Black Widow Questions

[rlc1959]

I have never owned a Black Widow but I read alot about them here at Trad Gang. My question is what do all the different Letters stand for ????

[Terry Green]

You will probably find that on their website....and in their catalog.

The 'PCH' stands for Precision Compact Hunter.  That's the only one I know.

[kat]

There are a lot of them.
Take downs are MA or PMA which are the larger window take downs.  The P are the newer phenolic.
Another take down is the SA or PSA which are the next smaller sight window bows.
Like Terry said, there is now a PCH take down that has the smallest sight window.  As tthe sight window goes down, so does the riser length, and weight.
Now that I started, maybe the Black Widow web site is the best way to go. Just click on the different descriptions and they will give you the descriptions of the bows they make now.  There are still more that they don't make any more.

[mooseman76]

PMA=Precision Maple Anniversary
PSA=Precision Silver Anniversary
PTF=Precision Target and Field
PL=Precision Longbow
PCH=Precision Compact Hunter
PSR=Precison Short Recurve (I think?)
PA=not sure about this one

II=graybark model
III=autumn oak model
V=ironwood model (ironwood riser, bamboo limbs)
X=exotic model (most come with bamboo limb cores)

[gilf]

Been pretty much answered by Mooseman but just to add some extra details....

In the past the bows were named after the wood and model type, so you got stuff like

LAO - Long Autumn Oak (longbow made of Autumn Oak)
SAG - Short Autumn Grey (Short Recurve made of Autumn Oak and Grey bark)

Then they started to make the bows on a CNC machine and thats when the P came in to tell you it was a CNC made bow and they then went on to add the numbers to tell you what the wood was, otherwise you would have ended up with a mass of letters.

So a the newer bow will be marked like so

PLII - Longbow with Autumn Oak
PLX  - Longbow made with exotic wood

The X tend to have the woods used written on the top limb.

[xtrema312]

Good post.  I have been wondering about some of them.  I had figured out the PCH, PL and PSR.  PSR is short recurve.

What is with the price jump for the V?  What is so great about iron wood that cost more.

[Nick559]

I've heard the "P" stands for "Precision Crafted" not Phenolic.  I've even been told by BW that you can order a bow without the Phenolic, its still made on a CNC machine but then its called an MA II, SA III, or whatever as before.  They said the date is the key.  Post 2003 all of them are CNC machined for uniformity.

This is getting confusing and in the future I'm sure it will be even more so.

[mooseman76]

xtrema312, ironwood will be heavier than the standard model and come with actionboo limbs rather than actionwood.  Some people like the added mass of the ironwood and some like it for the smoothness and speed of the boo.  BW states that you'll gain about 2fps going with the boo.  I don't find that worth the additional cost.  However, if you like one of the above reasons or simply like the look it is by all means worth it.  It really comes down to a personal decision.

Personally, I wouldn't buy the ironwood or exotic just to get the boo limbs or the heavier riser.  I do have a habit of buying the exotic models because I like the looks      If wood choice doesn't matter to you, I say go for the actionwood bows and save yourself some money, but if you are a sucker for nice looking bows I think you may find yourself a little lighter in the pocket (like myself).  

Oh btw, it cost $200 more for an exotic model and $120 for the ironwood...Mike

[rlc1959]

Thanks for all the great info !!!! Randy