For years I have had what I thought were the best stabilizers on my bow, but I had them on for the wrong reasons. At first, I thought you HAD to have on on there just to be cool. Ha! Then I figured you had to have one to combat vibration, which can be true, but you also have to consider the weight of the stabilizer. You have to really get the weight right to balance the bow, but you may want to consider other factors, too. One might be adding a bi-pod to your bow. Another could be adding a light to aid in night hunting (if it’s legal where you hunt). What about a screw in type system where you can add additional weight if needed? The Delta Rail stabilizer from Tactical Archery Systems has all three.
- Accepts standard accessories and lights
- Side-to-side adjustable rails for accurately aligning accessories with arrow impact
- Low-frequency vibration reduction
- Light-weight, high-strength aluminum construction
The world’s first tactical stabilizer. The Delta Rail reduces vibration with added dampening in the low frequency range. The picatinny tactical rails are adjustable laterally to compensate for the torquing of the bow at partial and full draw so that the accessories (lights, lasers, etc.) will align or stay aligned with the target instead of moving off to the side. This stabilizer represents the first use of picatinny rails for archery though they have long been a military standard. Through extensive testing it was discovered that the torquing of the bow caused the accessories to no longer be aligned with the point of impact and therefore lateral adjustment was necessary. Countless tactical accessories designed to fit these rails will work on the Delta Rail including lights, lasers, bi-pods and so much more.
The Delta Rail stabilizer works similar to many stabilizers on the market. It’s weighted so you can balance your bow. It has a screw in area for adding on the TAS HipBone system or additional weights.
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| Screw in area, mounting rails and a sleek finish. |
The Delta Rail works like any other stabilizer in the fact that it helps balance your bow. It does have the ‘tactical’ advantage of having three areas to attach a light, bi-pod or a camera (should you have a mount that will fit).
The stabilizer attached quickly to my bow and the weight was perfect for my shooting. I had no problems with the bow falling forward fast or kicking back on me.
Time for me to pick it apart a little. This is a tactical stabilizer, not necessarily one made for hunting, at least from my perspective.
First, it’s bulky. It’s not thin like 95% of the stabilizers on the market. When I am setting up my bow, I don’t necessarily worry about the look before functionality. I want things to work and work right. This one certainly functions as a stabilizer, but because of it’s bulk and width girth if there is a crosswind the Delta Rail catches it and forces the bow to sway. We have a good crosswind at our range from time to time and this was definitely noticeable.
The second thing I will point out, and the thing that I think is most important, is that there is supposed to be low-frequency vibration reduction built-in. I didn’t notice any vibration reduction. When I put the Delta Rail up against an S-Coil stabilizer there is a huge difference. With the S-Coil there was no vibration in the handle of my bow. With the Delta Rail my hand vibrated to a point where it scared me. Yes, it actually had me looking over the bow a few times to make sure it wasn’t falling apart. When it was vibrating, I had no other attachments on the stabilizer. There were no weights, no washers, and no added vibration dampening units.
The Delta Rail has three ‘rails’ on it to attach things. Attaching a light for night hunting is a snap, where legal. I just tried mine out at a store because it’s not legal to have a light attached to your bow out here in Southern California. I’d love to give it a shot, but it’s one facet of my review that I could not attempt.
Following the same lines with the rails, attaching a bi-pod could be great for some. That is IF you get the Delta Rail to fit perfectly level on your bow. This can take some fine-tuning. Let me give you my example. I shoot with a wrist strap. It has a leather connector for attaching it between my bow and stabilizer. With this on there I could not get the stabilizer to level without either adding some washers to the back where it connects tot he bow or by loosening it just a bit. Seeing as loosening it wasn’t an option I chose another route. I tightened the heck out of to where it cut into the leather. I didn’t care for that and it still didn’t line up quite right.
There is a screw in area at the end for attaching the HipBone or other additional weight. I really like that feature, but I am guessing that it was specifically designed like that. The ball screw-in attachment went in as described and worked well.
This is from a subjective point-of-view and me being nit-picky, but the colors of the Delta Rail, could be improved. While it’s black and silver in color, and the aluminum is dulled down, I don’t like having anything shiny like that on my bow. I was considering putting camo tape over the silver or giving it a paint job. The shine will only appear in direct sunlight and it’s a small surface area to deal with. Like I said, I am being picky because I don’t like that kind of thing on my bow.
All-in-all it’s a decent stabilizer for the range, but I wouldn’t take it out hunting if I am using a wrist strap. If I am shooting without one I will definitely keep it on the bow. It has a price tag of $89.99 and in my opinion, that is just too high for something that I feel needs improvement.
My recommendations to Tactical Archery Systems would be the following:
Add some vibration reduction technology – I just can’t feel it. I would still like to see something more to aid in vibration reduction. (Edited: see Continued Review below)Include some washers (maybe rubberized) to get the Delta Rail to line up evenly or offer up a solution to rotate the rails. (Edited: see Continued Review below)- Give it some color and cover up the aluminum.
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