I am brand new to this, have never shot a bow before, and am teaching myself to prep for a hunt in 4 months. I understand the short answer to this question is "got to an archery shop and have them do it" I do not want to do it this way. I teach myself every new hunt or equipment and want to do the same here. The problem is having never held a bow, the terminology is foreign to me and it's been a struggle. My (first) question sounds dumb to even ask but, here goes: I purchased a PSE Stinger 3G bow, the Ready to Hunt package. Bow showed up, unboxed it, and I cannot pull the string back even more than a few inches. I'm 200 lb and bench press in the 240's so I don't think this is a lack of upper body strength issue. Is there a catch or release or something that needs to be disengaged to allow the string to be drawn?? What am I missing?
Can You take pictures? try to get some close ups of the cams. (the wheels at each end) then a clear picture that show both cams and the string. This might help me or someone see what would be going on.
That is a good idea, probably should have done that for you already. I will do that as soon as I get home from work. Another forum suggested I'm just not used to the draw weight but this thing doesn't budge. It's not that it's just tight I can't move it at all.
Do you know the poundage? If not there are draw weight adjustments you can make on the top and bottom limbs. It's an hex screw at the front of the limb where the limb connects to the riser. (The riser is the upright of the bow)
If it is 2lbs short of the max then it is possible for you not to be able to pull it back. We see it all the time in our shop. No matter how in shape you are or strong, its just muscles that people don't usually often! It just takes time and muscle memory! Hope this helps a bit.
I understand you want to learn everything yourself, etc. but it wouldn't hurt to go by an archery shop and have them help set it up. the worst thing you can do is learn bad form that could lead to an injury. And just like WBH said, bow uses muscles you don't normally use so you need to work your way up.
Well, I'm going to help you out the best I can, and please do not take anything I say as RUDE, because I mean it in no such way First off, was there a zip tie connected from the bow to the string and did you remove it? " Have to ask" second, ok you can bench your weight, which is a relative standard and does not exactly mean your super strong but it means you do have fairly good upper body strength. For instance I'm 185 and I do 315x5 but that won't help me pull my bow back. It's a completely different set of muscle groups, even if you work out and are strong you are using all kinds of weird stabilizer muscles, and your larger muscle groups in a way you are not accustomed to when simply body building or power lifting. That being said. I'm assuming your bow came with 70lb limbs, meaning that it probably came from the factory set at 70-75lbs + or -. Take a paint marker and mark the large set screw located where the limbs connect to the bow, mark it on one side only, and do this for both the top limb set screw and the bottom. My advice is back the set screws of 5 turns and see if you can pull it back at that point. I'm not exactly sure about you're bow but mine is roughly 1lb per full turn of the set screw. The reason you mark the set screw is so you back both of them off the exact same increment, you don't want to end up with one backed off 9 turns and one backed off 7, me personally I don't even want them backed off 1/2 turn different from the other. It can cause problems down the road. So moral of the story I think here, may be.. It's hard to draw a bow when you are not use to it. Adjust the poundage lower until you can pull it without looking all wild and shaky. Practice with it shoot a lot and you will notice it will get easier and easier.. Then at that time you can start going up in poundage. Remember also, I'm not sure of your location- But when it's cold and your sitting in that stand it's a lot harder to pull that bow back then it is when your out in your yard practicing in the warmer weather. So be mindful of that. Good luck, I hope this helped some.
Not rude at all and I really appreciate it. Honestly was thinking it had to be a zip tie or something. That said... no zip tie. The consensus here and on Archery Talk is that this guy simply does not have the bow muscles to pull back a #70. I am honestly shocked and had no idea it was going to be that hard for me to pull back. That said I am not going to argue the advice. Mine is #50-#70 and manual says set within 2lbs of max, so I will dial it back and see what that gets me. Thanks for taking the time to offer some suggestions.
Don't forget to mark your set screws to avoid getting your cam timing/yoke etc out of wack. Let us know how you make out! . Also, it may say 70lbs max, but my bow is really 75 when locked down. So you could be trying to pull 73-75lbs, or 70-68 blah blah.. Either way for a new shooter that's gonna feel like A LOT. Best of luck
Pulling your bow back involves a different set of muscles... I'm 6'0 200 lbs and can lift quite a bit myself but when I shot my first bow, I had to start around 50lbs... It was definitely weird and you will be sore the next day. I've worked my way all the way up to 70#. Just takes time and muscle memorization.
What is ur let off setting? U can adjust the let off on those without a bow press. Could be possible as well that they didn't set the let off. Pse has a guide online that shows u which letter to put it at on the bottom cam. I had to adjust my brother in laws fer him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
^ also a good tip, But since he says he can't even get it to budge backwards were thinking it's poundage, however you bring up a good point.. If it's really hard to hold back once you get it there then you need to adjust your letoff
Oh ok I was jus thinkin with my brother in law's it didn't have any let off nd he couldn't get it pulled back but maybe a few inches. But there r enough of us. We will get ya on track nd shootin in no time Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For a lot of people it is hard to pull a bow back by just pulling the string. Are you using a release?
Marking the limb bolts will do nothing. Just because they are turned out the same doe not mean the tiller will be even. It's best to measure the tiller and that will get the two limbs in sync. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hmm In some very few circumstances maybe, but turn one here turn on there forget where your turning or how many turns and it will throw things off. Of course you can measure the tiller, but you're talking to someone who's literally just picking up a bow for the first time in his life. Were trying to practice the KISS method and not overwhelm him. It's really easy to do an in general good practice.
Thanks for all the help. I backed it down to 50lbs and it draws very easily now. I am starting here and working up.
