As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought my first compound bow–a refurbished 2016 PSE Stinger X–from the bargain cave at Cabela’s. Having only shot recurves and longbows before that, I was hugely impressed by this newfangled technology .
It recently occurred to me that it was past time to change strings and cables. You should do that every couple of years–it’s been seven and my Stinger still had the originals.
But rather than take it back to the pros at the bow shop, I decided to do it myself.
In the meantime, my brother gave me an even older Reflex Xtreme HTS: like the Stinger X, it was marketed as an affordable single-cam hunting package in its day.
I decided to practice on the older bow. If I screwed it up, no real harm done: at nearly 25 years of age* it’s well past its reasonable life expectancy, anyway.
*Hoyt, the company that owned the Reflex brand, doesn’t keep records that far back. Their support people agreed that it was probably produced in the late nineties/early oughts…
After refurbishing the Reflex, I’d apply the lessons learned–if any–to making the Stinger X shoot its best.
I took off the various attachments, sprayed WD-40 onto all the metal parts to loosen the accumulated rust, then scrubbed the bow clean.
(note: some of these are Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you click the link and buy the associated product, Amazon may pay me a fee–your cost is unaffected)
New Strings and Cables
The biggest obstacle to DIY compound bow repair is getting access to a bow press: unless you’re willing to spend $400+ to buy one, or are lucky enough to know someone who owns one, you’re pretty much stuck with going to the pro shop.
An internet search turned up all sorts of field-expedient alternatives: cargo straps, come-alongs, etc. While I’m as big a fan of “make-do” as the next guy, the prospect of catastrophic failure while pressing a 70 lb bow was terrifying.
Enter the Bowmaster. This contraption provides a safe solution at a fraction of the cost of a full-up press. I originally planned to order a knockoff version for a few dollars less, until I saw reviews talking about how it, too, failed under use.
Too scary. I ordered the original, along with a set of split-limb L brackets that I’d need for the PSE bow.
It arrived quickly and, after carefully reading the instructions, I tried it out on the Reflex: there was a fair amount of ominous creaking as I used a 5/8″ socket to crank down the press, but it held steady.
This was going to work.
Given its age, replacement parts for my Reflex Xtreme HTS are few and far between. Fortunately for me, string and buss cable lengths were printed on the bow, so I was able to send off for a reasonably priced set from a vendor on eBay.
I followed internet advice and used my phone camera to make a video of how the strings and cables were routed before I started.
The new string went on correctly after only a few tries: my biggest mistake was taking the old one completely off, rather than just unhooking one end then “following” it with the new one–forcing me to watch my string routing video several times before I got it back on correctly.
Lesson learned.
While I was at it, I threaded a Pine Ridge XL Nitro speed button onto the new string, next to the cam. They’re supposed to dampen string noise and–if sited correctly–slightly increase arrow speed.
So far, so good.
The cable, however, was another story.
I had to REALLY crank down the press to get it to fit, and when I took it off the press the bowstring was hanging loose.
After an extended trial and error session I did what I should’ve done BEFORE ordering the strings: measure the old ones.
Turns out the bowstring length exactly matched the decal on the bow, but the old buss cable was significantly longer–39″ vs. 33″. Shame on me for believing the sticker THAT CAME ON THE BOW.
After further research I discovered that some sources specified a 33″ cable for this bow, while others insisted on 39″.
I still don’t understand the discrepancy, but I used a Sharpie to correct the decal on my bow and ordered a custom 39″ replacement cable at the same time I ordered new strings and cables for my PSE Stinger. I tried another company this time just for the heck of it: although their prices were higher than my original pick, their reviews were also outstanding.
The new cable went on easily. I took the Whisker Biscuit arrow rest and the stabilizer that came with my PSE bow off and installed them on the Reflex, along with an extra set of Bowjax limb dampeners.
String setup
After watching a YouTube video I used waxed serving thread to tie a nocking point onto the string with so it would hold the arrow at 90 degrees to the rest. Since I was used to a single nocking point ABOVE the arrow nock on my traditional bows, I did it the same way on this one.
It was easy enough that I went back and removed the brass nocking points–which tend to tear up my shooting gloves–from my traditional bowstrings and replaced them with tied ones, too.
I watched another video to figure out how to install a D-loop. I put an arrow on the string for size and left the D-loop a little wide so it wouldn’t pinch the nock at full draw.
After tying on the loop cord I could’ve just used a pair of needle-nosed pliers to stretch it, but I indulged myself in a pair of VIPER Archery loopset pliers.
Paper Tuning
The last time I shot my PSE Stinger X, I noticed that as range to the target changed, my arrow impact point moved from left to right.
I also noticed I was ducking my head to see through the peep sight, which made it a challenge to hold a consistent sight picture.
Finally, with the draw weight maxed out at 70 lbs, I could only shoot a dozen arrows before I started to wobble.
After some online research, I learned that I could correct the first problem by “paper tuning” the bow. Again, I decided to try it out on the Reflex bow first.
I cut the vanes off of a practice arrow, then wrapped it with a couple of turns of electrical tape to approximate the weight of the missing vanes.
Then I set up a high-tech paper target in the garage:
I adjusted the Whisker Biscuit rest to center shot: about 13/16″ laterally from the riser and vertically aligned with the Berger hole.
I noticed that I had a LOT of arrow clearance from the string and cable with this setup, and wondered if that contributed to the brutally heavy draw weight.
After comparing it to my PSE bow, I realized that the string guide on this one was installed wrong: not only was it offset too far to the side, it was set at 4 o’clock to the riser, requiring a sharper string and cable angle off the lower cam to get the same amount of arrow clearance.
I loosened the set screws and 5/8″ nut on the guide and rotated it to 2 o’clock, tightening it back down when I had 1/4″ or so of arrow clearance–without the sharp angle.
The draw seemed easier; more so after I backed off both limb bolts one full turn, lightening the draw weight.
Because my brother towers over me, I also needed to adjust his draw length down to something suitable for my shorter wingspan.
After looking at a lot of old manuals for similar bows, I figured out how to adjust the draw length dampener (indicated below) by loosening the two chipped screws you see in the picture and rotating the dampener in the “minus (-)” direction. Each setting makes about half an inch difference, so I had to move it down a couple stops to get it right for me.
You can supposedly do this without putting the bow in a press, but I used the Bowmaster anyway since I wasn’t sure I was loosening the correct screws…
Now I was finally ready to tune the bow.
I stood about 6 feet from the paper and shot. I ended up with a consistent nock left and high tear, with both fletched and my bareshaft arrows.
I fixed the vertical error first, using a guide I found online:
Since this version of the Whisker Biscuit rest doesn’t allow for vertical movement, I forced the nocking point and D-loop down slightly on the string until the vertical tear was gone. I could’ve also lowered the nocking point by simply loosening the top limb bolt, but was reluctant to induce asymmetry between top and bottom limbs.
(I researched “tiller tuning” on the internet and learned that it would also move arrow impact vertically, which I didn’t necessarily want to do)
Nock left tear is most easily adjusted by moving the arrow rest right, toward the riser–as long as you don’t compromise arrow clearance.
Since I wanted to keep my 1/4″ arrow clearance where it was, instead of moving the rest–and since I had the Bowmaster–I added a twist to the left-hand yoke of the y-shaped buss cable and removed a corresponding twist from the right side.
This tilts the idler cam, which has the effect of moving the string slightly sideways. I kept adding twists to the left yoke (and removing them from the right) until I was getting “bullet holes” in the paper.
Peep sight
I chose a plain black aluminum 3/16″ aperture peep for my bow: in addition to a smaller aperture (1/8″), you can also get them with magnification, anti-glare, etc., etc.
After watching another helpful video (how did we figure this stuff out before the internet?), I had a trusty assistant mark the string at my eye level, parallel to the arrow, while at full draw.
By the way, you should NEVER draw a bow without an arrow on the string: if you accidently release it the resulting “dry fire” can severely damage the bow. I have a target bag hanging in my garage that serves as a backstop whenever I need to draw the bow.
I put the bow back in the press and slid the peep sight between the two halves of the string, pointing down toward where my release hand would be.
I then took it out of the press, nocked and drew an arrow to check. The peep was just a little low so I put it back in the press and slid it up slightly. I checked again: this time the peep was at the correct height but had rotated slightly clockwise (following the twist of the string).
I put the bow back in the press AGAIN (by now I was pretty adept at operating the Bowmaster), unhooked the bottom of the bowstring from the cam, then untwisted it half a turn before hooking it back onto the cam.
Now that the peep was level with my eye and oriented correctly, I followed instructions in the video to tie it in place. You don’t want it to fly out while you’re shooting: even if it doesn’t poke anyone’s eye out, it would be hard to aim with a missing peep.
Front sight
I used hex wrenches to adjust my front sight for the new peep setting.
In the garage at point-blank range, I wanted the arrow to hit a few inches below the top (20 yard) pin, centered horizontally.
Once there, I used a ballistic program to get the 40 and 60 yard pins into approximately the correct position. My assistant measured the peep-to-sight and peep-to-arrow distances; I estimated arrow speed, from which the program, Uno, derived the drag.
The program uses these inputs to figure out arrow ballistics and calculates your sight pin spacing for various ranges.
You hold your phone up to the sight and adjust your pins to match the picture. Like boresighting a rifle scope, it gets you in the ballpark.
Now it was time to chronograph the arrows and adjust draw weight until I hit my desired minimum speed; then move the speed button up and down on the string to see if I could gain a few more feet per second. Finally, I’d adjust sight settings for actual arrow speed and mark them for future reference.
It was time to take this old bow to the range!
