Have you ever shot a bow that you didn't expect much from because people don't talk or write about them very much? I bought a used Tomahawk Diamond about a month ago it was like magic from the first shot.

I can't say I "didn't expect much", because the bowyer was super positive about the design....but when Steve Turay came out with his Ramer, I didn't realize how awesome it was going to be.

A simple, reverse handled longbow...and I shoot it better than anything I have ever owned.

Of all the bows I've owned over the years (and that's been many) the one that surprised me the most was the Shakespeare Kaibab. My first one I picked up out of curiosity since they're inexpensive and I liked the grip. I loaned it to one of my sons so he could start down the archery path. I picked up another one a short while back, 1971 model I believe. With B-55 it shoots great, with a BCY-X it is probably the fastest bow I have in that weight range. Since the old shelves and sight windows were so flat I use a Bear Weather Rest on it. Some of those old bows are real diamonds in the rough.

Once owned a bow by E.T. Williams, a Brown Recluse, I think a great bow

I was pleasantly surprised what a great shooter my Kodiak Deluxe turned out to be.

The two former owners did not shoot it. I shot it a lot.

DDave

I had a bow that I couldn't sell, can't remember what. So I traded it for a morrison shawnee, simply so I could sell it. It had canebreak skins and nice wood and it shot fantastic. Didn't tune or play with it at all but it put em where I looked. Yeah I sold it like an idiot. Robertson recurve was the same way sold that one too.

Two.

The first was a 1955 Bear Polar semi-recurve. Dead silent. Really fun bow to shoot.

Second was a 1964 Grizzly that was just fantastic in all aspects.

Samick Sage, 28" draw and less it is a great bow. Very accurate fast and quiet with proper string.

I've shot probably 60% of all the manufactured bows made so I'm not always surprised at the performance of any one in particular. We tend to get Bear-headed here since most haven't really shot many of the old bows. Ernie Root's bows, early on, were great performing bows...as was Early Hoyt, Jr.'s early bows. The old Pearsons, especially the Palomino will shoot with any bow made. One that maybe did surprise me was the Wing Falcon, an awesome bow made to be a mid level hunter bow.

The Bear Hunter TDs. They were Bear Archery's economic takedown recurve with the bolt-on limbs made from 1988 to 2001 in Bear Archery's Gainesville Florida plant. They are excellent shooting bows but were under appreciated and over shadowed by the more expensive Bear Kodiak Takedown.

75 Kodiak hunter

Other way. I scrimped and saved as a young guy to buy my first custom bow. It finally was in my hands and it was a dud. It stacked and had a misaligned limb. I have shot dozens of bows from the same maker that were great but this one just wasn't.

'68 Grizzly 56", my 10.00 bow. Liked it so much I went back and gave the guy another 40.00 bucks. It'll be with me till one of us croaks.

No, because I pay very little attention to the opinions of others when it comes to bows. There are very few people who's opinions of bows I put any stock in.

But conversely, I have shot more than one bow that multiple people raved about that didn't impress me in the least.

Sorta like Roger Norris

Have a Northern Mist American- never had anything shoot any better for me

only thing better would be another just like it??

Browning Wasp and '59 Shakespear Wonderbow, great shooters and less than $200 in both of 'em. Neither really suprised d/t the reputaion of both companies but my expectations were surpassed.

I was surprised when G. Stout mentioned the Wing Falcon because it was precisely the bow I was thinking about. I was looking at bows on ebay with an uncle that had never been on an online auction. He got really excited when he saw a Wing Falcon because the bow limbs were red (his favorite color). He started bidding & I ended up with the bow. I had no idea what I was going to get so I named it "Blind Date". When it arrived I noticed that except for a couple of holes drilled to install a bow sight it was in almost like new condition, with the original arrow rest & sticker. When I took out for a spin the bow surprised the heck out of me with its smooth draw & terrific performance. To this day "Blind Date" remains one of my favorite bows.

Jaap Koppedrayer's take on ASL - laminated no glass bow. 67" AMO, #60@28" shooting a 570gr arrow 164fps averages, very easy to shoot accurately with it. It is D'Artagnan in my main 4 bows group - the other 3 are ILF

The Blair longbow by Penn Archery Works. When I shot the proto-type I was pleasantly surprised.

For me it was a Wapiti takedown by Chastain archery. test shot a bunch of bows when I was at RMSG in denver. This bow is the quietest and most accurate bow Ive shot. Just cant seem to miss with it lol.

Tall Tines 60" recurve.

Like many, I’ve owned, or at least shot, MANY of the top name customs. Same with the older production bows. My favorite is a Sunset Hill, but I expected a great shooting bow. The one that surprised me is the Stotler GameGetter. It shoots very similar to a Habu Vyperkahn I owned. The only big difference between the two was the price.

My Saluki Turk surpassed any and all expectations...

My Bushmen Super Curve... basically after one shot made me want to sell all my other bows.

Pittsley Predator Hunter model. Thing hit the target with authority and dead on accurate! Ugly as hell though..

A Bill Stewart takedown. They're not mentioned much anymore. But Dayyum this is a sweet bow! Not much in the looks department but the performance more than makes up for this.

Not surprised, but very happy with my Big River 50's style rrecurve and Big River 21st Century style LB. Both bows shoot as good as I can.

LB is probably one of the fastest bows I've shot.

Another shoutout for Steve Turay. Picked up his reverse handle Sprague 64". Just a dream to shoot.

Tomas del Gato- Pretty sure that your Tall Tines was my hunting bow last year. It is a great shooting bow. Always hit a little to the right for me so I had to remember to aim left. It is my eyesight, not the bow, as that happens with several of my bows. 44@27 60", right?

I ran into a Cartel riser with Samick Sage limbs. It really shocked me how good a cheap bow could be. I'd always shrugged it off when someone mentioned Samick but it really shoots good and is quiet as a church mouse.

My new to me 1970 Kodiak special I just figured it shot like most the other low end bear bows I shot but it didn't, it shoots a whole bunch better.

"Super Kodiak" rather

Wes Wallace Mentor. Was surprised at the speed and smoothness, yet somewhat loud. Bought it on a great deal second hand. Original owner, whose name was on it, caught up with me to buy it back. I sold it to him since I would have wanted same respect. Only bow I have missed. I have bought and sold a few but I miss that one.

Pronghorn. Fast and accurate.

Black Hunter

This 1959 White Wing, in a rare 60" length. Bob Lee has made a lot of bows since then, but I'm not sure if he's ever made one that was any faster or prettier.

Samick Red Stag and wing thunderbird

I have found out that the vintage bows were great bows. I have been working on getting a collection and have really been surprised as to the quality and performance of almost all of them. One that has surprised me is one that is not spoken about very often. It is a York Super Crest. The bow is well made and shoots beautifully. I have never heard about these and was quite surprised when I got it.

Browning Wasp, can be bought cheap used and are snappy shooters.

For the price. The Samick Sage surprised the heck out of me.

Quinn Stallion. I bought one for one of my kids as a starter bow. Wow! I liked it so much that I bought another for myself.

Ben Pearson colt. 60" 40@26 14 strand b50 Flemish string w/padded loops. at my 28" draw it's one of my most silent bows

I bought this Pearson for the looks but I was pleasantly surprised with it's performance. As good or better than anything else I have close to its draw weight.

So many bows I need to shoot & so little time. I still have my 60# Bear Montana that I just can't seem to part with. So smooth and very, very quiet. I fell in love with it again this past weekend after not shooting it for about 4 months.

Indian Hawk Eye. A 56 inch recurve with a blocky riser, and a forward handle.At 50lbs it edged a Bear Griz, Ben pearson Cougar,Ben Pearson Apex,Black Hawk Scorpion ,and Browning Wasp shooting through a chrony for speed with the same carbon 460 gr arrow.It gets very little print.

Black Hunter long bow.

First time I shot a Tall Tines Stickflinger. I was like "sweet baby Jesus", it was that good. My favorite longbow of any style to date.

Since I returned to archery in 1998, two bows really surprised me, in their function; the Browning Wasp recurve & the Howard Hill Big Five longbow. There have been other bows that ended up in my hand that were nice to shoot, but none were as surprising as those two.

+1 on the Pittsley Predator. I didn't expect much from it when I picked it up but dang it was accurate and a hoot to shoot. To my eyes - it was very pretty too!

Rocky Miller's Heritage or Predator T/D bows. Fast, smooth and very comfortable grip. Too bad Rocky left the business

Lancaster Archery Galaxy Ember/aka Black Hunter longbow. I've owned many customs and have several bows on the rack at present but it's about the only thing I shoot any more.

Bassman--nice to see the Hawkeye getting some props. Of all the 56" bows, the only one I've seen to rival it is the Browning Explorer 1...and I kinda think the Hawkeye is just a tad nicer looking. It's definitely an "under the radar" gem.

My Black beauty! So smooth and accurate!

Samick Stingray. Still one of the most accurate bows in our stable. Outshooting many bows 4xs the money.

Probably most impressive would be a 56" great northern ghost, which benched my very good shooting schafer silvertip of the same draw weight. Ghost was lighter in the hand, faster and quieter shooting the same arrows.

Last year I went on a bit of a vintage recurve binge and ended up with a couple 57 kodiaks. Both of them ended up failing, but were very fast and quiet while they lasted. I could definitely see some of the inspiration in the great northern ghost in those 57 kodiaks.

I have 3 ??.... My 2017 Bear Montana is a nice shooting plain Jane Longbow, Northern Mist Superior just beautiful and all around great bow but the one that I love the best is my Yellowstone Hunter Longbow it is the prettiest, quickest best shooting bow I have ever shot.

An AMF late year, 52-inch, 45lb Red Wing Hunter. Not my best looking bow with its plain jane light brown ordinary everyday wood riser with brown limb laminations, but wow....does it shoot smooth and flat. Grip feels good in my hands too. What a great bow.

Ben Pearson solid fiberglass "Target" model, 66", 35#@28". Every now & then on the LW someone posts a thread about how these cheap old indestructible hunks of glass actually work pretty decent with a low-stretch, light wt. string. And they are so bulletproof that they are joy to go out & shoot anywhere without a care. This one surprised the hell out of me! No other solid fiberglass bow I've tried before even comes close.

Got it for my archery class/range that I coach every Sunday. Keeping it for myself, correct grip & clean release no shock, and with the low stretch, hi-tech string it's silent- not just quiet, silent. Plenty of speed for close-medium distances, a perfect form, fun, and training bow. No blow-up worries, unlike the 64 year old Bear Kodiaks that I am increasingly scared may blow up, as several already have.

Here's the other cheap piece of junk that surprised me. The "Shim-bo" Shakespeare's lowest priced hunting bow, about 1972. It is a fiberglass-wood-fiberglass laminated thing, but so crappy, cheaply made & ugly I had to do radical surgery. First removed all the dull, darkened olive green finish, yanked off the ugly plasticy-rubber tumor that passed for a grip, slimmed the tips way down, installed tip laminations I ripped off of my deceased 1956 Kodiak Special, refinished, finally proper leather wrap & side plates (ambi-dex, too cheap for centershot, cutaway sight window. Good, I prefer that anyway!)

Now it's my cool little 52", 45#@Whatever fake "Asiatic" style bow, not quite as good as my Saluki, but also not $900. Got it free as an extra with a real deal on other stuff.

I cant really say there was one that "surprised" me any more than others...I mean, it's a stick and a string, how much more surprise can there be??? I have had a few that went the other way and severely disappointed me. I can tell you the fastest or the smoothest drawing, most beautiful, and a handful of other attributes, but never had one that really put it all together. One has come close.

Omega. I knew about Kegan for years and I should have been shooting these bows sooner!

~Wojo

Omega.

~Wojo

I mentioned a '62 K Special above, but the one that really surprised me the most is a 1960 Kodiak Special. Don't shoot it enough now but its grip has the best feel of any of my older bows. The riser weighs enough to make it steady enough, that after a shot, the bow just sits there quietly for a while before it takes that forward bow (more riser weight than my '59 K Special. What a smooth shooter. Its narrow limb design (narrower than its cousin '59, and more pronouced curving in the limb design from the '59 make the bow a surprisingly fast shooter for an old Bear bow.

It'll have to gather some more dust this fall until a surgoen I lined up in FL hog ties a big hernia, so, I'll wax that '60 up and get it ready for next year.

I'm going to throw another one out there: Gelco 800 & 900.

I don’t pretend to know enough about all the different bows that are out there to have any realistic expectations of anything… it’s a BOW, right?

But having said that…

All of my bows are 62”, except for the one that’s 64”. So when I bought the ‘67 Wing Thunderbird at 52”..... I was not sure WHAT to expect…

If it has any finger pinch at my 27” draw, i’m just too dumb to notice. Same thing for stacking, though that’s hardly a surprise....

While my focus is on vintage bows vs. modern bowyer "customs"; and having had maybe 200 in my hands, so many of the mentions cause me to respond: Well Duh, yes, why be surprised?

But I will mention two. Not a big Bear fan after temporarily owning more than I can recall, my '60 Kodiak Special Deluxe has been the only Bear brand "keeper". Seems Babbling Bob agrees. This was my go-to 3D bow for several years until bypass and open heart surgery altered my draw length (It got longer, go figure). PS. most all trad archers with multi-Bear experience seem to prefer the 1960 Kodiak and Specials over the '59s.

As I was recovering, I wanted a bit lower poundage bow to re-train myself. Always a fondness for early Wings, if a bow had the Head Ski or AMF label, I paid no attention. But there was a #40 AMF Redwing Slimline Pro lefty I snagged off e-Bay for $85.00. It consistently gave me the best 3D scores over my other 5 keepers (I don't have a collector mentality and can't comfortably keep a thing if I don't have a good reason). Still remains my fav 3D bow after full recovery.

I paused before hitting the submit button because I thought of a few others that I don't recall being mentioned: '67 1/2 Kodiak Hunter and same year 56" Grizzly, 52" Wing Tbird, A FASCO Sonic, several of the Pearson Golden Sovereign models and the pre- Browning Gordons. Many more really excellent brands and models too, but others have mentioned them already.

RickR

HERE is where the Thunderbird surprised me - from the 65-yard mark....

And from 30....

Believe it or not, these are sorted by weight...

Galaxy Ember/Black Hunter-longbow & recurve

Bought a used River Runner by Chad Holm a few years ago. I now have 5 of them in different lengths. Best performing recurve I have ever shot...... bar none !!!!

Most recently this White Wing surprised the heck out of me.

I'm still a neophyte. Having said that,,, the latest one would be my new to me Harrison LB. So many bows, so little time.

My Bear TD surprised me. Literally took me by surprise on the first shot! I thought it was going to be a soso shooter, but the son of the original owner of my Deathmaster wanted the bow back to give to his dad. He was a Bear rep and told me he'd trade me my Deathmaster for a new Bear TD. Crookedstix was instrumental in brokering the deal. The Bear TD, right from the start, has been the quietest and best shooting bow I've ever shot! It's also very fast; right up there with the Deathmaster and Drake! I didn't expect it to be good. I did have the problem with the limbs starting to creak, but I solved that in 5 minutes and it stayed solved. Super quiet, even in cold temperatures.

Joe

ZIPPER made in the 90s, and I also did not think much of the Tomahawks then I traded for one and yes it became one of my favorits, BOB LEE Stick has to be the nicest longbow I ever shoot, its a shame there not made anymore,

The first Osage bow I ever made. When I first split, chased a ring , roughed out closer to bow dimensions and tried to get a few of the many twists and curves out of it I wasn't very impressed. It was still green yet and seemed pretty mushy. I let it sit for a year and wow. What a difference. It was stiff and springy. I was thrilled with how nicely I could manipulate its shape with a little bit of heat. It was really just a sliver of wood compared to what I had been using with other woods. I wasn't expecting much as I felt it was just a experimentation. I heated in about a 1 1/2" of Reflex in the limbs and recuved the tips. It stayed right on the caul when I took the clamps off. Really like it . Took it hunting before I ever put finish on it. Hunted next season and took my second selfbow buck with it. Have shot it thousands of times and it still almost fits tight to the caul.

It's just simple Osage recurve. Nothing more, nothing less. I called her "Simply Orange " . I'm still surprised by nearly every Osage bow I make, but none so much as this one.

Bjrogg

Being an entry level archer my experience has been limited to mainly entry level bows. None of the vintage ones I've shot really surprised me as they all seemed to shoot pretty much as others have made me expect of them with the exception of one that was an unpleasant surprise , that mid 70's Super Grizzly Victor label thing. Seemed coarse , stacked like crazy and not particularly pleasant to shoot and I was glad when a Bear cultist obliged to take it off my hands for what I had in it.

On the other hand , although not an entry level bow , this Groves Spitfire is all that I hear and more,,,proves there was carbon/foam performance 50 years ago. I won't be passing it along soon.

Like Frisky I was pleasantly surprised by a Bear Takedown.

As a Grayling collector I was a snob, believing that Gainesville bows are all inferior. In that case I was wrong.

DDave

Another great Bob Lee bow was the 1962 Silver Wing; rosewood and fast as all get-out. Speaking of 1962 and Silver, the Pearson Silver Sovereign from that year was also a dandy. Finally, a Westbow Jupiter from about the same time period.

All three of these bows were super fast, easy to look at, and a pleasure to shoot.

I have to agree with Frisky (go figure). I missed the Bear TDs in their early heyday . Couldn't afford one. However, have been shooting them for the past 10 years or so. Very solid shooters and quicker than I expected, particularly when I put a low stretch string on them, which I do on all the older sets of limbs I own.

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