Report from the Harrisburg Outdoor Show

[Mr. Cellophane]

Traditional Archers sometime apply calf hair stick on or mole skins on recurve limbs as string slap silencers. These string slap silencers are applied to the area of the string grooves at the tips of the limbs where the bow string makes contact.
You can see photos of these String Groove Pads and String Groove Calf Hair Silencers at, 3 RiversArchery.com.

[amythntr]

Thanks Peter. In my delusional mind I will take that as a personal invitation from a key exhibitor....so now I am back to spending the time, spending the money, polluting the environment, and now risking my life to get there in the snow....

But I will bring only afew bucks cash for admission, a pretzel, and gas....and leave the credit card and checkbook home!

Peacemaker...I would be curious about the cocking of the 405 including how it shoots and comparison to other Excals...Good luck at the show....if you don't have one already....don't forget to shoot the Matrix with the Triggertech Trigger...

....Anthony

[GGC]

Was at the show yesterday. Made a point to visit the Excal booth. The new stuff is looking good. The current crank cocker can be used with the M405, an updated cocker is NOT needed. That could be a factor if you're concidering a 405.
Good show and well attended.
GGC

[amythntr]

Traditional Archers sometime apply calf hair stick on or mole skins on recurve limbs as string slap silencers. These string slap silencers are applied to the area of the string grooves at the tips of the limbs where the bow string makes contact.
You can see photos of these String Groove Pads and String Groove Calf Hair Silencers at, 3 RiversArchery.com.

Yep...Mr Cellophane that is what the guy at the Excal Booth was talking about to silence the matrix down....does anyone have any experience with using this???
Here is the link:

http://search.3riversarchery.com/search ... &asug=calf &apelog=yes


Anthony

[amythntr]

Traditional Archers sometime apply calf hair stick on or mole skins on recurve limbs as string slap silencers. These string slap silencers are applied to the area of the string grooves at the tips of the limbs where the bow string makes contact.
You can see photos of these String Groove Pads and String Groove Calf Hair Silencers at, 3 RiversArchery.com.

Yep...Mr Cellophane that is what the guy at the Excal Booth was talking about to silence the matrix down....does anyone have any experience with using this???
Here is the link:

http://search.3riversarchery.com/search ... &asug=calf &apelog=yes


Anthony

[Peacemaker]

Leaving shortly to go to Harrisburg...taking the rest of the day off. I figure Saturday will be too crowded.

This is all Anthony and Peter's fault.

[paulaboutform]

Traditional Archers sometime apply calf hair stick on or mole skins on recurve limbs as string slap silencers. These string slap silencers are applied to the area of the string grooves at the tips of the limbs where the bow string makes contact.
You can see photos of these String Groove Pads and String Groove Calf Hair Silencers at, 3 RiversArchery.com.

Yep...Mr Cellophane that is what the guy at the Excal Booth was talking about to silence the matrix down....does anyone have any experience with using this???
Here is the link:

http://search.3riversarchery.com/search ... &asug=calf &apelog=yes


Anthony

Hi Anthony, I just put some moleskin on my 380. I used to have something very similar called muffs fuzzy stuff which was in camo. The moleskin is super cheap and readily available. I cut each piece, about 3/4"×1 1/2", to my desired shape and put it just inward of the raised part of the limb tip where the string would slap the limb. I cocked the bow to make this easier. I may put some under the arrow retainer as well. It is somewhat quieting.
Paul

[amythntr]

Traditional Archers sometime apply calf hair stick on or mole skins on recurve limbs as string slap silencers. These string slap silencers are applied to the area of the string grooves at the tips of the limbs where the bow string makes contact.
You can see photos of these String Groove Pads and String Groove Calf Hair Silencers at, 3 RiversArchery.com.

Yep...Mr Cellophane that is what the guy at the Excal Booth was talking about to silence the matrix down....does anyone have any experience with using this???
Here is the link:

http://search.3riversarchery.com/search ... &asug=calf &apelog=yes


Anthony

Hi Anthony, I just put some moleskin on my 380. I used to have something very similar called muffs fuzzy stuff which was in camo. The moleskin is super cheap and readily available. I cut each piece, about 3/4"×1 1/2", to my desired shape and put it just inward of the raised part of the limb tip where the string would slap the limb. I cocked the bow to make this easier. I may put some under the arrow retainer as well. It is somewhat quieting.
Paul

Paul...I plan on doing the same in the spring, assuming Boo (hint, hint hint, wink wink wink) gets me my new string....I think I will have pimped up my M380 enough with a new Xbones Leupold scope, Boo string, Big John arra's in the pink variety and the a Triggertech Matrx Hunter trigger....If for nothing else the deer would just want to mosey up to my blind to take a look at such an awesome setup....and possibly want to pose for some pictures!....


Anthony

[Peacemaker]

OK, here is my Outdoor Show report. The short summary; it was worth the two hour ride (each way).

Got to town at around noon. Bad traffic jam on Cameron Street, starting about 2 miles away from the farm complex. Why? The place was mobbed. The parking lots were all full at midday on a Friday, and people couldn't find places to park...so they were stopping and looking for places, or waiting to get into "private" lots where locals were charging $10-$20 for parking, or making illegal u-turns. Sadly, I left the SUV at home so I couldn't just park on a snowbank like many were doing. OK, so I paid my $20 and got good parking.

Inside, crowded but not unmanageable. The place was HUGE. I've been to big gun shows and big expos before, but this was basically hangar after hangar of......stuff. Boats, outfitters, fishing stuff, gun stuff, hunting stuff, archery stuff.....and your usual tables full of cheap junk.

There has to be some Guinness record here....perhaps the largest gun show in the world where....it is not possible to buy a single gun. The gun displays were awesome, but nothing was for sale onsite, as far as I could tell. But I had never been to a gun show where you could handle, cycle, and generally crawl all over so many guns. I guess the firing pins were removed? I was very impressed with what I think was a $9000 Beretta over/under. It almost felt as nice as my 110 year-old Parker, or my $300 Mossberg 500.
(OK, kidding).

Anyway, the Excal stuff. I met Peter at the booth. Great guy, very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable of course. I got to cock a 380; didn't seem to bad to cock at all; not much harder than my exocet 200 (I am 5'8", about 150 pounds). Then I got to cock a 405. That last inch is a big difference over the 380. Peter then showed me a way to cock it sitting down, starting with your leg bent and then straightening your leg and pulling with your arms at the same time. I suppose it is doable in a tree stand that way if your shooting rail is not in your way.

I got to shoot a 380 with a triggertech trigger, and also an exomax with a triggertech trigger, at the Triggertech shooting lane. I could not judge noise because it was so loud in the hall. But the Matrix had noticeably more "recoil" than the Exomax. Noticeably more speed (for the 25 feet the arrows traveled) too.

The triggertech triggers felt nice, but frankly the Excal triggers have always felt nice to me too. I guess I will have to do some target practice with the Exocet tomorrow so I can compare. Bummer .

Most of the dealers were offering 10% off as their "show" special, and some were throwing in some kind of extras. So I could have gotten a Matrix 380 for $1099-10%. But I intentionally left my checkbook and credit card in the car. Good thing.

Had a good time, it was worth the trip...it was a little frustrating getting caught in Harrisburg rush hour (I was surprised that there was such a thing) on the way home, but compared to what I am used to in the DC area, it was insignificant.

If you are planning to go on Saturday or Sunday, bring football pads, a helmet, and a lot of patience.

End of Report. Thanks Peter, and thanks Anthony for the info that helped motivate me to go.

[Peacemaker]

....now having had the opportunity to shoot my exocet with the stock trigger and compare with my recall of the triggertech trigger...the triggertech triggers are nice (versions with creep and without creep), the excel stock trigger is pretty good too. A personal preference thing.