Tag Archives: equipment review

Aug 19 2014

Equipment review – Mybo boss

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some coaching with a couple of new archers down at the wood which has been great fun. Been good to get back to doing some coaching.
One of the students was asking about getting a practice boss for their garden and what to get, how much to spend etc. This got me thinking, dangerous I know.
Well, a while back I wrote a piece on setting up a practice boss and the safety considerations. (Here is the link if you are interested.)
This was based on a layered foam boss, but there are bag targets out there and a few months back I picked one up from Merlin archery store. You can see the Archery Adventures  video review here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVx16sYH2JE) .
So I thought it a good time to write a review of how we have found it.

So why did I buy one of these?

We were after something we could use not just for the recurves and flat bows but also the compound. Whist at Merlin I got chatting to the guys about target bosses and how our old tuff butt had seen better days and we were looking to replace it. They showed me the then new mybo sureshot  target boss range they had started to stock.

The staff demonstrated its stopping power by shooting a compound crossbow at about 5 yards into it. The result was about an inch or two of the bolt sticking out the back of the smallest boss. Not bad and a good demonstration of its stopping power.

First few arrows

First few arrows

Cost wise they aren’t bad. I believe replacement covers can be bought from Merlin.

90 cm are £75 and 70 cm are £49

There are three sizes are available. We have the mid range one. (70cm)

The mid range one isn’t to heavy,  manageable by me  to move round so can’t be that heavy as I’m not the strongest archer in the world. There are a couple of handles on top to make it easier to move. I’ve used these with some rope to tie ours in place.
The larger one needs a couple of people to move more due to the bulk than weight.
I’ve put ours on top of our current boss so you have a size comparison.
Mybo bag target

Mybo bag target

Initial tests are positive we’ve been using for a few months now shooting at it a couple of nights a week.

  • Arrows are easy to draw too.
  • Weave hasn’t frayed yet and the holes appear to close up quite well but can still be seen after drawing the arrows.
  • The arrows don’t penetrate too far at least from our recurve bows.  Haven’t tried my compound yet as concentrating on practice with recurve for upcoming National champs in September.
Hole after drawing arrow.

Hole after drawing arrow.

I think it works well for a practice boss and has lasted well from repeated shots though I haven’t shot it with anything other than recurves and flatbows. Although I do think you need to occasionally to shake the bag up so that the contents resettle themselves (bit like when you fluff up a pillow)
Whilst I don’t think you could replace foam bosses with these for a shoot.  I think they work well for practice at home or for a club indoor range potentially.

Top tip

One tip I would give is to get some heavy duty plastic sheets.  I’ve got a load I use in the garden and when I’m not shooting at the boss I cover it to protect it from the worst of the British weather. It also helps prevent birds or other wildlife using it as a scratching or scent post.
I hope you find this useful and if you have one of these or experience of them then let me know. Please remember when setting up a target consider safety above all else.
Thanks for reading.
Jul 29 2014

Merlin Equipment reviews

Hi All

Some of you maybe aware that Merlin Archery have a YouTube site which runs a series of reviews of bows and other equipment.

Here is the review of the win&win RC17 . It  is worth looking at along, with other reviews that are on the site.

Please note I have no connection with Merlin Archery other than buying kit off them time to time. I just think that they produce some good reviews.
As always thanks for reading.

Jun 20 2014

Youtube videos by Wolfie Instinctive Archer worth a view

Some of you may have heard of a mate of mine and fellow archer Wolfie Instinctive Archer.

Wolfie runs a video blog  (when not developing his acting career) on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkId_L6JEv0r_x1MzMvxfg) which is well worth a visit, and has a variety of reviews of equipment from bows to quivers and tips on shooting (one posting I’ve linked to in the past is Longlife Squirrel Blitz…)

I was talking to him at last weekends Hawk shoot (Shoot report to follow, sorry all been a bit busy this week) about a couple of recent purchases from Cupido  bows and how impressed he has been by their build quality and performance.

Well Wolfie has done a couple of video reviews recently on these  bows that I thought I might share. This is a link to his youtube channel and skip down the play list to the  Scythian Longbow by Cupido bows.

Please note I have no commercial connection to Cupido  bows or Pierre, but if you want to contact them here is Pierres details Pierre de Wet (pierredewet@lantic.net). Pierres hasn’t got a website up and running yet but hopes to have soon. There is a Facebook page for Cupido bows (https://www.facebook.com/pages/CUPIDO-BOWS/1435450066705225?fref=ts)

As always thanks for reading and I’ll try and get the Hawk shoot report up this weekend.