PEEP PROBLEMS
A couple of years ago I went through a few weeks when I had a ton of issues with my bow. I love archery. It’s an amazing sport. When I get into a zone while standing out on the firing line and it’s just me, my bow and the target, it’s a great feeling. But with highs come lows. When something is wrong with my bow it is one of the most frustrating things to experience. I don’t do my own maintenance on my bow. I take it to someone to tune it and fix it. Mostly because I do not have the space, the equipment to do it and in some cases I lack the knowledge. I got a bit of an education this week though.
I received a new custom bow string at the beginning of the May from Mean Moose Archery. It’s the first time I’ve changed my string on the bow and I decided I would change my rest at the same time. I took it to a local place where I have shopped before and they recommended the place I got the string. He was able to take it that day and got my bow back by the end of the day. I was excited! He showed me the paper tune and it was perfect. The next day I went to a range. I started shooting and the bow felt great. It felt the best it has ever felt. Than all of a sudden my peep sight fell out. I was shocked. It has never fallen out before. For those reading who have not used a compound bow a peep site is a small tube/circle that is inserted into the string of the bow to create an opening. At full draw you look through the opening and line it up with your site.
When I first got my bow the peep kept moving around on me so I took it to a shop while I was up north called The Archery Place. They tied my peep in and didn’t have an issue after that. Until now. I took the bow into the shop at the range. He put the bow on the press and put the peep back in. I asked him about tying it in and he said you don’t tie tube sights in. He moved the knots on either side of the sight down and said it was fine. I was feeling a little sore from shooting and decided to call it a day. That was one of the mistakes I made throughout this. I should have put my bow through its passes to make sure it was ok but I didn’t.
The next week I took it to the outdoor range and after about 12 shots the peep came out again. This time it was Sunday afternoon and nowhere was open to take it. My boyfriend took the bow in Monday morning and told them what was happening. It was a different guy but they put the peep in and said it was ok. I went back to the outdoor range that night shot another dozen and the peep popped out again. At this point I was beyond frustrated. I figured the peep popping out had to do with some sort of vibration but didn’t know what to do. I called Mean Moose this time. I told them what was happening and they said they didn’t know what the problems was but wanted to see the bow to see if they could tell. Lucky for me they are local and I met with them at a Tim Hortons. Within seconds they saw the string was untwisted. They explained the string has upwards 48 twists in it and it’s packaged in a specific way and it’s supposed to be installed without letting go of the ends. They told me I would have to go back to the store and tell them to reinstall the string and twist the string counterclockwise from the bottom cam. Their bow press was in storage otherwise they would have taken care of it. I looked at them like a deer in the head lights and asked where I should go? I didn’t feel confident in the shop I had taken in to. They explained that this could have been a very honest mistake and it’s an easy mistake to make. They offered to take the bow and use a friend’s bow press and would fix it. They also recommended a different peep sight.
On my bow I had a tube peep sight. With this sight there is a rubber tube attached to one of the strings and to the sight. The problems with these sights are: no places to tie it in properly, the tube could snap and hit you in the face/eye and they are small.
The next day I got a phone call. My bow was ready! They were fast! They told me it was worse than they thought. The person who installed the string noticed it became untwisted and tried to re-twist it but in the wrong direction. It was all fixed up and retuned with the new peep. It was much bigger than the tub and tied in. It wasn’t going anywhere. They took some time to show me some ways to clean my string and what to do if my peep rotates when my string relaxes. It was great service and my bow is shooting great!
