Field Tested: Mathews Bridge-Lock Fixed 5-Pin Sight

One of the hottest archery trends these days is bow makers developing dedicated accessories designed to create a unified “shooting system” for better bow balance, a more streamlined profile and superior accuracy. The all-new Mathews Bridge-Lock Fixed 5-Pin Sight is a prime example, helping take performance of the company’s 2022 flagship V3X bows to new heights.

Developed in partnership with Axcel Archery, the sight is designed to work with the new Mathews Bridge-Lock Sight Technology that debuted with the V3X. Rather than mounting with a pair of screws on the side of the riser like conventional sights, the Bridge-Lock Fixed 5-Pin Sight features a dovetail mounting bar that slips directly into a dovetail-shaped cutout in the V3X riser. The sight is then locked securely in place with a single setscrew recessed into the riser above the mounting bar. The end result is a dramatically more streamlined interface between bow and sight, along with what Mathews says is improved overall bow balance and reduced felt vibration at the shot.

Although Mathews says the new Bridge Lock mounting system in the V3X riser will accept many popular, dovetail-style sights from manufacturers such as Axcel, Spot-Hogg and HHA, the company believes many customers will choose its Fixed 5-Pin because it offers just about everything a serious bowhunter could want.

For starters, the sight is quite compact, protruding just 4.5 inches from the front of the riser. It is also relatively lightweight, coming in at just 7.4 ounces on my test scale thanks in part to the mounting bar that is machined from ultra-high modulus carbon fiber. The sight is also extremely durable thanks to a machined aluminum sight frame. I’ve bowhunted around the world for decades, and I am confident this sight will take just about anything you or Mother Nature can dish out in the field.

In addition to an appealing, bowhunter-friendly form factor, the Bridge-Lock Fixed 5-Pin Sight offers toolless, micro-adjust windage and elevation dials, along with a third dial at the top of the pin housing that allows for individual fine-tuning of each of the .019-inch fiber-optic pins. All you have to do is loosen the pin you want to adjust and turn the dial to raise or lower it. And, of course, the sight allows for adjustment of first-, second- and third-axis settings, as any serious bowhunter would demand.

Other highlights include an integrated bubble level, dual shooter’s rings (outer and inner) to help center the pin housing inside your peep sight, threading to accept an optional sight light and long, fully protected pin fibers that wrap around the exterior of the pin housing to maximize light-gathering capability. Another interesting and useful feature is a plastic sunshade on the outside of the pin housing. In dim conditions, the shade can be rotated to the bottom of the housing to allow more ambient light to hit the fibers, thus brightening the pins. And in bright sunlight, the pins can be dimmed by rotating the shade to the top and reducing the amount of light hitting the fibers.

All in all, I believe the Bridge-Lock Fixed 5-Pin Sight is a great option for any bowhunter who prefers a fixed, multi-pin setup. Not only does it look great and integrate seamlessly with the bow, it is compact, rock solid and delivers the excellent overall quality you’d expect from a collaboration between Mathews and Axcel. It has found a permanent home on my V3X 29, and while there are no guarantees in bowhunting, I am quite confident it is going to help me notch a few tags before the year is out. — Editor Christian Berg

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