PETE WARD

"WELCOME TO MY OUTDOOR WORLD"

"Bow Review"

Chad Francis Bowyer

Lost Creek Longbows
Eddyville, IA

Tel 641-504-3207

http://www.lostcreekbows.com/  

Email  lostcreekbows@yahoo.com

58" 45# AMO  D/R Longbow

Specs:

58" AMO D/R longbow

45#  at 28"AMO

Dymonwood riser,Cherry limbs with clear glass

*Carbon Core  {No longer available}

Note*

Chad has changed his limb core to "Acitonboo" since this bow was built.

He tells me that it has improved the bow to the point that he will no longer be using

Carbon in the limb .

All new bows will be Actionboo limbs only.

 Modern String material aproved.

Bow was tested with a Rod Jenkins 10 strand DF97 string with padded loops.

Review:

We are seeing a large number of new bowyers these days, and Chad Francis at Lost Creek Longbows is one of the newest  to offer his bows for sale.

The bow I am writing about is the 20th bow that Chad has built, and I think he has done a good job with it. Being a new bowyer we must expect that there will be some things that are not perfect, however if the bows are being sold they must be a good design with an acceptable level of workmanship for the price they are offered at.Chad has met this criteria quite nicely.  This is a good shooting bow with good performance and workmanship.  It is not at the level of workmanship of a bow costing 2 or 3 times as much as the Lost Creek, however it is at a very acceptable level for his asking price.

I have been shooting this little bow for a couple months,however I did not hunt with it this year as it did not arrive in time to set it up and I was already shooting 5 different bows . Next year it will go hunting. My shooting experience with this bow has been pleasant. It is nice to find an economy bow that has good shooting characteristics and good looks . The Lost Creek Longbow does have both.

 It easily falls into the  upper  performance range and there is no hand shock with it.  I am using 3" beaver strips and they do a good job making the bow quiet and shock/vibration free. The bow comes up easy and points well for me. I have no issues at all with the way it shoots. The bow likes a stiffer spined arrow than I expected  and it is a good surprise. I shoot mostly carbon arrows and as spine gets stiffer they weigh more. I also like heavy arrows. It has a nice small grip that fits me very well.

There are a couple issues with the quality of workmanship that I discussed with Chad. He has assured me they will be not repeated on future bows,but I have to discuss them in the review.

 The first is the Tip reinforcement. The tip overlays are well made, with smooth string grooves,however they are not quite straight where they fade into the limb. There was a glue  seep at the fade of the tip reinforcing also.You most likely would not notice it, but they need to be put on straight  and seepage needs to be properly cleaned up for these bows to advance to the next level.

The glue lines are tight,however there are a couple small bubbles under the grip overlay that should not be there. At the price of these bows you should be prepared for some imperfections. This is one of them ,that I do not feel will ever be more than a cosmetic thing that you have to look closely to see. Chad informed me that this will not be seen on future bows.

The bow came with the hook side of velcro on the shelf and side plate. That is just wrong, so I changed it to a better material. When I removed the shelf velcro there were some heavy sanding marks under it. I would never have found these  had I not changed the padding.  Eventualy the owners will find something like this , however it in no way takes away from the bows looks or function. It just should not go out of the shop like this and I have been assured that it will not happen again.

The riser is very smooth and looks as good as it feels. If you take a very close look at the left side there are a couple  small sanding indents that would not be acceptable on a more expensive bow. On this bow you have to look very close and with a reflecting light to see them and I don't think they take anything away from the bow at all.This is another item Chad is addressing on his future bows .

The last thing that I found that can be improved on is the limb edges. The belly side was not rounded and it was left with a sharp edge. This sharp edge will make the glass prone to being chipped if you drop or bump the bow against a hard surface. It is bound to happen at some time. 

After telling Chad about these issues he is very willing to make sure they are not repeated on future bows.  He agreed that these are just to easy to do right the first time and he is promising to make sure they are not found on his new bows. This is good enough for me. I am sure this is just a part of the learning curve that every bowyer goes thru.

The Lost Creek Longbow is one of the bows to watch for in the future ,and for the price I think it is a very good little bow. It is pleasant to shoot and it shoots quite well.Pinch and stacking are not an issue with the Lost Creek Longbow.I found the draw to be much smoother than I expected from a 58" bow. From 28 to 30" it is only gaining 3 pounds per inch.  I think Chad has designed and built a very nice little bow that should stand up to many years of shooting. Lost Creek longbows may be one of the better buys available to us. For those looking to get into traditional archery on a budget , this is a very good little bow that I think will look after your needs. As you can see below there is no stacking out to 30" which is very good for a 58" longbow.

   Chrono testing was done at 1 session with a 3 under finger release, All shots were drawn to the recorded length and held before releasing. All shots were confirmed drawn and held at the correct length by Pat, my wife. All measurements used are AMO measurements.

   58" 45#  "Lost Creek Longbow" CHRONO RESULTS.

* The bow is marked as 45# at 28",My scale weighed it at 42# at 28"

Drawweight  at 29"=45# and at 30"= 48#

I think that this is a good deal on a good bow for someone that does not want to break the bank. Chad is on the right track with his design and attitude. He has been great to work with during this review, even when I criticised his work . The bottom line is that this is a very pleasant bow to shoot.

Pete Ward

"Welcome to my Outdoor World"