Gelamineerd hout Take-Down Recurve Bow 66 "/ 22 lbs R / H

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Overall, a win

Apr 12, 2018

We just received the 66” 22 lb wooden riser recurve from Jandao for my girlfriend (She is very lucky getting both a recurve and compound bow the same week).
I didn’t get to shoot the recurve, but I did assemble it, so I am writing down my observations for both topics.
The bow assembles pretty easily with the limbs fitting very snugly into the plastic pockets using knurled thumb screws. The lower limb comes marked as such and indicates the length and poundage. The limb attachment screws are pre-fitted to the riser for shipment and one was slightly surface rusted upon arrival but nothing that a wipe down with a rag followed by some paraffin lubricant couldn’t fix. The riser is solidly made and clear satin finished. It is not a work of art but not horrible either. In fact it was comparable to the Samik Polaris bows the school uses but maybe half a star less well finished. The Polaris riser is slightly more rounded at the edges and has a shinier finish. The Jandao riser also has a wider grip which I find is more comfortable and my girlfriend (with much smaller hands) liked as well. We received the matt black limbs which was a pleasant surprise as we expected white but prefer the black. The matt black limbs are finished very nicely and laminated satin finish riser go well together giving the bow a nice rich look. The wider grip also feels nice, making the bow feel more substantial in the hand, while weighing the same (or close to) the Polaris. The grip feels similar to the Ragim Matrix Evo which we also have at the school. The provided Dacron string went on nicely (using a bow stringer) even though the upper and lower servings were quite stiff. This will improve once the servings take on a ‘set’ with usage. To note is that the limb reinforcements are wood so this bow cannot take a FastFlite bowstring.
We checked the alignment of the limbs with the riser and string and the upper limb is slightly (about 2mm) out of alignment but so far does not seem to affect the shooting accuracy. I will see if this was simply an assembly error and if it can be corrected the next time the bow is put together. I am doubtful as the limb pockets are quite snug and there are no additional alignment screws (usually only available on bows costing hundreds of dollars more). The bow does not come with nocks but we installed an upper and lower nock at just above 90 degrees. The included arrow rest is a metallic wire design that is very robust but the spring loading is very strong with no way to adjust. Given that these are 1$ accessories it is not a big deal to change this out at a later date. The included sight is solid and accurate but is not the type that can be installed and removed easily. This may be the first accessory to get changed out to facilitate transport.
My girlfriend got in several rounds of shooting and once we got the sight adjusted and she got used to the setup, was grouping nicely at 18m (20 yards). The poundage on this bow was slightly higher than what she was used to but she had no difficulty with the draw and liked that the arrows flew slightly faster, giving good precision. She also remarked at how quiet the bow was in comparison to the school bows. So overall, a win with only minor deficiencies.
I have read up that this bow is the same one that is made for PSE under the model Razorback. Not sure if this is accurate as I have not seen that other bow.
(Note to HK: How about getting some more bows for Left Handed Archers)