I'm a longbow guy. Last year I startled testing the recurve waters. I've owned 8 or 9 and have sold most of those off.
I just can't seem to get them quiet. I realize I start with a handicap because I shoot 3 under, but I've just not found a single one I thought was quiet.
So what recurves can you get really quiet? How do you get them that way?
I thought that's why wooly buggers & cats wiskers existed.
I've tried'em Trip. Just can't get them as quiet as my longbows.
I really, really would like to find one. I seem to be more consistent with recurves. I guess that's the drive behind my search.
Damon Howatt Dream Catcher 60"
Browning Explorer 62"
Methods the same for both: Tuning of brace height, flemish string, wool puffs, proper nock height. 11 gpp D. fir arrows.
Deer's ear view - a static tip, an American flatbow (aka "longow") and my 1966 recurve.
Listen. Watch the first two arrows. Note you can't watch the third arrow. ;-) Click video
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/th_stumpshoot2011002.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/?action=view¤t=stumpshoot2011002.mp4)
I have two ILFs that are very quiet but the quietest of bows are my old one piece recurves from the 60s and 70s. My friend was shooting my '73 DH Super Diablo and I swear it didn't make a sound. We both shoot split finger which is a big help, homemade woolies, wool yarn wrapped tag ends on the string.
I shot three under for a few years and got tired of the noise. Tried everything to silence my bows, but eventually went back to split finger.
I shoot split, so there may be a difference there. Brace height around 7.5-8", a heavy arrow 10+ gpp, and the longer the bow seems to quiet it down too. Another thing is try a non fast flight string. Some people also put felt on the limbs where the string groove is to help minimize the string slap noise, or wrap that partof the string with some wool.
RER Arroyo, it was just quiet.
Yeah, I have an old bear 76er that is whisper quiet, heavy arrows, 5-50 string and puffs or whiskers and it's just as quiet as longbows I've shot, but it is slow!
QuoteOriginally posted by kadbow:
RER Arroyo, it was just quiet.
My XLR seems just as quiet with the recurve limbs as it is with the longbow limbs...may be because of the static tip limbs...Kevin at RER builds good bows
My static tip stalker is pretty dang quiet. Brace height silencer etc help. But something I've learned. And maybe some others have too. I've learned that being BEHIND LIMBS sounds a lot different from being next to or in front of limbs. Might just be perspective. Being a longbow shooter myself. I do see where you are coming from. But have someone shoot your bow and stand next to or in front of ( :laughing: ) it SAFELY OF COURSE. It may have a different ring to your ear
My tall tines is one if the quietest bows I've heard! You can barely hear the light thump when I release the string, even with light weight arrows. It ranks up there with the longbows in sound and it's speed is really impressive.
Caleb
My Phoenix Whippenstick is the quietest bow I ever shot. I do shoot spit finger though.
I had a Mahaska recurve that was very quiet. You should just find a recurve or order one that's tillered for split finger and work with that. Would prolly help some.
Try a Toelke Lynx. You will not believe how quiet it is even when shooting 3 Under...mine is anyway.
X2 on the rer quietest recurve I've shot fantastic static tip design
i shoot 3 under as well. I even string walk which puts my fingers way under for shots under 30 yards. I have no reference with Longbows becasue I don't shoot em. However, most of my curves are easily made quiet.
Some really quiet ones for me include: Bigfoot, Schafer, & Habu. Frankly, I own only one that is a bit of trouble and I think it is because of metal ILF fittings.
I shoot a DAS Gen I riser. Winex limbs have been very quiet but I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of noise with my new Morrison MAX I limbs. They are probably the quietest I have owned. When my wife shoots hers there is nothing but a little "thump".
Yup...Pad the string grooves!
I shoot my Timberhawk 3 piece recurve with 2 sets of wool yarn silencers and wool yarn wrapping on the loops. Nothing has "jumped" the string on my yet. I shoot 3 under and most people say it is a quiet bow.
Ive had a bunch of recurves, first time I shot a stalker static I ordered one. Only recurve Ive shot that only thumps like a longbow, narrow limbs and grip give it a longbow feel.
Another RER Arroyo owner and it's one of my quietest bows I've ever owned..I make my own string puffs and use 12 wraps around the clothshanger method which will give me a 24 strands when complete nice round puff that I trim to make a 11/2" tight round ball that I do a certain way that I'll need to explain some other time...I don't care about a few feet per second loss cause this bow is still pretty darn quick but more importantly quiet..I know it's a static and has very minimal to hardly No string on limb contact but I still wrap the loops with wool yarn..I also do two tie on nocks and adjust as needed and keep the brace just around 73/4"...Arroyo's are definitly one of the quiest bows out there and I know if I use b-50 I could even quiet it a bit more ...I shoot split finger..
My Hoots recurve is just as quiet cause it's set up the same way as my Arroyo and to tell ya how quiet it is I was hunting the ground this past season and had a 7 point buck that I missed at an easy 12 yards and the buck took off and stopped then came right back to check out the arrow that was sticking in the ground with no attention to me but this time I got both lungs..I was at the end of a tree and inside the root ball that looked like an unbrella and I was tucked inside there but not a lot of frontal cover... I was just amazed on how quiet my recurves are with the puff and wool wrap on the loops method...I do this to all my bows to be honest and also do the double tie on adjustable nock method... :archer:
Toelke lynx, Toelke Chinook or Asseinheimer. Sbd strings and yarn wrapping the ends helps too.
I ran a chainsaw for 37 years...they all seem pretty quiet to me! :readit: :thumbsup:
My selfbow is pretty quiet, didn't have to do much at all, just has some badger string silencers
Zipper SXT, best fast performing quiet recurve.
I stumbled upon one of the quietest recurves.
I bought a Great Northern Ghost to accompany my Bushbow and to my surprise man did this thing smoke an arrow and was quiet as a mouse.
I must admit I do shoot a 650 grain arrow and wrap the string ends with wool but it sounds almost as quiet as a longbow. It,s even a tad quieter than my Jack Kemph Static limbed Kwyk-Styk. And that too is a quiet recurve.
Mo
All of my silvertips ! absolutely Quiet and I shoot 3 under.
The only recurve I ever owned that I could not get quiet was a Black Widow. I have owned all of the highend recurves out there with the exception of maybe one or two. Bow hush and hushpuppies does the trick on all of them, also the string material, I use SBD strings on all of my ff bows and LRUS B55 on my non ff bows. I shoot Schafer Silvertips and Brackenbury Quests almost exclusively now and they are all whisper quiet. bowhush wraps on the ends and hush puppies at the 1/4ths on the string. I do shoot split finger though.
Kota Kill-Um shoots even more quite than my Kanati
same arrow and set-up.
I would not have believed that if I hadn't shot them back to back. Really sweet recurve.
I can get my recurves very quiet, are they as quiet as the quietest longbow? That I don't know. I've had plenty of longbows over the years and didn't notice a lot of difference in the noise level between the longbows I've had and the recurves.
The key with a recurve is to tame the string slap agains the limb. I really like yarn on the string (Bow Hush), but some put mole skin on the limbs. As long as you have something soft where the string touches the limb after the shot (the contact point is longer than you might think) you should be able to make your recurve nice and quiet.
Fur or wool on the string for silencers, proper tuning, heavy arrows, all aid in toning down the noise of the bow. Three under shooting presents a particular challenge and I have never been able to get a bow as quiet shooting three under as I can shooting split.
I will say the quietest bow I think I've had was a 64" Griffin hybrid longbow. It was uncanny, but once it was tuned it was very close to silent. I can get my Blacktails, Silvertip, Dye, and Robertson recurves plenty quiet, but that old Griffin was in a league of it's own.
Stupidly I sold it... :banghead:
My Sley recurve with Bow Hush on limbs and string is by far the quietest recurve I have ever had, followed closely by a couple of Rivers Edge Recurves I've owned.
I was in you same boat. I wouldn't shoot a recurve after shooting a d longbow for a dozen years. I got a Stalker static top recurve last fall. By far the quietest recurve I've ever shot and not heard. At trad league I constintley get guys saying how quiet my bow is!! If it wasn't I wouldn't shoot it. Give South a call he has a test drive program and you can see how quiet it is :)
Just shooting my Robertson Fatal Styk in my basement and it is quiet with partial catwhiskers
Asseinheimer, without a doubt. you don't have to load up the limbs or string with all kinds of junk.
I shoot Martin bows with string groove pads on the limbs with cat whiskers with very quiet results.I like the look of fur silencers,but have never thought they silence as well.I shoot pretty heavy arrows as well.Good Luck.I found this thread interesting as I have been having trouble getting my new to me longbow,as quiet as my recurves.Back to the drawing board.
I have never shot an RER but looking at and knowing bow design I would say that it would heads up be way above all working recurves and most statics for quietness;
That said the quietest I have ever shot is my origonal Talon; It is as quiet as most of my longbows I own by any maker and can easily be hunted with no string silencers;
The abrupt tightness of the static recurve completely eliminates string slap; there just does not seem to be any;
Sasquatch's new static and my new static will be in that class. Both can be seen in the thread which kind of is the coming out or exposure of Kirks static. Mine is the one with the sharp ends on the riser and Kirks is the good looking one next to it. LOL
I sent mine up there to have it tested. I know for a fact that the Storm Eagle is super quiet and from design tha that Kirks is just a quiet or even quieter.
All that said , Statics which have a curve instead of a lever tip are super quiet. The sharper the curve the quieter they are.
God bless, Steve
It does not take much to get most any recurve quiet. Some wool silencerson the rights spots on the string, sometimes some velcro in limb grooves and a lot of guys forget that a slight change in braceheight sometimes makes a huge difference. My RER bows are some of the quietest I have shot and my Border limbs are very quiet as well! Shawn
x2 on Zipper SXT with carbon/foam. All it has are wool silencers and very quiet. Everybody that has shot it remarks that it is quiet, so it isn't just me.
RER XR and RER Arroyo...both extremely quiet recurves, and easy to get that way.
I use one set of small cat whiskers, or a pair of Two Tracks scallops and I am in business!
QuoteOriginally posted by Tree Killer:
I ran a chainsaw for 37 years...they all seem pretty quiet to me! :readit: :thumbsup:
I agree with Tree Killer. I Jackhammer for a living.
I shoot 3-under and the bows I own with Static tips are much quieter. I think. :dunno:
RER Vital,very quiet recurve
I am been able to make quiet all my recurves,but the bow that really surprised me is been my Zipper with carbon/foam limbs..
RER ARROYO...Put a Allen Schafer Ultra Cam string on it, with a set of Terry Green Bow Hush, and Top it off with Chuck Two Track Silencers...quietest rig out there....
Have a 62inch Great Northern Super Ghost that shoots quiet with a 14 strand 450 string with yarn ball silencers. I shoot split finger. Probably quieter than my 60 inch Super Shrew.
Another vote for a RER Arroyo, I have owned three and all of them were very quiet.
I'll say it again "RER Arroyo" and a set of string puffs = :D :thumbsup:
The quietest recurve I never heard was a FEDORA 560 ONE PIECE with THEIR string...Dacron. Quiet as a selfbow.....and yes, fast with a non fast flight string.....it was adorned with BowHush as well.
That was the quietest I ever heard shot....and I also shot it as well.
Threeunder, I'll have my new Stalker static in a couple weeks. Maybe we can get together and shoot and you can see if you like how quiet they are. All the reviews I've heard are they are very quiet. But...its a right hander !!!lol
I think a big part of recurve limbs and quietness has to do with the limb design and balancing. There are a lot of great recurve designs out there. The ones that have good enough string tension at brace to stop the limbs clean without string slap are going to be much quieter.
The static tip RC's and Semi-static tip RC's seem to be the best on noise because the string starts wrapping back on the limb tip earlier in the power stroke.
I was amazed at how quiet these two bows were with no silencers on the string at all.
Here is Eagle wings "Storm Eagle"
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Bows%202013/Sasquatch%20SS/StevesStatic5528.jpg)
This is the new "Sasquatch SS"
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Bows%202013/Sasquatch%20SS/Testfulldraw6228.jpg)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Bows%202013/Sasquatch%20SS/IMAG1053.jpg)
Just did some trading for a Hoyt Dorado and finally got rid of my dust collecting wheelie..I had kept the Tight Spot quiver and stabilizer off my wheelie on hand in case I got a techy recurve later. Well the Dorado came with beaver balls and string groove pads and factory limbsavers..installed the Tight Spot and stabilizer and then set the brace to 8.25. WOW! Not only is it a sensationally accurate and great shooting bow, but also scary quiet, I mean like almost dead silent...Hoyt I'm seriously impressed.