So some of you may have seen my reviews before on the OK archery Absolute 38 or the OK archery DST40 well there is a new player in town, the OK Archery Absolute 40…
So I finally got the time to sit down and share my thoughts on the new 40 and I will also be sharing some thoughts of other owners I have discussed this bow with.. So where do we start, the new 40 is introduced as the big brother to the greatly popular absolute 38.. I have said before and still believe the 38 is one of the the greatest all around bows ever built. I have done everything with mine from hunting to spots to 3d and it performed above and beyond in all aspects of archery so to me personally the 40 has to be equally up to the test..
The specs: 39 ½” axle to axle, 7 ½” brace height and 308 fps at 4.5 pounds
The first thing that jumped out at me was the weight difference.. It 4.5 pounds compared to 3.8 for the abs 38 and 3.95 for the dst40.. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing as a slightly more mass weight will likely steady the bow more. I actually like the lighter weight but honestly the difference is minor and I never really noticed when shooting.
The Beauty of the absolute series of bows is simple the nocking point is absolutely centered.. To set the nocking point you measure the distance between the cams and place you nock there, then you center your rest in the dead center of the riser.. So again what does all this mean.. With the nock centered between the axles you achieve perfect nock travel giving you the ability to shoot your cams in complete sync.. This along with a perfect true center shot all come into play when shooting arrows of different spines.. On the OK archery website page there is a video showing multiple arrows with different spines all shooting near perfect holes in paper without changing anything between shots.. In simple terms for guys like me that means most arrows I chose to shoot provided they are not under spine should be very forgiving..
Another feature that is a huge plus with the OK archery bows is the shoot thru cable system.. To me this is one of the greatest systems ever put on a bow. Companies left and right battle cam lean. Now I for one don’t believe everything written out there on cam lean but the truth is almost every bow with it you have to compensate something to counter act that force.. Again with the OK there is nothing to counter act since there is zero cam lean, zero.. If there is you simply remove one of the cables (without the use of a bow press) adjust the cable as needed and cam lean goes away.. Now shoot thru systems have been around so I am also not saying that OK archery invented this, what I will say is that the beauty of OK archery is that they listen to archers and take the best parts of some of the greatest bows and a lot of their own ideas and build an ultimate bow..
The Grip on the ABS40 is the same as the 38 but different then the DST40.. Now the grip is a little different depending on what other bows you shoot. I just had a discussion with a new OK owner and he summed it up well.. What he said was that he was not completely sold on the grip when he first picked up the bow.. But as he shot it he realized the grip almost forced him to shoot the exact same hand position every time and he found the more he shot the more comfortable it was and he realized how great the grip was.. He said he would even if he tried he would have a hard time trying to induce torque.. So again this boils down to another element in the search for the ultimate set up. Me personally I love the grip from the moment I picked it up, when I got my first 38 it was my favorite change over the DST40 so I am happy the grip is the same..
So one thing they did on the ABS40 was to give you options on the lower mounting hole. You have the option of using a down under mount or a threaded back v bar.. The holes are also low in the riser and what I found is that I don’t have to stack weights on a back bar like you would when the bar is mounted directly behind the stabilizer..
The 40 also has a new look to the string stops. I really like the cleaner look. Besides looks the duel set up makes the ABS40 one of the quietest bows on the market, and since I hunt with one its extremely important to me.
Now the heart and soul of the OK bow has to be the Chili cam.. It is by far an amazingly smooth cam.. I have done tests with some extremely knowledgeable people in archery and set my bow to 68 pounds and had them draw it back and guess the weight.. The closest guess was 63 pounds.. What that means is that this is a bow that won’t beat you up and wear you down allowing you to put more arrows down the range. There is just a smooth draw back and a smooth let off, no harsh rollovers at all. And yet it will shoot at pretty respectable speeds. The cams are available in 3 different sizes with the bigger cam being smoother and the smaller cam being faster(all depending on draw length and mod size and position) The cam is also modular with 9 different mod sizes and a 1 inch range at ¼” increments on each mod to dial in your draw length to exacts. You can choose between 60 percent let off or 70 percent let off and if you are into tinkering with your bow you can do a little twisting and fine tune the let off and draw length..
The customization aspects of this bow are endless.. To help you along the way there is a chart on the OK archery website that explains all the changes when twisting cables and strings
Some other things that haven’t changed is the ability to customize colors. With 14 different colors and black and the ability to change colors on riser, cams and string stops the possibilities are endless.. Another thing I noticed on the new bows are the new strings.. It appears that all the new bows from Germany are coming with 452x and the strings are superbly made.. Its pretty much the first time ever I have not felt the need to change factory strings.. Again it’s the little things that OK does that get overlooked by so many other companies..
One of the most important things with a bow is not the bow, it’s the people behind the bow.. OK Archery in Germany has been amazing.. As a hunting guide and fishing guide in Alaska for many years I have dealt with more companies and customer service departments then I can remember and the Service from Germany surpasses all of them.. To me that is huge, so much so that is why I am writing this review.. I will be the first to point out something I don’t like but I will also be at the front of the line to support those that stand behind their product…
So how does it shoot.. Well out of the box setup was basically the same as most bows except as discussed earlier the rest setup.. In the beginning I love the bow, I shot it extremely well. Then after a bit I started to feel the bow was not progressing as I expected and honestly I even began to second guess the bow.. I spent a little time making sure it was timed, had my draw stops set and everything.. Did a little personal evaluation and came to the conclusion I was simply stale in my form. Somewhere along the line with work and rushing to shoot I just plain got sloppy and that had nothing to do with the bow.. I tweaked my form a little and cracked down and made every shot I took important. Since then I have after many years of target shooting and shooting in general shot a personal best. This bow flat out shoots and shoots extremely well... The lesson I learned is it’s still a bow so I have to do my part but when I do it simply out shoots my ability... It has made me that much better..
The argument always seems to be why pros don’t shoot them... Well simple, being a pro means these guys are out there for one reason... To make money... The bigger companies simply pay and have a big budget to pay... Where I see OK strive is it takes average shooters like the majority of us and simply improves us and the scores reflect that.. I talk to a lot of owners and always ask them and the vast majority of them have seen a big jump in their scores, and I don’t mean right after they get the bow, I mean after the “new toy syndrome” wears off. Those statistics to me speak more volume then and discussion on what pro shoots what...
So in the end this bow is a lot like the 38 but the longer axle to axle. I like the string angle better than on my 38’s .This bow really shines and I for one am sold on it and it is my new go too bow!!! It turned out to be a great big brother to the Absolute 38.. I plan to use the 40 for all my archery needs including a trophy Alaskan moose hunt that I just got lucky and drew a lottery permit for..
So I finally got the time to sit down and share my thoughts on the new 40 and I will also be sharing some thoughts of other owners I have discussed this bow with.. So where do we start, the new 40 is introduced as the big brother to the greatly popular absolute 38.. I have said before and still believe the 38 is one of the the greatest all around bows ever built. I have done everything with mine from hunting to spots to 3d and it performed above and beyond in all aspects of archery so to me personally the 40 has to be equally up to the test..
The specs: 39 ½” axle to axle, 7 ½” brace height and 308 fps at 4.5 pounds
The first thing that jumped out at me was the weight difference.. It 4.5 pounds compared to 3.8 for the abs 38 and 3.95 for the dst40.. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing as a slightly more mass weight will likely steady the bow more. I actually like the lighter weight but honestly the difference is minor and I never really noticed when shooting.
The Beauty of the absolute series of bows is simple the nocking point is absolutely centered.. To set the nocking point you measure the distance between the cams and place you nock there, then you center your rest in the dead center of the riser.. So again what does all this mean.. With the nock centered between the axles you achieve perfect nock travel giving you the ability to shoot your cams in complete sync.. This along with a perfect true center shot all come into play when shooting arrows of different spines.. On the OK archery website page there is a video showing multiple arrows with different spines all shooting near perfect holes in paper without changing anything between shots.. In simple terms for guys like me that means most arrows I chose to shoot provided they are not under spine should be very forgiving..
Another feature that is a huge plus with the OK archery bows is the shoot thru cable system.. To me this is one of the greatest systems ever put on a bow. Companies left and right battle cam lean. Now I for one don’t believe everything written out there on cam lean but the truth is almost every bow with it you have to compensate something to counter act that force.. Again with the OK there is nothing to counter act since there is zero cam lean, zero.. If there is you simply remove one of the cables (without the use of a bow press) adjust the cable as needed and cam lean goes away.. Now shoot thru systems have been around so I am also not saying that OK archery invented this, what I will say is that the beauty of OK archery is that they listen to archers and take the best parts of some of the greatest bows and a lot of their own ideas and build an ultimate bow..
The Grip on the ABS40 is the same as the 38 but different then the DST40.. Now the grip is a little different depending on what other bows you shoot. I just had a discussion with a new OK owner and he summed it up well.. What he said was that he was not completely sold on the grip when he first picked up the bow.. But as he shot it he realized the grip almost forced him to shoot the exact same hand position every time and he found the more he shot the more comfortable it was and he realized how great the grip was.. He said he would even if he tried he would have a hard time trying to induce torque.. So again this boils down to another element in the search for the ultimate set up. Me personally I love the grip from the moment I picked it up, when I got my first 38 it was my favorite change over the DST40 so I am happy the grip is the same..
So one thing they did on the ABS40 was to give you options on the lower mounting hole. You have the option of using a down under mount or a threaded back v bar.. The holes are also low in the riser and what I found is that I don’t have to stack weights on a back bar like you would when the bar is mounted directly behind the stabilizer..
The 40 also has a new look to the string stops. I really like the cleaner look. Besides looks the duel set up makes the ABS40 one of the quietest bows on the market, and since I hunt with one its extremely important to me.
Now the heart and soul of the OK bow has to be the Chili cam.. It is by far an amazingly smooth cam.. I have done tests with some extremely knowledgeable people in archery and set my bow to 68 pounds and had them draw it back and guess the weight.. The closest guess was 63 pounds.. What that means is that this is a bow that won’t beat you up and wear you down allowing you to put more arrows down the range. There is just a smooth draw back and a smooth let off, no harsh rollovers at all. And yet it will shoot at pretty respectable speeds. The cams are available in 3 different sizes with the bigger cam being smoother and the smaller cam being faster(all depending on draw length and mod size and position) The cam is also modular with 9 different mod sizes and a 1 inch range at ¼” increments on each mod to dial in your draw length to exacts. You can choose between 60 percent let off or 70 percent let off and if you are into tinkering with your bow you can do a little twisting and fine tune the let off and draw length..
The customization aspects of this bow are endless.. To help you along the way there is a chart on the OK archery website that explains all the changes when twisting cables and strings
Some other things that haven’t changed is the ability to customize colors. With 14 different colors and black and the ability to change colors on riser, cams and string stops the possibilities are endless.. Another thing I noticed on the new bows are the new strings.. It appears that all the new bows from Germany are coming with 452x and the strings are superbly made.. Its pretty much the first time ever I have not felt the need to change factory strings.. Again it’s the little things that OK does that get overlooked by so many other companies..
One of the most important things with a bow is not the bow, it’s the people behind the bow.. OK Archery in Germany has been amazing.. As a hunting guide and fishing guide in Alaska for many years I have dealt with more companies and customer service departments then I can remember and the Service from Germany surpasses all of them.. To me that is huge, so much so that is why I am writing this review.. I will be the first to point out something I don’t like but I will also be at the front of the line to support those that stand behind their product…
So how does it shoot.. Well out of the box setup was basically the same as most bows except as discussed earlier the rest setup.. In the beginning I love the bow, I shot it extremely well. Then after a bit I started to feel the bow was not progressing as I expected and honestly I even began to second guess the bow.. I spent a little time making sure it was timed, had my draw stops set and everything.. Did a little personal evaluation and came to the conclusion I was simply stale in my form. Somewhere along the line with work and rushing to shoot I just plain got sloppy and that had nothing to do with the bow.. I tweaked my form a little and cracked down and made every shot I took important. Since then I have after many years of target shooting and shooting in general shot a personal best. This bow flat out shoots and shoots extremely well... The lesson I learned is it’s still a bow so I have to do my part but when I do it simply out shoots my ability... It has made me that much better..
The argument always seems to be why pros don’t shoot them... Well simple, being a pro means these guys are out there for one reason... To make money... The bigger companies simply pay and have a big budget to pay... Where I see OK strive is it takes average shooters like the majority of us and simply improves us and the scores reflect that.. I talk to a lot of owners and always ask them and the vast majority of them have seen a big jump in their scores, and I don’t mean right after they get the bow, I mean after the “new toy syndrome” wears off. Those statistics to me speak more volume then and discussion on what pro shoots what...
So in the end this bow is a lot like the 38 but the longer axle to axle. I like the string angle better than on my 38’s .This bow really shines and I for one am sold on it and it is my new go too bow!!! It turned out to be a great big brother to the Absolute 38.. I plan to use the 40 for all my archery needs including a trophy Alaskan moose hunt that I just got lucky and drew a lottery permit for..
