Starter Compound Bow Questions

New to bows and have a few questions!
Looking to get a starter compound bow to practice target shooting (and eventually for hunting) and I've gone to Gun City and Hunting & Fishing in Christchurch but they don't really have much of a selection so I can't try anything out. Any recommendations for a good archery store that could set me up in CHCH? I've a rather small frame so would be looking to get something that's smaller and lighter
I'm also not sure how to tell a left-handed from a right-handed bow when looking at pictures of listings on TradeMe. I searched online for examples but still find it very confusing due to the orientation of the bow (which way is up?). Is there an easy to remember, straight-forward method to tell?
When a bow (such as the mankung thorns) states that the draw weight is 30-70lbs, is it fully adjustable within that range without requiring any add-ons? The reason I'm confused is that for something like the PSE bows, the draw weights are stated as 50 lbs., 60 lbs., 70 lbs., 80 lbs and if I'm not wrong, require different limbs to achieve the different ranges.
Also, I saw a 2nd hand Mankung thorns at a pawn shop for $400, was wondering if that is a good buy considering I won't know how much it's previously been used?

Head out to Arrowhead Archery in Darfield. Otherwise I got my first bow from Advanved Archery in Auckland, they were really good to deal with over the phone.

There are two archery places in Canterbury, both part time shops. I’ve dealt with Mathew at Arrowhead out at Darfield and he will set you up right. There is also Paddy at bowhunt.co.nz in Christchurch.
The PSE bows have about 10 bolt turns for the limbs. Wound right in they will be full poundage, but if you wind the bolts out a bit the poundage is reduced. I bought a 70lb bow and wound the bolts out 5 turns, then slowly did them up every couple of weeks until I could back the full poundage.
DONT BUY A BOW UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN MATHEW OR PADDY. Bows are not like rifles, you have to get one that fits you properly. Personally I wouldn’t buy a mankung, buy a reputable American brand eggs PSE, Hoyt, Mathew, Elite, Bowtech. Buying secondhand can be good, but you need to know what you are looking for.

The www.Huntersfriend.com site has a great buyers guide ghat you should read before you buy. It's compulsory to find a good brick and mortar store when starting out, because fit and tuning will significantly affect your experience and performance. If you want to shorten and flatten the learning curve, get to a good shop!

100% go and see Mathew in Darfeild

mathew is a good guy and wont try to oversell you.
i use a bowtech revolt x. my wife uses a mag kun. she's more than happy with it and mathew says that the string quality is the only issue but its still going strong.
i have spare arrow rests and sights if you need them, be happy to shift them off cheap.
ellesmere archery club is worth joining, most shoot recurve though. give them a call if you want to have a shoot on saturday morning or wednesday evening

@gonetropo have you seen Matthew's sring making jig. He can now make strings for any bow out there

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Originally Posted by Billbob

@gonetropo have you seen Matthew's sring making jig. He can now make strings for any bow out there

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sure have, i believe he was thinking of relocating premises closer to rolleston last time i saw him.

The other archery club is Canterbury Archers at Living Springs over Lyttleton way. 3d targets spread around the bush. Ranges from 20yds out to 65ish. Takes a couple of hours to get around and shoot 25-30 targets. Really good practice for bowhunting.

3d targets in the bush are fantastic fun, for a beginner its a recipe for losing arrows. best to start on targets and move up

Thanks for the recs. I'd recently bought a Hoyt bow that was going for cheap on TradeMe and turns out I got scammed of $500 so I'm not able to afford a bow for now anymore 😅

@DustyKnees - sorry to hear that. There are some real shitty people out there.

That is really crap, did you pay through Ping? Trademe are supposed to help out if you did

I paid through bank account transfer. I did open a dispute with TradeMe and they got in touch with the seller but I doubt I'm getting the money back as the seller had just been stalling each time (stating he'd send it a week later, and then missing the deadline and saying another week and another week and it's been 3 weeks now)

Go to the police and report it as fraud.

Do you have the name of the guys account to see if he has other items for sale on tm? ( I guess probably not but just in case…)

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Originally Posted by Friwi

Do you have the name of the guys account to see if he has other items for sale on tm? ( I guess probably not but just in case…)

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I did this. Turned up at the guys place. Got him to load 4x the value of stuff into my car and then told him Id already paid. Got sorted pretty quick after that

Some pretty darn shitty people around sadly hope you get something out of it mate 👍

I did, police reply was they would not investigate due to it being a small case and not important enough

I think trademe restricted his listings after I opened a dispute cus his latest listings are all gone

Your other option is small claims court. A lot of mucking around but it might make them think about it again.

as stug said, take him to court, 500 is a good starter bows cost

Honestly, I've been through small claims court before, few years ago. It's a months long wait, on top of paying another $60 for the application. In the worst case scenario, if the seller continues to refuse paying up after the hearing, I'd have to seek further legal action to recoup the money at my own cost. Laws aren't exactly consumer friendly for smaller purchases. Based on the seller's strangely hostile and pushy behaviour throughout the trade (he spammed emails asking when I could pay up cus he said finances are tight, and then disappeared after I paid. I had to contact him 4x to ask if he managed to ship on the new deadlines he stated, cus he never updated me even after I patiently waited 3 days past each time), I figure he's spent my money on dr*gs or some other and (not sure about the laws here) but generally people like that aren't worth the extra financial loss and headache to pursue legally :(

Hopefully the bank can reverse the transaction but banks aren't helpful either. Especially when the seller had said they'd spent all the money I sent (except shipping) and started asking me for more money to cover the shipping. He'd previously stated that he would cover the difference if the shipping cost more, and it was only a $10 difference according to him, but his excuse was that he's broke and doesn't have $10. 🤦 TradeMe's told me to wait 1-2 weeks because the seller said he can only get the money back then. I highly doubt I'm getting the refund

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Originally Posted by blip

I did this. Turned up at the guys place. Got him to load 4x the value of stuff into my car and then told him Id already paid. Got sorted pretty quick after that

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While I would like to do this, the person seems to have anger issues and I wouldn't want to get into a physical confrontation. He was cussing me out the entire transaction once I'd paid

And he is still armed with a bow