Home > Bow Reviews > Bearpaw Scythian Style Horsebow
Bearpaw Scythian Style Horsebow
Reviewed By Steve , 25 September 2010
Folks... you don't have to own a horse to shoot a horsebow, I only say that because there must be a reason why so few folks shoot this style of bow given their incredible performance. The option of a genuine Horn/Sinew bow is out there and truth be told I have seen very few and shot even fewer, there are however a plethora of Horse bows made with modern materials, take this cracking example from Beier
In the style of bow favoured by the Scythians this short bow measures just 50", tip to tip and it looks like a bow even unstrung, that's when you realise that to string it you will be stressing the limbs in entirely the opposite direction.
The bow is made from Ash and Beech with a black glass covering which makes for a very "contemporary" look, upon picking it up you will be struck by the light weight and the slinky feel of the uncovered riser area. With this style of bow a bow stringer is essential (I know we should always use a bow stringer but I guess I am not too different from many archers who will push/pull a bow to string it) with so much tension there is a real danger of injury or a limb twist if you don't. The limbs are thin and the nocks look quite delicate and pointy.
Horse bows always feel to me to be easier to draw than a similar weight longbow and I guess that has much to do with the Siyah style recurved tips which act in much the same way as a compound "let off" works. The result is a very sweet and smooth drawing bow which feels as if it could be drawn to Birmingham - in reality the makers suggest that a draw of 29" is as far as it should be drawn - the recommended brace of 5 1/2" sounds low to a longbow shooter but works well given the shape of the bow. This particular bow draws up at 40# at 28" but they are available up to 50# I am told.
These shorter bows are so much fun to shoot that it is easy to just start blasting arrows out willy nilly and as there is no wrap on the handle or a mark to use as an arrow plate the tendency is that once you start shooting your hand will wander up and down the riser, you will of course be shooting off your hand so the relationship between the nock point and arrow rest ( your hand) is constantly changing. The first thing for me is to get a mark where my hand will sit on the riser- having spent more than a decade at the start of my affair with bows shooting an English longbow off my hand the whole process feels very natural to me.
Once I have my mark for my hand it's a question of adjusting the nock point. I should mention at this point that when making your arrows for bows that are shot from the hand you need to take extra care that the front of the quills are ground right down and my preference is for a drop of fletching glue blobbed on to the end - quite recently a friend had to have an operation to remove a rather nasty chunk of fletch and arrow from her hand after shooting an arrow where the fletch had not been glued completely down. There is available a shooting glove for the bow hand ( we have reviewed one under gloves and tabs) and this too will avoid cuts to the bow hand.
Of course the nocking point is crucial in avoiding a lacerated hand and here it pays to tune the bow to avoid such an issue - the good news is that you will know pretty quickly if the nock point is too low....
Once all the prep is done and the arrows chosen it's off to shoot. This little bow has the capacity to just keep surprising you with it's speed and ease of shooting, it's fast and handles beautifully, so light in the hand and very "pointable". I enjoy shooting these bows at quite a cant and I don't really know why I should be surprised at how accurate it shoots. A lot of folks including myself don't probably take these bows as seriously as we should, because they are out of the norm we assume they are novelty bows - I am sure had we the chance to take a little lesson from some Scythians then we would be disabused of that notion in quick time!!
On the chrono it surprises once more with some very respectable figures.
445gn 11.12gn/# 160fps500gn 12.50gn/# 154fps
530gn 13.25gn/# 150 fps
565gn 14.12gn/# 148fps
With hardly any noticeable handshock a cast that has no difficulty with even heavy arrows and a price tag that makes it almost rude not to own one.
| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Features & Design |  |
| A modern take on an ancient bow design - It looks beautiful and sleek the black glass and ash just work so well.. it isn't all about the look though, because this little bow is first and foremost a shooter. | |
| Performance |  |
| Superb performance , not just in terms of speed but also in smoothness and pointability. | |
| Value for Money | |
| At a tad over a hundred quid this little beauty won't break the bank.. | |
| Overall | |
| You will not find this performance anywhere else at this sort of money, it's a slim sleek bow which delivers in every category from performance to looks - it is an easy and fun bow to shoot. | |
Steve Nicholson and Andy Gilfrin, are real archers interested in the best archery suppliers have to offer. In our search for the very best bow, arrows and equipment we have shot, used and worn pretty much everything on offer.
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| Essential Details | |
|---|---|
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What : Bearpaw Scythian Style Horsebow Price : £110 |
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Beech and Ash with black glass from the Beier stable.
40# but draws so smooth you won't believe it.
Elegant tips complete the smooth looks.
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Latest |
Magazine
We were very pleased to give our support to the James Whale Kidney Foundation shoot which we cover in this months magazine. We were also contacted by Lars Pilø with news on the archery related finds on Jovfonna, and while we couldn't get out there ourselves Lars kindly filled in some background information for us.
A mixed bag this month, me in the South West, Geoff putting the record straight, a chat with Keith Stay and the wisdom comes from South Cox of Stalker bows.
We take a tour the length and breadth of the British mainland to visit Scotland with Border Bows, Yorkshire with Aidy Hayes, the Wirral with Jason from thelongbowshop.com, down South with the Company of Canterbury Longbowman, and Geoff is in Spain.
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Quick Links |
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Your Comments
Tell us what you think, do you agree with the review or have something to add?
Posted by: chris stace on Jan 19, 19:35
Hi, I enjoyed the review very much and on the strength of it decided to treat myself to this fun bow. I followed your suggestion and tried The Longbow Shop, but they appear to have no listing for this bow. Any other suggestions as to where I might get hold of one? Cheers, Chris.S.
Posted by: john on Sep 17, 07:57
i cant find this bow anywhere !!!!
has it been discontinued ???
Posted by: Conor on Sep 21, 11:10
Flybowshop.com has these for anyone interested :)
Posted by: Arrush Bharadwaj on Oct 19, 15:46
an even better bow than this is the SAmick SKB. it is available in most archery shops in the UK and it is traditional Korean with modern materials. it can be drawn back to 32”, and has NO handshock. pretty sweet shooter. i have one at 40#, love it.