B50 strings - call me crazy

[Ray]

How many of you prefer B50 to the piano wire rocket ship new string material.
 I just put a b50 on a bow I had just about given up on.What a differance 14 strands of rope feel compared to Ts-1 PIANO WIRE string.It may not be as fast but I feel like I HAVE MORE CONTROL OF MY SHOT.Speeds not all its cracked up to be,am I the only one who thinks like this.

[Mr.Chuck]

I have put B-50 in place of fastflight strings on many of my bows, and it seems to make them more forgiving, and shootable.  Sort of softens that ridgity that fastflight does to a bow.  The speed difference is not that noticable.   that's me.

[alligatordond]

Ray, I still make all my strings out of B50. Never had any problems so why change.

[jeff w]

I pretty much shoot older bows, so B-50 is what I always use.  However, I also prefer it on newer bows.   I like the feel of it over other material.

[JimmyC]

Glad to know I'm not alone on this.
B-50 is so my style.  

1) Makes a recurve shoot silent as can be.  Once I find the sweet spot brace height it usually only takes half a rubber silencer to get it whisper quiet.  

2) Plus it just "feels" right when I draw and hold at anchor, can't really explain it but the feel part is important to me.

3) I can get endless loop B-50 strings cheap (Keystone Country Store).

Jim

[larry]

I feel I have more control of my shot  

And B 50 did all of that ??

Oh this I've got to see          

[NomadArcher]

The diameter of the serving helps give you more control of your release not the string material. The smaller strand count on modern material shouldn't matter if the serving diameter was the same between the two. You can always re-serve the other string unless you just prefer the B-50  

[Jack Denbow]

I replace all my low stetch strings with B-50. The B-50 seems quieter to me. I make my own strings and only use B-50.
Jack

[Rico]

I agree B-50 all the way,but I still call you crazy.

[30coupe]

B-50 works for me. It's cheaper, quieter, and easier on the bow. If all I can gain is 4-5 fps with fast flight, it's not worth it to me. FF strings may last longer, but I can make a lot of strings for what fast flight costs...not to mention having to double serve the string to get it to the "right" diameter (for my taste anyway).

Also, I don't think any of my bows are FF compatible, so the subject is kinda moot anyhow.

[MYSTIKBOW]

OK Ray. Yer CRAZY      

[Apex Predator]

I with you brother!  All bows I get with FF, get a new rope as well.  I haven't found one yet that I can't make quieter with a good old dacron string.  I can't stand the looks of one of them there "piano wire" strings.  Good analogy, by the way.  I don't think I should have to "build up" the serving, or "pad" the loops!  I am a B-50 man all the way.

[Drummer@Home]

When I traded for my Mosshorn I sounded like a 22 going off at the release. Oh it was fast for sure. I couldnt take it any longer I was sure something would break. B-50 fixed it, she's still fast. Just not quite as fast.

[LeTuB]

I do a lot of measurements with my chrono, on most of my bows the speed loss is arroud 6% with dacron compared to D75 thin (FF type), so if you shoot 10gpp arrow, you will have a 10 fps difference.

I chrono'ed many high end bows (Blacktail, Black widow, Border....) and I have found that for all, the 10 gpp speed is allways between 170 and 175 fps (at my DL of 28")

Anyway I always use B50 on my recurves, it makes the work easier to quiet down the bow

[carphunter100]

I have always liked B-50 over FF for me. Not saying FF is no good. I just like B-50

[Falk]

I am a Dacronist - not the least because
one has to draw a line somewhere ...
   Falk

[LBR]

Nothing wrong with using what you like, but just to clear up a few things.......

1.)  I've seen no proof that FF type materials are "hard" on a bow,, at least a bow that's built to use them.  Of the bow failures I've seen, most (by a big margin) had only used a dacron string.  The only failures I've seen that could be directly attributed to a FF string were on old bows (not made to use FF materials) with unpadded loops and a low strand count--I've seen this twice.  I've never had a dacron string on my #1 bow, and it's served me well for around 10 years and shows no signs of giving up any time soon.  I'm pulling [email protected]" on it.


2.)  FF type materials aren't inherently loud.  I get regular comments on how quiet my bows are (the two I compete with).  Each has one set of "cat whisker" silencers.  Proper tuning and silencer placement goes a long way.  Padded loops can also make a huge difference in string noise.

3.)  Not all of these strings are "piano wire" strings.  I never did care for those either (and that's what I've called them for years), until about a year and a half ago when I started competing with a selfbow.  I still use a moderate size string on my longbow, but the small string on my selfbow really helped the speed.  The handshock, which was just about intolerable for my elbow with dacron, was greatly reduced as well.

4.)  You don't have to pad out the serving area to get a proper nock fit, unless you go with a low strand count (piano wire) string.  I shoot Bohnning Classic and Mercury nocks, and they fit my longbow string just fine.

5.)  There's a lot more to gain from these string materials than speed.  Reduced hand shock, reduced stretch, reduced creep--all of which mean better consistency--and increased durability.

6.) There are lots of different "FF" type materials--some bows seem to "like" one over the other.  My personal favorite is Dynaflight '97.

7.)  You are crazy!

Again, if you like dacron, go for it.  Just wanted to clear up some common misconceptions.

Chad

[SlowBowinMO]

Chad...66# at 30.5!?    

Just how big an 'ol boy are you anyway?!   :D  

Staying on topic, I still prefer B-50 on my 'curves and like the FF type stuff on my hybrids.

[Robinofdahood]

I'm totally the new guy here so its ok to smack the back of my head.  I've only shot dacron, but is it true that one MAY have to go up in spine weight when switching to FF due to it being harder(more energetic, say) on the arrow?  
Still learning,
Dave

[Tim Fishell]

Typically you need to add 10 pounds of arrow spine when shooting fast flight.  This is just what I found shooting my Shrews with 450+ strings.