Recurves that perform "better than average"?

[Sixby]

I don't marry my bows and for sure there is room for improvement in bow design. Probably should say in bowyer design LOL.
At least in my case.

God bless you all, Steve

[atatarpm]

Great Plains SR Swift is one of the above average recurves.

[overbo]

I have never met a bowyer that told me another bowyers bow willbe noticably faster than his.
So ,by most bowyers veiw,every bow is average.

[DesertDude]

Martin Hunter..........

[Sixby]

Overbo:I have never met a bowyer that told me another bowyers bow willbe noticably faster than his.
So ,by most bowyers veiw,every bow is average

True We have never met. Go back and read my post. I do not view speed as the ultimate criterion of performance. Speed is good but not without workmanship. smoothness of draw and shot. accuracy . stability. and all the other attributes that make a great bow. I listed several bowyers that have accomplished this and I am sure there are a lot of others.
God bless you all and have a great new year, Steve

[1screagle]

Steve, I believe there is a ton of good bowyers out there, a good amount of great ones. Too many for me to shoot and enjoy in my life. I really like what I'm hearing and seeing with you and Kirk. I've been very good to myself by abiding in my decesion to learning to be content with what I have and not spending money and time chasing the wind. You guys have been pushing alot of buttons with my curiosity from the bows you have been building. The one that really has my desire is the Frontier "66". I want to feel that bow shoot. Seems like it would fit "Me" well. Lord willing, one day. Keep up the good fight!

[JCJ]

Of the bows I've owned the RER and Predator recurves are very fast but are not my favorites.

My favorites are built by Mike Steliga who's company is Bruin Custom Recurves. Fast enough and suit me.

[OldSkoolArcher]

The "Best" "Better Than Average" Recurve in the performance department I have owned is a Bear TD Riser with Border Hex 6's.

[Bob Morrison]

There are several things that make the "best" and probably the first would be grip, if it don't feel right everything else suffers from that. next would be the feel of the drawing of the limbs to your liking. And you have to be able to shoot it, meaning a stable limb. Speed is nice but being able to shoot it accurately is more important. That being the guide lines, There are many different bows and bowyer that will work great for everyone.
So there really is no one "Best" recurve or longbow built. A lot of really fine bows being built, but what you feel is the best may feel like crap to someone else.

[KAZ]

Originally posted by threeunder:
Thanks for all the responses.   I agree that performance is an individual/subjective aspect.   It seems that, for many, performance is heavily weighted toward speed.  That's neither right nor wrong, just the way some measure performance.

My thoughts at this point are to test drive a KB.  

Thanks again,

When I first saw your thread title, I thought Black Widow comes right to the forefront so I'll post & offer that recommendation! Then I read your interpretation of past historical threads & comments about Black Widow bows to be "Below Average" and I thought wow, couldn't be further from my experience & overall interpretation I get from other's posts. In terms of engineering performance, I think Blacky does a great job evaluating bows and sharing the speed, efficiency rating, and draw/force curve for comparison.... That's a great place to look & consult if you're in to such things... :-) The Black Widow Bows are definitely way above average and the Black Widow Company & folks that run it are second-to-none!!!! I've shot a lot of bows in my day, some that many say are the "best ever" only to be left reassured that Black Widows are without compromise... That's not to say there aren't some sweet alternatives out there, and someday I may own one, but I can say with all confidence that Black Widows are "Above Average"... I just recently got a new "Dream Bow" and couldn't be happier with it! I invite you to read about my dream season with it, here's the link :  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=123089#000000

If you can make it to Kalamazoo Expo, it's a great place to shoot alot of bows, including Black Widows. I highly recommend test driving the KB!

[bobman]

Dan Quillian canebrake is the fastest recurve bow I've ever shot....really fast

[deaddoc4444]

WOW   It keeps going on and on and its STILL SUBJECTIVE !!!      
    Speed is important  for sure, BUT its not the ultimate To have a VERY FAST BOW  and now have a great grip, and have it stack, and have  the shelf cut wrong and Etc and etc.  It will never shoot To WHERE you want it !!!       Speed is only taking you so far Performance is SOOOOOOOOO Much more than speed .  NO One YET has come close to 300 FPS   and PROBABLY WONT  in a  Trad design and that is ONLY   LESS than 1/3rd the speed of sound   so IF your figuring that Speed cuts down the STRING DUCK  of a deer ( or any other big game animal ) WELL your just flat out wrong!   NOW speed DOES  help in trajectory and there fore extends the PRACTICAL range of shots SOME WHAT   > but so does PRACTICE  !

[Sixby]

KAZ : , but I can say with all confidence that Black Widows are "Above Average"...

And you would be right. they have excellent looks, quality workmanship, good speed and excellent service Definately above average


God bless you , Steve

[overbo]

I do understand Sixby,
By my post I meant if you shoot most recurves side by side at bowhunting range(25yrds or less),it'll take at least 20fps difference to see a difference and I/m being conservative.As we all know most recurves are w/in 10 or so fps of each other.

[Otto]

I'd be willing to wager that if you put every recurve made by all the top bowyers and conducted a controlled test that there ain't 10 fps difference between the lot of em.

It means squat.

[Sixby]

Otto:I'd be willing to wager that if you put every recurve made by all the top bowyers and conducted a controlled test that there ain't 10 fps difference between the lot of em.

It would be interesting to find out HUH?


Happy New Year everyone and God bless you all in the coming year in all good things, Steve

[Stumpkiller]

Here's an interesting test dividing fps by draw weight for a dozen contemporary recurve bows using a 520 gain arrow.


    http://www.bobleebows.net/tests_bowhunting_speeds_fastest.html    

They vary about 30 fps.  

Interestingy, if you take laminate recurves from the 60's you'll be in the same ranges.  Modern strings add 10%.

Also amazing - were worried about these returns and I've had my 1.8L Turbo VW up to 212 fps.

[McDave]

I've been fortunate enough to try a lot of bows. This has been mentioned before, but I have found that a particular bow seems to be more important than a particular brand. They found the same thing to be true with military rifles. Test a thousand M-1's or M-14's and you will find one that will shoot noticeably better than the others.

If you buy a bow and it meets all of your expectations, then you are truly blessed. I have found that about one out of four bows I have bought has done this for me. I have bought quality bows and have known after less than a hundred arrows that they weren't for me.

If this happens to you, don't be afraid to sell the bow. You will get most of your money back, and hopefully the person you sell it to will see something in the bow that you didn't.   The flip side of this is that there are a lot of quality bows out there. After buying and selling a lot of bows, I have about 20 bows in my stable now, and there's not one of them that I really want to sell, except that I can't justify accumulating any more, and feel like I have to sell one if I want to buy a new one.

[Buckskin57]

Grayling Green Super Kodiak (Gainsville)45#/500gr. Cron. at Denton Suprised the heck out of me.

[Sixby]

There is so much wrong with the methodology of the Bob Lee test I wouldn't know where to start. Huge difference in bow weight but all shooting same arrow weight. Hand drawn to a mark on the arrow. How long did the shooter hold anchor? Did he creep before the shot . ect ect ect.;

Here is the problem, all this bad info goes public and suddenly a certain bow or bowyer is building the best and fastest bow on the market plus its the most efficient bow made.

It may actually be true that it is but not established by any info gained from that type of testing.

God bless you all,
Happy New Year , Steve