bowyer question

[michael kavouklis]

I am very interested in short bows and building a recurve. The shortest recurve on the market I have seen is the 48 incher (fred bear and black mountain are the only ones I have seen). Has anyone seen, shot, or owned anything shorter than 48 inches? Is it very difficult or almost impossible to make a very short but powerful and accurate hunting recurve?

[JRY309]

I've seen a 44" T/D recurve,I believe it was a KT44 was the model by K.Tovar if I remmembered correctly.It look like it had a high wrist grip due to the short length.For me I like low wrist grip on my bows.

[kojac]

No I have not shot shorter but I have shot bow made by both of the companies you referance.

I had the st judes bow "Miss Hope" in sept of this year which is made by black mountain. In 4 days of hunting I took 2 whitetail does, a P&Y antelope buck and a buddy took 1 whitetail doe. This bow was 48" and I loved the bow. My draw length is 27".

For a one piece my recomendation would be to make your riser fades long and thin to keep the bow a stable as possible which gives you a very short working limb.

good luck

[O.L. Adcock]

Michael, "Has anyone seen, shot, or owned anything shorter than 48 inches?"

Yes....Would I want to again?....No....  There are some physics and geometry that gets involved making it very difficult to impossible to keep energy storage and efficiency up as the bows get shorter...Not to mention the nasty finger pinch involved. You might be able to find some of the horsebows to your liking. With you wanting to build one, go for it and show us how to do it!   ...O.L.

[onemississipp]

Yes, and you can have your own 47 1/2" nock to nock..49" measured along the back.

I did a build along here...

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=058727  

or here

 http://onemississipp.googlepages.com/flightbow  

It is all there including full size templates...

[onemississipp]

I have a super mag 48, last time I measured it along the back I think it was something like 51 or 51 1/2".

Not sure where the 48 comes from on that one.

[Jhoneil1]

My Korean bow is 46" and I can pull it to 33"...

[joekeith]

I've gotta Rodney Wright Stalker,62# @ 28", and not a bit further.  It doesn't stack, it hits a wall.  But no problem for me, I draw 27" and have no complaints.  It's a fun bow to shoot.
 Pete Ward did a review on one awhile back.  He had nothing but good things to say about it, and I love mine.....good luck.