my new toys and review

[Foxtail]

So, I have had a crush on this Checkmate Firebird ever since I seen it hanging on the wall at Boormans in New West almost a year ago. I felt they were asking a bit too much for it, so I figured I would try to find a used one. That proved to be a futile effort. Then a Checkmate Falcon Special came up for a really good deal on the board here so I grabbed it.

But still that Firebird was in the back of my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then for Christmas my parents gave me some cash(oh my goodness, it's just what I wanted ) So I decided to go have another look at that Firebird if it was still there.

It was... But so were some other very pretty bows that said Checkmate Hunter td on them, but they looked different. One was a beautiful black and grey riser with accents and matching limbs 45# @ 28" and 56" and the other was a red and brown 52" bow 52# @ 28"... Hmmm thosed don't look like hunter td's. In fact there was a hunter td there to compare... They were similar but not the same. They were actully cascade archery models that never went to cascade... Cool. So I shot them all and still kept coming back to the Firebird. At 56" long and 57# @28" it is heavier than my current bows but I dont notice it at all.

[Foxtail]

I got them to knock the price down and went home with my new pride and joy. I only got to shoot it a few times the other night before it got too dark and the rains moved in, but enough to start tuning it. At 20 yards I had a respectable 6 arrow group at 6" and with a few twists of the string I shrunk that to 4" with the next group and it got much quieter. I will say this is the fastest recure I have ever shot. It smokes my heavy full length 65-80 cabelas carbon hunters with 125grn tips.

Here they are.

[Foxtail]

Falcon Special

[RoscoeP]

Very nice bows, I have not seen one of his bows before with the limbs attached on the back of the riser like "Black Widows" Did those bolts come with that bow?
Here is a pic of my Take down hunter lll, sorry I should have strung it up and taken from the other side. It is 48 # @ 28" and very fast, he makes nice bows for sure.
Just put in the Buy & sell Jan 9th.

[NorBC]

Very cool. My next hobby!

[Foxtail]

Honestly I could find almost no info on the Firebird when doing my research. Just that anyone that owned one either loved and was keeping it or loved and didnt know why they had sold it. They are not made anymore and there is only a couple pictures of them online. Of the ones I had seen, none had the throughbolts that this one has. This one may have been a prototype as it was a leftover from the original owners in abbotsford.

[greybark]

Hey Foxtail , great scoop . The Raven is most efficent and thus the fastest of the Chek-Mate bows . Few Bowyers used Babinga in the riser but CM did quite a few and love that character in yours .
The Firefly is the real scoop here and years ago One of the most noted Bowyers in the USA bought one for his Wife . So impressed he named it the Talon and to this day it is one of his stalworths (modified of course). He also stated that Bowyer Marc has built more bows than anyone and is still going !
I suspect that someone over tightned the limb bolts and pulled out the built in (concealed) anchour bolt . No problem !!!!!
Cheers

[Foxtail]

Thanks Ken, I don't mind the through bolts at all. I might try to find something a bit duller than the knurled knobsas they are pretty bright and I want to hunt with this bow next year. There is apparently a 3d in poco on Saturday I might go to. Other than that I will be at the indoor in abby with a small arsenal

[The Hermit]

Nice looking bows!! I love shooting my Chek-Mates!

[Tuffcity]

I've got the precursor to the firebird... jokingly referred to as the "wannabe" at the time, probably because it looked like a BW. Not many of these made, and I suspect even less resold. The design was originally 60".



RC