Reporting - Kings Pawn
02-23-2004, 07:55 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,175
Reporting - Kings Pawn
By popular demand (LOL), here are my first impressions of Chek-Mate's Kings Pawn Special.
Chek-Mate offers this bow in 3 versions; basic, Special and Delux, priced $200 to $275. They offer a variety of woods, some for the basic price or you can upgrade to higher price woods, which reflects in the price of the bow. I wanted to keep costs down as much as I could, so I ordered basic woods: Bubinga riser with red elm limb cores under clear glass. I did upgrade to the Special model, which includes some extra overlays that the basic model does not have.
My order specified 50 pounds at 32" draw. The bow came in marked 51 pounds at 32". It hit exactly 51 pounds on my friends bow scale.
Visual... Probably the lightest piece of bubinga I've ever seen. Almost pink. My first thought was maybe I shoulda gone shedua instead.
But after only a couple of days in the sun, it's already taken some color and the grain is beginning to show up better. The red elm lams are edge cut and has grain running the whole length of the limbs. Never have been able to decide whether I like edge cut or face cut elm better. Nice looking, either way. The glass is clear without any clouding. Overlays are bubinga over black glass on the face and belly of the riser, same pink color. Tip overlays are bubinga over black phenolic, and black phenolic reinforcement on the belly side of the tips. Glue lines are tight. Some minor sanding marks along the edges of the limbs, but overall finish is fine. Remember, this is not a flagship priced bow! It's nowhere near to a fancy bow, at all, but she's still good lookin'.
The riser is much longer than I expected at 24" from fadeout to fadeout. That leaves only 20" of working limb on each end. The sight window is 6 3/4", cut to center, or maybe 1/8" past (haven't measured it), and with a modestly radiused shelf. There are no unnecessary humps or bumps in the profile of the riser to break up it's flowing lines. The grip is rather thick with a good palm swell and a well done thumbrest. Below the grip there is a scoop in the thumb side of the riser, the only real bit of decorative contour in the whole bow, and even it is probably serving the function of reducing the riser's weight.
Speaking of weight, even the longbow shooters at the club are remarking how light the bow is. I haven't put it on the scales, but if it outweighs my longbow by more than 4 ounces, send me the ketchup and I'll eat my hat. This is NOT a target bow. Rather, she's definitely a working bow for the woods and winning a couple of cold drinks for yourself on the 3D course.
The limb design reminds me a lot of the early 60's recurves. Fairly long straight section in the limbs with a healthy recurve at the ends. This is not the fastest recurve I've ever shot, nor is it the slowest. No chronograph readings for it as yet. I've got one but I'm too dang lazy to mess with the darn thing. I intend to take all my bows to the range and chrono them... sometime before I die.
I don't have the right arrows for it! It doesn't like 2216's and sprays them all over. It absolutely HATES carbon: noise, shock and vibration like you wouldn't believe! It seems to like my Carbon Express Terminator Selects (fiberglass shafts w/ some carbon) and 2315's. I've only got one 2315 that's the right length to shoot from this bow, but I'm getting some OUTSTANDING one-arrow groups.[&:] I've got 3 of the Terminators left and they all shoot into tight little wads. Very nice.
Of course, I'm still in the 'getting to know you' stage with the bow. When I get my arrows in, tomorrow, then I can get down to the serious task of getting her tuned up.
So, how does she feel on the shot? Like a light recurve, I guess. Very little vibration. A bit of noise, but I think that'll tune out. The draw though... WOOOoooo! Smooth as silk with no stack. In fact, I caught myself drawing 33" instead of 32". That's why I don't have any arrows! They're cut to 32" and they're too short! I've got to be pulling more like 54 pounds with this bow, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It's draw is very similar to my old 68" Brackenbury Legend. Pretty impressive for a bow that's only 64" long.
Altogether, I've got myself a winner here. If my draw length was closer to 30", I'd definitely have gotten the Falcon instead. Same configuration bow, same price structure, but 60" long and with what looks to me like a better limb design than the Kings Pawn. Even shorther than that and I'd look at the Atilla. Any of them give you a custom bow for less than the price of a mass produced bow.
Chek-Mate offers this bow in 3 versions; basic, Special and Delux, priced $200 to $275. They offer a variety of woods, some for the basic price or you can upgrade to higher price woods, which reflects in the price of the bow. I wanted to keep costs down as much as I could, so I ordered basic woods: Bubinga riser with red elm limb cores under clear glass. I did upgrade to the Special model, which includes some extra overlays that the basic model does not have.
My order specified 50 pounds at 32" draw. The bow came in marked 51 pounds at 32". It hit exactly 51 pounds on my friends bow scale.
Visual... Probably the lightest piece of bubinga I've ever seen. Almost pink. My first thought was maybe I shoulda gone shedua instead.
But after only a couple of days in the sun, it's already taken some color and the grain is beginning to show up better. The red elm lams are edge cut and has grain running the whole length of the limbs. Never have been able to decide whether I like edge cut or face cut elm better. Nice looking, either way. The glass is clear without any clouding. Overlays are bubinga over black glass on the face and belly of the riser, same pink color. Tip overlays are bubinga over black phenolic, and black phenolic reinforcement on the belly side of the tips. Glue lines are tight. Some minor sanding marks along the edges of the limbs, but overall finish is fine. Remember, this is not a flagship priced bow! It's nowhere near to a fancy bow, at all, but she's still good lookin'.The riser is much longer than I expected at 24" from fadeout to fadeout. That leaves only 20" of working limb on each end. The sight window is 6 3/4", cut to center, or maybe 1/8" past (haven't measured it), and with a modestly radiused shelf. There are no unnecessary humps or bumps in the profile of the riser to break up it's flowing lines. The grip is rather thick with a good palm swell and a well done thumbrest. Below the grip there is a scoop in the thumb side of the riser, the only real bit of decorative contour in the whole bow, and even it is probably serving the function of reducing the riser's weight.
Speaking of weight, even the longbow shooters at the club are remarking how light the bow is. I haven't put it on the scales, but if it outweighs my longbow by more than 4 ounces, send me the ketchup and I'll eat my hat. This is NOT a target bow. Rather, she's definitely a working bow for the woods and winning a couple of cold drinks for yourself on the 3D course.
The limb design reminds me a lot of the early 60's recurves. Fairly long straight section in the limbs with a healthy recurve at the ends. This is not the fastest recurve I've ever shot, nor is it the slowest. No chronograph readings for it as yet. I've got one but I'm too dang lazy to mess with the darn thing. I intend to take all my bows to the range and chrono them... sometime before I die.
I don't have the right arrows for it! It doesn't like 2216's and sprays them all over. It absolutely HATES carbon: noise, shock and vibration like you wouldn't believe! It seems to like my Carbon Express Terminator Selects (fiberglass shafts w/ some carbon) and 2315's. I've only got one 2315 that's the right length to shoot from this bow, but I'm getting some OUTSTANDING one-arrow groups.[&:] I've got 3 of the Terminators left and they all shoot into tight little wads. Very nice.
Of course, I'm still in the 'getting to know you' stage with the bow. When I get my arrows in, tomorrow, then I can get down to the serious task of getting her tuned up.
So, how does she feel on the shot? Like a light recurve, I guess. Very little vibration. A bit of noise, but I think that'll tune out. The draw though... WOOOoooo! Smooth as silk with no stack. In fact, I caught myself drawing 33" instead of 32". That's why I don't have any arrows! They're cut to 32" and they're too short! I've got to be pulling more like 54 pounds with this bow, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It's draw is very similar to my old 68" Brackenbury Legend. Pretty impressive for a bow that's only 64" long.
Altogether, I've got myself a winner here. If my draw length was closer to 30", I'd definitely have gotten the Falcon instead. Same configuration bow, same price structure, but 60" long and with what looks to me like a better limb design than the Kings Pawn. Even shorther than that and I'd look at the Atilla. Any of them give you a custom bow for less than the price of a mass produced bow.
