I shot the Monster and a County record

Today was our club's first outdoor trophy shoot, and the first round outdoors I have shot with the new Mathews Monster since I got it on Wednesday.

We shot a St.George round (9 doz arrows over 100/80/60 yards) and shot a total of 932 out of 972 points which is a Surrey county record.

My first impressions of the Monster is what a fantastic shooting machine. The good shots are rewarded with lovely groups, but bad shots can be punished. But it is so fast, quiet and shock free on release.

I have fitted Monster 7 modules to smooth out the draw (same cams), so its not so harsh, but 55lbs does feel quite heavy but that will ease over time.

My draw length is a little long but I will make these adjustments on the cables rather than new modules, and the overall mass weight is a little heavy, so I need to pay around with the stabilisation. These are tweaks that can be made over the coming weeks.

The Cartel Triple 300 arrows (130gn points) are a great match for this bow, nice and heavy and stable in flight. They work out at about 380gns in total. Even at 55lbs, the Monster has no trouble getting them to 100yards.

I have my first outdoor external competition on Sunday next week (York round @ Andover) and look forward to unleashing the beast!

Practice update and a new bow on the horizon...

I have started to ramp up the shooting a bit now and am looking to perfect my shot execution, looking at the technical aspects in much more detail.

On Wednesday I shot a Worcester round, and apart from one horrible punch (that occurred because I spent so long aiming my brain decided to just let go), I shot well and finished on my usual 298 (I'll get that pesky 300!).

Over the Easter weekend I have spent outdoors shooting @ 70m, and despite not feeling 100% (Kidney stone and stomach bug), and the wind being really tricky I shot some great shots. One one end of 9 arrows I planted 8 of them in the 10, with one just outside in the 9.

This was possible because I relaxed the bow hand, had good thumb pressure on the trigger. All that was needed was a steady aim and the shot was there. My aim was very steady, hardly moving off the centre, and with good timing it was generally a 10/9 or at worst an 8 with the wind blasting through halfway up the range.

I was shooting my old Cartel Triple 300's, with 130gn points. I cant reach 90m with these, but at 70m I can and I was pleased I got them back out. Despite the wind, they tracked very straight with the heavy points.

I have noticed that to get good thumb contact on the trigger, I need to move my hand forward a bit, and I cant get the back of the hand to fully relax. I am going to order the Carter trigger extension piece, that will bring the trigger back to a more natural position, where I can wrap my thumb around the trigger without "searching" for it.

Finally, there is a new bow arriving, hopefully next week. I love the Drenalin, but it only punches out 260fps with a 325gn arrow. With my anchor point and shooting style, I can only just get 90m, with the sight fully in and down. This leaves me with no room to spare, and I am very close to the fletchings hitting the scope.

The Monster (6" brace height version), will mean I will have plenty to spare with my sight marks and hopefully about 30fps extra.

The only question is arrows. I am going to see if the Easton Axis FMJ's perform (got three already to test), as well as seeing if the Cartel 300's work. I do have my eye on Easton's new ACG's as well, which is my likely choice to be honest.

As for my Drenalin, I am keeping this for indoors. Its a great bow, and I would be stupid to let this go.