Stalker ACS LB limbs

[InFamousElGuapo]

I have a Stalker Jackal with ACS longbow limbs on order and should be finished this month and I'm pretty excited.

Just curious if anyone has shot any of South's ACS limbs yet and what your impressions are. From reading the net (prior to Stalker purchase) it's seems like the ACS advantage is mixed...some love it and some do not. I'm most excited to have some carbon limbs with wood veneers.

Cheers

[JohnV]

I have several A&H ACS takedown and sets of limbs.  Really like them a lot but the limbs are fragile and have had 3 sets of limbs fail over the last 15 years.  I bought a new set of limbs made by South at the zCompton Trad shoot.  Fit and finish is very good.  The limbs perform just as well as my A&H limbs.  Time will tell if there are any durability issues.

[InFamousElGuapo]

Very good to know, I appreciate you responding!

[katman]

I have a set from Dryad, very nice limb but in ilf takes a 8 3/4 brace on my das riser to prevent noodling. Don't know if the design has changed allowing a lower brace.

[InFamousElGuapo]

Yep I'm really excited to see how the longbow limbs perform.

[Jim Jackson]

They are much better than the rat traps O L use to make.

[Michael Guran]

I have a 3 piece and 2 piece ACS made by Larry and they are smooth, fast bows.  I’ve never shot South’s version but I’ve heard good things about them…

[Southpaw]

I’ve a set of the ILF Epic ACS carbons, been shooting them on my DAS Tribute.
Very nice limbs, quick and quiet. 
The ACS tips act much like a recurve and physical characteristics are quite noticeable in the last 10 inches or so of Souths limbs.

Some noodling at the lower brace heights yes, many longbow limbs can do that.  But when South redesigned Adcock and Havards production pieces to gain even yet additional performance, that can happen by going lighter, thinner and yet stiffer.  All that in an effort to be even quicker with more speed.
My limbs spit out an arrow on par with many recurves when tested thru my chrono.
I don’t play around with any longbow to see if I can make it noodle or not, thats not what its for.  I brace at 7.50” on my 19” riser with long limbs - no issues, just a satisfying thunk.

As an FYI, I also still own 3 original Adcocks, two ACS CX’s and one pre ACS.
Never, no not once, ever had an issue with any of them

People who talk down OL’s patented design, building techniques, A and H bows and such, usually have never designed or built anything new and creative in their lives or ever tried to push the limits of engineering design to improve performance of again, anything.

Thank goodness there are those that do or we’d all still be chucking spears at deer and elk.

I do hope you enjoy your new bow setup as I do all mine -

[InFamousElGuapo]

Southpaw thank you very much for the information, much appreciated! I've seen it posted twice in this thread but not sure exactly what it means---what is noodling? I've been shooting my Toelkes the past couple of years so anxious to see how this one compares!

Cheers

[Southpaw]

'noodling' is when a longbow limb looses it's brace bend and actually bends forwards then snaps back to its original braced position.
it can happen with low bracings when shooting an arrow or simply by pushing forward on the string instead of pulling it back away from the bow.
it can be seen in higher performance longbow limbs that are right on the edge and/or built to push the limits of performance



https://www.tradtalk.com/threads/noodley-too-noodley.133955/

might be a video of it on youtube somewhere,
sam dunham posted one once, but it seems to have disappeared.

[InFamousElGuapo]

Wow, I've never seen that. I learn something new everyday! Thank you

[Jim Jackson]

Noodling.

Yeah, OL's rat traps. 

Pushing the limits is one thing, introducing something hazardous to the public without proper design and testing is another.  He's lucky he never got sued as I know one guy almost lost an eye to those contraptions, not to mention all the other's that dodged disaster and had bows that destroyed themselves.

Be careful guys, they can unstring themselves in an instant!!! 

(Please note, I am not talking about the bows being made today buy anyone else).

[katman]

Southpaw, sounds like South altered the limb butts to increase preload on an ILF/DAS rig. Good to hear. My Dryads, at least 10 years old are going strong but noodle at 7.5" brace.

As a side note my Java Man Double Carbon Longbow Limbs from 3-rivers do well at 7.25" on my 17" DAS riser, recommended brace from them is 7-7.25.

[Southpaw]

After speaking with South a few times, he builds and measures #age for his risers which are a 17 degree angle.
The DAS's are 15 - not much but there is a bit of an increase in preload when going to a DAS with them

[lefty4]

I have some Adcock bows and I have several A&H bows. I have had one, two, and three piece A&H bows. I know what noodling is and have heard/seen it referenced several times regarding the ACX CX limb design.


But I am curious to know why it is bad. Exactly what does limb noodling indicate/demonstrate that makes it bad?


I was shooting one of my A&H bows today. I have been shooting that bow for several weeks and would be hard pressed to name any longbow that I have tried that shoots "better" for me. They are extremely quick, quiet, and have virtually zero handshock. If noodling causes all that, I like it!

[katman]

Lefty, only seen noodling in some ilf longbow limbs. I think it makes the limbs less stable. Higher brace height stabilizes them, but yields a shorter power stroke.

[lefty4]

Thanks for the reply Katman. 

I guess I never viewed the noodling as a problem and never tried to eliminate or correct it. I don’t see where it causes any problems or does the bow any harm. 

I assumed it was a condition inherent to the limb design of long narrow lightweight whippy limbs. I have never tried to take it by raising brace height and I really don’t think that would have much impact on noodling, but can’t say for sure. 

As far as noodling causing the limb to be less stable, how would you determine that? If arrows group well and the bow is quiet and shock free, I can’t see where stability would be an issue. 

I usually hear folks refer to noodling as a bad thing.  I am trying to better understand why it is bad.  It certainly is different if you are not used to it.  But I don’t see what makes it bad.  At least not yet.  Thanks.

[Southpaw]

Personal opinion - if it doesn’t bother someone, they probably shouldn’t try to fix it.

The only things it seems to affect is after shot string stability and the potential for the same in the after shot ‘whippiness’ of the limbs.  By then, the arrow is gone.  It is again my understanding that it comes from the construction of the mid section of the limbs being thin and light -  With a reasonable brace height, what ever that is, shouldn’t ever come up or ever be an issue. 

When I was chatting with Cox recently and discussing briefly the differences between his construction and my original Adcock limbs he said the changes he’s made he trusts he is moving things in the right direction.

Look at Uukha limbs - the SX50’s/Gobi’s are pretty well bullet proof and the Selengas/SX80’s have all sorts of worldwide issues.  Same design, slightly different composition, very different limbs. 

Two makers of limbs that are pushing the limits and hopefully better materials will eventually catchup to their innovative designs.

[Terry Green]

Lefty, noodling, especially excessive noodling, can make a bow un hunt worthy, a liability and a danger.

I am talking now about the bow I owned, NOT South's. I got rid of the original, as spoken of here, as it was not hunt worthy at all.  Maybe for target shooting, but not hunting at all. At least is certainly wasn't for me.

You want to know what was bad about it?  It would un string itself if picked up wrong, if the string hung on anything is you vehicle, or if a limb got in between your string and your bow limb. It was like taking a raw egg hunting.  I couldn't hunt for worrying about whether my bow was going to explode or not. 'Rat Trap', great analogy as that's how fast it happened. And mine was 70#s.

Mine is not the only story.  This is not just my experience.  Lot of people back in the day also got rid of their originals for the same reasons.  Good friend of mine Matt Schuster asked if he could look at another member of The Paradises bow, and when he picked it up it unstung dinging the hood of the guys truck.

I also was sent a prototype once Havard and Wingnut took it over and they made big improvements.  It was a 3 piece that was much more 'function-able'. It wasn't as 'trappish' as the original for sure, but I still babied it anyway.  That one never unstrung on me, but it was a stand only bow and I wouldn't take it stalking.

I'm sure they are even better now.

Also, to address this....

"They are extremely quick, quiet, and have virtually zero handshock. If noodling causes all that, I like it!"

I own several bows like that and it doesn't take noodling to get there.

I hope that helps.