Bear Kodiak Magnum Question

[Bernie Clancey]

#3718

I am trying to set up a “new to me” Kodiak Magnum. It seems to be a somewhat noisy bow, and I believe what I am hearing is string slap, but it is hard to tell. There is nothing on the bow, no quivers, stabilizer, etc. I am shooting off the shelf, no raised rest.

I have been adjusting the brace height to try to eliminate the noise and I have gone from about 8-1/8″ and I am now at 8-5/8 inches and I think I am seeing an improvement.

Do you think a brace height of about 8-3/4″ will hurt the bow. It looks like I am going to have to go that high to eliminate the noise.

The bow is 48lbs at 28 inches and I draw it about 28 inches.

[corpsman89]

#22749

I’m copying this from 3Rivers so i don’t know from personal experience, but according to them you cain’t hurt the bow by adjusting brace height, but you can hurt arrow flight.

(From 3Rivers) If you brace a bow too low, the feathers will hit the shelf before the nock leaves the string. The arrow actually stays on the string past the brace height measurement. It travels forward a bit before pulling itself loose. If the feathers come into contact with the shelf before the nock clears the string, your arrow flight will be erratic. You’ll be prone to having the string slap your wrist with ultra-low brace heights too. The bow will be a bit smoother and pull a little less at the lower brace heights and conversely if you short-string your bow, the weight will increase slightly and the angle of string pinch will increase. :!:You can’t hurt a bow with a high brace height, but you can hurt performance. The bow will pull harder and the short string will force the limbs to stop short in their travel path, robbing you of energy.:!: You should be looking for the “sweet spot” – that special brace height where the bow feels good during the draw and release, and your arrow flight is crisp, clean, and straight

[Bernie Clancey]

#22797

Well I am still looking for the sweet spot but it is improving. I did notice it getting harder to pull, and a bit of finger pinch, but it is getting quieter. If too high a brace height won’t hurt the bow, I will keep going till I get it quiet, then start back down to see if I can find a sweet spot.

Thanks for the info.

[mhay]

#22820

If you are using an endless loop string you can twist them too much , which will cause a noisy bow too.

[mhay]

#22823

The Bear Traditional Bow Owners Manual shows the Kodiak Magnum as a 52 inch bow with a brace height of 7-8 inches .

[Bernie Clancey]

#22864

mhay wrote: If you are using an endless loop string you can twist them too much , which will cause a noisy bow too.

I am using a Flemish twist string. Been making them for years and I love the looks of them. I think you can also twist them too much as well.

[Bernie Clancey]

#22866

mhay wrote: The Bear Traditional Bow Owners Manual shows the Kodiak Magnum as a 52 inch bow with a brace height of 7-8 inches .

Yes, I also saw that but it is really noisy between 7 & 8 inches. I think mine has to go higher.

Thanks all of you for the info. Keep it coming if you have any more ideas.

[Charles Ek]

#23655

You might consider adding Quviut String Silencers. I have them on my 1958 Kodiak and folks often remark on how quiet the bow is. (I don’t shoot super heavy arrows, only a little over 10 grains per pound of draw weight, so it’s probably not primarily due to arrow weight.)

I think they’re available at various trad retailers as well as the link above.

[mhay]

#23667

My Super Kodiak came with a Flemish string . Like you said , they are good looking strings . I spent a lot of time trying to get my bow quiet with the flemish . Padded limbs,,,several types of string silencers ,,,brace height . Went back to my home grown endless loop , with minimal twist and now she is very quiet .

[Bernie Clancey]

#24729

eidsvolling wrote: You might consider adding Quviut String Silencers. I have them on my 1958 Kodiak and folks often remark on how quiet the bow is. (I don’t shoot super heavy arrows, only a little over 10 grains per pound of draw weight, so it’s probably not primarily due to arrow weight.)

I think they’re available at various trad retailers as well as the link above.

I am not a big fan of string silencers, but in this case I might give them a try. It might allow me to drop the brace height back down closer to 8 inches. Thanks, good suggestion.

[Bernie Clancey]

#24730

mhay wrote: My Super Kodiak came with a Flemish string . Like you said , they are good looking strings . I spent a lot of time trying to get my bow quiet with the flemish . Padded limbs,,,several types of string silencers ,,,brace height . Went back to my home grown endless loop , with minimal twist and now she is very quiet .

Love my flemish twist strings. I will tolerate a little noise to stick with them, but again, I appreciate hearing about your experiments and what worked for you.

[shreffler]

#27298

if you’re not using string silencers and are going to add some (which I highly recommend you do if you’re having noise problems), might try heterodyning them because it could only help. Here’s the article.

https://www.tradbow.com/public/Heterodyning.cfm

[Bernie Clancey]

#30429

shreffler wrote: if you’re not using string silencers and are going to add some (which I highly recommend you do if you’re having noise problems), might try heterodyning them because it could only help. Here’s the article.

https://www.tradbow.com/public/Heterodyning.cfm

Thanks for the article. Interesting!!! I think I am going to try some wool silencers. I am not certain, but I think my problem may be more of an arrow slap then the bow itself. If the silencers don’t sacrifice too much speed they just might be the answer to bow noise. I’ll have to work on the arrow noise if that is what it is. Will try some mole skin on the riser to start.

[Bernie Clancey]

#45957

I made some yarn silencers and installed them on the string today. Shot about 20 arrows thru it and it is really quiet. I also dropped the brace height back down to 8 inches, and it remains very quiet.

I followed the method in the heterodyning article and placed the silencers 1/4 down from the top and 1/3 up from the bottom. Seems to work very well and helped get the brace height back into the proper range as recommended by Bear Archery.

Now I’ll have to look into some of those fancy fur sting silencers, although my camo yarn puff balls don’t look too bad. Thanks to all who have offered some assistance with your reaponses. Much appreciated.

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