# what's the quietest recurve you shot?



## Stone Bridge (May 20, 2013)

Spig 650 riser with Sebastian Flute Elite Plus limbs and 14 strand DF-97 Flemish string. It's spooky quiet without any silencers or limb savers. Sounds like a Howard Hill longbow shooting very heavy arrows.


----------



## ebayollis (Jun 19, 2008)

Wow I looked that stuff up and its expensive


----------



## ghostgoblin22 (May 3, 2013)

most modern recurves are quiet, hell most recurves and longbows are quiet compared to compound bows, i have a samick sage, and a hoyt tiburon, both are sound about the same...which is quiet....


----------



## ebayollis (Jun 19, 2008)

I have a samick sage its quiter than my bear but not qutier than my elite z28


----------



## deadeye (Aug 22, 2002)

River edge recurves for me


----------



## Stone Bridge (May 20, 2013)

ghostgoblin22 said:


> most modern recurves are quiet, hell most recurves and longbows are quiet compared to compound bows, i have a samick sage, and a hoyt tiburon, both are sound about the same...which is quiet....


You know, I would have agreed with this not long ago. But lately I've shot with lots of guys shooting new parallel limb compounds that did not make much noise at all. Much quieter than any of my ILF bows except for the aforementioned rig with the Sebastian Flute limbs. Most of my target bows sound like a .22 pistol being shot. I have compound shooters looking at me for making so much noise. Some modern compounds are amazingly quiet today.


----------



## Longbow91115 (May 4, 2009)

Recurves all sound loud shooting next to a long bow. But as mentioned above the advancements in technology used on modern compounds is mind blowing. My 50# Buffalo is quieter than my 70# Black Widow. But the Widow has less vibration and "deadens" faster.


----------



## ghostgoblin22 (May 3, 2013)

Yea some are dead whisper quiet for sure


----------



## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

TradTech Titan with Extreme BF limbs.

KPC


----------



## reddogge (Jul 21, 2009)

GEREP said:


> TradTech Titan with Extreme BF limbs.
> 
> KPC


Same here but the pitch is different than my '62 Bear Kodiak. The Titan is higher and the Kodiak is a low thump. Both I'd consider quiet bows.


----------



## sidekick (Feb 10, 2006)

A Jeffery Royal Hunter, 62", standard B50 string followed closely by Big Jim's 62" Desert Bighorn with BCY-X. As previously stated by another, sure ain't my Kodiak Mag!


----------



## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

Right out of the shop, no playing around and bare of any silencing doo-dads my Rose Oak Ultra Delight is hands down the quietest recurve I've had. It's quieter bare than some recurves I've had once they are tuned up.

My Blacktails are also very quiet, especially the take downs, most likely due to the greater weight (mass) than my one piece. 

I've never had a recurve that was _too_ noisy once you work with it a little bit.


----------



## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

I have a few ILF bows I don't consider quiet..though still much quieter than my Hoyt spyder compound [and that Spyder is quieter than all of my buddies compounds]

By far the quietest bow I have is a one piece Toelke SS and it only has 2 silencers on it- nothing else. Its as quiet as the longbows I've shot with....and not an extremely heavy arrow either- 9GPP


----------



## JINKSTER (Mar 19, 2011)

The quietest recurve I ever shot was the one that was impeccably tuned with the heaviest GPP arrows.


----------



## Caughtandhobble (Dec 20, 2011)

I have bought and traded a lot of bows over the last few years... Hands down the quietest recurve that I have shot is the Journeyman recurve. The Journeyman recurves are very quick as well as very, very quiet.


----------



## steve morley (Dec 24, 2005)

My Dryad Orion with Limb savers is impressively quiet (as quite as my Longbows) but my Vanquish/Border ILF that I use for Stringwalking with a 300g arrow is also impressively quiet considering the light arrows and Stringwalking. When I first had an Italian BB weight it was very noisy but since then Holger has designed a clever bespoke 350gram BB weight for the riser and it has become very quiet, it also has Harmonic dampeners built into the riser, I did take them out to see the difference, it wasn't really louder, just a different vibration pitch.

German precision and build quality, at just over 2.2kg (4.8lbs) it's built more like a Panzer Tank than a bow.:wink:


----------



## weekender21 (Jan 27, 2012)

It's only 49# @ 28" but my Widow is VERY quiet.


----------



## Will Tell (Mar 10, 2014)

Assenheimer recurves. The quietest bow you can shoot is a self bow with heavy wood arrows.


----------



## Treeman732 (Nov 19, 2010)

I have a Martin Victory recurve in 45# that is a smooth sweet and silent shooter


----------



## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

steve morley said:


> My Dryad Orion with Limb savers is impressively quiet (as quite as my Longbows) but my Vanquish/Border ILF that I use for Stringwalking with a 300g arrow is also impressively quiet considering the light arrows and Stringwalking. When I first had an Italian BB weight it was very noisy but since then Holger has designed a clever bespoke 350gram BB weight for the riser and it has become very quiet, it also has Harmonic dampeners built into the riser, I did take them out to see the difference, it wasn't really louder, just a different vibration pitch.
> 
> German precision and build quality, at just over 2.2kg (4.8lbs) it's built more like a Panzer Tank than a bow.:wink:
> 
> View attachment 2090942


Steve very cool...did you say you got that riser and weight at Walmart...grin

I think the implication is whether the recurve is quiet compared to others...of course shooting it with a heavy arrow will quiet anything down.

My comparisons between the recurves I've shot with the Toelke SS static being very close to the quietest longbow I've ever heard 
[call that LB a 10 on 1-10 scale with 10 being dead quiet]
Toelke SS 9
Tradtech metal riser with SF elite+ 5
TT metal with WW innos 4.5
Morrison or BC customized riser with SF Elite+ 4
BW PMA- 64" on a test drive 4
Das- complete 4
Hoyt Gamemaster 3.5

The last 2 being a buddies bows. One note; The carbon bows seem to have a sharper noise to them.......vs. a softer thump to the fiberglass limbs.


i've owned a hybrid LB Big Jims buffalo [carbon limbs] that I would rate a 5


----------



## ranchoarcher (Sep 26, 2013)

I've got an old Ben Pearson mustang that's more silent than my tibuorn, buffalo, devastator, titan iii, pinnacle, athlete, x200, or sage. It's about on par with a long bow. Just a slight thump is all it makes.


----------



## martha j (May 11, 2009)

my 51# widow shooting a 625gr arrow, the arrow thumping the target is loud.


----------



## bowhuntrmaniac (Jan 22, 2012)

Like GEREP, my TT Titan I with BF Extremes is fairly quiet, but my Dryad Epic 17" with TT Black Max Extremes is quieter. And my new Toelke Whip longbow is quieter? yet.


----------



## Paul_J (Jul 16, 2013)

A well tuned warf, 21" PSE riser with Trad Tech black max longs, SBD 8 string with cat whiskers and yarn wraps (limb silencers) at the loops. It's par with my longbows and I've got some really quiet longbows.


----------



## Stykshooter (Aug 2, 2007)

TradTech Titan with Black Max limbs.


----------



## EnglishKev (Aug 8, 2009)

JINKSTER said:


> The quietest recurve I ever shot was the one that was impeccably tuned with the heaviest GPP arrows.


Likewise, my Samick SHT @ 50lbs tuned with 500gr arrows was quiet.
After adding limbsavers, whiskers and brush buttons it is really quiet.
All the target shooters at the club are amazed when I take it up and shoot it next to theirs LoL.

Kev


----------



## Roger Savor Sr (Feb 16, 2014)

I have a tough time finding a loud bow. Quality strings, silencers and tuned, always seems to produce a more than quiet enough hunting rig for whitetails. What we hear immediately behind the bow isn't necessarily reflective of what's going on 6' in front of it. The ultimate 'test' for me appears to be where the arrow impacts the animal and I'm not having any problems in those regards. Not certain what dedicated target archers are taking issue with in noise, but whatever.


----------



## Twigflipper2 (Jan 20, 2016)

50# Hatfield takedown with cedar shafts


----------



## moog5050 (Oct 23, 2012)

martha j said:


> my 51# widow shooting a 625gr arrow, the arrow thumping the target is loud.


I have a similar set up. Very quiet. So is my Border ilf Covert Hunter. 12-13gpp seems to make most recurves I shoot very quiet.


----------



## Huffcustomlethr (Nov 20, 2011)

Assenheimer recurve


----------



## gfelty (Feb 11, 2018)

My 52# Earl Hoyt Jr Skyhawk.


----------



## moog5050 (Oct 23, 2012)

I know when I shoot any of my recurves (Schafer, widow or border) that if they are louder, something is messed up with my form or grip. When I am shooting well, they are all very quiet. Plucking the string or having improper and inconsistent grip pressure are possible culprits. Just something to consider.


----------



## Brad Lehmann (Sep 4, 2010)

My old Martin X-200 followed by some high dollar Tall Tines and Schafers. I have never seen a truly quiet ILF or Formula rig. I think that quiet is relative to what you are used to hearing. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a used Martin Savannah long bow. I shot it for a couple of days then picked up the Sarrels Blue Ridge. I immediately noticed the noise on the Blue Ridge where I had always thought it was a quiet bow. So I put some puffs in the string and it was every bit as quiet as the Savannah. After shooting those bows and then picking up the Hoyt Buffalo, the Buffalo sounds like the sound effect they used to use in cartoons when a spring unleashed. This is after spending a lot of time hushing the Buffalo. It is about as quiet as it will ever be, which is not quiet.


----------



## westksbowhunter (Sep 23, 2002)

Toelke Chinook


----------



## Juneauhunt (Aug 3, 2010)

Just goes to show that some 4 year thread content is timeless.


----------



## 1longdraw (Dec 16, 2015)

Toelke SS


----------



## Jim Casto Jr (Aug 20, 2002)

The most quiet recurve I've ever shot/owned is a 21" Hoyt Satori riser with a set of medium Ux100 Evo2 Uukha limbs shooting 8.5 to 9 gpp. I'm talking longbow quiet here.


----------



## Harperman (Sep 3, 2006)

ILF bows can be loud, but they can be very quiet, depends on the limbs, riser, tuning, and arrow weight, and the Archer... both of my 25" risers are quiet, with Samick Extreme limbs, or Uukha limbs, 16 strand strings, and approx. 8 GPP arrows... no string silencers...with a tiny set of puffs, or a half of a beaver ball, they are really quiet, enough so that people comment on it,,... If I had a bow that needed 10 GPP arrows, big puffs, or whiskers, and brush buttons to get it quiet, I'd examine my shooting from, and or get rid of the bow...and I don't even bow hunt... Jim


----------



## penumbra (Aug 23, 2016)

Out of the box, probably my K G Osprey.


----------



## danshao (Feb 17, 2014)

My titan was loud until I adjusted the top tiller for about 3/4 turn then put on some 12.5gpp arrows it became quiet even compare to my longbows.


----------



## lunger 66 (Feb 16, 2017)

Quietest would be my bows with a dacron b50 string. Mark


----------



## reddogge (Jul 21, 2009)

Just shot today with my friend and he shot a Satori with Hoyt Quattro limbs with limbsavers. One of the quietest bows I've heard. Our other companion thought my bow was the same, TT Titan III with BF Extreme limbs and limbsavers. I also have a couple of Bear Kodiaks from the 60s that are whisper quiet, just a little thump sound.


----------



## Yohon (Aug 28, 2003)

No doubt that Titan and BF's of reddogge is QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im shooting a Trident with wood glass limbs and surewoods shafts and its about as quiet a rig as Ive shot in a while.......minus the Howard Hill :wink:


----------



## reddogge (Jul 21, 2009)

Long time, no see Yohon. Maybe I'll catch up with you at Baltimore.


----------



## thumperjones (Oct 5, 2017)

RER XR static recurve. Had two, one a 60" and still have my 62". Quietest recurve I've had by far. 

But I recently got a Toelke Super D longbow, and if a recurve is "quiet" then this thing is "outer space quiet" LOL

It's all a matter of perspective and what you are accustomed to when it comes to things like this. :wink:


----------



## thumperjones (Oct 5, 2017)

Brad Lehmann said:


> My old Martin X-200 followed by some high dollar Tall Tines and Schafers. I have never seen a truly quiet ILF or Formula rig. I think that quiet is relative to what you are used to hearing. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a used Martin Savannah long bow. I shot it for a couple of days then picked up the Sarrels Blue Ridge. I immediately noticed the noise on the Blue Ridge where I had always thought it was a quiet bow. So I put some puffs in the string and it was every bit as quiet as the Savannah. After shooting those bows and then picking up the Hoyt Buffalo, the Buffalo sounds like the sound effect they used to use in cartoons when a spring unleashed. This is after spending a lot of time hushing the Buffalo. It is about as quiet as it will ever be, which is not quiet.


I have owned two X-200s over the years, and sold my last one two years ago. And you know, now that you mention it, I remember both of them being pretty darn quiet. Loved the grips on them too.


----------



## Yohon (Aug 28, 2003)

reddogge said:


> Long time, no see Yohon. Maybe I'll catch up with you at Baltimore.


Looking forward to it!!!!!!


----------



## Hiram (Jul 31, 2013)

sidekick said:


> A Jeffery Royal Hunter, 62", standard B50 string followed closely by Big Jim's 62" Desert Bighorn with BCY-X. As previously stated by another, sure ain't my Kodiak Mag!


The Jeffrey Royal is a very close to the most quiet Bow I have shot.


----------



## nmartz (Dec 16, 2017)

The most quiet bow that I’ve ever owned is a 62” Bear Tigercat 45# @28”. Has limbsaver dampeners, OMP limb tip dampeners and Silent Archery string yarn puff balls. It’s whisper quiet 👍


----------



## nmartz (Dec 16, 2017)

Oh and of course my homemade Flemish twist 16 strand string.


----------



## jwfranklin (May 25, 2011)

Arrow weight to draw weight ratio will be a big factor on string noise.


----------



## jcp161 (Dec 7, 2010)

Believe it or not, a Hoots Lil Hoots Recurve, 52" and 45#@28". Picked it up in a trade a few years ago. Had no idea what it was. Shoots well and a very practical finish/grip. I wish I could find one slightly longer for my draw length but it's great for shooting when sitting on the ground.


----------



## westksbowhunter (Sep 23, 2002)

jwfranklin said:


> Arrow weight to draw weight ratio will be a big factor on string noise.


For the bows I have owned, weight did not make a difference. I can shoot a 400 grain arrow vs a 600 grain arrow through my Chinook with no change in noise level. It is just about silent with any weight.


----------



## romanc333 (Feb 10, 2006)

White Wolf Wind warrior is kinda a recurve longbow hybrid is nice and quiet for me


----------



## crowbarforge (Apr 23, 2018)

Yes sir. I have many old Bear bows, but my Assenheimer Master Hunter is SILENT when tuned properly.


----------



## Halt (Feb 28, 2018)

Mine


----------



## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

jwfranklin said:


> Arrow weight to draw weight ratio will be a big factor on string noise.





westksbowhunter said:


> For the bows I have owned, weight did not make a difference. I can shoot a 400 grain arrow vs a 600 grain arrow through my Chinook with no change in noise level. It is just about silent with any weight.


My experience follows jwfrankin's opinion; every recurve I've ever owned has been quieter as arrow weight went up.

Any good quality recurve should be quiet enough with any reasonable weight arrow but going up in arrow weight should result in less residual vibration and sound in the bow.


----------



## cbc0905 (Apr 21, 2018)

Sarrels Ridgecatt with wooden arrows. 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk


----------

