Mathews Mission Craze Bow

The Mission line of bows is manufactured by Mathews. Like their main line of bows they are available from dealers only but have a lower price point. For 2011 Mission have released a new entry level bow called the Craze. A twin cam bow, the Craze has an incredible draw length range of 11 inches, from 19 to 30. It is quite a short bow with a sub-30” axle-to-axle length of 28 inches. Being short also means it is a light bow at only 3.6lbs.The riser, like all bows in this price range, is made from an aluminium extrusion.

Introduction

Holding the bow for the first time I was a little surprised by its balance and weight. The Craze sat easily in my hand and its 3.6lbs wasn’t noticed. A parallel limb design, the bow had a very user friendly 7.5” brace height. The twin CZ-2 cams present the user with a very smooth draw cycle ending in a positive valley generated by their 80% let-off. The Craze held well at full draw. Unlike other bows in the Mathews and Mission lines the Craze was relatively free of the usual assortment of dampening devices and silencers. The riser and limbs were free of these with only the string fitted with silencers.

There are a total of seven colours to chose from, Lost Camo AT and black for the bowhunters and five target colours. For the ladies there are two pink options, one Lost Camo AT Pink and Pink Lemonade. You can also get blue. Two anodised finishes are also available, Blueberry and Black Cherry. The test bow was finished in Lost Camo AT (All Terrain), a Mathews only design.

The split limbs (glass) are nestled snugly into composite limb pockets which keep both the weight and the price down. At each end of the limbs are MA-2 cams and combined with the limb angle and riser design give the shooter a spacious 7.5” in brace height. The let-off of the cams is 80%. The rated bow speed is 306.

Being a twin cam it took little tweaking to get the nock travel straight and once done it held steady in the hand. The big surprise for me came when I test fired the bow. Bows in this price range are not as smooth or as quiet as their top end counterparts. Having such a short axle-to-axle length on top of everything else I was expecting a reasonable degree of vibration to come through the riser to my bow hand. This however was not the case. I had hardly realised I had shot the bow. Noise was also minimal. Fitting a good stabiliser further reduces vibration and noise.

Testing

The bow tested was a 70lb model set to 28” and 30” draw lengths. The reason why two draw lengths were tested was to see how the bow performed with a common draw length, 28” as well as the industry standard 30”.
For the speed testing three weights of arrows were used. The string was fitted with just a d-loop. You can expect a loss of arrow speed between 1-3fps. Also on the bow were the string silencers. All up I would expect a loss of another few feet per second.
Each arrow was fired three times and the average is listed in the table below.

Arrow Weight Speed Kinetic Energy
462 grains 237.7 fps 57.98 ft/lbs @ 28”
400 grains 258.2 fps 59.20 ft/lbs @ 28”
350 grains 271.4 fps 57.16 ft/lbs @ 28”
462 grains 259.2 fps 68.94 ft/lbs @ 30”
400 grains 278.8 fps 69.06 ft/lbs @ 30”
350 grains 295.0 fps 67.15 ft/lbs @ 30”

During the testing with the different weight arrows no change in the amount of noise and vibration coming from the bow was detected. The kinetic energy levels were in line with the IBO speed rating (up to 306fps) of the bow.

Conclusion

The Craze is a lightweight bow with an excellent punch. Its short axle-to-axle length means it is extremely manoeuvrable through our bush, a feature many will enjoy.

The materials used to construct the bow ensure the bow is priced well to the end user while still giving them a quality product. The Craze, like all Mission/Mathews bows, has a lifetime warranty for the original owner.
Its small size may make you think the Craze is not an adult’s bow but the testing shows the bow packs a hefty punch. More than enough for our big game animals.
The Craze’s versatility also makes it an ideal bow for the younger shooter as the design presents the owner with a vast range of draw length and poundage adjustment. The Mission Craze is distributed by Advanced Archery New Zealand.

Manufacturer Mission by Mathews
NZ Distributor Advanced Archery NZ, www.advancedarchery.co.nz,
(09) 638 8409