how quiet is quiet?

wingnut · November 09, 2008, 05:16:00 PM

I had a unique experience the other day. Steve Dollar, our neighbor and friend is the best whitetail hunter I know and a new owner of one of our Orion Recuves.

Steve called me and we got talking about how quiet the bow is. He said he now had his where he wanted it so I grabbed my bow and went to see him. When I got there he looked at my bow with the small beaver balls and said "lets see". He went and got his bow and we stood side by side and shot our setups. His went "pfft" like a fur covered acorn falling on a wet ground. Mine was really quiet (ask anyone that has shot our curve) but next to his it was loud.

He said, "lets see what we can do" and we took it in, added felt under the string on the tips, and a couple of wool balls on the string. One at 1/3 and one at 1/4 on each side for a total of four.

I took it out and shot. . . pfft was all it said.

Then he watched my arrow flight. Said "hmmm. . looks like you might be a little underspined. We tried some different point weights and soon my arrows were spinning nocks all the way to the target and were grouping better.

Dang in one hour, he made me a stealth hunter.

Next week we will see when Jason, Rusty and I go back to Gil's on a big buck hunt.

Mike

fatman · November 09, 2008, 05:20:00 PM

Mike, were you 1/4 and 1/3 from nock groove, or contact point on limb? (does that make sense?)

I've got Hush Puppies @ 1/4 point (nock-to-nock) and shooting 10gpp.....sure seems quiet to me

thanks

Kevin

TomMcDonald · November 09, 2008, 05:22:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by wingnut:
I had a unique experience the other day. Steve Dollar, our neighbor and friend is the best whitetail hunter I know and a new owner of one of our Orion Recuves.

Steve called me and we got talking about how quiet the bow is. He said he now had his where he wanted it so I grabbed my bow and went to see him. When I got there he looked at my bow with the small beaver balls and said "lets see". He went and got his bow and we stood side by side and shot our setups. His went "pfft" like a fur covered acorn falling on a wet ground. Mine was really quiet (ask anyone that has shot our curve) but next to his it was loud.

He said, "lets see what we can do" and we took it in, added felt under the string on the tips, and a couple of wool balls on the string. One at 1/3 and one at 1/4 on each side for a total of four.

I took it out and shot. . . pfft was all it said.

Then he watched my arrow flight. Said "hmmm. . looks like you might be a little underspined. We tried some different point weights and soon my arrows were spinning nocks all the way to the target and were grouping better.

Dang in one hour, he made me a stealth hunter.

Next week we will see when Jason, Rusty and I go back to Gil's on a big buck hunt.

Mike

Good stuff Mike.

What is your view on felt in the string grooves?
How thick is yours? I have a suspision that if it removes the depth from the grooves the bow's performance will be affected.

wingnut · November 09, 2008, 05:57:00 PM

It's a pretty light felt and the string grooves it on the first shot. Don't see any performance change at all. Heck the puffs didn't slow it down more then a couple of fps.

Mike

Missouri CK · November 10, 2008, 06:34:00 AM

Charlie Lamb on Chris' computer...
Mike, I like the Bowhush Terry Green offers for the string at the recurve. I really think it's more effective than the felt.

I also use the Hushpuppies at 1/4 and 1/3 for silencers. I use smaller amounts than most and they make the bow super quiet.

Dampening the vibration at the curves seems to
be the best first step.

SteveB · November 10, 2008, 07:11:00 AM

I too use the 1/3,1/4 points from the contact points with 1/2 size wool puffs. And either bowhush or adhesive felt from 3 Rivers in the grooves. Add the small limbsavers at the fades and I shoot 8gr/lb as quiet as most silenced lb's

Steve

MikeW · November 10, 2008, 07:54:00 AM

I use Hush Puppies at the 1/3 point and Cat Whiskers at the 1/4. On the puppies I take one and make two out of it,same with the whiskers. I also have bow hush to just past the contact point and cork car gasket at the limb pads.

I think my bow is pretty quiet.

wingnut · November 10, 2008, 08:07:00 AM

It was interesting to me the different sounds (freqs) that were silenced as we did the transition. We did mine one step at a time. So I got to hear the change.

Charlie,

This is my first year hunting with a curve. Never even shot them much til Jason designed this little beauty. I shoot it well and now believe I'm ready for the big fellow to present the shot.

I'm sure bowhush works better or at least just as good. We used what we had to get the job done.

Mike

vermonster13 · November 10, 2008, 08:16:00 AM

Felt will do the job until it compresses too much, depends on how much shooting you do with it. One of the reasons I like Bow Hush now.

Sounds like you're all set Mike. Good luck!

Shaun · November 10, 2008, 08:17:00 AM

Good info. Good luck hunting Mike, Jason & Rusty!

BobW · November 10, 2008, 11:59:00 AM

Yep, the Bow Hush and Puppies work wonders. I'm 0 for 7 on deer this year, and not a single one responded to the shot....

wingnut · November 10, 2008, 07:59:00 PM

LOL Bob! believe me I've been there. I went 0-5 in one weekend once. Heck I was talking to myself when I drew the bow for a week.

Just gotta let it go and concentrate.

I shot a bit this afternoon. This bow sounds like a baby bunny passing gas. It's that quiet. LOL

MIke

Hawkeye · November 10, 2008, 10:32:00 PM

I was bothered visually somehow when I tried the 1/3 and 1/4 from point of contact... the 1/3 seemed to catch my eye.

What worked well for me was to use Bowhush, then 1/2 Hushpuppies at 1/4 and 1/6. Small silencrs that got it further from line of sight, but seemed to still address the string "harmonics" very well. Turned my Morrison Cheyenne's sound to a dull, quiet "thump." I've killed three does so far this fall, and none seemed to hear it!!

Just wanted to throw that out in case anyone has trouble with the 1/3 1/4 position...

Daryl

Jeff Strubberg · November 11, 2008, 01:40:00 AM

Shoot, I was bothered by the baby bunny passing gas thing!

Paul WA · November 12, 2008, 01:02:00 PM

What I always used for the string grooves on recurves was Dr Shoals moleskin, can be found in any drug store...PR

BobW · November 12, 2008, 01:50:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by wingnut:
This bow sounds like a baby bunny passing gas. It's that quiet. LOL

MIke

that is a disturbing comparison......

trashwood · November 12, 2008, 09:19:00 PM

good stuff, Mike.

some of the hot shot recurve shooters with hot recurves are using peep sight tubing over their continous string loop serving and bow jacks at the vibration nodes.

I like bob lee's advice from years back. he left the fuzzies long on the braid for the loops on a twist string and removed the string wax from the braid area. looked like hell but was much quiter

rusty