u/skahunter831

Hi all, I'm looking for recommendations on a (preferably) used/older compound to upgrade my 2009 PSE Bow Madness MC. Here are my specs:

• normal draw length range (I'm about 28.5")

• 50-70# draw preferred (target weight 65#, but I'm a little out of shooting shape)

• not looking for insane speed, but something in the range of IBO/ATA ~330 fps

• fairly easy to tune (I have a portable bow press, which "works", but isn't great). Are floating yokes much better than static?

• ATA of 32"-34", longer OK

• brace height at least 6"

• bow weight 3-3.5 pounds (EDIT 2 I realize this might not be achievable, but less than 4# would be ideal)

• narrow handle

• single or double-cam. I've always shot a single, but open to try a double.

• EDIT: Budget! Would like to keep it around $600-$700 if at all possible, hence looking strongly at the second-hand market.

I'll be targeting a total arrow weight of ~500 grains, with an FOC of ~13. I have a nice set of 5mm Axis Match Grade that I'd like to use for the "new" bow.

I've been a PSE fanboy, but not for any specific reason. Happy to look at Hoyt/Matthews/whatever.

What else do you need to know? What would you recommend?

Thanks!

Edit 3: looking at some modern bow specs, it's kinda crazy what the Bow Madness was capable of over 15 years ago. Speeds, mass, and let offs really haven't improved that much, have they?

This sub gets a lot of posts mentioning case hardening and pictures of people's products asking or claiming that they have "case hardening". In the majority of cases, those meats are not actually case hardened, just exhibit the classic and almost entirely unavoidable moisture gradient.

Case hardening is a specific phenomenon for dry-cured meats where the outside dries so much faster than the interior that the overly-dry exterior creates a barrier against further moisture loss from the interior. When cut into, the inside of case hardened meat will be squishy, spongy, soft, and/or somewhat raw-looking. It may potentially have voids (holes) in the meat where the fibers have ripped apart by uneven drying. The exterior will be close to jerky. Case hardening is a real problem, especially in ground meat products (salami), because that under-dried meat might still harbor bacteria and the water activity never got low enough to kill that bacteria. The squishy meat is also really unpleasant to eat. Case hardening cannot be overcome by vacuum equalization.

Uneven drying is not case hardening. A darker ring of meat on the outside edge is not case hardening. Because of the way dry cured meats are made, there will always be a gradient between the higher-moisture interior and the lower-moisture exterior. That's unavoidable. Some meats and some aging environments (curing chambers) will show more or less of this gradient, but it's not an inherent issue. This situation can be mitigated by vacuum sealing (and in fact, vacuum sealing will always even out that gradient). If the interior of the meat looks basically like it should, and isn't squishy, then it's not case hardened.

Again, case hardening can be a real issue and needs to be avoided, but I've seen very very few instances of that on this sub.

This is not case hardening: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/1lq4bsh/still_battling_case_hardening_but_looks_and/

Nor is this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/1cpslck/venison_salami_case_hardening/ (but is more uneven than I would want)

Nor this quite lovely coppa: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/1ku06bw/capocolla/

This one isn't case hardened, but is overly-dried: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/17zq1kg/case_hardening/

This, however, is probably case hardened (at the very least way under-bound) and should not be eaten: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/z3ms0g/35_loss_but_void_in_salami_maybe_a_little_case/

This one is getting there, but very likely is ok: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/lxrqfz/is_this_case_hardening_ob_a_whole_muscle_coppa/

This one is case hardened for sure, but might be salvageable with more drying. Maybe. Vac packing at this point is very questionable: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/1snmhs7/first_attempt_at_soppresatta/

TL;DR: a dark ring isn't case hardening, and most people here don't have case hardening. Vac packing won't cure case hardening. If it's case hardened, throw it out. If it's just a little uneven, don't call it case hardening!