black widow ?

[gold-tip #1]

What yr did black widow bows start being cnc machine? And is there any pros or cons in one way are the other between the two? Thx.

[R. W. Mackey]

Can't remember the exact date, but they talk about it on their web site. The CNC machineing allows you to have a new set of limbs made without sending them the riser.  Tollerances are much closer, still shoot the same. You can't tell the difference just looking.  RW

[Larry247]

You can't tell the differance by looking at them but if your an owner of the older model widow's you'll know the differance in the feel of the bow.

They seem to be a bit heavier and i prefur the older one's best.

I had my son one made without the phenolic in 2007 and it cost me $100.oo more. I thought it was worth it.

Eitherway, they are still a widow and shoot well and are some of the tuffest bows built.

[awbowman]

I once asked the same question (and others) to the man himself and I got the following response which gives a little trivia on the names of BW bows:

"Back in 1982 Ken Beck bought Black Widow Bows.  It was the 25th anniversary of the company and he designed his first Black Widow, the MA.  MA stood for Maple Anniversary because it was made of Maple and it was the 25th Anniversary.

Things kind of grew from there.  His next takedown model was a shorter version of the MA and he called it the SA (Short Anniversary).

In 2003 we started building our bows with our CNC machines and we added the P in front of MA and SA. P standing for Precision.

In 2004 we began producing the older TF (Target & Field) one piece bows in the milling machine creating the PTF.

In 2007 we had our 50th Anniversary so another anniversary bow was born, the PA (Precision Anniversary).  So now we have the PMA and PSA models along with the PSR (Precision Short Recurve) and PL (Precision Longbow), PA and PTF models.

Last year (2010) we came out with another new model, the PCH (Precision Compact Hunter) which has even a shorter riser."

[kat]

Very interesting.  I have heard two different stories about the 'P' in the names. Some say it stands for precision, and some say Phenolic.

Now I am confused, as I bought an exotic PCH without phenolic in it, and it came through as a CHX designation.
I wonder why it isn't PCHX.

[Gen273]

The "P" stands for Phenolic. I have and prefer Widows without the Phenolic. My 2011 Widow is a CHX as well.