What are some of the faster bows out there? Specifically recurves. Also, what design qualities seem to make the greatest increases in speed?
Lots say ther are faster but I have never seen/shot one faster than a Morrison Shawnee with either recurve or longbow limbs on it.
I've heard Black Swan Bows are supposed to be fast!
Also Scotlands Border Bows have a good rep for speed..
Of the longbow department I know that A&H ACS bows are very fast, faster than many recurves.
Edit : Dang, how could I forget the Centaur, thanks for reminding me, Elkherder!
If you go to Pete Wards homepage @ www.peteward.com (http://www.peteward.com) he has chrono results in his bow reviews.
Also try searching PowWow for the word "Chrono" as I know there is a thread with lots of posted results somewhere.
morrison or centaur,bw is a good one also.
I would add Predator for the curves and Lost Creek to the LB's. There are many very quick hybrid LB's out there.
Surely the very next one I buy will be the fastest ever. :bigsmyl:
Well, I know my longbow isn't very well known but it is very fast. Granted, I haven't been doing this forever but of the bows I have shot and seen shot, mine is pretty fast. Cold Mountain longbow.
RER Arroyo will smoke an arrow.
If you follow the test Blacky does in TBM you soon see none are running away from the others.They all wind up within a few fps of each other when things are equal. :)
Give me the slowest one from those test and I can switch out the string or drop arrow weight a few grains and beat the others with it.Buy what shoots good,feels good and looks like you want a bow to look.Then set it up for the speed you want and you will be as fast as the next one that comes along. jmho
I agree with James W. I currently have a hybrid longbow, that from everything I have read should have been 10 fps slower than most. Well, I set it up with the same string, silencers, arrow, etc as my other bows. It shoots as fast or faster than just about every recurve and longbow (including ACS) that I have owned.
I'm not saying speed is overrated, but there are a lot of factors that go into it.
Thanks for the input
I second the RER arroyo its absolutely flat to 20-23 yds. Mine is 55#@28. I have owned 350FPS compounds but to see a beautiful piece of wood smoke and arrow at 185-200 is awesome!!!
vapor trails are good
Never saw a recurve faster than a Palmer....wish i still owned mine...lol
Centaur and Whippenstick for longbows, Need more imput on recurves. I would bet that not too many recurves will outshoot the faster longbows though.I just built a double carbon D and R with foam core limbs that flat does vaportrail an arrow. The first two shots went clear through a brand new foam block target. All the way through. not hanging out the other side and stuck in my fence.
I would have to say Kwyk Styk By Jack Kempf they are real fast, and smooth ,, :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :archer:
I would have to add."Foley" and "Herway" Bows to the Mix. Both are fine shooters with plenty of Getty Up!!
I haven't had access to a chronograph but bows that I have had good luck with are Mojo Sticks and a Shrew,Lil Favorite.Right now,the hardest hitting bow I own is a Bear takedown with a new set of Rose Oak,51# limbs by Brandon Stahl.These limbs have totally changed this bow.It throws a 700 gr arrow like it was something a lot lighter.I have had bows over 60 lbs that wouldn't penetrate like this one.
I haven't shot one of Brandon's one piece bows but I can only imagine.
I admit it, I like speed. I'm not a great shot, but I shoot much better when I have a flat arrow trajectory. So far my Border HEX-5 recurve is without doubt the one! With a light arrow or a heavy arrow this bow performs.
"If you follow the test Blacky does in TBM you soon see none are running away from the others.They all wind up within a few fps of each other when things are equal.
Give me the slowest one from those test and I can switch out the string or drop arrow weight a few grains and beat the others with it.Buy what shoots good,feels good and looks like you want a bow to look.Then set it up for the speed you want and you will be as fast as the next one that comes along. jmho"
I agree with James.
My Zipper Extreme 62" 61# shoots a 500 gr arrow thru the crono 201 fps. on average of 3 shots
I haven't shot a recurve in a long time, but my ACS bows are neck and neck with the fastest out there.
Static limb Kwyk-Styk,quick and smooth,a rare combination.Went through plenty of bows before arriving at Jack's creation. But I must admit Bob Morrison's mini Ilf was nipping at the heels.
But honestly the difference between the fastest and slowest is not that huge of a difference.Whats much more important is how the bow shoots for you. Rather hit slow than miss fast!
Any Browning I have ever shot was amazingly fast for then and now even though a production bow
sam
Elburg, Horne, Bill Stewart, Sovereign, Habu, Adcock, Morrison, Saluki, Palmer are all major screamers. jim
i agree Mr Wrenn ...
ben
fast is nice but I prefer smoothness and quietness. My Kempf Stealth is fast, never chronographed it but the reason I've had the same bow all these years...quiet and smooth.
I shoot a very ordinary bow,a Hoyt Dorado with Tradtech carbon limbs.
With my 610g hunting arrows it's a tack driving,smooth drawing,very easy to shoot bow chronoed at 180-185fps.
With the 350g Redlines I shoot competitions with,it's still smooth drawing,not as forgiving,but very accurate and ultra flat shooting with good form,some where around 210-220fps.
As much as I love the speed thing,,speed is not everything and I know I can make a good medium speed bow become pretty darn hard to shoot well by pushing it to much.
Have you have seen most bows are in the same speed range,and if you hunt within 20-25 yrs speed is not the main factor,but forgiviness and accuracy are.Another great feature is quietness.When I use one of my collectible slow poundage bows at 20 yds I don't feel too much the gap with the fastest one I have.If you want to compete on 3D is enough to use a muchlighter arrow to boost your speed.
my whisperstik kajika is as fast as any i have owned...and i have had a bunch. E.T. Williams brown recluse carbon spyder was the fastest bow i have ever seen.
I have a 60" Centaur and 64" A&H ACS that are both screaming at 52lb @ 28! Both are nice but the I like the ACS the best! I love the hybrid long bows!
RER
All of the above + some.
I have heard good things about Saluki bows. I think there was someone who chrono'ed a 450gr arrow on his 45# Saluki Turk, and reached speeds varying between 191-195fps. I have a 70# Saluki Genghis on order, so I'm very much looking forward to that.
The fastest bow I know about is definitely the Black Douglas with Hex V mach 2 limbs.
The second would be a Habu Cs3.
Margly
My Kota Prairie Swift really zips an arrow (hence as Tim pointed out to me, the name "Swift")...
I have a 58" Lee Signature Hunter that really zips an arrow as well...
I'm no bowyer or engineeer, just an archer's observation here, but I noticed the fastest bows I've seen & shot all have slim, steamlined tips...
Mr Wrenn is correct -I have shot most of the bow people consider fast. My main hunting bow, a middle of the pack bow in the speed department fits me well. I shoot it better than any other bow I have every tried. That being said, I still love to try new bows. When it is time to get serious, I know which bow goes to the woods.
But to answer the question, my Morrison recurve with foam/carbon limbs was the fastest bow I have ever shot.
My Morrison recurve is the fastest I've owned. I'm a guy for silence more than I am speed. I guess I'll have to throw my Morrison in that class as well. :bigsmyl:
I guess what I'm saying is, until the speed of a bow can beat the speed of sound then I'll go with quiet.
My Morrison Dakota always gets comments on speed.
Very interesting post. As far as speed in concerned, I don't think that we have progressed that much over the last 20 years. I do believe that there isn't that much difference in speed among the bows produced by most of the experienced bowers these days. Years ago, there could be as much as 25 to 30 fps in bows of similar weights among bowyers, but I can remember in the early 90's cronographing speeds from a 62 lb black widow recurve with a 2114 arrow in the low 190's. I don't think that has changed much today.
My 60", 54.5 pounds at 29" Toelke Chinook 1 pc. recurve (no carbon) chronographed a 564 gr. arrow at a consistent 185 f.p.s. and a 655 gr. at 174. What struck me besides the performance however is that with only Catwhiskers cut down to 1/3 normal diameter it is the QUIETEST recurve I have shot or ever heard shot.
Quote
I guess what I'm saying is, until the speed of a bow can beat the speed of sound then I'll go with quiet. [/QB]
I agree, speed is nice, but quiet kills. Or in my case, gives me a better chance for a second shot!
I've got a Habu recurve that is pretty fast. I've never cared too much about speed though.
Put three different strings on the same bow and you'll have three very different bows.
Pretty much all of them are fast enough to do the job if you do your's.
This question is hilarious and ranks right up there with, "how high is up!" And people get sucked into delivering the, "my bow is faster than yours."
I don't know how fast my bows are. I do know where they put an arrow, and how much I can depend on them to do the job. I bet not too many folks buy a car because it's the fastest made.
Balance, Grasshopper. Balance.
George says it all.
Take a close look at White Wolf Custom Bows. I am shooting one of the new TD recurves and it is sending arrows at a blistering speed. Have a 68 incher @38 lbs. SUPER Bow
There are so many variables with traditional bows it's not really realistic.Lighter arrows make a bow faster,longer draw lengths make a bow faster,types of strings and they way they are made can make a bow faster.Sounds more like a wheel bow question,get a bow you can shoot well.Then why would speed matter.
My Habu VyperKahn is a fast bow. But more important it is easier to shoot more accuratly with than some other bows for me. By that I mean I can shoot it more consistantly to spot I want to hit.
It's more important to learn a good consistant form and shoot a bow of a weight you can handle easly, regardless of the speed.
I have noticed I shoot some bows better than others. Shoot a bunch and pick one you shoot the best. Jim
There are two speeds you need to be concerned with;fast enough and not fast enough.
If you want to shoot something really fast, check out the Ruger 77/17. 2500 fps. That is fast. :eek:
I had a Matlock longbow that was very fast, and I bought it because it was reported to be so fast.
However, it was very sensitive and finicky to form of which I had none at the time. As a novice, I subsequently could not control it at all, and any form errors were magnified.
The result was a very fast miss and an erratic grouping if any at all.
So, what good is fast if a bow is not forgiving?
BTW, it was probably only 5 - 10 fps faster than any others.
Anyway, I sold it FAST.
Big foot bows sasquatch in WTT shot almost 200fps with a 10gpp arrow. If you search a thread on powwow for sasquatch you can see the bow.
Bob
Zipper!!! My "SXT" with bamboo cores is fast. Can't wait to see what my next one with carbon/foam limbs does. :biglaugh:
Bill
QuoteOriginally posted by George D. Stout:
This question is hilarious and ranks right up there with, "how high is up!" And people get sucked into delivering the, "my bow is faster than yours."
I don't know how fast my bows are. I do know where they put an arrow, and how much I can depend on them to do the job. I bet not too many folks buy a car because it's the fastest made.
Balance, Grasshopper. Balance.
Then I guess you got sucked in as well. You did post here on HIS thread didn't you?
Dad always taught me, if you dont have something nice to say, THEN DONT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL!
Right on Leatherneck! If the post was about what is important speed or quiet then have at it. The post is about fast bows. Some of us like that subject. A lot of us do actually. So 5-10 fps or whatever is not a big deal to some of us. Others of us may like a little extra if all other factors are the same among a group of bows we are considering.
We have a lot of post here about quite and smooth shooting. Well I have read a lot of post about how any good bow can be made quiet and tuned for hand shock............ So I guess we all just need to agree that all the bows are the same. You can get any wood you want. The boyer can modify the grip for you. I guess we just nixed a big number of post, and we can all find something else to do. No more boasting about how fast, quite, well finished your bow is.
I like fast cars by the way George.
:goldtooth:
I just got in a Beautiful RER CLX that simply smokes a 600 grain woody:)
Semper Fi!!!!!
QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
Put three different strings on the same bow and you'll have three very different bows.
:thumbsup: I found this out first hand.
Great Northern Critter Gitter and Bushbow. Fast enough!!! Smooth to draw, stable and QUIET.
I diddo James Wrenns comments.
Joe
James couldn't have said it better.
Chad
I agree with J. Wrenn's response on page 1. If you've read through all 5 pages of this post, about every bow by now has been mentioned. What does that tell us? Arrow speed is highly subjective, unless you put a real number to it from a good chronograph, that is accurately calibrated (now there's an oxymoron) you're just speculating. Notice how very few post actually list an arrow speed? Blacky Schwarz does a completely professional job of evaluating bow performance. I have to say it (sorry), in addition to "speed" seek other attributes as well, like shootability, ease of draw weight, reliability, smoothness of draw, quietness, accuracy, unobtrusiveness, attraction for the bow, a comfortable handle, ease of tuning, ability to shoot a "perfect arrow", are few things that come to mind. It is amazing fun to shoot a fast traditional bow that possesses all the qualities you seek!
Kris
"fast is fine...but accuracy is final" Wyatt Earp
gotta agree with James Wrenn and Kris. :thumbsup:
My ILF bows with aluminum risers are the fatest I've ever shot but only because I can safely shoot 6 grains per pound.
Relly ALL this is GREAT!! BUUUT' AS my buddy Kentucky TJ tole me " The critter that's got don't know the DIFFERENCE!!! :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
The fastest bow I shot was a OL adcock 140# bow with 280 grain arrows. National record 446 yards.
I have Hoyt Dorado, Van Normand Ghost and Saluki Genghis all marked 45#@28 (but my draw is only 26"). Using xx75 430grains they all happened to chrono with 178fps (3 arrows average).
Somehow Saluki gives me the best feeling and the best group. Maybe it likes me better :-)
As Long as I can HIT what I Want To, thats Fast enough for Me!! "IT Aint the BOW, Its the INDIAN!!"
I gave a friend a pretty good bow that put out a respectable arrow, It is 51 at 28". Because of a shoulder pain he managed only a very short draw at a large doe. The cedar arrow flew through the deer like it wasn't there, which resulted in a 60 yard trail to the deer. I don't know what the speed was, but it could not have been much over 140 fps. I have a couple of bows that are very fast, I do not think the chrono readings were accurate, but I do not think the speed or lack of it with my other slower bows ever made all that much difference on shots under thirty yards. I know to hold the slower ones a bit higher and the faster ones a bit lower on practice long shots. My experimenting with heavy and lighter limbs on my takedown target bows did not change my sight settings until I was way back beyond hunting range even with the same arrows.