2012 Pantera and Bengal

[ElkSlayer]

Just to piss Gravedigger and his renamed RidgeHunter off, I would like to see the Pantera review first.

looks like your out voted Digger.....lol

[gravedigger]

its all good.i will wait.after all the bengal is worth it

[MLN1963]

You know I was just ribbing you Digger. I'm really not that much of an @$$ (no matter what my teenager says)! When I see a dirt cheap Bengal or Pantera for sale I might just buy it to play with that Fury XT cam.

[archerx7]

its all good.i will wait.after all the bengal is worth it

Sorry GD........but the Pantera was actually the bow I've been waiting on since I saw the original specs on it.

Got some numbers on it now, just need to get the pics..........but I gotta run into town right now.......back in a couple hours.........

Barry, I'll be sure to get some pics of the STS mounting as well as some of the cam and mod setup, pretty slick setup.

[droppixel]

Definitely interested and excited to hear about the Bengal. Can't wait dude.

[MLN1963]

Got some numbers on it now, just need to get the pics..........but I gotta run into town right now.......back in a couple hours.........

Jim
You are such a tease!

[gravedigger]

Sorry GD........but the Pantera was actually the bow I've been waiting on since I saw the original specs on it.

Got some numbers on it now, just need to get the pics..........but I gotta run into town right now.......back in a couple hours.........

Barry, I'll be sure to get some pics of the STS mounting as well as some of the cam and mod setup, pretty slick setup.

its all good.im just happy to be getting some real world reviews on it.thanks for taking the time to get us some info.

[archerx7]

Starting with the Pantera. Out of the box everything was adjusted very close to factory stated specs, the A2A was right on the money at 34" the brace was an 1/8" short, idler lean was very close and only took one twist in the right side yoke to get it perfectly staight. I decided to check the string and cable lengths and found the cable to be right on the money while the string was appox.an 1/8" long, put about 4 twists in it to bring it to spec and reinstalled both.

The model I have is a 70# model and actually maxed at 72.1# after adjusting the string length. As stated in my opening post there are 3 different posts on the cam for the buss cable to attach to, this is where they get both the draw weight and length adjustments from, along with the rotating mod.

With the cable set on the standard post and the mod set on the #1 position and the draw stop adjusted, the peak weight was 72.1# while the draw length came in at 27". I then moved the mod to the #5 position and adjusted the stop and ended up with a peak DW of 72.5 and DL of 31.5". I then moved the cable to the -10 post and got a peak DW of 60# and DL of 31", then moved the mod back to the #1 postion and got a DL of 26.5" while the DW stayed the same at 60#
For the last part of this test I moved the cable to the -20 post and got a 25" DL and 49# peak DW with the mod in the #1 position, I then moved the mod to the #5 position and sdjusted the stop and got a DL of 29.5" and a peak DW of 49.5#. Lots of adjustability with this cam.

For testing purposes I used a Limb Driver rest I had laying here. I adjusted the bow to my DL of 28.5" and due to some shoulder problems, I turned the DW down to 60.1#. I actually have my Onza set to 52# as 60#'s with the Nitro cams wears on my shoulder fairly quick.
The initial shot with the Pantera was actually a little disappointing as the bow was quite loud and had a good bit of vibration after the shot, not at all like the previous year Pantera. I replaced the stock BowJax 4 way bumper with a BowJax MacDaddy stopper and most of the noise disappeared although the vibration was still there, so I installed a BowJax Ultra string jax on the rest cord and the following shot was MUCH better, the bow was completely different, very quiet and the vibration was almost non exsistant. The addition of a good stabilizer would probably get rid of the rest of the vibration.

The draw cycle IMO lies somewhere between last years AcuTrak single cam and the Nitro cams as the DW builds quicker than the AcuTrak did but not quite as quick as the Nitro/Hybrix cams and transitions very well into a good valley that can be adjusted anywhere from very short to fairly long. I've never been a real big fan of single cams, but I really like the draw cycle and feel of this cam, thinking real hard right now about odering a 60# model for myself.

The fit, finish and overall feel of this bow is very good. The wood side plate inserts are a step up from last years inserts IMO. The carbon fiber STS is a very nice unit, well made, with lots of adjustability, and it looks darn good also. On the Pantera it mounts in the rear stabilizer location using the quick disconnect from last year. The only thing I found bad about the STS is the stock bumper is too stiff, i would swap it out for either the MacDaddy unit or the Limbsaver String Decelerator stopper.

Speeds..........I really don't like doing these, as they are subject to way too many variables such as different chronos, different lighting, how well the bow is tuned..etc...etc.., but I did run some arrows through my ProChrono Digital, which is very consistant from shot to shot, but is not what I would call an accurate unit, so take these numbers for what they are worth.......
I shot the bow setup to my specs, 28.5/60.1 using a Victory HV 400 weighing 301grs.....result averaged from 3 shots.....303fps
I then disreguarded what my shoulder was telling me and turned the draw weight up to 70.5 and used a Victory HV 350 weighing 354 grs. and got a 3 shot average of 307fps.

Heres a few pics.......



Notice the extra sight mount hole which will allow the sight to be mounted in either a low or high postion depending on a persons anchor point.

[polaris754]

sitting on the porch,tapping foot ,being as patient as possible ,waiting for the drama to transpire,me bad ,and need a bengal, that new puppy looks awesome,

[Spiker]

THANKS Jim - for all you do!!!