Monday, February 11, 2008

Copper John Dead Nuts Hunter Series Bow Sight

Hello All,

Today I am going to review the Copper John Dead Nuts Hunter Series Bow Sight.

Sight Review Points: 3.5/5

I love this sight and have had the sight for 2 seasons. Here are the things that I like about the sight. First, it is light weight. This becomes important the more you shoot or carry your bow in the woods. Heavier options wear your arm out sooner.

Now you could buy lighter sights but... this brings me to the next point. It has an light weight aluminum construction. If you have ever owned the lighter plastic material sights you know what I am going to say before I say it. They are a waste of money but an even bigger waste of time. Why?

Well, let's imagine that you bought a new plastic sight. You can find them for $30 so the initial buy in is small. You take your bow to the archery range and lose a couple of arrows to get the sight on paper and then spend the better part of an hour trying to sight the bow in. By now your arm feels like it is going to fall off and your groups are anything but consistent. So you decide to come back another day.

When you come back you spend another hour getting the sight tuned in at all ranges. You feel confident when you leave that day and all is well until you have to adjust the sight again for any reason. Whether it be to fine tune it further after adding other new equipment or after bumping the sight in the woods. What happens to the plastic sight after it has been adjusted one too many times? The plastic gives way and the pin advances into the grooves that are supposed to support it. Now what? Buy a new sight. Start all over.

With a metal sight you don't have these worries. You can easily etch in markings to indicate where your sight is adjusted to in case it gets bumped. I like that feature because in the event that you need to change one or all of your pins you know where to put them and you are back in business within minutes.

I like the sight circle. It is huge and doesn't block the target that I plan to shoot. It sports a hunter orange circle which helps when lining up the peep and your sight in dusk and dawn situations. The sight circle has a place to put a pin illuminating light to increase dusk and dawn shooting.

Last but not least, the sight is quiet. I don't sense any vibration in it at all. Most folks who listen to me shoot comment on how quiet my bow is. Of course, vibration is a combination of all the components on a bow. But, each piece of the puzzle helps or hurts in the effort to be as quiet as possible.


I have the 5 pin sight which I prefer over the 3 pin model. I paid about $79.99 at Bass Pro Shop. It was at the lower end of the middle priced sights.

I do have to report a problem however. The fiberoptics seemed to dry rot after a couple of seasons. It is next to impossible to find replacement pins to change these pins out. They used to be available at Bass Pro but for what ever reason they aren't carrying the pins anymore. These pins can't be replaced by your standard pin due to the angle of the pins. You can't buy the pins at the Copper John website either. I had to purchase a brand new sight to scalp the pins. That's $79.99 twice in two years. In my opinion, that's unacceptable.

I emailed customer service at Copper John about the problem 3 weeks ago and have not received an email acknowledging the receipt of my email much less to answer my question. I am not sure if this is an indication of their customer service or if it is a fluke.

I will say this: If the fiber optic portion of the pins was stronger and more protected, the replacement pins were more readily available for replacement of broken ones and customer service would have been more helpful, I would be giving this product my highest score of 5 stars.

I saw that Copper John has come out with a different style pin in their newest version of the dead nuts series. It seems that the pins are a bit more protected. See pic below of the Copper John Dead Nuts 2 Hunter Pro Series:


This sight is also available at Bass Pro Shop for $89.99 (6 pin sight). I would invest in this sight as the Dead Nuts 1 may be phased out.

Incidentally, I purchased a sight cap that is made for Copper John sights that covers the pins and avoids damage to them. The cap doesn't add any noise to my bow and only costs about $20 at Bass Pro Shop. This may take care of the problem altogether. I will report on the subject after next season is over.

God Bless,
Sean

3 comments:

Brother Paul said...

Hi Sean,

I use to be a Respiratory Therapist. Write to me and let me know what's going on. I admire your abilities, and would like to know where you stand on things religiously. Blessings to you,

Brother Paul

Anonymous said...

A quick Google turned up the sight pins at several dealers, including this one http://shop.eaglearchery.com/browse.cfm/4,5795,1,0,0.html which I just ordered to have spares or turn my Copper John into a 5 or 6 pin sight.

Good hunting, John

Sean said...

Thank you so much John. Your post will keep me in business for a very long time.

God Bless,
Sean