Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Crossbow Hunting

Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude

Post Reply
Trigger1212
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 10:02 am
Location: Bout 60 miles south of Chicago IL

Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Trigger1212 »

Lady (only seen one poster so far!) and Gents,

Well on my first post to introduce myself and mentioned that I was selling my Equinox to my brother and was having fun agonizing over buying the Micro vs the Matrix 355 or 380. Great way to stir the pot! While there was an awful lot of votes for the micro I do have some ability to resist peer pressure and went with the Matrix 355. When shooting the bows the 355 just felt better to me, micro felt just a bit "cramped". Might get one in the future but for now it's the 355 and no looking back.
Ended up working with Dave at Wyverns Creations, Package included: Matrix 355, TT 2.5 single stage (still have the TT 2.5 2 stage from Equinox, just wanted to try the single stage), Danny Miller Bumpers, factory string which I will shoot to stretch and that will then become my backup, 1 flemish string from WC, Air Brakes, I think that is what they are called anyway, the brackets and pads that go on the front of the limbs, stringer aid, tombstone case, venom rail lube. Mounting a Hawke XB30 from my Equinox. Arras: Black Eagle Executioners, 20", 2 inch blazers, 110r brass inserts. Will be shooting 100 NAP spitfires, same head I've used for years with great success. Also bought the Arizona Bolt Fletcher.

Went with the 20" arras as the short sticks just don't feel right to me, might be silly but there it is. Also, nice to have longer arras so they are not buried in the target past the fletching. The do stick out past the guard a bit but a whole lot less than they did on my vert bow, so no problems there! I also do most of my hunting from a stand so bow will be hanging from a hook. If I decide they are too long I can always shorten them...

Received the bow yesterday and in short order had it all together and ready to sight in. Big storm on the horizon but managed to fight the mosquitos off and the rain held off for about 30 shots. Nice! Had a pencil mark on the speed ring of the scope from the Equinox at around 350, had to dial it back to about for the 355. On the Equinox I was shooting the factory 350 gr quills. Just before I wrote this I ran downstair and weighed one of the BEs, they came in a little heavier than I thought they would at 431 grains. From what Dave had said they should have been around 405 or so. Whatever, they shoot fine and a few FPS will not make any difference.

I bought 12 arras, 6 with aluminum flat nocks and 6 for hunting with Luminox nocks.

The TT single stage is nice, can't say it's nicer than the old 2 stage, just nice and crisp. Being an admitted trigger puss I would not have minded it a bit lighter, I will have to run it over my digital lyman trigger scale to see what the actual pull is.

Brace height was high when it arrived so threw the stringing aid on it to un-twist the string a bit and got my first surprise. On the Equinox I could grab the stringer with my hands and cock it then adjust the string. Not so fast laddie! Them shorter limbs are stiff! Bout blew a gasket trying to get it back and had to actually scratch my head for a minute to figure out what to do. Duh, never used the cocking rope for this job before even though it was the obvious answer. Worked a whole lot easier that way! :lol:

Well there you have it boys and girls, another card carrying member of the Matrix 355 club!

PS, also forgot the cheekrest, and probably other small items as well. I will be getting one of the titanium bolt kits mentioned on another thread also.

Quick tip, I always put a patch of "skate board tape" on the but plate of my rifles and bows. This traction makes them feel MUCH more steady in the shoulder. I like to pull my shoulder arms back into my shoulder and when the butt plate is slippery it just does no feel solid. Give a solid feeling of confidence when you put it there and it don't move...
Matrix 355 - "Spike"
20 " BE Executioners, 110 gr brass inserts, 2" blazers
NAP 100 gr Spitfires
Wyvern Flemish String
DM Bumpers
Semper Fi!
User avatar
BrotherRon
Posts: 2178
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:47 am
Location: North Central Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by BrotherRon »

Congrats on a fine choice :)
I know you will like the 355, and won't have to worry about the limb problems some are having with the 380-405 & micro models.
The shorter limbs are getting pushed to their limits on the higher poundage ones. :wink:
Matrix 310 ~ Hawke XB30 Pro SR ~ TT~Plano 36" All Weather Tactical Hard Case.
Danny Miller Top Mount Quiver.
Strings by Boo ~ nchunterkw ~ 8ptbuk
Jeremiah 29:13 :thumbup:
xcaliber
Posts: 12833
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:35 pm
Location: NW Indiana

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by xcaliber »

Congratulations, good choice. Welcome to team 355!
It’s not the way you rock, it’s the way that you roll!
User avatar
maine hunter
Posts: 2347
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:23 pm
Location: maine
Contact:

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by maine hunter »

Great choice!!! Love my 355!!! :D
355 matrix, big johns arrows- zombieslayers, g5 montecs, strikers. Vortex big johns arrows- zombieslayers g5 montecs 125. Lumenoks.
Riflemanz
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:12 am
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Riflemanz »

Congrats! Great choice! I also shoot 20" arrows around 432gr and they are perfect as they blow thru deer.
Team Matrix 355
Matrix 355 The Crusher
TT 2 stage trigger
Executioner arrows
Easton XX75 magnums 2219
Xcaliber custom string
Boo Custom String
Vixenmaster Custom string
8ptbuk string
Rocket 3 blade 2" cut
Slick tricks
HSS Vest 30' lifeline
bubba
Posts: 1855
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:39 pm
Location: West Central Fl

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by bubba »

Great choice the Matrix 355 is one hard bow to beat.. All around winner. And welcome to the forum, i think you will be a good addition ........
Matrix, 355. Hawke Xb-30 Pro. Ibex, Nikon Bolt. Strings By Boo, Nchunter, Zombies & Spynal Tapps From South Shore Archery,Now Built By My Son, N.A.P. Spitfire XXX and Magnus Black Hornets. (Fight Hard..Love Fast.. Die Young..)
User avatar
Big John
Posts: 3119
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 9:29 pm
Location: Niagara Region

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Big John »

Ahhh yes. The 355. Remember it well! :)
I shot the crap out of one for a while and developed many arrows for it. I Loved that Bow! 8) I think I still Love it, and it's gone to someone else. :shock:
I am now going to shoot the jam out of a Micro 335. If it isn't what I'm looking for in a good Bow, I want a 355 back! :mrgreen:
However, I would really like it with "full" camo.

Big John
Phoenix - 375 gr. BEE's (babyneilsons)
Micro 315 - 410 gr. Zombies/Lumenoks
Micro 355. - Punisher-Zombies/Lumenoks

Arrowmaker - Retired
[email protected]
L. E. Carroll
Posts: 1258
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:32 pm
Location: VANCOUVER, WA

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by L. E. Carroll »

Welcome to the club.. I have only good things to say about mine.. I had a new 330 and it also was a great bow. However, since I fellt I could comfortably go a bit higher in draw weight , I jumped at a chance to trade the 330 for this sweet 355. No looking back unless it would be another 300 or 355 as a back-up or something for a friend to shoot.

These 355's are a perfect combination of speed, ballance, and dependability, with no over-stressed limbs and resulting limb issues to have to deal with.

You made a Great Choice.

Gene
Camo Micro 355 w/ XB30 SR Pro & TT trigger
Camo Matrix 380 W/ XB 30SR Pro & a Boo trigger
Very Nice 98 Jeep Tj
Sweet old 73 Bronco ( 2nd Owner)
Scamp tralier
colouredchameleon
Posts: 801
Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:44 pm

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by colouredchameleon »

Just day dreaming out loud!

"Special Edition "Matrix Eclipse XT 355" ????????

With Reds and ADF included

:D :D :D :wink: :D :D :D
User avatar
flinthead
Posts: 548
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:59 am
Location: Pageland, SC

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by flinthead »

Welcome... I sure do love mine! 8)
Vixen II
Ibex
Vortex
Swhacker Broadheads
Trigger1212
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 10:02 am
Location: Bout 60 miles south of Chicago IL

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Trigger1212 »

Dang, forgot the important part, his name is "Spike"! Took Spike out for some work this morning, bout a nother 35 arras or so just to get the factory string fully stretched. Got around 60 shots on it now. Hotter n hell out here and muggy too, sweating like a pig! But enjoy it so.

Like I said previously, arras are 20" BE Executioners with 110 grain brass inserts and 2" blazers using a 100 gr NAP spitfires. With the aluminum practice nocks they weigh in at 431 gr. Heavier than I expected, Dave at Wyvern said they would be around 405-410 gr. Anyone else have this arra set-up, what is your weight? Just want to make sure the wrong weight brass insert did not get used.

Set up the Ohler 35P chronograph and put 5 arras over the screens. 2 at 329 and 3 at 328 so I'd say the average was 328. Would be lying if I said I was not a liiittle disappointed in that but it shoots good. Anyone else shooting this arra weight and string set up? What is your speed? Also, brace height is set so the string is just touching the line in the riser (on the shooter side of the line). As I said, shoots good (around 2" at 60 yds off solid bench), just thought is would be a tad faster, with the heavier arras thought it might be in the 340 range somewhere. All feedback appreciated!

Now, I smell the ribeye steak my son is grilling along with all the fixins for my Fathers Day meal so I must be running along. Life is GOOD! 8)
Matrix 355 - "Spike"
20 " BE Executioners, 110 gr brass inserts, 2" blazers
NAP 100 gr Spitfires
Wyvern Flemish String
DM Bumpers
Semper Fi!
xcaliber
Posts: 12833
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:35 pm
Location: NW Indiana

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by xcaliber »

The weight and speed match up close to 355 fps. Weight difference divided by 3. Not too shabby! :wink:
Enjoy your steak.
It’s not the way you rock, it’s the way that you roll!
Riflemanz
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:12 am
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Riflemanz »

I'm shooting the BE executioner w 110gr insert 20" arrow w factory fletching and 100gr hammerhead BH. Weigh's around 432gr.
Perfect for the 355! Shoots around 340fps thru my F1.
Team Matrix 355
Matrix 355 The Crusher
TT 2 stage trigger
Executioner arrows
Easton XX75 magnums 2219
Xcaliber custom string
Boo Custom String
Vixenmaster Custom string
8ptbuk string
Rocket 3 blade 2" cut
Slick tricks
HSS Vest 30' lifeline
User avatar
Big John
Posts: 3119
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 9:29 pm
Location: Niagara Region

Re: Decision made, new member of the 355 club!

Post by Big John »

Thru that bow 325 to 330 fps is normal for that weight of arrows. I myself would stay around 400 gr with heads included. That will keep you up over 330 fps. And the arrows will carry more than enough KE. And be stable enough weight out for some good distances.

Big John

Put probably 500 to 600 shots thru two different 355's with four different weights of arrows. Any 90 gr. Brass and 100 gr. head will steer perfect out a ways. Add a 125 gr. head and shoot some at 80 yds. and watch. :wink: Especially with a beauty built arrow.
Phoenix - 375 gr. BEE's (babyneilsons)
Micro 315 - 410 gr. Zombies/Lumenoks
Micro 355. - Punisher-Zombies/Lumenoks

Arrowmaker - Retired
[email protected]
Post Reply