Vintage Black Widow Bows Weight off?

[Iron Man2]

“I have a question for the good of the Order”
Are the Black Widow (older ones) Bows "off" the marked weight on the bow? How much? Say 53# @ 30”, can it be up to 10# off or more? I used a Chatillon fish & game scale, that in the past was IGFA certified when I use to fish in Tournaments. So I do not question the accuracy.

JL
   

[LBR]

Could happen--your best bet would be to contact the guys at the shop via phone or e-mail--they should know as well or better than anyone.

I do know that it used to be common for bowyers to use a hanging, spring-loaded scale to measure draw weight, and those are not usually very accurate (that is why they are all stamped "not legal for trade").

How are you measureing the draw weight?  That may be part of the difference.  Are you measureing to the deepest part of the grip + 1.75", to the back of the grip, or?

Chad

[flinthead]

Black Widow measures draw length from the nock of the arrow[at full draw] to the far side of the shelf-which would add 1 3/4 inches if you measure to the deepest part of the grip to the arrow nock. Roy

[Iron Man2]

I used a full length bare alum arrow nocked. I marked inches from 24 to 31. I checked several DLs. I checked spots from the back of the bow or the front of the shelf, the middle of the shelf or approximately the back of the grip. All came short of the 53#. Depending on how you measure for my DL. I have approximately 28 to 30". I figured at  perfect draw and anchored. I draw 28.5". I find that at full relaxed draw, my knuckle touches the broad head if I cut the arrow at 29". I hope this answers your measure question.

[Iron Man2]

BTW...I anchor my middle finger in the corner of my mouth and have been practicing Asbell style of positioning my body, bow, and grip etc as well as different stances, and shooting positions to be as realistic as possible in a hunting scenario. Therefore, I get different actual DL lengths, (28 to 29") I took this idea also when I set-up my DL/Wt rigged testing. I tied a loosely fitted doubled loop to the grip and then looped around a 4X4 post. (two person operation, one to hold the bow in position in the air at same level as if drawing the bow in normal position(not as in a static blocked jig with a pulley and or winch as I have seen used by bowyers, etc.)then the second person, me)placed a measuring nocked arrow and drew the bow with a linear scale, (Chatillion Professional with a handle)and noted the weights.

Never got the 53# in the 28 to 30" range, more like 40 to 47#. That is more than 6# less than the rated amount on the bow?

Anyway, its my first recurve, I like the actual weight I am drawing at my DL, etc. What I did learn from my experiment is that the results achieved were quite different than the rated ones on the bow. I was fortunate to meet and buy the bow from the original owner after I was able to draw the bow and shoot it. I just wanted to mention that from a Newbie's perspective as I was considering getting one from the web and even here on the TG classifieds, one thing is the rating on the bow vs actual adds to the difficulty in starting out.

JL