People keep telling me that custom bows are where its at. Ive shot them and they are nice shooters indeed. However I recently accuired a cheap production line Bear Montana and it shoots fantastic. Smooth, forgiving, accurate in my hands. In 30 minutes after i finally got my nock point set up right, I was hitting the bulls eye at 25 yards with both fletched and bare shaft arrows? So the big question, are expensive bows really worth it? If so why?

A custom bow does not the shooter make!

We shot the Mayflower shoot last year and afterwards they had an aerial target area set up with flu flu's & a guy launching the targets for everyone to try.

There was this young kid there, maybe 15-16 years old.  He was "schooling" everyone with one of those cheapie Samick Sage recurves.  Just nailing the target with those flu flu's, like 75% of the time.  I was scared to shoot with my nice custom bow        >>>------------->>

I started with a bear montana lb and it was a great bow, tuned easily as you said. When I got my northern mist baraga, no comparison for me. The baraga was smoother, faster, no hand shock, and more accurate for me. To each their own as they say, just keep it fun.

If you like purty things they're worth every penny. Some are beyond function and become works of art.

Izzy, I think you just nailed it. Bows, knives, guns, there is a point where functionality is passed and you get into the intangible "art" area. You can pay small bucks and get something that works. Pay a few more and you get into the area where of something that works well. From there on, it's pride of ownership that gets involved.

Just like that kid who was clobbering the aerial targets, I've seen young kids come out to our skeet range and do some credible shooting with an el cheapo Walmart special. But what do they do when they can afford it? Buy a fancier one of course.  Bigger boys; fancier toys  

You take any bow, fancy or not, get it in tune with the right arrow and I doubt anyone will have a problem with the arrow flight or notice the difference. Yes fancy bows have their place but it is a complete farce that they shoot any better than a plain Jane Bow. I have a couple of Fancy bows and I take pleasure in the craftsmanship of the bow and the vision the bowyer put in. In the same respect I have a Guava Self bow that the simple beauty of this bow is simply outstanding. Shoot straight, is all that counts in the end.

Yep.....Izzy.....you're a smart man!  A custom bow can built pretty much to your specifications, ie, grip, exact poundage, woods, tiller.  Generic bows work well too, it all depends on the individual. And. As Izzy said, they're beyond shooting performance.

I've always drooled over custom bows because as the others have said they are works of art and sometimes beyond works of art! With that being said when it comes down to pure shootability, I still shoot my old Damon Howatt bows the best! That's the great thing, seems like there's an endless supply of choices out there when it comes to trad bows  

Absolutely nothing wrong with production bows and the argument can be made that company resources allow for more research and development, quality control, etc.
But...
There are too many fine custom bowyers out there on the cutting edge of R and D (I'm thinking about Sixby and Kirkll), who can fit a bow to an individual, whose integrity insures the quality and with artistic skills to match that make a custom bow worth every penny.
I don't wear designer clothes, drive a standard pickup and cut my own hair, but I won't keep an ugly bow.

Cheap shotguns, Cheap waterskis, Cheap Flyrods, Cheap baseball bats, Cheap Bows all work....Some custom things work better how much? Thats the question I have alot of both. My son shoots a Black Widow SA111 cost $1000 bucks and a Cheatah Special that cost $40 guess wich one he killed his deer with this year. Is the Black Widow a better bow? No doubt about it but both "work" It' personal preferece.

Its a personal thing for me. Nothing against anything that's not "custom", I like to make a bow "part of me", "part of my family".

Yes, many custom bows are simply handmade art and do not function better than cheaper factory bows.  HOWEVER, some actually do both.  Some are indeed highly functional art.  The Montana is a great bow for what it is, but there are some similar bows by custom makers that would make you laugh at the Montana after shooting them back to back with it and doing a hard comparison and taking into account things like feet per second, smoothness of draw, lack of vibration on release, hand placement/handle customization, etc.  A tempered bamboo David Miller Hill style bow is one for sure.  As far as custom longbows in general, right off the top of my head two makes of bow that both are artwork AND peform amazingly and I wager better than just about any factory bow, including the Montana and Samick Sage, are either Zipper bows or Leon Stewarts.  Now let me qualify these statements with this:  the shooter of course is a HUGE part of the equation.  Also, not everyone wants to spend over 1K on a bow, to keep it in perspective a Sage only costs $130 and you get HUGE bang for your buck with that.  A Montana is $330 and also you get A LOT for your money.  So yeah, for some it is about economy and return on the investment.  But hey that's what the classifieds are for!! Hahaha!

you can pass the montana down to your heirs they are overbuilt good shooting bows depends on what a guy wants for a solid hunting bow that can take abuse and not worry about to me they are the best value in a longbow right now, that being said i love my customs but have no problem hunting with a bear montana!

iv'e had a hundred bows and the montana with a catwhisker on the string is the quietest bow i have ever shot almost silent if thats possible!

You could buy a Mad Dog or Don Dow for less money and have better custom built bow.

To me it's like the choices in cars. I can drive a ford F150. It's functional reliable and will get there. Or I can drive a Mercedes AMG. Do the same thing but oh so much nicer.

I like pretty bows for everyday shooting and 3D's and like someone mentioned these have turned into pieces of art. Many gifted bowyers out there today,true crafstman.

Hunting, give me my plain jane old faithful.

QuoteOriginally posted by britt:
You could buy a Mad Dog or Don Dow for less money and have better custom built bow.

Good point.  The Montana definitely is a tough 'i don't give a crap' kinda of a bow though, wouldn't hesitate to take one through hell and use it as a spear if necessary.  Should have kept mine, oh well, got plenty of other bows.

The other thing to remember is that a good production bow can cost almost as much as a custom in some cases - for example, a Martin Hunter costs about 550.00, whereas an RER Vital (A custom takedown) costs about 650.00. It's possible to spend more than 500.00 on a production bow and less than 500.00 on a custom bow.

I think a lot of the appeal of a custom bow is knowing who made it, how it was made, and that it's to your specs - especially if you have a long draw length. It's not necessarily performance.

A long time ago bows, guns, fish'n poles, etc. I didn't pay much attention to how they looked as long as they preformed. Now days I like be able to look at a bow and get a good feeling...not sure why things changed unless I just had a lot of other pretty things to look at back when I was younger.

An old buddy told me that it's not the equipment it's the person behind it.  Some of his gear was duct taped, tie wrapped like you wouldn't believe. He was good at everything.

That said life is too short to shoot an ugly bow lol