I have a question for you Black Widow recurve shooters - are the one piece models any quieter than take down models? Also, how do Widow's compare in noise to other take down recurves?
I've been a longbow shooter for a lot of years and decided to try a Widow recurve and am just having a hard time getting used to how loud the bow is when shot. I get my best results with Bow Hush and Hush Puppy silencers.
Follower, I'm shooting a PSA III with Beaver balls with great success, very quite. 1 third down from the top and 1 third up from the bottom. I was shooting next to a friend with a Hornes longbow and my widow was every bit as quite as his longbow.
I doubt that you will ever get a recurve as quiet as a longbow. I shoot a psa and have owned alot of other bows. The black widow is a little more sensitive to brace height than some of the others. Once the right brace-nock height and arrow spine is found they can be very quite.I had read alot about the brace heights needing to be around 9 inches. I wasn't happy with mine until I dropped the brace to 8 3/8. Thats pretty low for a widow but all I hear now is tunk. I shoot GT55/75 with a 275 head.Its a pretty heavy arrow.My moab is still alot quieter though.
SL
I shoot a PSA takedown and a PTF one piece. I have been able to quiet the takedown a little more.
Longbows don't get the same amount of string slap on the limb tips that recurves do. I think this makes a considerable difference. However, a recurve can be toned down.
In my experience the brace height and arrow weight are major factors. One twist of the string can make a difference and I shoot 580gn arrows at 55#
I have also had some fast flight strings that I could not quiet down. Change the string and bingo, big difference. I can't say why it just seems to be the case.
I use felt pads on the limb tips to reduce the string slap. I use Black Widow spiders one third the distance from the tip and fur wraps at one quarter the distance from the tip.
Here is a link for you;
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=056415
As stated above brace height and arrow weight is a major factor. I always shoot arrows at a the 10g / pound and sometimes higher.
Also from what I've read somewhere on the widow site, is that the noise is in a bell area around the shooter, hence being a little loud. I always thought my widow was loud till I let a mate shoot it and I stood next to him. Dead quiet.
If you follow the link above all's good.
AK.