What is a Signature Series Grip?

Jager Signature Series Products

In our efforts to bring you the best possible products for your archery adventure, Jager Archery is proud to announce the launch of our Signature series products.

What does that mean you ask?  It means that even though I know what makes a good grip in abstract, I don’t and wouldn’t pretend to know some magic formula to bring all of archery together in some kind of unified design for optimum performance.  That being said, I have spent more than a solid decade thinking about it.  What I’ve learned most precisely is what works the best for me.  

Since every other person on earth is fortunate enough to NOT be me, the ultimate conclusion was to produce products that highly successful archers use on their own bows because their insight isn’t exclusive.  If that were true, there would be almost no diversity in equipment.  In fact, you probably already shoot a bow that was purchased because it’s the same one that a successful archer has endorsed.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that most of them aren’t shooting a stock grip.  Stock grips are designed to fit the most generalized hand shape.  From itty bitty children to great big gargantuans.  Some companies do better than others by offering multiple options, but why not start off with a grip for your bow that is just like the one the pros shoot.  So for your shooting pleasure, here are the first four you can choose from:

CMS

Many of you have heard of this grip through the grapevine.  It was developed by Coach Mel Nichols of Pineapple Archery.  CMS stands for “Coach Mel Style”.  The grip is basically the Hoyt stock grip with some alteration.  Wrist angle runs about 38° if you measure down the center of the grip.  It has a very gradual slope from shelf to thumb side.  It’s uniformly narrow along it’s length which makes it a good fit for hands that range from small to large.  The thumb-side of the nose is contoured to encourage the hand to rotate into the bow so the elbow points out.  This grip has been used by Jack Williams almost from the time it became available and is generally accepted as one that supports the NTS system.

JDIII

A great many of us wish we could shoot like Demmer. He keeps showing up as the guy you got to beat if you want to make it to the medal round, and more often than not, he’s the one that gets there. Even if you aren’t shooting at that level, this is a grip I highly recommend for people who don’t really know what they want or need. John and I worked out designing this grip by modifying the existing CMS (Coach Mel Style) grip, which is popular among the Olympic style shooters for BB. A bit lower in wrist height (33°), we also accentuated the edge on it for consistent hand placement. I made sure the thumb knuckle clearance is adequate to prevent that callus that I’ve seen on so many shooters. This geometry is consistent, comfortable, and reliable. Kind of like John really.

3.OH

This grip was definitely a collaborative effort.  Those who are familiar with the development of the Jager 2.0 grip into the Jager 3.0 know I tried to get away with just making a medium and a high wrist rather than Low, Med, and High.  The 3.0 style was made with the intention of being more “accuracy” oriented.  I put a lot more focus in the throat area and made it hug the hand more while still outlining the areas where the palm should make contact by cutting away the heel on the fingers side of the grip.  In retrospect, I think I made it too tight for hands that are a bit larger, and I think the high was just a bit too high.  Enter Sungwoo Shin of Southwest Archery Academy and his student Joonsuh Oh.  Coach Shin liked what I did, but wanted something in between.  I didn’t disagree, and after some rework, the two models of 3.0 became the single model of 3.OH.

Casey K

The Casey K is Casey Kaufhold’s grip.  This grip has a bit more of an American pedigree.  As I understand it, she’s been getting coaching from some pretty high profile coaches like Dick Tone and former Olympians like Jay Barrs.  This grip is reminiscent of the styles that were used when Koreans came to learn how Americans shot.  It has more of a domed/arched top which makes it more difficult to give it a wrist angle, (37°ish), but not so extreme like a ball grip. The pressure point is closer to the thumb than say the CMS (Coach Mel Style) grip.  Actually it’s kind of weird that Sjef van den Berg’s grip over at Triple Trouble Archery looks a lot like it.  Apparently great minds do think alike!