Right out of the box this relatively new player in the archery industry made a name for itself. The “Dead Nuts” series of pin sights has quickly become a standard in a relatively short period of time. We know the company quite well, since the first days they set up shop. We have always believed that, at least in the archery industry, there are two types of manufacturers. There are those that spend an inordinate amount of time designing products they think archers want and then “selling” them to archers. There are those like Copper John who do the same thing with one major exception. Copper John doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, doesn’t overly “sell” or more appropriately doesn’t foist it’s marketing down our throats. These guys thrive on feedback from those that use their products. Anyone who bought a first generation “Dead Nuts Sight” knows that what’s available today is vastly improved as a result of feedback. Owners, Doug & Eric Springer, merged Copper John with Mel Stanislawski’s company with the intent of broadening their presence in the archery market with a whole new product line to compliment their archery sights. Overnight Copper John became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of target releases. A natural progression was for Copper John to develop their own line of release aids. The head of customer service and sales manager, Al Coon,. spoke with me about their new product line and Copper John sought out my opinion. They decided to let me take a closer look a their new Eagle Four Finger release. When you combine the proven design of the Stan line of releases with the state of the art manufacturing facility of Copper John, the end result can be nothing short of spectacular.

Copper John set out to take their release line to the next level and the result was the development of the Eagle line of hunting release aids. The goal, I’m told, was to stay with the proven accuracy of back tension while maintaining the ease of a trigger style hunting release. I’m tipping my hand here but the “genius” engineers at CJ developed the Eagle. The Eagle release line is available in different configurations depending on your preference. Copper John is offering The Eagle, Eagle Three Finger, Eagle Four Finger and the Four Finger Smoothie. For those not familiar with the Eagle line, there are a few huge differences between these releases and other so called trigger back tension releases. The most important, and probably the most obvious, difference is where the trigger is positioned on the Eagle. All other back tension trigger style releases utilize either a thumb trigger, pinky trigger or sear to activate the caliper, thus releasing the string. The Eagle utilizes the middle finger to activate the adjustable trigger. You’re probably wondering, why the middle finger? This is the “genius” part. Take your hand and hold it up in front of your face. Now try to bend just your middle finger as if you were going to try to fire your release. You should have noticed your ring finger wants to move with your middle finger. This particular style of back tension shooting makes “punching” your shot almost impossible. When this happens, your ring finger tends to pull the release away from your middle finger making it difficult to “punch”. Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to “punch” your shot but I think you’ll find it is much more difficult to punch your shot then all other back tension style releases. Another huge benefit to this style of back tension shooting is that your index finger remains stationary throughout the shot. This allows you to maintain a consistent anchor point making a much more accurate shot. No doubt it will feel strange at first trying to break your bad habits. At first I found myself trying to fire the Eagle like a trigger style release. In the back tension world this is known as “punching”. Amazingly, when I punched the Eagle it didn’t fire. This caught me by surprise, because I was used to pulling a shot when this happened. I did this twice and if it wasn’t for the padded wrist strap I probably would have lost my release and most likely my bowstring!

Construction of the Eagle line of releases is outstanding. The handle is machined from durable aircraft grade aluminum and the trigger mechanism and sear are machined from 440 stainless steel, guaranteed to outlast even the most extreme shooting fanatic. Machining quality, as in all of Copper John’s products, is outstanding. The trigger has two separate adjustments, one for trigger travel and one for trigger spring tension. The first wrist straps Copper John used were made of leather and really weren’t all that great. They had a strong leathery smell, were stiff and you had to be a contortionist to get it on and off. Copper John addressed this concern by developing an adjustable padded wrist strap. Although the wrist strap is still made from leather, the smell is not nearly as noticeable. One thing that is noticeable is that this upgrade is much more comfortable to wear for a long period of time. Copper John informs us, that by the time you read this, a de-scentable cloth strap will be shipped with all new Eagle’s. One fact cannot be disputed; drawing your bow while using your fingers in conjunction with your wrist decreases the chance of a misfire. Any of you who have hunted in the rain or shot 3D during the rain know exactly what I’m talking about (no more fat lips). Since we received the Eagle Four Finger, nearly six months ago, we have been able to literally shoot this release for thousands of shots without a failure. After thousands of shots the Eagle Four Finger, besides being a little dirtier, still looks as good as it did the day we received it. No sear wear, no worn out pivot pins and no broken straps or buckles. This says a lot of Copper John’s commitment to workmanship and their commitment to you, the consumer.

Will the Eagle series of releases make you more accurate? Absolutely! If you give the Eagle a chance it will make you more accurate. This is a bold statement and we stand behind it. After shooting the Eagle for close to six months I can honestly say it has improved my shooting.

Archery World gives the Copper John Eagle Four Finger release a 5 out of 5 star rating for many different reasons. First is the company’s overall and proven commitment to making quality products for today’s archer. Second is the price. At $59.95 for the two finger model and $69.95 for the 3 and 4 finger models, the Eagle is priced for the average working guy. Third, and probably the most important, is the fact that it helped to pull my groups together, thus making me more accurate. Finally, it’s durable, well made and innovatively designed. In other words, the Eagle is the complete package!

The only concern I have with the Eagle series of releases is that they only come in flat black. Copper John tells us the Eagle series is targeted more towards the hunter than the target archer. By offering this release only in flat black Copper John is able to cut cost by not having to polish the Eagle before sending it out for anodizing. I don’t think I’m the only one who would be willing to pay a little more for a target version of this outstanding release or to have it manufactured in camo. I am going out on a limb to say this release will soon become one of the hottest choices for target shooters due to the many benefits that come along with this style of release. Our sincere congratulations to the staff at Copper John for another fantastic product! Please visit Copper John on the web at CopperJohn.com

BowCountry.com would like to thank the people that make Test and Tune possible: The BowCountry.com test crew, Al Coon, Eric and Doug Springer and the entire team at Copper John. We would also like to thank Spot Hogg and Apple Archery for test equipment donations.