[Lastinline]

looks nice and compact. limbs look like a new beefier design with mag type tips. its listed at 260 fps. the original Jaguar is listed as 245fps.

 

[22LR]

Were did you find it?

 

[Uziel Gal]

It's a 2016 Poe Lang bow, and like most of PL's bows, chances are that you'll start seeing this bow being sold under various other brand names. SA Sports, for instance, distribute a number of different Poe Lang bows under their own names.

https://issuu.com/poelang/docs/ek_catalog_2016-ecatalog

Speaking of which, Poe Lang themselves now seem to be operating as 'Ek Archery Research by Poe Lang', and I have started to see some of their bows being sold under the name Ek Archery.

They haven't got them listed yet, but apparently Southland Archery Supply will be one of the first distributors in the US.

 

[6xix6]

I've had one of these a couple of days. As stated above it's EK Archery - Jaguar II in the UK. Not sure if the serial numbers are accurate on the sticker but that would make it 0007 off the line. I'm gonna try and take some shots and maybe put up a review as I've been very impressed so far (Function and finish / quality) but if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer. Though I should state I no longer have my Chrony for fps etc. Poe Lang has definitely stepped up their game with the 2016 range, right down to the boxes and manuals.

This is my first post but I'm not affiliated with Poe Lang / EK. I also own(ed) a Recruit, Commando 1 & 2, Kornet and a few others.

 

[6xix6]

You'll notice I've replaced the new limb with a generic 175lb (Heatshrink) with it being about 3" narrower and using standard 26.5" strings like most of the Taiwanese stuff. The new limb uses a longer string and different end caps, the extra length may be where the extra FPS comes in. I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible. It comes pre-strung, you remove the stirrup then drop / manipulate the limb in. I've got a Veloci Speed Magnum somewhere I'm gonna dig out and have a go with. I'm not one for rope cocking but it's doable by hand with the new limb, as expected it's about equal to the standard limb.

 

[Lastinline]

got mine today. its going back!!!!. scope isnt just cheap lol... its a super crappy cheap red dot. why they put it in the box amazes me. for the size i expected lighter in the weight department. the limbs look beefy but its a pain to get in the slot because it comes shipped with the string on. the string has way too much down pressure. why??? i dont know/the real concern is that this bow is DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!!. it seams to have the Tenpoint issue of last year. if you pull the trigger while on safe and push the safety lever to the fire position and then back to the safe position. it will FIRE! i can see this happening in the field where you go to shoot and forget to take the safety off. you then push the safety forward and then pass on a shot. when you slide it back to safe it is still in the fire mode. DANGEROUS!!!! . unless you physically push the trigger forward to re-set your playing with a DANGEROUS trigger. for the life of me i cant understand why these budget crossbow makers havent found a way to make a solid trigger that isint 10 pounds of pull. they are advancing in stock and limb design but the triggers are horrible and did i say DANGEROUS.

 

[Lastinline]

PLEASE CHECK YOURS TO SEE IF IT IS SAFE!. dont purchase these models til they fix the issue!im calling

 

[6xix6]

Yeah I took one look at the 'sight' that came with it and put it back in the box, safe to say it was more of a gesture than anything haha. I've never encountered one that bad.

I've got weight at about 6.25lb with the smaller limb, my own quiver, laser / flashlight and reflex sight.

I noticed the string, I believe the old Jaguars had quite a severe angle if I recall right. I'm not sure if switching the limb makes it less severe but it should be noted that the limb sits at an angle, so when the string is in the cocked position it would be at a less severe angle. While the limb being one piece won't allow the string to sit like a compound there's probably more angles, force etc involved than I understand. I only have Commando recurves to compare as all my other stuffs quad limb and the Commandos were also severe.

I've not encountered the trigger problem you described. I did pull the trigger forgetting to release the safety, then went back released the safety and fired as normal. Also I had a couple of times using the new limb that the safety wouldn't be in the forward position after a shot which meant I couldn't cock it till I moved it to the fire position but I put this down to hand cocking and never encountered it after the limb change. Most of the stuff I use have pretty poor triggers, so I found the pull on this not too bad.

I'll do some more testing when I've got time as I've only had a couple of short stints so far.

 

[Uziel Gal]

the string has way too much down pressure. why??? i dont know/the real concern is that this bow is DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!!. it seams to have the Tenpoint issue of last year. if you pull the trigger while on safe and push the safety lever to the fire position and then back to the safe position. it will FIRE!

for the life of me i cant understand why these budget crossbow makers havent found a way to make a solid trigger that isint 10 pounds of pull. they are advancing in stock and limb design but the triggers are horrible and did i say DANGEROUS.

In the second quote, I'm not sure above if you are questioning why Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers can't make a safe, light trigger, or just a light one. If we assume the former, and then look at your first quote, are the budget bows really any worse than a $2000 Tenpoint!?

Ok, Ok, just ribbing you here, but fact is that production issues can occur with even the best brands. When products are prototyped, there is often a lot of hand tuning done to get things just right. When mass production starts, and machines take over from craftsmen, and things are simplified and streamlined to speed up production, sometimes the results change due to dimensions being somewhat different. When you are looking at trigger and safety mechanisms, thousandths of an inch on some parts, or small changes in angles, can instantly make the difference between a safe or unsafe trigger, or a light or heavy pull. I would suspect that one of the reasons that Asian trigger pulls have tended to be a bit rough and heavy has been to keep them safe, if not necessarily pleasant.

That said, the Asian manufacturers do improve as you stated, if not as quickly as the US name brand bows. When I purchased my Hori-Zone Kornet, it was stated that it had a four pound trigger, and when I first shot it, I had that in my head, and truly believed that it was heavier than my previous bow (no idea what the trigger pull was on that one). But the trigger had zero creep, and no take-up - the trigger literally did not move until you applied enough pressure to shoot the bow. Once I got used to the change in the feeling, I started to really like that trigger and wondered if it wasn't perhaps as heavy as the lack of movement had made me think. Once I got hold of a trigger pull gauge, I actually found that the weight was only 2.5lbs! Long story short, good triggers are beginning to appear.

I can't comment on the Jaguar II, but out of five Taiwanese bows that I have either owned, or had access to for extended periods, the heaviest trigger I have had was five pounds. That said, I only shoot compound, so the trigger latch is only holding 90lbs maximum - less if the cams let off more than 50%. I would have to guess that 175lb string tension on the latch of a recurve bow is going to make the trigger pull heavier.

Likewise, I have not had the safety issue described with any of the bows have had.

I noticed the string, I believe the old Jaguars had quite a severe angle if I recall right. I'm not sure if switching the limb makes it less severe but it should be noted that the limb sits at an angle, so when the string is in the cocked position it would be at a less severe angle. While the limb being one piece won't allow the string to sit like a compound there's probably more angles, force etc involved than I understand. I only have Commando recurves to compare as all my other stuffs quad limb and the Commandos were also severe.

Again, this is something that Barnet - and probably other manufacturers - used to do, and Asian manufacturers still do. High down pressure on the string will cause drag, and that will slow your bow down. Sounds like a negative - in terms of performance as well as string wear - but the idea is to increase the chance of your limbs surviving if you accidentally dry fire. It's a very rough and ready, back to basics 'safety feature'.

In the past, Barnett limbs were fractionally lop-sided to produce this down pressure, and people would turn the limbs upside down to reduce the pressure and increase performance - I don't know if this would work with modern recurve limbs.

I've not encountered the trigger problem you described. I did pull the trigger forgetting to release the safety, then went back released the safety and fired as normal.

I'll do some more testing when I've got time as I've only had a couple of short stints so far.

Just to clarify what Lastinline stated, it's not the ability to take the safety off and fire that is the issue with the safety/trigger unit. If you read carefully, he states that you need to put the catch back in the safe position, so: -

1. Cock bow, leave safety on, pull trigger
2. Release safety - yes, at this point, you could safely shoot the bow, but we want to go on to step 3
3. Put the safety back on again

Does the bow then automatically shoot when you re-engage the safety catch? Or another possibility, can you now pull the trigger - and shoot the bow - despite the safety catch having been re-engaged?

Might want to try both - 1. releasing and re-enaging the safety & 2. engaging the safety, pulling the trigger, release the safety and repeat - several times over to ensure that there is no issue.

 

[6xix6]

Funny you should mention that about old Barnett limbs. Maybe not the same thing but when I had my 220lb Commando I - when the limb was mounted the correct side up (According to the markings) it had a horrible downward sweep that looked totally unnatural, spotted it right off the bat. With nothing identical to compare it to I assumed it must be a manufacturing mistake with the markings. I put heatshrink on the limb and mounted it upside down, so it looked like every recurve I'd used previously. Not only did it look right but the fps jumped considerably on the Chrony, to where it should have been in comparison with the 175lb.

I'm certainly not worried about the string as they're about £5 delivered in UK and this one's still as new after about 50 shots, lube every 10 or so.

Yeah I was a bit unclear on the scenario described so it was the only similar thing I'd encountered so far, I did pull it a 2nd time with the safety on but this time I pushed the trigger back forward with the nail side of my finger. I'll investigate but it doesn't sound like a scenario I'd likely encounter as I shoot targets alone. Safety comes off when I'm literally pointing at the target. I could see how it would be a concern in the field though.

That said, the trigger I've found quite pleasant. I'm also a Kornet owner, albeit my own Frankenstein version. 220lb Commando, now that's a trigger pull haha.

 

[Uziel Gal]

I absolutely loved my Kornet - right up until the point one of the limbs cracked front to back! Waiting on a spare set of limbs, and keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a good set.....

 

[6xix6]

Aye that's definitely not something you want to see at anytime, at least you got some warning I suppose ha. Gonna flog mine soon, too much power for one man to wield against inanimate objects in the space I currently have.

 

[Lastinline]

just to be clear. in my case you need to pull the trigger with the safety on and it will still fire. it doesnt auto shoot as you move the safety. i once owned a ASTRO DACO that had that issue. the trigger also had too much creep as well as side to side rattle im sure they could have shimmed. gonna dissagree on the string down pressure. may have to do with how the string latch works or just poor tolerences. its easy to shim a set of limbs to get the string with little to no pressure but with a trigger like this its goin back. if these companies visited sites like this theyd see they could have a winner just by listening to those who use the stuff.

 

[Lastinline]

they also missed puting a detent in the center of the metal mounting plate. screwing the limbs down requires 3 hands to hold while tightening. the plate always wants to slip to the side. im also hoping that one of these companies figures out a better fool proof way to mount the limbs without making the owner have to eye ball the center. maybe a simple notch in the limb.something that takes centering out of the equation

 

[6xix6]

just to be clear. in my case you need to pull the trigger with the safety on and it will still fire. it doesnt auto shoot as you move the safety. i once owned a ASTRO DACO that had that issue. the trigger also had too much creep as well as side to side rattle im sure they could have shimmed. gonna dissagree on the string down pressure. may have to do with how the string latch works or just poor tolerences. its easy to shim a set of limbs to get the string with little to no pressure but with a trigger like this its goin back. if these companies visited sites like this theyd see they could have a winner just by listening to those who use the stuff.

Yeah I've not had time to test it yet but the problem described is the safety becomes redundant after the trigger has been pulled in safe position and the safety disengaged and engaged again. I'll look in to this later today.
I noticed some creep on the trigger, not sure if this is partly due to the extra parts with the bullpup layout, I'll check for rattle. Though I will add that I had an Armex Torpedo (Also Poe Lang) which cost 3x the money and the slack, creep and pull were pretty much horrendous ha. Unfortunately I now use that terrible example as a benchmark for anything new.
I think they are improving year by year, I only paid £90 for the Jaguar II so I wasn't expecting a great deal and I've enjoyed using it so far. Something made with the input of the end user would certainly be ideal.

they also missed puting a detent in the center of the metal mounting plate. screwing the limbs down requires 3 hands to hold while tightening. the plate always wants to slip to the side. im also hoping that one of these companies figures out a better fool proof way to mount the limbs without making the owner have to eye ball the center. maybe a simple notch in the limb.something that takes centering out of the equation

Aye it was a bit of a juggling act getting all the parts inline. I marked the top of my limb so I could see the centre through the slot of the flight track, this helped allot and once the plates marked with the bolt it makes further assembly allot quicker. I had to remove the rear plastic shim to get the older limb in, replaced it with a thin rubber pad. I'm glad I can remove the limb for transportation though as that's my main gripe with recurve, the width of the damn things.

 

[Lastinline]

i never used my chrono on this crossbow.with the new style limb it looked like you could shim it forward quite a bit if you wanted to get a little more speed. i never shot the original jag but i see one place has them on sale for 69$ so maybe they will discontinue them for the II? there is also a new 175 pound budget recurve called the disturbance crossbow.had a terminator recurve but was too slow for what it was. id like to see a better quality budget crossbow with a better trigger for around a hundred that has no scope or arrows in the box. shooting close to 300fps. i think thats doable for companies like polang.

 

[Uziel Gal]

The Disturbance is another Taiwanese made bow, renamed by the US distributor. In this case, it's manufactured by Man Kung, and called the XB-21 'Rip Claw'.

They seem pretty popular, so if you run a search for 'MK XB-21' I would think you would be able to find plenty of info and videos of this bow.

 

[6xix6]

i never used my chrono on this crossbow.with the new style limb it looked like you could shim it forward quite a bit if you wanted to get a little more speed. i never shot the original jag but i see one place has them on sale for 69$ so maybe they will discontinue them for the II? there is also a new 175 pound budget recurve called the disturbance crossbow.had a terminator recurve but was too slow for what it was. id like to see a better quality budget crossbow with a better trigger for around a hundred that has no scope or arrows in the box. shooting close to 300fps. i think thats doable for companies like polang.

Yeah I noticed that wiggle room on the limb from tinkering with double prods on pistol crossbows, would have definitely shimmed it I still had the chrono to test. I did some testing with various limbs on a Commando 2 which has approx 10" power stroke. The Barnett M limb came out top, I lost the paper with the figures but I believe it was around 267fps or 271fps and the Jaguar II has an 11" stroke, though the M limbs are not very common these days. I'm gonna have a go with that.

I think they're continuing the Jaguar but it's now branded EK in the UK and has also seen a price drop: http://www.pellpax.co.uk/archery/cr...bow/jaguar-xbow-black-150lb-recurve-bow/17436

Yeah I'd definitely do away with any included accessories for a superior unit. If a Barnett limb can do 267+ as you say, the 300 should be doable.

The Disturbance is another Taiwanese made bow, renamed by the US distributor. In this case, it's manufactured by Man Kung, and called the XB-21 'Rip Claw'.

They seem pretty popular, so if you run a search for 'MK XB-21' I would think you would be able to find plenty of info and videos of this bow.

Just to add to this, based solely on looks I quite liked the XB-23 as a budget crossbow, though I guess the guts of the Man Kung recurves are likely identical.

 

[6xix6]

Allot of the new Poe Lang / EK range now use the AR compatible grips, seems to be a trend now with Taiwanese gear. In case anyone was considering a swap, here's a Beavertail Ergo fitted on a Jaguar II. Far better then the original, true to it's title, much more ergonomic and looks the part.

 

[Uziel Gal]

6x - just wondered, is that a genuine AR15 pistol grip, or an airsoft replica?