Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
06-10-2008, 08:25 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Posts: 478
Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
Hi All:
Dont ask me how, but I ended up getting ahold of a demo Swiss Twin Bow for some testing. It just showed up yesterday evening and I spent last night reviewing the manual and got a chance to do some quick testing this morning before it got past 85 and the thunderstorms hit. I will do more detailed testing once it cools off a tad later this week. Anyway, here is an initial review:
This particular bow is a demo, so it was not packaged in a "new bow" fasion, rather wrapped in bubble wrap and plastic and shipped to me assembled. My first impression as I unwrapped it was "WOW!!!" This thing is stinking cool!!! It is surprizingly elegant and hi-tech while at the same time being an extreamly simple design. The "bow assembly" attaches to a forward rocker with two bolts. Pretty much that is the assembly. Other than attaching a scope, that is it. Rather than using cams, the Twin Bow uses one long string that crisscrosses between the two limbs and rides on pulleys so there is no "rollover" associated with the traditional compound. The string has the coolest serving, almost like a flat catgut or something...I gotta check into this and I will give more detail later, but this alone may be somethign to look into.
Basic dimensions: 16.5" wide (this is at the widest point uncocked to the outside of the pulleys) 34" tip to tip and including a red dot scope weighs in at 8.6lbs. It is a bit funky at first to shoulder since it is all tubes and such, but it shoulders amazingly well once you figure out where to put your hands and such. There is an adjustable wood cheek piece that is held onto the rear stock with a band clam and that can be slid up and down the stock to adjust for diferant people. It is very well balanced and since the forestock is set at an angle, offhand shooting is dead simple since your elbow is already turned towards your ribs holdign steady is very comfy.
At this point I will note that the manual goes into many details about ethics, hunting techniques, and safety that are more akin to a hunter safety course, but good info for the complete novice, but other than that, the manual is a "must read". Cocking the bow alone is VERY weird and requires alot of concentration (note in the pic below, and I did not do this on purpose, that my shirt is pinned by the butt of the bow...I clamped my shirt between the butt and the tube a couple of times cocking it.) It requires several muscle groups to effectivly cock the bow. It is very fast to re-cock, but it is like swinging a big nut cracker with tension on it. You need lots of room to swing and anyone that is not very strong or has limited movement will not be able to cock this bow. Aparently you can un-cock it the same way, but you have to be able to hold the tension of the bow. I have yet to try that.
The arrows need to have the cock feather trimmed to clear the strings (not a big deal) and they recomend moon nocks and I can see why. It only has a 8" power stroke and the string sits off the rail abit so centering the nock on the string on this bow is pretty critical. They noted that they have had rollover issues with flat nocks in the maual. I basicly took an old Parker bolt I have in my "gotta re-fletch some time" pile and trimmed off the cock feather and out to the yard I went...
OK...once the bow is cocked (again, more detail on this later) this bar pops out of the back of the pistol grip. That is the safety. The idea is to grasp the pistol grip and compress the bar when you are ready to shoot and then you can pull the trigger. This takes some concentration to not grab safety and bump the trigger while you are reaching for the grip. It is actually pretty cool once you get used to it, but I myself would prefer a button or something that was not part of the trigger assembly. I can see where in a moment of excitement with gloves on a unintentional discharge may occur. Anyway, they claim a 1.1lb trigger. So I carefully keep my finger away from the trigger and compress the safety and gently pull the trigger. Now, in general, creep on a crossbow trigger is your pulling and pulling with tension on the trigger till it finally comes off the sear. This does not do that. The trigger pulls back to a point with absolutly no resistance and you kinda hit a wall. At that point, it is one of the best triggers I have ever used on a crossbow. It is very light, crisp, no creep, and no real travel after release. I think that the gap with no resistance infront of the sear may be able to be taken out. If it can be, Moonkryket would LOVE this trigger
. It does take some getting used to, but once you know where the wall is it is very nice.
Moment of truth: with a 417gr 20" arrow (they recomend a 16-20" arrow and as low as 320gr and up to 600gr) it shot 298.5fps average. Not too shabby. Even with the crappy arrow I was using (the fletchings look like lasagna noodles) it is a tack driver. I was pulling 2" groups at 35yrds and the arrow is crap. It has no hand shock, and has only a slight recoil, but here is the impressive part...84.7db!!!!! That is 4.2db less than a Desert Stryker!!! There is a "ting" from the bolt clip (that in itself is an intersting piece of engineering) that some silencing should take care of ( I stuck a piece of felt on it for the moment and it helped)
Anyway, this gives a few intital impressions and I will have more details later when I have more time and cooler weather to fully check this thing out...My initial conclusion is that the same people interested in the Horton Recon would probably be very interested in this bow. Retail is like $1599 by the way.
More to come.
Wyvern[/align]
Dont ask me how, but I ended up getting ahold of a demo Swiss Twin Bow for some testing. It just showed up yesterday evening and I spent last night reviewing the manual and got a chance to do some quick testing this morning before it got past 85 and the thunderstorms hit. I will do more detailed testing once it cools off a tad later this week. Anyway, here is an initial review:
This particular bow is a demo, so it was not packaged in a "new bow" fasion, rather wrapped in bubble wrap and plastic and shipped to me assembled. My first impression as I unwrapped it was "WOW!!!" This thing is stinking cool!!! It is surprizingly elegant and hi-tech while at the same time being an extreamly simple design. The "bow assembly" attaches to a forward rocker with two bolts. Pretty much that is the assembly. Other than attaching a scope, that is it. Rather than using cams, the Twin Bow uses one long string that crisscrosses between the two limbs and rides on pulleys so there is no "rollover" associated with the traditional compound. The string has the coolest serving, almost like a flat catgut or something...I gotta check into this and I will give more detail later, but this alone may be somethign to look into.
Basic dimensions: 16.5" wide (this is at the widest point uncocked to the outside of the pulleys) 34" tip to tip and including a red dot scope weighs in at 8.6lbs. It is a bit funky at first to shoulder since it is all tubes and such, but it shoulders amazingly well once you figure out where to put your hands and such. There is an adjustable wood cheek piece that is held onto the rear stock with a band clam and that can be slid up and down the stock to adjust for diferant people. It is very well balanced and since the forestock is set at an angle, offhand shooting is dead simple since your elbow is already turned towards your ribs holdign steady is very comfy.
At this point I will note that the manual goes into many details about ethics, hunting techniques, and safety that are more akin to a hunter safety course, but good info for the complete novice, but other than that, the manual is a "must read". Cocking the bow alone is VERY weird and requires alot of concentration (note in the pic below, and I did not do this on purpose, that my shirt is pinned by the butt of the bow...I clamped my shirt between the butt and the tube a couple of times cocking it.) It requires several muscle groups to effectivly cock the bow. It is very fast to re-cock, but it is like swinging a big nut cracker with tension on it. You need lots of room to swing and anyone that is not very strong or has limited movement will not be able to cock this bow. Aparently you can un-cock it the same way, but you have to be able to hold the tension of the bow. I have yet to try that.
The arrows need to have the cock feather trimmed to clear the strings (not a big deal) and they recomend moon nocks and I can see why. It only has a 8" power stroke and the string sits off the rail abit so centering the nock on the string on this bow is pretty critical. They noted that they have had rollover issues with flat nocks in the maual. I basicly took an old Parker bolt I have in my "gotta re-fletch some time" pile and trimmed off the cock feather and out to the yard I went...
OK...once the bow is cocked (again, more detail on this later) this bar pops out of the back of the pistol grip. That is the safety. The idea is to grasp the pistol grip and compress the bar when you are ready to shoot and then you can pull the trigger. This takes some concentration to not grab safety and bump the trigger while you are reaching for the grip. It is actually pretty cool once you get used to it, but I myself would prefer a button or something that was not part of the trigger assembly. I can see where in a moment of excitement with gloves on a unintentional discharge may occur. Anyway, they claim a 1.1lb trigger. So I carefully keep my finger away from the trigger and compress the safety and gently pull the trigger. Now, in general, creep on a crossbow trigger is your pulling and pulling with tension on the trigger till it finally comes off the sear. This does not do that. The trigger pulls back to a point with absolutly no resistance and you kinda hit a wall. At that point, it is one of the best triggers I have ever used on a crossbow. It is very light, crisp, no creep, and no real travel after release. I think that the gap with no resistance infront of the sear may be able to be taken out. If it can be, Moonkryket would LOVE this trigger
. It does take some getting used to, but once you know where the wall is it is very nice.Moment of truth: with a 417gr 20" arrow (they recomend a 16-20" arrow and as low as 320gr and up to 600gr) it shot 298.5fps average. Not too shabby. Even with the crappy arrow I was using (the fletchings look like lasagna noodles) it is a tack driver. I was pulling 2" groups at 35yrds and the arrow is crap. It has no hand shock, and has only a slight recoil, but here is the impressive part...84.7db!!!!! That is 4.2db less than a Desert Stryker!!! There is a "ting" from the bolt clip (that in itself is an intersting piece of engineering) that some silencing should take care of ( I stuck a piece of felt on it for the moment and it helped)
Anyway, this gives a few intital impressions and I will have more details later when I have more time and cooler weather to fully check this thing out...My initial conclusion is that the same people interested in the Horton Recon would probably be very interested in this bow. Retail is like $1599 by the way.
More to come.
Wyvern[/align]
06-10-2008, 09:22 AM
#4
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 478
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
Ummm...no..and yes, I did think of that, but missed mentioning it in the initial review. There are like 5 diferant techniques to cocking this listed in the manual. What I want to do is sit down and try all of them and see if any are easier to control than others. I really dont see how this could be cocked by anyone with a physical limitation, though there may be another way I dont see yet.
Wyvern
Wyvern
06-10-2008, 10:44 AM
#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 114
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
At one point when I first saw it, some time ago, I "was" kinda interested.
But it appears to me too "Rube Goldbergish" to me. And even more now that I see you all stretched out cocking it. Just too much stuff going on.
I might change my mind if I shot it...but I'llmost likelynot get that chance either!
I am sorta interested in the German (?) backward bow, crossbow. Although that oneappears more like a piece of art, rather than a weapon of light destruction! But it is nice looking overall.
Mike
But it appears to me too "Rube Goldbergish" to me. And even more now that I see you all stretched out cocking it. Just too much stuff going on.
I might change my mind if I shot it...but I'llmost likelynot get that chance either!
I am sorta interested in the German (?) backward bow, crossbow. Although that oneappears more like a piece of art, rather than a weapon of light destruction! But it is nice looking overall.
Mike
06-10-2008, 12:13 PM
#6
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 478
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
It is actually Russian and they are the engineering behind Horton for their Recon. It is all done under license from the company in Russia.
They are actually wicked comfortable and well built, but they look like the guns they used on "The Fifth Element"
Wyvern
They are actually wicked comfortable and well built, but they look like the guns they used on "The Fifth Element"
Wyvern
High performance but wickedly complex.
06-10-2008, 05:42 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 478
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
Actually it is surprizingly simple. Very clean design. I want to tear into it a bit and really check out that trigger, but WOW, that is one nice set up!!! I can think of a few US companies that could learn a thing or two about triggers from this company...
Wyvern
Wyvern
06-10-2008, 07:13 PM
#9
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location:
Posts: 167
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
Swiss manufactured tells me it's quality. Anyway, I think it's cool and, unlike some of the Rube Goldberg stuff we saw recently from another source, this IS an actual crossbow that has possibilities. Wyvern, how long will it be before you let us know if you will be selling them or not? I shot it at an aTA show 3 years ago and it is QUIET with virtually no recoil. Those features alone are enough to ouytweigh the strange look and you know how that goes...........................look at it enough and it begins to look normal.
06-10-2008, 07:28 PM
#10
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 478
RE: Swiss Twin Bow Initial Review
I really dont know if I will be selling these or not. There are a few US dealers, but the company is still playing around wiht the tax issues (one of the things I am helping them with) If I get enough interest, yes, but I want to do more testing with this bow to see if it is something I would be intersted in carrying. Yes, it is very well built from what I can see...there is a number of places on it where you can see parts were hand fit and the overall fit and finish is excelent.
Wyvern
Wyvern