# Jennings Arrow Star Compound Bow



## tacoben

I am in the process acquirring a Jenning Arrowstar Compound Target Bow from E-bay. It's one of those old 4 wheeler bows. The only information I found on the bows was from Archeryhistory.com, noting year of production, which was 1977. Does anyone have any more information or comments about this bow you can share with me? How did it shoot and so on. It should look good as a wall hanger along with my old Bear Victor Tamerlane Compound. For $21.50, I thought...what the heck, so I bought it.


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## tacoben

DougK,

Do you recall how much they retailed for back then? Did/do you shoot your with fingers?

As for being a "premium bow", means that my only chance of getting an Matthews Apex will be 30 years from now, LOL!

Thanks.


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## tjb357452

The Arrowstar and the PSE Citation were the King Kongs of tournament archery. The Arrowstar represents the top of the line of the period. Very well made and capable of shooting as well, if not better, than a lot of todays bows.


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## massman

*Th Arrowstar*

I ordered mine in September of 1977. I came in in December or 1977. The original had a short life. One 1 production season before the made a number of changes. The 77 model year had a limb that was about 2" in width. The orginla wheels has roller bearings. The idler wheels & brackets had no bushings so the raw steel axle ran on the steel of the bracket or the aluminum of the idler wheel. The 1978 model year was a great change from 77. The original limbs had a small reputation for failing and twisting. The 1978 model was about 2 1/2" wide which beefed up the limb enough to stop the failures and eliminate most of the twisting. The eccentric wheels went to a ceramic bushing which greatly extended the life of the baring and the axles. The idler wheels were beefed up and the idler brackets had bushings added. This again added to the life of these pieces. The colors were better. A local rep here in New England came up with a "Y" harness that used a longer axle on the main wheel and the load where the cable was terminated was shifted from one side of the wheel to a more even distribution across the top of the limb. This effectively eliminated the twisting that most limbs were seeing as the wheel rocked over.

in 1978 I bought a "Twinstar". Sold the original arrowstar. Still have the twinstar.

Tom


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## tacoben

MassMan and DougK,

Just got my Arrowstar about 2 day ago via e-bay transaction. All I can say is that it is one nice bow and shoots very nice groups from 20 yards (in my backyard range). Buzz cables and string still looks pretty good but will likely replace the string for safety reasons. Otherwise, it just needs some cleaning and TLC. Don't really intend to use this on a regular basis, but merely as a wall hanger to appreciate it like a piece of art. 

One thing I noticed, being that the riser has no cutout for center shot (don't know if later models had that?), the arrow when nocked is way off to the left. It it unsual to have that much offset?...but it still shoots straight....so that's one helluv of a 'paradox'!


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## aroshtr

*Arrowstar for sale....*

I tripped over this thread and though some of you might be interested in some bows I am selling for a friend. Here are the links, I'm not really trying to advertise, but soulds like some of you would be interested in the Arrowstar!

Joel

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7164346675

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7164344366

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7164345252


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## massman

*Actually*

The TwinStar was a two wheeler based on the arrowstar with a very small idler wheel mounted on the same axle as the eccentric wheel. On the outside face of the limb about 6" down from the tip there was a drawlength adjustment mechinism.

The ShootingStar was the identical bow without any drawlength adjustment. The cable was terminated on the axle that also supported the eccentric wheel. Best set up was a retrofit where by a longer axle was added and a "Y" yoke was added terminated on the outside of each side of the limb tip. The cable was then terminated on this "Y" yoke. Kept the limb from twisting as the eccentric wheel rocked over.

Tom


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## Silver Dingo

The arrow star was definitely cutting edge in its day. A work of art years ahead of the game at the time and used to good effect by many of the top pros of the era.
A 2 wheel version based on the same riser and called the shooting star went on to at least the same heights as its formidable 4 wheel brother, I sold mine some time back and regret it now. It was a milestone bow in archery IMO.


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## Goby

Must have been a good bow in his days. I recently discovered that the founder of the club where I shoot for named our club after his Jennings Arrowstar, hence "Arrowstar Beersel". (Beersel is the village where it was founded but this is no longer in the name since the club moved.

This is probably of no interest to you but I think it gives an idea of how proud this man was about this bow.


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## Unclegus

In 78 the arrowstar sold for 280.00. I would have killed for one, but it may as well have been 280,000 then....


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## dwalk

*jennings arrowstar*

i still have and shoot the one i purchased in 1979-80 ...


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## willie

I’ve had just about every Jennings made back then except the original Jennings with the 2 X 4 wooden handle. I shot a Carrol take down recurve when Jennings came out with that one.I didn't like the handle and put off jumping on the compound band wagon until Carrol came out with their metal handled compound. I then bought into the compound market..

I do recall that the Jennings Arrowstar was a very *HEAVY* bow. I used it for elk hunting in Colorado and never got so tired of toting a bow around in all my life.

I sold it that year after getting back from Colorado and went too a MUCH lighter Jennings Model T and then on to Jennings T Star.

The Jennings Arrowstar was *THE BOW* in it’s day


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## toxo

*Arrow star*

Had one...sold many of them and the PSE Citation.....2 of the best bows made in that day....I started selling bows in the 60s before compounds came out in the 70s....and I still do to this day.


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## FS560

I had them all at various times.

Although less expensive, the T-Star was the better bow.


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## thumper tx

I still have the Arrowstar that I bought in 1978 although I have not shot it in some time.. It was quiet and quick [for that time] and in my opinion, the best bow of its day.


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## sagecreek

I still have my T-Star that I killed my first deer with. I would like to find some more cams for it so I could still shoot it some. 

I use to have the Model T also.

Great bows for sure.

I like the wood in the limbs. Pretty cool.


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## tacoben

Here is a pic of my Arrowstar. Hope the pic comes out as this is my first time attaching a pic file.


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## Joe Barbieur

The arrow Star was a great shooting bow, I shot my first 300 with one back in 77 when they came out. It is old technology, but if taken care of I think you will enjoy shooting it.


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## Sfancler

*Jennings arrowstar info*

I've just gotten my father's '77 or '78 Jennings arrowstar out and I'm going to be learning to shoot on it, but I've had a real hard time finding any original information. Jennings' parent company is useless, they can't even check the year with the serial number. I'm just trying to gather some info on the bow i'll be using in case any questions come up. The old four-wheelers are heavy equipment, but the performance is proven in the field and I'm real excited about this bow. If anyone has any info on current values, good shops in San Jose for this old bow and maybe any tips on using old equipment I would appreciate it.


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## doefingers

*yea I had one..*

Check limbs believe they were laminated wood , If I were to shot it at all, I would use heavy arrow 2219 etc...Think they were only 30% let off not sure.I know they weighed around 8lbs. don't think it would be worth much..


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## Sfancler

thanks, i went in to a chain store's archery department and the kids workin there looked at me and this bow like we were from the stone age, but screw them. 8lbs isn't really that heavy and yeah the few arrows i have are really heavy. Just need to take into a good shop and have them take a look at it. I'm a little worried about the tune-down, but i think ill be able to get it shooting for me.


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## massman

*I'll tune it...*

If you have no luck locally with a shop that knows what they are doing, you could consider sending me the bow. I'll replace the cables with what is available today and a new string.

It would be fun working on a Jenning again. I just picked up an old 4 wheeler Pearson circa 1978. I'm planning to convert it to a two wheeler with a Yoke system on new longer axles.

FYI, The Jennings were 28% let-off. There are very few of the original Arrowstars that are worth shooting. Most suffered from a riser twisting issue that necessitated the redesign to the beefed up riser arrowstar of 1978-79 with a widened limb.

Tom in Mass. PM me if you want a shipping address.


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## FS560

The Jennings wood laminated limbs are all basically the same with the size of the butt changed to fit different handles.

Not sure what year they went to the tapered core laminations but they were the best. Quick and very crisp even with round wheels.

The weak points on the limbs are the pillow blocks which sometimes come off at the glue line, and the bottom of the fork. Limbs tend to split at the bottom of the fork along the shear lines of the fork extending into the solid part. This is probably due to the tapered core which allows additional bending of the tip.

I wish I had lept all of mine.


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## Spotshooter2

I still have my Arrowstar and one of my nephews has my other Arrowstar. 
They were definitely top of the line in those days and with only 30% letoff it was easy for us finger shooters to get off the string cleanly. They definitely had a lot of mass weight to them which was mostly the handle. If you replace the string you best use dacron . Not sure if you could use even fast flight on the T posts.


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## archerycharlie

*Arrow Star*

I have one in blue and white. 28" draw and about 40# max i think. It was my brothers first compound. He paid i believe around 350$ for it when it first came out back when. Its way too short for me but my wife shot it for a while but it was too heavy for her too hold. Just had a new string made for it at my local shop. I saw another one like it also at an archery shoot for sale mabe a year or so ago. charlie


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## kanab ram

My father used to hunt for Jennings and assist him with product design. I was fortunate enough to have two arrowstars as a teenager and shot many tournaments and harvested many animals with the bows. It was an excellent bow, however, I used many of the components to build two new "S-handles", which was the predecessor to the Arrowstar. I still have both S-handles and they are still my favorite shooting bows.


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## tacoben

*E-bay Listing*

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Jenning...ryZ20838QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Saw this on e-bay up for bid. Two days left as of this posting.


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## archerycharlie

Was at an archery shoot today and saw one for 25$. AC


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## isshin68

I have a 1979 Arrowstar MK II I got new then, I like the weight of the bow, it is very smooth, quiet, accurate. I never found the need to buy another compound. I could put arrows in the gold target, gold center all day long at 20 yards.
TW TX


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