Big Jim Mountain Monarch

60" AMO 48# @ 28" 2-piece takedown review

Big Jim's Bow Company based out of Albany, Georgia has a history of crafting beautiful, one-of-a-kind custom bows that shoot as well as they look.  If you read my review of Big Jim's Thunder Child, you know I like his work.  Without much fanfare, Big Jim recently released a new recurve called the Mountain Monarch.  I only just learned of this new model while browsing the classifieds listings of the ArcheryTalk forums and came across someone selling a mint condition Monarch.  Apparently, he purchased it directly from Big Jim himself at a local shoot and found it to be a tad heavy in draw weight.  Even better is the fact that this bow is a 2-piece takedown - you all know how much I like takedown bows.  A few messages later, the Monarch was on its way to me.


**** 09/04/17 Update ****

I had sent the bow back to Big Jim for grip modifications.  Check the end of the post for more details.



- Riser -

Being a 50s style recurve, the Mountain Monarch (I'll refer to it as the MM from here on) has a relatively short riser and long limbs.  This particular model has a riser made from California buckeye burl which has a remarkable grain pattern that photos just cannot do justice.  Somewhat hidden in the middle of the burl wood is a solid beam of G10 glass.  Because this MM is a takedown, the G10 is there to serve as reinforcement for the sleeve/socket system.  You can very clearly see the resin in the sight window as it shows up obviously as a black section.  However, the black G10 in the window does not look bad or even out of place.  It provides a nice bit of contrast with the burl and blends nicely with the black beavertail wrapped grip.

Shelf side view of the riser.  Note the black G10 insert in the window.

Other side of the riser.  Check out the beautiful California buckeye burl grain!

The shelf is cut past center (it looks about 1/8" past by my eye), and is nicely crowned for arrow clearance.  As mentioned earlier, the window is made of the G10 glass and is also crowned.  In conversing with Big Jim, I learned all of his bows now feature a G10 glass beam in the riser for reinforcement due to shelves being cut past center.  I always prefer a shelf cut like this for the greater ease in arrow tuning.  Arrows that are slightly stiff or weak can be more easily brought into line with a little bit of tweaking of the strike plate thickness.

An archer's perspective of the sight window.  I like how Big Jim fits the beaver tail grip intimately around the sight window.

The grip is a low-wrist height (possibly low-medium) and is wrapped in beavertail leather.  There is a hint of the thumbrest and the grip overall feels comfortable, but the throat feels a tad on the thicker side for me.  As you may already know from my past postings, I like a medium-high grip with a slim throat and the MM's grip is on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Since my entry into traditional bows some years ago, I have been trying to acclimate to lower grips since this is more the norm among these types of bows.  Small risers like the MM's often either cannot be made to suit a high pistol-type target grip, or would look ridiculous if shaped in that fashion.  Fortunately, the MM grip has enough of a locator-type fit to my hand that I can find a comfortable position for it.  I just hope I can get over the thicker feeling throat.  I will state, this is not a strike against the MM or Big Jim.  The bow was not custom built for me (and may not have been for the previous owner, either) so it stands to reason that the grip can be hit or miss depending on the shooter.



- Takedown system -

Slick, solid, and stealthy is how I would describe Big Jim's takedown system.  The system is a Locket-socket type that is completely hidden underneath the beavertail grip.  With the bow braced up, one would never know it is a takedown.  Once unbraced, the two halves slip apart with a firm tug and go back together with similar ease.  No tools, no fuss, simplicity at its best.  Despite the simple nature of the takedown system, it is incredibly solid and exhibits absolutely no rocking of the two halves, even when unbraced.

The takedown system.  Simplicity at its finest.  Note the wonderful figure of the burl in the tenon section.

Closer examination of the takedown system reveals this is more than just a simple Locket-socket.  The male end features a black glass capped tip and has two additional grooves in the sides that add increased rigidity and surface area in contact with the sleeve.  The female end is a carbon fiber and glass wrapped sleeve that has two corresponding lands that key into the grooves on the male end.  Both pieces are smooth, suggesting this was more than just a simple cut-and-wrap procedure.  Big Jim has a 10-part series on YouTube detailing his process for making his takedown bows.  The process is specific and detailed, but results are outstanding.

A head-on view of the socket and tenon.  Note the grooves that help increase the precision of fitment.

With the Thunder Child, I was bale to take the bow out of my quiver, assemble it, and brace it up all in about 5 seconds.  That is less time than it would take to fully screw in the limb bolt of a 3-piece takedown.  With the MM, I took longer because I do not like the push-pull method for bracing up recurves.  Longbows lack the recurved limb tips and do not risk being twisted if a push-pull (or step-through) stringing method is done poorly.  With a recurve, I always try to use a bow stringer to avoid risking bow damage.  It just isn't worth it with such a nice bow.

The MM in its most compact state.  Note the curl in the unbraced limbs.  Seems a tad more than conventional recurves.

- Limbs -

The working part of the MM consists of Action-boo cores with a layer of black Uni-Weft between them for increased torsional stability.  Spalted myrtle burl veneers lie under a layer of clear glass.  I do like the aesthetics of spalted woods due to the more highly figured grain patterns caused by the fungi in the spalting process.  As with any natural product, the pattern and coloration is unique and that makes each piece a one-of-a-kind bow.

A side shot of the laminations in the limb.  The black stripe in the middle is not carbon, but black Uni-Weft glass for stability.

The MM is a recurve and has long limbs like the typical 50s style recurve.  The tips have a bit more pronounced hook to them in the unbraced state, and they appear to retain a majority of the hook when braced up.  The draw of this long-limbed bow is very smooth.  Smooth to the point that I wondered if the MM is a static tip recurve.  Big Jim confirmed that it is not a static tip, but the tips to maintain their curl longer in the draw and that helps keep the draw smooth towards the end as the curl helps improve the mechanical leverage the string has on the rest of the limb.

A direct view of the spalted myrtle burl veneer.  

The limb tips on the MM are small and pointed and have a very attractive cap of horn overlaid on them.  As a result, the tips are reinforced and can accept modern low-stretch string materials.  The included flemish string is a FastFlight material and has a 20 strand count with two wool silencers pre-installed.  20 strands seems to be a bit thick and it is thicker than what I usually use.  The nice thing about thicker strings is they are more stable and do not creep or stretch as much as a skinny 10 strand string.  A skinnier string will likely lead to a few more FPS due to less mass weight, but the stability in not having your brace height change frequently is a benefit that outweighs the very tiny performance loss, in my opinion.

Small and attractive antler-accented limb tips are Fast-Flight compatible.

- Tuning -

The MM is listed 48# @ 28" and my digital scale at home reads 47.4# @ 28".  Pretty darn close!  Most bowyers have a +/-2# tolerance, but this one is pretty much spot on.  It might actually be right on and there may be a slight difference in how far I drew the bow or if my scale was a touch out of calibration.  At my 27" draw length, the MM came in dead on at 45#.  Perfect!  I often request 45# @ 27", but usually end up with slight variances lighter or heavier.

Pulling the bow on my drawboard, it was evident to me that the limb tips did hold their curl very well and the string was just past the lift point where it came off the limb at my draw.  This is normal with static recurves, but working recurves often will have their lift points much earlier in the draw and the tips will open up significantly more towards anchor.  Particularly, a 60" working recurve will usually have the tips opened up and well past vertical for my 27" draw.  Static tips often will stay vertical or even before vertical at anchor.  At any rate, it is safe to say the 60" MM limbs work to my advantage given my 27" draw length.

I think the ram medallion is a neat touch.  If you can't make out the words, it reads, "Full Curl Series".

With 45# on the fingers, I knew my usual arrows would likely spine in just fine if not a touch weak.  I planned to use the same arrows I shoot out of my Centaur Triple Carbon - the Gold Tip Warrior 500.  Shafts are cut to 29.25" and have two 5" feathers at the rear and a 50gr. aluminum insert in the front, capped with a 175gr. screw-in point.  The arrows are 460gr. total weight, giving me a 10.2GPP (grains per pound) load with the MM.  I always like a load of at least 9GPP to minimize stress on the limbs and keep things shooting quietly.

The previous owner of the bow stated he had barely shot it and I could tell.  The hair strike plate and Velcro shelf pad had no wear on them and the string looked new.  A single brass nock locator was crimped on the string.  Nock fit was a bit loose with my Gold Tip nocks, so I removed the brass locator and carefully cut off the center serving.  When I apply center serving, I use plumbers' tape to first pad out the string to the desired thickness so that once I serve over it, the center serving will be at the ideal size for proper nock fit.  I generally prefer a slightly tighter nock fit so as to prevent accidental dry-fires from a nock slipping off the string just before the loose.  That and I can also custom fit the center serving to be only as much as I need to minimize mass weight where it would rob the string of the most performance.  For this string, I used Brownell Diamondback 0.022" serving.

Full specs of the MM.

Now that the string was served up properly, I was able to discern the proper nock height and tied in my usual two locators with Brownell #4 serving thread.  A quick check with the bow square indicated the MM has a tiller of about 1/4" positive, suggesting it might have originally been intended for a splint-finger release.  This often results in a slightly higher nock height when used with a 3-under release, but I found the bareshafts to tell me a different story.  I always bareshaft tune my bows and let them tell the story objectively.  Apparently, the MM likes a nock height a hair above level and bareshafts consistently confirmed that.  It might have to do with the lower grip resulting in more pressure being applied by the heel of my palm.  I also noted the bareshafts were impacting the block with nocks a little to the left, indicating a weak tune.  This is normally what I try to tune for - a bareshaft that tunes slightly weak since I often end up short-drawing more likely than over-drawing, a weak tune would result in better arrow flight in such an event.

The MM came with a string that already had wool silencers tied on.  I usually prefer to tune without the silencers so I can adjust brace for the quietest shot, but I left them on so as to not have to tie them on again later.  I'm lazy.  Big Jim recommended a brace range of 7.5 - 8.25".  I started at the low end and twisted my way up to the upper limit and found the MM preferred a brace right at 7.5".  It shot the quietest and also had the least amount of post-shot vibration and noise.  As expected of a Big Jim bow, the MM was quiet shooting and needed no more than the string silencers to keep it hushed.

For the numbers, the complete bow weighs in at 1.94# or 31 ounces.  A 5-shot speed average came in at 167.1 FPS shooting a load of 10.2GPP.  I did not have anyone coaching me to ensure I achieved a solid anchor with each shot, so I surmise the bow is capable of slightly higher numbers if I consistently drew to a true 27".  The measured speeds put the MM firmly in between my longbows and recurves for performance.  It was faster than the longbows, but not quite up there with the carbon/foam limbed recurves.  It may not be as fast, but it sure looks a lot nicer.



- Shooting -

As usual with the majority of my bows, I take my first shots in the comfort of my basement range at home.  The MM was as tuned in as I could get it so I set about seeing how the bow shot and how well I could shoot it.  As expected, the first thing I noticed about the bow was the low grip and the thicker grip throat.  While comfortable, the grip required more pressure from the heel of my palm than I was used to, and that resulted in large groups on the target block.  It took a little playing around with my bow hand and trying various positions to create a solid and repeatable grip.  I did eventually settle upon a good grip and it worked out fairly well during my basement range session.  I was able to shrink groups down to about soup-can sized, but they were still noticeably larger than with my Centaur Triple Carbon Elite with the really nice custom grip.  I think a bit more practice with the MM will result in groups getting smaller, but it really does go to show how important a good grip is being that it is the most solid connection the archer has to the bow.

The full MM braced up and ready to shoot.  Can you even tell this is a takedown bow?

A review would not be complete without a trip out to a range for some longer range shooting and back I was at my local club and at the usual walking loop.  The first bale is set to 35 yards and that is the one I often will sit at for a few ends if there is nobody waiting.  Regular readers of my blog will recall that most of my bows end up with a point-on distance of about 30 yards give or take and I like to use this bale as a means to discern that value with any given bow to help with the rest of the targets in the loop.  Unsurprisingly, the MM came in with a point-on just above 30yds.

Once that was settled, I moved onto the next bale and continued on shooting at whatever the next distance was, even the 80 yard bale.  As expected, the 80 yard shots were abysmal with only a couple arrows finding their mark on the bale.  At that range, the safest thing out there is the bale itself, since I hit that the least.  Surprisingly, I did not lose any arrows shooting further out than 40 yards. As I made my way through the loop, I found myself wanting a slimmer grip throat.  The low grip was now becoming a familiar feeling, but the grip throat was something that my thumb and index finger seemed to take issue with.  I was shooting pretty well, but every time I picked up the MM, the nagging feeling came back.  I think I may have the MM pay a visit to Big Jim for a little grip work if I can't get over it.

I really wanted to give the MM a chance and so, gave myself more time to acclimate to the grip and went out to the range again.  It was a couple weeks since my first outing with the MM and I had dedicated myself to shooting it exclusively.  By this time, the grip did feel much better and the throat was not feeling as thick and bothersome.  At home, I was able to maintain the usual soup can groups on the target block without much effort.  This time, I was accompanied with my good buddy, Luis, who shoots a longbow and had shot with me back when I reviewed the Dryad ACS-LBX limbs.  It has been a while since he had gone out shooting due to work and family obligations (the fate of all working dads) so we took our time working our way through the loop.  The additional time with the MM paid off and I was putting up tighter groups from the start.  Luis shot a few ends with the MM and commented on the smoothness of the draw.  He draws 28" and his bow is rated at 50#.  He has larger hands than I do and liked the grip, particularly the beavertail leather.  He was surprised the bow is a takedown and didn't know it till I took it apart when we packed up to leave (I brought it to the range braced up).  I think I may have sold him on Big Jim's bows since he immediately hopped on Big Jim's website on his phone once we sat down for lunch at a local restaurant.



- Final thoughts -

What can I say?  Another fine bow from Big Jim.  What really drew me to the MM was the gorgeous buckeye burl riser and the smooth and minimalist 50s styling.  As much as I like to say I value the shooting properties of a bow more than aesthetics, I have to admit that I do enjoy a beautiful bow.  The photos in my blog really cannot do the bow justice and it is something that has to be seen in person.  The grain has an almost 3D effect when viewed at the right angle and it truly looks wonderful under sunlight.  The spalted myrtle limb veneers are just as beautiful and blend harmoniously with the riser.  I also felt Big Jim did very well with blending the aesthetics of the buckeye burl with the black G10 glass reinforcement beam in the sight window.  Like I mentioned above, I feel it looks good and not at all out of place.

If I can say there is a negative to the MM it would be the grip.  To be fair, this is not a custom bow and I acquired it 2nd handed, so grips vary.  I also am of the understanding that my hands may be a tad on the smaller side ( I can wear small/medium gloves), so that makes even normal sized grips possibly feel large to me.  Really, the only thing that bothered me about the grip was the thicker throat.  The lower wrist height was not a problem once I got used to it, but having a thicker throat kind of feels like trying to grip a telephone pole.  I was pleased that I was able to get used to the thicker grip after a couple weeks with the MM.  I didn't want to write it off for that reason, nor did I want to get in the 15+ month queue for a custom one.  Seems all the good bowyers have really long wait times...





*** 09/04/17 Update ****

I recently decided to send both the Mountain Monarch and the Thunder Child back to Big Jim for grip modifications.  I spent a bit of time conversing with Big Jim over e-mail and gave him specific descriptions and photos trying to detail how I would like the grips to be.  With any kind of custom work on something as personal as a grip, it can be a hit-or-miss deal.  I think it helps that while I am fairly specific about my bow grips, I can also be rather adaptable.  Also, Big Jim was very good about prompt communication and trying to get the grips exactly the way I wanted.  I am pleased to report the grip work he did turned out well and I am pleased with the result.

Specifically, I requested he thin the grip throat all around and build up the wrist height to that of a medium.  Small risers like what the MM has do not lend themselves well to having massive pistol-type target grips.  I suppose Big Jim could have built up the grip in such a manner, but it would totally ruin the svelte 50s style aesthetic the bow has.  The small mound of glass that he built up on the palm swell area does wonders for my bow hand in terms of comfort and achieving a consistent pressure area.

 

A little side-by-side comparison of the grip before (top) and after (bottom)

I took both bows out to my club's range to give them a try.  At the walk-through range, I make my way station to station shooting a 5-arrow end with each bow before moving on to the next.  While I did ask Big Jim to make the grips identical, the two bows are different enough that I was all over the bale accuracy-wise.  I did find myself shooting better with the Thunder Child, likely due to the draw weight being a couple pounds lighter than the MM.  At any rate, my goal that day was not to shoot for score, but to assess the grip modifications.  I am pleased to say both bows are more comfortable to shoot and I am quite pleased with the work Big Jim did.