Has anyone tried the Redman?

jimmyg

New member
Hi All!

This is my first forum post...ever! Apologies if its not quite in the right place but this seems to be where most people hang out. I hope your all doing ok during these crazy times and not getting too stir crazy!

I've been doing archery for about 2 years after taking it up as a much more accessible alternative to shooting guns, having previously shot competitively i missed the zen like karma of the process and really needed something to relieve the stress of the daily grind. I have to admit i'm now thoroughly addicted and love the sport, it gives me an immense amount of joy, especially the primal feeling of shooting something made from strips of wood glued together that sends pointy wooden sticks down range like mini ballistic missiles! My plan is to give competitive 3D a go hopefully this year, not only from a desire to compete but also broaden my social horizons within the archery community.

I started out with a 30# Bucktrail Black Hawk flat bow which I really enjoyed then stepped up to a 40# Poletti 'La Jurta' flatbow that I currently shoot and love, its smooth fast and has no shelf so its pretty old school in design, i've become surprisingly attached to it as it can be equally as frustrating as it is enjoyable to shoot. I don't think i could ever part company with this bow!

Since then i've been dabbling with an almost Aspergers level of obsession with recurves. After a random and slightly daft Ebay impulse buy I bought a ridiculously over-bowed Quicks Hunter recurve (I think it was 65#) which was enormous fun to shoot for all of the 3-5 shots I could manage! It did give me a harsh lesson in draw weights but also gave me a taste of real speed. I've since been on the hunt for a nice smooth, fast recurve that's not too twitchy (and compliment my novice ability). So far i've had a play on a few models including the Slick Stick Recurve (I originally wanted to try the Warrior with no shelf) which was really nice but felt really really light and the only way i can explain it was lacked 'density' in the hand, the Mohawk was also really nice and had that missing 'density' but I really wanted to stick with a one piece bow. I ended up settling on the Bucktrail Elite Varro in cocobola which was very fast, smooth and strikingly beautiful. Unfortunately I really struggled with the deep, high pistol grip after prolonged use, nothing wrong with the bow (its brilliant) but for me the ergonomics just don't suit me and was something that never came to light in the shop.

So i'm back to the drawing board, I have previously considered the SBC Raptor if anything because its unique and i love innovative ideas from the 'little guy', i'm also considering the SS recurve again, if anything the price for the previous model is very good at the moment from a 'keeping the wife happy' perspective, it was nice to shoot but i'm probably being a bit snobbish having set my sights on something a little more exotic. The bow that I have become somewhat obsessed about though is the Bodnik Redman, i like its slightly longer length and longer riser with respect to stability and its reputation for speed feeds my extremely childish need to shoot things that go fast! My reticence is that there is nowhere you can try one which as i've learnt from experience (and plenty of advice) is crucial to buying a bow, especially at around £600!

So...after all that waffle the point of my post was to try and garner some feedback from anyone who has owned/used the Redman (or the SBC/SS). I have read every review and watched every video on it (as with the Raptor and SS) but with all these types of reviews i'm never convinced on the level of bias and how much is just marketing (especially speeds!). Any opinions on the Redman (or the others if you have one) would be gratefully received, I make my own wooden arrows as i'm too tight to use carbons (plus its old school haha!), i'm not looking to go any more powerful than 40-45# and its primary use other than having fun is to compete with it at 3D. I'm by no means an awesome shot or think i'm the next Brady Ellison, I just love to shoot and shoot things that are satisfyingly accurate (user pending) with a bit of speed.

Thanks again for reading my post and hope you all stay safe during this rubbish Covid nonsense!

Cheers
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
Are you in a club? If not then personally I'd recommend joining a field archery club with what you have before buying another bow. The reason for this is that you can talk to other archers, and many of them will be pleased to let you have a go with their bow so that you can get a feel for what you're looking at. If you want to compete at 3D then NFAS do more 3D than anyone else, but 3D shoots are also getting more popular in AGB. I don't know much about EFAA. NFAS is purely UK based, so if you have international ambitions then AGB or EFAA is the way to go.
 

Riceburner

Active member
I'd second what EB said above - join you nearest Field Archery club and go shooting with what you've got. :)
Where are you?
 
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