[Archers] SAS Robin Hood Bow Review

[Garth Groff or Sally Sanford]

Good Friends of the Bow,

Recently I purchased two Southland Archery Supply [SAS] 30-35# Robin 
Hood bows for our household's loaner kit.. These are interesting weapons 
that should have a place in our archery program. My thoughts follow.



These are reasonably priced all-fiberglass recurve bows with the usual 
youth archery accessories. They are available in black, and at a 
slightly higher price in faux wood grain. I chose the wood grain, as it 
looks nicer than dull black. I paid $73 each on Amazon Prime with free 
shipping. The black sold for $60. In retrospect, I should have gone with 
the black as it is less likely to show nicks, and they can be touched up 
with a Sharpe pen. I already have a couple boofers in one of my bows 
just from the set-up.

The bows come as a set which is advertised to include an optional arrow 
rest, two arrows, an arm guard, a finger tab, a belt quiver and a target 
face. Neither quiver or target face came with my bows, but that is 
probably no great loss. The two arrows have the typical youth blunt 
points, fiber glass shafts and plastic vanes. I sawed the nocks off mine 
(so they can't accidentally be shot) and added them to our growing 
collection of line markers. The arm guard is a plastic lattice thingy 
that attaches with Velcro. I don't like them, but some of the youngsters 
who shoot in Isenfir may want them as part of their own starter gear. 
The finger tab is vinyl, but well made, and surprisingly fits my adult 
hand pretty well. I keep finger tabs in my loaner kit in case anyone 
asks for one, but don't usually give them out to guests. These will find 
a home among Mallard Lodge's tackle. [I shoot with a simple finger tab 
myself, and like them, but there is a high learning curve to use them 
effectively.]

The bows measure 60". They come pre-strung with a 57" string, and are 
not intended to be unstrung. The string is a longbow type with very 
small loops that barely fit over the plastic limb ends. Even if you 
unstring the bow, they won't slide far enough down the limb to let you 
pull off the lower end. I replaced both strings with 3Rivers recurve 
strings from my stock. As the bows come, they have a brace height of 
about 5", way too short. I chose 56" replacement strings, and set the 
brace height at 7", which seems to be about right for a bow of this size 
and power. The supplied strings are of good quality, and have gone into 
my supplies for possible use on some other youth bow with thinner limbs.

I did not use the optional screw-on arrow rests, but set the bows up to 
shoot right off the arrow shelf. I will probably add a piece of 
glue-backed leather to reduce scratching on my arrows.

I did a few test shots on my 8-yard basement range, and found the bow to 
be reasonably accurate and very easy to use, except the grip on the back 
of the bow is square and a bit uncomfortable on the fingers. Because the 
rear part of the grip is shaped to fit into the archer's palm, a leather 
grip wrap probably won't work here. It would be possible to put a 
partial wrap of some sticky-back leather as sold by 3Rivers (one should 
do for both bows).

I was shooting using my usual 27" pull with my thumb in the corner of my 
lip. The bow can be safely pulled to a full 28" if desired, giving 1.5-2 
additional pounds of force. Supposedly the bow launches arrows at 150 
fps, but this would depend on the draw length of the archer. When I used 
my bow scale, I was a bit disappointed. The maximum draw weight I 
measured when pulling a full 28" to mid-jaw was about 32.5#. At 27", it 
was 29-30. I had hoped for a full 35# at full draw, as that draw weight 
is hard to find and one that is very useful in a loaner kit.

Overall, I think the bows are worth the money, keeping in mind that they 
are effectively 30# weapons. These would be best for teens and small 
ladies. They are comparable in price and value to venerable Bear Titan 
29# bow, and a lot more attractive.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff
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