfect for what they are, though guys are still working at making them better. It is a bit like an arrow. Not today's most advanced weapon, but in it's best form, fearsome and perfect.

"Bowlim, sayin all bows will fail does mean something as a matter of fact. it means that all bows will fail."

From a technical perspective, not busting on you, far too much respect, stuff we don't know when it will happen is meaningless. A new bow owned by a human with maximum life expectancy will outlive him if moderately well cared for, and initially well made.

The OP was talking about an ASL, and ASLs can have continuous glass on the tension, and even the compression, side. They will basically last for ever if they were well put together. Another feature they have is shallow side run out, which protects a little from splinting out the glass.

ASLs are one of those products that while hardly at the pinnacle of bow development, are basically perfect for what they are, though guys are still working at making them better. It is a bit like an arrow. Not today's most advanced weapon, but in it's best form, fearsome and perfect. Unfortunately in that case the lifespan is well within human, even weekly timelines.

I haven't owned any of my bows long enough yet to know if they will last forever. But I will get back to you all on this a ways down the road. ;>)

Last forever? Nope.

Do glass and wood composite bows have a long lifespan if properly designed, constructed, and cared for? Sure. But one reason saying 'all will eventually fail' is relevant is because, well, that's reality, and because the more their design, material, or construction is compromised or traded away, the shorter their lifespan. Glass doesn't make a laminated bow eternal. Glass can fatigue and fail, and not all glass bows are created equal. They don't all outlive us with regular use and it would behoove us to understand why.

Bowlim I agree about the continuous glass being an important component of longevity. Problem being that MOST ASL's aren't made with continuous glass or laminations. And for the life of me I don't know why. Just "not cool" I guess. Personally. I won't build a 1 piece or 2 piece bow that doesn't have continuous glass and ideally laminations through the riser on the back and belly. To me, aggressive fadeouts on a riser are a disaster waiting to happen.

Just like any contrivance made by man...they'll last right up to the point they blow up.

So far longest longevity seems to be the best built & cared for sinew backed,wood cored, horn belly composites; specifically some Turkish bows that are over 200 years old and apparently still in working condition. Only a few, of course- string them up wrong, shoot them wrong and they will twist & splinter apart.

Lukas Novotny has had the experience of dropping bows from horseback (or getting thrown, bow in hand?)- in any case, horse rolling over on his Asiatic reproductions destroyed typical wood-fiberglass bows but not the horn bows- kinda tough, those bows.

I say yes if you take care of your things! Why wouldn't they.

Fiberglass was and is used on bows to make them more durable and faster but in our quest for speed we ruined a good thing if you figure only on longevity. Fiberglass resin is hard and brittle. Its the fibers that make it strong and keep it from cracking. Fred Bear figured that the glass only needs to be strong in one direction because the limbs only bend in one direction so he got rid of the cross fibers to make the limbs lighter, thus faster. So since the glass matt was replaced by uni-directional glass or fibers in only one direction, over years and years of hard use the glass fatigues and cracks where there are no fibers. Kinda like pouring concrete with no steel mesh or rods to stop it from cracking. That's why you see verticle fatigue cracks in the glass of limbs that have been shot alot since they were new in the 50's. Something you do not see in the limbs made with the glass matt used before uni-directional glass. Build a bow with glass matt and it'll last as long as the glue will that holds it together. jmo

GLF- very interesting! A couple of my favorite oldies wore bi- directional glass on the backs, and uni- or unknown plastic on the face. They did, indeed fail eventually because of the glue.

Byron Ferguson used to use a layer of bi-directional in the core of his now discontinued "Royal Safari" and I think Black Widow does the same?

Most bows break in the last month or so.

Determining when it's the last month- THAT's the fun part!

I have a Black Widow SAIII that I have shot over 10,000 shots with every year since 1997. That is over 200,000 and it still performs like new.

I shoot 1966 Grizzlys. imo the toughest stickbow on the planet. I'd be willing to bet a guy could have bought one in 1966 at age twenty, shot it ten thousand shots a year for 50 years, and never break it or wear it out.

Agree?, often and well comes to mind both regarding shooting and care of our bows.

I intended to write AGREED. Fat fingers on a skinny cell phone!

Report from the field. My 1954 Kodiak II pictured above, top bow, was DRY FIRED! TWICE!! just 3 hours ago by my good pal Kevin (I coulda strangled him with the bowstring).

60" bow, 46#@28". No apparent damage. I gently took it off his hands and proceeded to shoot it the rest of the day. Dozens of shots, up to 30" draw with the thumb ring Asiatic style as well as conventional 3-finger split, and she seems absolutely fine.

-But we still have to see if this is the "last month", right? (you never know!)...

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