Bear Kodiak Magnum for tall person

Starjumper · 08-13-2011, 02:40 PM

Hi all, I had a Bear Kodiak Magnum (52" bow) in the past and liked it a lot because it's so compact and has high velocity. The problem is I'm a bit over 6" 2" and have long arms. When I had my Magnum I was pulling it a bit past the draw limit I think, but it was acceptable. (if I remember correctly, a standard draw length is 29" and I was at about 31"?)

Now I see that Bear archery has an even more compact bow, the Super Mag, which is only 48" long. I like the idea of such a compact bow but I assume it must have a pretty short draw limit and that to pull it all the way back (for me) would overstress the bow. I could learn to shoot without pulling it all the way back i guess.

Anyone here familiar with that Super Mag? should I stick with a standard Magnum?

red44 · 08-13-2011, 10:40 PM

The standard for measuring DL is 28". At 31"DL, you be drawing well past the the marked weight on the bow. I'd think it would be stacking pretty bad at your DL. Meaning it would rise sharply in weight beyond 28". I'm surprised you can get along with the 52" bow. Try before you by if possible.
I would'nt "learn" to pull it less, rather, see if it can handle what you do pull.

elkslayer4x5 · 08-16-2011, 10:36 AM

You'll also encounter finger pinch, if you shoot with fingers, the angle of the string at full draw is quite steep at 28 + inches.

Starjumper · 08-17-2011, 02:50 AM

Thank you for the answers. I think my draw was about +2" so it must have been around 30". I should have stated my original question more like this: Can the 48" super mag bow even take a 30" draw without being overstressed? It seems like the 52" Kodiak Magnum was kind of close to it's limit at 30" draw. I hadn't thought about finger pinch.

I'm still thinking it might work to get the short bow (at a higher weight?) and then just not pull the string all the way back, kind of like shooting from the hip, Ninja style =) The shorter ow also costs less, but I'll probably go for the longer Kodiak Magnum.

Once I got to shoot the bow of the guy who had the world's distance record (back in 1967) and he had a very small bow which you only pulled back about15" or so.