Limbs on front or back of riser?

[snowplow]

Hey guys, how does the standard vs black widow limb orientation effect things? Does a widow seem to act more like a forward handle bow like a shrew? Is there really a difference or just cosmetic?

[Etter]

To my understanding limbs coming off the belly of the bow like a widow makes a bow more forgiving. Ive definitely seen that to be true. I think widows are the most stabile and easiest shooting bows on the planet. The tradeoff is supposedly a reduction in performance. I dont know about that though. Widows are plenty quick to me

[Orion]

The Widow is a forward handle bow.  As such, should be a little more resistant to hand torque. Because the limbs don't flex as far for a given draw length as they would if they were positioned on the back of the bow, that means they need to be made a little stiffer to get the same draw weight at a given draw length.  Don't really know how that affects performance.  Again, because they don't flex/bend as much for a given draw length, should take them longer to begin stacking.  Or, looked at another way, a person with a longer draw length may be able to shoot a slightly shorter forward handle bow compared to a standard handle bow. 

[Tajue17]

my 2 cents are back mounted limbs = higher brace/more forgiving  vs front mounted limbs = lower brace/less forgiving  --> but ALL depends on the shooter and the bow I guess.. 

touching on BW,, if I have this right what actually set BW bows apart from others back in the day was they were fast but also had a 8" or higher brace which was very forgiving (easier to hit accurately)   and still achieved those speeds,, I personally loved shooting heavy ash arrows from them..

[GCook]

I've shot some BW bows, owned one and can honestly say they are easy to shoot.  However they are slow compared to my Talltines and Primaltech bows if only by 12 to 15 fps.  Speed is not everything but a flatter trajectory is preferable to me with everything else being equal.
That said if I just do not like the look of the forward handle.  To me it looks like a club with limbs attached.  Some other bows with front attached limbs have big bulky risers as well and aren't at all attractive to me.
But archery is a very personal sport and each individual finds things within it that touches them differently than other individuals.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you cannot discount that within archery.   

[Friend]

Black Widow recurves are mediocre performers yet stand up with most hi end bows. The deflex design promotes forgiveness, the time-tested robust design, quality, stellar customer service and pleasant shot execution experience have kept them at the forefront.

There are pros and cons for choosing a forward handle mounted design. I am not qualified to discuss. I have owned several forward mounted handle designs from Black Widow, Habu and Timberghost and have been extremely pleased with al three. Note: the Timberghost is in the limited elite category when it comes to performance.

Spending some quality time with a forward handle mounted riser would speak much louder and clearer than any words I could provide.

[Huntschool]

I am a Widow Guy....  However, I should say that my only Widow with the forward design is an older MA Dacron string bow.  I had Ken Beck look at this bow and tell me about it.  That in and of itself was eye opening.  It has the old "frost finish" and I love it.  Its my only recurve. 

I have shot a bunch of bows over my 50+ years and this is still my favorite recurve.  Yea, its a bit slower then the new PMA with fast flight string set up but I still like it.  It has accounted for several deer.

I actually get more speed out of my newer BW PL bows but....  The MA feels sooooo good.

JMHO

[Trenton G.]

I've got a Stillwater Aberdeen that has lbsmounted on the back of the bow. I generally have trouble with a 60" bow and my draw but this one lets me get away with it. It's not the fastest bow but it's pretty stable and shoots well.