Southland Archery Supply
Established in 2007, Southland Archery Supply (SAS) offers a full-line of outdoor sporting goods and products; with a focus on hunting and target archery. This selection includes everything from traditional, compound and takedown bows to recurve and compound crossbows.
Spirit Jr. 54” Youth Recurve Bow
Overview
The Spirit Jr. Recurve is a youth 54” recurve bow is price conscious entry level bow. It is available in right handed (hold the bow with your left hand and pull the string with your right) or left handed (hold the bow with your right hand and pull the string with your left) models. Each version is has five different strengths: 12, 16, 18, 20, and 22 pounds of pulls. We tested the 18 lbs. version.
Construction
A three piece take-down bow, the bow consists of a hardwood beech riser with accent woods and two limbs. The riser is laminated hardwood, constructed from materials similar to other bows in this category. The riser has threaded inserts in place for a stabilizer, plunger and sights should you want to upgrade the bow, but they are not included.
The limbs are of a fiberglass/maple wood/fiberglass lamination design. This has been an industry standard design for recurve bows since Fred Bear patented the design in the early fifties. This limb construction offers good performance and incredible longevity, if properly cared for. The limbs attach to the riser at the limb pockets by means of the included limb bolts.
Included With The Bow
A bowstring is included with this bow. The bowstring is a Dacron continuous loop string, with center serving and served string loops. The manufacturer recommends and requires for warranty, using a bow stringer, but it is not included.
Performance
The SAS Spirit Jr. did as expected. The limbs stored energy evenly and transferred that energy to the arrow effectively. There were no indications that the bow would not perform as intended for years to come. We used a 900 spine carbon arrow for testing and it was well suited to the bow.
This bow is marked at a 18lbs. draw weight. At 28″ it weighed just under 24 lbs, which is 6 lbs. over the marked draw weight. I suspect this size bow was measured at 24″ of draw length because it weighed right at 18 lbs. when I checked it at 24”. As is the case with youth bows, they can often be measured at less than 28″, because they aren’t designed to be drawn to that far. For comparison purposes I weighed the bow at different lengths as shown above. As you can tell from the almost 3 1/2 lbs. increase in draw weight between 26″ and 28″, the bow starts to stack after 26″. This indicates that the bow shouldn’t be drawn past 26″.
Is This The Bow For You?
The Pros
The SAS Spirit Jr. youth recurve bow is a well made bow that comes in a right or left handed version. It is available in 5 different weights to suit many different shooters. SAS offers a 3 year warranty on this bow.
The Cons
The SAS Spirit Jr. comes only with a bowstring. Even though the manufacturer recommends using one, it doesn’t come with a bow stringer. I believe to be ready to shoot it should have an arrow nock and arrow rest. This bow does not include any of those.
The SAS Spirit Jr. is a good beginner’s bow. This 54” recurve would be well suited to an archer with a 26” draw length or less. With five draw weights in left or right handed to pick from, one is sure to work for you. With good care, this bow will long outlast its 3 year warranty.
Further Your Archery Experience
- Where To Start When Buying Your First Archery Bow
- 3 Ways To Determine Eye Dominance in Archery And Why It’s Important
- 3 Ways To Determine Your Archery Bow Draw Length
- Archery Basics: How to Determine What Draw Weight Is Right For You
- How To Determine What Size Archery Bow You Need
- In-Depth Test and Review: Bear Archery’s Bullseye X Recurve Bow
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