heavy bow

[buckeye_hunter]

Does a bow that has more mass = better shooting, less hand shock and more forgiving?  Also,if a heavy bow is a better shooter, who makes a heavy one piece longbow?....Charlie

[SCATTERSHOT]

Look at the Saxon American series. They are relatively heavy, and great shooting bows, IMO. The Martin Savannah is a great one, too.

[R H Clark]

Test drive a Widow PL

[Molson]

I think it has more to do with bow design, your shooting style, and how you set it up to shoot than it does physical weight.

[jonesy]

Try a cascade golden hawk.

[flatbowMB]

A well designed & crafted longbow can be extremely lightweight AND have no noticeable handshock AND can be extremely forgiving.  If a bow has an undesirable amount of handshock and is unforgiving, then increasing it's mass will help minimize those characteristics.  But that is simply masking defects in design - analagous to putting maxi fletching on an arrow set up that does not fly well when bare shafted.

[JBiorn]

buckeye------PM sent

[Bjorn]

IMO the physical weight of riser or bow has little to do with all the good characteristics we love in shooting. Maybe mass hides some sins, but there is no reason to believe a good bowyer needs physical weight to produce a good bow.

[Gordy]

In my opinion, the answer is 'yes'. Generally speaking.
Heavier bows = more stable bows, just as longer limbs = more stable bows.

The argument for proper bow design is a seperate issue. A heavy riser longbow and a 'properly' designed longbow are not necessarily mutually exclusive if more mass is your preference.

That said, bows like the Bob Lee stick and Fedora excelerator have larger risers as do several 3 piece take downs with recurve like risers.
Acadian Woods, Brackenbury and again Bob Lee for TD's

I'm still diggin my Dwyers and with 68" limbs and a BOA quiver they are stable, smooth and quiet as can be.