New-Used Bow Question

[CarlosII]

Just bought a 2010 Shadowcat off AT. Bow looks very good with just some wear on the grip where the "Martin" is starting to wear thin.

A couple of questions though.

I assume the white plastic slotted head screws should be backed out in order to adjust the limb bolts. Is that correct?

Second, the bottom limb appears to be backed out quite a bit more than the top limb. Any idea why that might be?

New to the Martin family so I'm unsure about such matters. Any advice is appreciated.
(BTW it has black and yellow strings and cables. Was that standard on the titainium finish bow?)

[SonnyThomas]

I'm guessing you mean "plugs" in the steel tubes the limb bolts screw into. Neither of the two Shadowcats I've shot had slotted screws. So perhaps they were put in by the past owner to keep dust or dirt from collecting?

Answered the back off limb, but will go again. The limbs should be equal unless the past owner did some tiller tuning and even then the limb shouldn't be backed off all that much.

Both the Shadowcats I've used came with yellow and black strings. They were switched to Vapor Trails as my side kick is sponsored by them. I have one new set, maybe two sets laying around. These should be Stone Mountain, Dakota strings. I've tried Dakota strings before and had them last for 15,000 shots. Would have shot them more, but I had these pretty black and red strings just begging to be used.

[justin]

maybe he was talking about the barrel nuts. they have slots.

limbs are adjusted with the hex screw(or allen) on top of the limb. but if its tiller tuned id leave it if you dont like tinkering.

[Spiker]

Im not sure what the "white plastic plug" thing is about.
Maybe the previous owner was concerned about the limb bolts backing off and put some sort of 'plugs' into the barrel nuts.
It is not something that is factory or stock on a Martin bow.
Or they painted the barrel nuts white and you are mistaking them for plastic.
Also - a bow needs to be 'tuned' to YOU so I would bottom out the limbs (turn the limb bolts in all the way) and take all the measurements.
Axle to axle, brace height, max draw weight, etc... and then compare them to the factory specs.
That will give you a good starting point and also tell you if something is really off.
If you bottom the limbs out - take all the measurements you can along with what the limb sticker says, and post it on here - - - we will be able to help you out.

[CarlosII]

My thanks to all who took the time to reply to my questions.
I intent to take it to the Martin dealers today to see what they think.
I've done a bit of tiller tuning on my BowTech with some degree of success. However, this Martin appears to have a lot of limb relief on the bottom end, imho.
The plastic, or nylon slotted head bolts so appear to be an attempt by the previous owner to either prevent the limb bolts from backing out, or simply to keep dirt and dust out. Really can't figure that.
I've had other bows that do not use any kind of retainers on the limb bolts (Parker) and others that do (Diamond).
Thanks again, folks.