2010 Martin Shadowcat *Updated 5-08-10* Replacement bow - Wrong Again!

[haus]

This happened at Tacoma Sportsman's Club this evening. If anyone finds a Gold Tip XT HUNTER 7595 stock length please pm me. Thanks.  
The arrow went sailing, thought I heard it hit up in the tree's to the left of the target range, but not sure exactly....little stunned at the time.

.......1st bottom limb cracked Sunday. Martin had a new set of limbs out to the local pro shop by Wednesday. Got to shoot a little bit yesterday, today on my 11th arrow the bottom limb let loose completely this time as I was pulling back, pretty much clubbed the right side of my face and my buddy that was watchin' said the arrow flipped up and shot off right in front of my mellon. All happened in a flash of course so it was just a blur to me.



Don't have a pic of the first limb. It cracked about 2 inches up the middle right in the same place where the second one came apart at.

Really frustrated......just got into archery in November, been savin' up all winter for a new bow. Really excited to get a bow that fits me.....I'm 6'7" with a 32" DL so the CAT 2.0 equipped Shadowcats 40.5" ATA fits me just perfect.

I think Martin's a great company, their customer service is excellent, they have been great to me, plus they're a local company so I wanted to support them......but after the close call today I'm done for now and will be asking for my money back.

Yes I'm venting, I figured this is what a forums about, you post your experiences, good and bad so that other consumers know. Well here's mine, take it however you want.

[Michelle_Nelson]

6'7"?  Holy crap I'd hate to run into you in a dark alley. 

Seriously though that sucks.  Limbs and strings breaking really had me nervous about getting into archery.  Still has me spooked.  I hate suspense. 

[sisu]

Firearms can "explode", rubbers on spear guns can snap, arrows can break upon release, bow can break, Toyotas can take you on the ride of you life etc.
Personally I'd take the limbs to Martin directly for an examination to see what caused it, but I'd still keep learning my new sport.

[Lowedog]

Just saw a post over on archery talk the other day where a guy had a new Martin blow up in his face.     He got a black eye out of the deal. 

[Woodchuck]

i live here in walla walla where they are built, i know a few of the people there, they want to know about this and they will make it right, give em a call. i can understand you being spooked, but sisu nailed it, doesnt matter where you are or what you are doing machines are machines and they WILL malfunction, just when and how bad, give Martin a chance, they wont disappoint

[dreamingbig]

Don't give up!  Martin makes a good bow but I don't shoot one personally.  I have shot PSE and Hoyt and never had a problem with either manufacturer yet.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

The last compound I bought was a Martin Lynx, the hottest bow out at the time (late '80's) and I still have it and it work great still !
But considering that you have had problems with 2 limbs on the same bow...
Martin is a good company, and will make it up to you, I just dont think that a 32" draw length can be good for the stress related on these newfangled ultra high-speed limbs/cams....
I mean most draw lenths are shorter than 30", I am 6'4" and while I was a 32" draw on my recurve (40#) when I got set up at a pro-shop, my draw length on the compound w/release was 29.5"....
At 32" you are really loading up those limbs...
Ever try out a 62-68" long bow or recurve ?
It might not be as fast, or as accurate at long range, but lots of fun to shoot, and lighter to carry...

[whacker1]

Maybe the solution is shorting up the draw length by extending the D-loop or possibly a longer release.  Maybe it wouldn't tax the limbs quite so much.  It definitely seems like you have a re-occurring problem, and I am sure there is a solution.  Possibly even weaken up the draw weight on the next set of limbs to make sure that you don't have a run in with the trouble you have dealt with so far.  Give them another chance to make it right, but be cautious going forward.   Best of luck

[haus]

The Shadowcats come standard with CAT 1.5 cams with a max draw of 30". They put the CAT 2.0 cams on to get the extra DL. They are also using slightly different limbs specific to the CAT 2.0 cam'd Shadowcats.

[whacker1]

Yes, sounds like you need to figure out a way to shorten your draw length then.  Maybe even go back to the 1.5 cams and limbs.  Maybe the longer release and longer d loop gets you down to 30.5 or 31.  It might not be quite so hard on the limbs.

[haus]

There's no way in hell I'm givin up on archery. Been a rifle/shotgun hunter my whole life, 19 years of hunting, but when I had the chance to hunt a little bit of the '09 late archery deer season I was hooked immediately.

As for Martin. I sent an email last night, included what I said in this post and gave them the link to my duplicate post to this one on AT. I'll be calling them in a few. Unfortunately I don't believe this is in any way an isolated issue to just me, a local pro shop has a new Warthog on the bench that has the same exact limb failure in the same spot as mine both were. If I had not had the second limb failure nor seen another Martin with the same limb failure then I wouldn't have made a stink by posting my experience on here or AT. Martin has a problem in manufacturing that needs fixing.

All that being said I'm so limited in what is available on the market to me that I kinda have to hear what Martin has to say.

[let.it.fly]

sounds to me liek this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. tell them that is would realy suck if you where to get hurt. bows are scary things man. dangerous and capable of inflicting great bodily damage. and with the history of your situation and lawsuit in your favor with be a chip shot. see what they say then.

[haus]

Just got off the phone with Martin Archery.

Offer for replacement or return. Replacement; New updated limbs of a different design and material, new cams, new string/cable at proper length. Would replace the riser to, but I would have to wait for one to come in if I wanted the same color.

Thinkin' this one over.

I also received an email. here's part of it:
"I honestly don\'t what the problem could be. Without seeing your bow in person I may not be able to diagnose the issue. It could be the discrepancy in axle to axle specs and the fact that you are pulling such a long draw but until we see the bow there is no way to say for sure. "

At setup we noticed the ATA/BH was different than the 1.5 CAT cam specs, I called Martin when we saw this and they verified the ATA/BH I had were correct. I'm now told that was an error, the specs are different than the 1.5's but not nearly as much as they were on my bow.

[carpsniperg2]

had not seen to many of theose limbs doing that, some of the older models were know for it but they got the problem fixed up.

[Lowedog]

Sounds like Martin may be having a run of bad limbs. 

Hoyt has the Maxxis 35 with up to a 32" draw.  Bowtech has the Sniper or if you can find a Commander.  There are choices out there for your draw length.