Well, well. Look what popped in the mail yesterday thanks to Amazon same day shipping :
Tripod courtesy of Target:
Up for trial are the usual suspects plus a few more not shown:
So here's the list:
Saluki Crimean Tatar Hybrid: 65@30"
Golhan Turk Bow: 58@28"
YMG Korean: 55@31"
Mariner 'Han I'/Khotanese: 50@32"
HMG Korean: 45@31"
Saluki Damascus: 40@30"
All of these were chronied with a 32 inch in total length four fletched Goldtip 5575 arrow and drawn to 32 inches with the exception of Golhan's Turk bow since it really only permits a 30 inch draw at best and so that's what I drew it to.
So with out further adieu, here are max speeds within observable range relative to other readings I was getting:
Saluki Crimean Tatar Hybrid: 222 fps
Golhan Turk Bow: 183 fps
YMG Korean: 216 fps
Mariner 'Han I'/Khotanese: 173 fps (note: average speeds were actually 160-163...may be more of an anomaly)
HMG Korean: 186 fps
Saluki Damascus: 181 fps
Consistent with previous reports here the Crimean Tatar Hybrid performs extraordinarily well though because characteristics vary so much among my bows its perhaps not entirely fair to strut it about the place although one other gentleman who posted here in the past got a score of 207 fps if memory serves well with his 40# Crim Tatar by Saluki. Say what you want about Lukas, the man makes a pretty damn good product in terms of fps and the penetration of this particular bow is very good even with my relatively skinny carbon.
And of course the Koreans do extremely well in this area, right up there with Lukas' products. Matter of fact the 45# HMG's results were the big surprise of the day for me. That bow was a fraction of the cost of all the others here, isn't nearly as pretty, yet has no trouble at all casting an arrow at a relatively respectable speed.
Also consistent with what I've heard is of course the Mariner. I love this bow actually and I think really if one is going to start learning thumbring shooting Asiatic archery they should really begin with these bow since they're so easy to use/comfortable. I even taught a noob once how to do this type of archery with one of them and it went extraordinarily well. Unfortunately they're on the slower side but its pretty consistent with what Justin Ma would tell you. Regardless, I'm probably going to pick up a Yuan style bow by Mariner in the near future.
Other interesting thing to note are my speeds with the Golhan. They were clustering all more around the 180-183 range provided my draw was just right. Very different from the 190 to 201 scores I was hearing about but then again I don't remember what the grain per pound factor was in that video so it may just be that.
So there you have it. No secret facebook pages, no propaganda, no nonsense, just pure unadulterated 'crucible of truth'.
Unfortunately, I don't have a NitwitFire horse bow, but if you're in the Mid-Atlantic area and want it chronied, drop me a line and I'll gladly red pill the heck out of that thing.
And I even had time today to make Bulgarian burek:
Now I'm the tr00 Bulgar master-Hunnic Warlord of the steppes! And I ain't even Bulgarian.