Browning Cobra - FF String?

[YosemiteSam]

I have a Browning Cobra 50" AMO with some sort of tip overlay.  I don't know when it was made but probably in the 60s or 70s.  Can I safely use a fast flight string on it?  Or should I stick with B50?

[Captain*Kirk]

I have a Browning Cobra 50" AMO with some sort of tip overlay.  I don't know when it was made but probably in the 60s or 70s.  Can I safely use a fast flight string on it?  Or should I stick with B50?

I wouldn't risk it for a few fps. Most of the bows from that era are not FF compatible as FF wasn't even around then.

[Huntschool]

What the "Captain" said is true.  Thats a Dacron string bow.  Dont mess it up by splitting the tips with FF or some other fast string material.

I have an old Black Widow MA with a Dacron string and it shoots close enough to a friends PMA Fast Flight bow that ya cant tell the difference with out a chrono.  Oh yea...  the penetration from that bow is two holes, not always a complete pass through but two holes just the same.....

[YosemiteSam]

   Thanks all. 

[Petrichor]

B55 will give you better performance than dracon and is safe on older bows.

[mahantango]

X2 on the b55

[hunting badger]

I've gone to B55 for older bow, and its cheaper than B50, although I find that it has a lot of stretch on my homemade flemish strings.

[Petrichor]

I've gone to B55 for older bow, and its cheaper than B50, although I find that it has a lot of stretch on my homemade flemish strings.

Tie strings the old way with a back lay and there is little to no stretch. This step is often skipped these days with modern material but worth the extra five minutes.

[SteveB]

 

Tie strings the old way with a back lay and there is little to no stretch. This step is often skipped these days with modern material but worth the extra five minutes.

What is a back lay?

[Petrichor]

I sense a build along coming.

Tie strings the old way with a back lay and there is little to no stretch. This step is often skipped these days with modern material but worth the extra five minutes.

What is a back lay?

[Steve Clandinin]

Well, I guess I guess I,m the black duck, I don't mean to be controversial but... In 1972 I bought my first real bow yep a brand new browning cobra ,paid 140.00 for her loved that bow.since then how many bows I've owned and shot Ihave no idea ,hundreds. About 12 years ago I was really unhappy with the strings I was using ,basically B50 and B55 and discovered SBD strings, everything improved,speed ,noise ,vibration and no streach. My next SBD will be my 76th string,how I kept track I don't know.Anyways that Cobra has 3 laminations of glass on the tips ,basically bombproof.Pierre makes his skinny FF strings with B50 tied into the loops..I'm down to about 40 bows ,of every type made ,custom recurves and longbows ,Asl's Elb's, China bows etc.etc. They all wear SBD strings and I've never had a problem ,just a lot of enjoyable shooting and they wear like iron.

[Orion]

Steve x 2. I don't have as many bows or strings as Steve, but have been running low stretch strings on all my bows, new and old for more than 10 years now.  No problems at all.

[Petrichor]

So when I next do a string for myself I'll post a build along. Here is a glimpse of what I mean. It allows the material to not stretch so much at the ends. Heres a few pics of what we normally see on a Flemish twist and the last pic is a back lay.

Tie strings the old way with a back lay and there is little to no stretch. This step is often skipped these days with modern material but worth the extra five minutes.

What is a back lay?

[Tomas Stieber]

I have several vintage bows that have low stretch strings including 3 Browning Medallions, Bear K Hunter ect. Been shooting them for 7 or 8 years, thousands of arrows without any damage. Always tell the string maker to pad the loops.