# Longbow limbs on an ILF



## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

What do you think is the best bet for Longbow limbs with good performance on an ILF riser?

I'm shooting some pretty smooth/fast foam limbs [WW inno's] on my ILF riser right now. This setup at 54# is a pleasure to shoot but not whisper quiet even with limb pads, yarn wrap, yarn puffs and 560 gr arrows. I have played with BH and its at what seems to be quietest. If I can get comparable performance with longbow limbs without losing too much speed I might want to give them a whirl.


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## hockey7 (Jan 29, 2004)

Your out west....try Jim Neaves ( Centaur Archery ) carbon ILF longbow limbs.

PS...where did you find a heavy set of W&W limbs?


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Beendare:

Are you sure you want to buy new limbs? 

Unless that's what you really want to do, why don't we explore why you can't get your rig quiet first? Seldom have I seen an ILF rig that couldn't be made hunting quiet. Can you give a detailed description of your setup?

KPC


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## Matt_Potter (Apr 13, 2010)

Been shooting a set of dryad ACS limbs on a DAS and a warfed dorado - love them fast stable and quiet.


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## MAC 11700 (Feb 22, 2011)

Cut a bicycle inner tube to fit under the limbs fir starters...and make sure everything is tight on the riser..bolts can come loose..quivers rattle ad well..

I second a set of Centaur's ILF limbs....everything I have read about them has been positive. .and Jim is making me a set...albeit in bolt downs for my 21" Hoyt Hunter Supreme riser..

Mac


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

I know quiet is a relative term, maybe thats the issue, I'm asking the wrong question. Are longbow limbs that are high performance silent?
I've shot next to longbows that hardly make a sound....but they werent what I would consider good performance either.

My setup; Morrison wood riser, shelf is velcro, No rattle from Riser or connections- padded limb bolts. I have yarn string silencers, yarn woven into ends of the flemish string, Morrison 14 strand string, felt limb pads that- I just looked- are worn through so I should replace those with??

I start with lower BH- about 6 1/2"- pretty loud but at about 7 1/8" it pretty quiet so BH is adjusted I would say.


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## Bowmania (Jan 3, 2003)

Put yard silencers in 3 places above the nocking point. My first one (and then going up) is 16 inches from the string nocks on a 64 inch longbow. The next two are equally spaced between the first one and the string nock. Do the same on the bottom for a total of 6. It will cost you about 3 fps, but my bows are very silent. You're trying to get rid of oscillations. That's what makes noise.

Bowmania


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Beendare said:


> I know quiet is a relative term, maybe thats the issue, I'm asking the wrong question. Are longbow limbs that are high performance silent?
> I've shot next to longbows that hardly make a sound....but they werent what I would consider good performance either.
> 
> My setup; Morrison wood riser, shelf is velcro, No rattle from Riser or connections- padded limb bolts. I have yarn string silencers, yarn woven into ends of the flemish string, Morrison 14 strand string, felt limb pads that- I just looked- are worn through so I should replace those with??
> ...


What length riser, what length limbs, making what length bow?

KPC


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

GEREP said:


> What length riser, what length limbs, making what length bow?
> 
> KPC


17" riser, long ILF limbs- 62" bow, shooting it at about 30" draw


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Just out of curiosity, have you tried a higher brace height. Like in the 7.75-8.25" range? 

In my opinion, in an attempt to eek every bit of performance out of a bow, a lot of people try to shoot it with a brace height that is too low. Sure, they get a few more FPS, but some limbs just don't like it, and they end up being a lot noisier than they have to be. I see it all the time. Especially people like you that have such a long power stoke, you just don't need it.

Just for grins, do nothing other than bringing your brace height up to 8" and see what happens.

KPC


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

Never tried the BH that high....staying within Morrison recommendations...suppose it wouldn't hurt anything since you are guaranteeing my limbs if I have a problem- right? grin


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Seeing that your not using Morrison limbs...

:wink:

In all seriousness, brace height recommendations are a general guide to start from in my opinion. There is no possible way to determine what the best is for every set of ILF limbs on the market...it takes experimentation. What is best for performance might not be the best for sound.

My 17" Titan with medium Extreme BF limbs is great for me at just under 8". Been shooting it that way for about 8 years now, tens of thousands of arrows. With the Carbon Masters longbow limbs, it requires a brace height of almost 9". 

It's often a give and take between absolute best performance and what is best for a quiet hunting rig.

Also, do you shoot split or three under? What is your tiller set at?

Are you at the heaviest, lightest, or in the middle of the preload adjustment?

I'll almost guarantee you can get your current rig to a level of sound you are happy with, it will just take some experimentation.

KPC


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## vabowdog (Dec 13, 2007)

Two things will help silence ILF bows increase brace height to max plus 1/4" make sure your limb bolts are closer to the bottom than the top...at the top it allows the limbs to chatter at the shot..


Dewayne


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## mtn3531 (Mar 6, 2009)

My Titan III seems the quietest at 8.5" on BH and I too have a long draw, about 30.5". I shoot longs from TT, several different sets from the glass/wood to the carbon max's. Only version I don't have is the BF extremes. I shoot 3 under with about an 1/8" positive tiller on the top. It is super quiet and very smooth on the shot. Limbs are about one turn out from being bottomed out. 16 strand 8190 string with beaver balls. NAP center rest for hunting.


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## crazymoose (May 17, 2005)

I shoot a Hoyt Dorado riser with TradTech longbow limbs which gives me a 64" AMO bow.
It's one of the smoothest set ups I've ever shot.
I find it to be very stable and quiet as well.


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

mtn3531 said:


> My Titan III seems the quietest at 8.5" on BH and I too have a long draw, about 30.5". I shoot longs from TT, several different sets from the glass/wood to the carbon max's. Only version I don't have is the BF extremes. I shoot 3 under with about an 1/8" positive tiller on the top. It is super quiet and very smooth on the shot. Limbs are about one turn out from being bottomed out. 16 strand 8190 string with beaver balls. NAP center rest for hunting.





crazymoose said:


> I shoot a Hoyt Dorado riser with TradTech longbow limbs which gives me a 64" AMO bow.
> It's one of the smoothest set ups I've ever shot.
> I find it to be very stable and quiet as well.


Ok, I get that I can play around and make it a tad quieter. My question to you guys above is; How do the LB limbs compare to your recurve limbs in performance and quietness?


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Beendare said:


> Ok, I get that I can play around and make it a tad quieter. My question to you guys above is; How do the LB limbs compare to your recurve limbs in performance and quietness?











I have both the Extreme BF recurve limbs and the Carbon Masters longbow limbs. In terms of performance, the BF's are a little faster and feel a bit smoother. As far as sound, once tuned, I can't tell much, if any difference at all.

KPC


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## Markliep (May 6, 2012)

My dryad epic boo LB limbs are very quiet - in terms of accuracy I see no difference in outcome for them vs recurve limbs I've used to date - in terms of speed I did a comparo last year using the same gpp for border cvs, the dryad epics & Uukha XO limbs - the borders POI was 75yds dryads 65yds & Uukhas just under 50 yds so the boo epic LB limbs did better than the 15% carbon recurves - never could get the trad LB canting standardized so am happy to take the hunting advanatge that the the ilf LB set up offers ... now of course there's that unrelenting DFC weight you're going to have consider at anchor vs using a recurve limb though - M


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

Good stuff guys, thanks to all for the advice- saved me money too.

Actually it might cost me some money because now I'm considering a set of Dryads or Borders......


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Beendare said:


> Good stuff guys, thanks to all for the advice- saved me money too.
> 
> Actually it might cost me some money because now I'm considering a set of Dryads or Borders......


Did you get your WW limbs quieted down? If so, what was the ticket?

KPC


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## mtn3531 (Mar 6, 2009)

Beendare said:


> Ok, I get that I can play around and make it a tad quieter. My question to you guys above is; How do the LB limbs compare to your recurve limbs in performance and quietness?


Well the TT glass/wood LB limbs I got came in way heavy for their rated weight. John Wert is going to send me another set that is in spec. They had some miscommunication with Samick on some of their LB limbs and they were coming in really heavy. They seemed to have nice cast but I haven't shot them much but I'll let you know when I get them switched and do more testing.


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

GEREP said:


> Did you get your WW limbs quieted down? If so, what was the ticket?
> KPC


 I haven't worked on it- heck just trying to find the time to shoot. I need to replace the limb pads though and maybe add some yarn to my puffs. Don't get me wrong, its pretty quiet...just not silent


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## Brad Isham (Nov 16, 2013)

Hey GEREP,
HELP!
I have just gotten the same set up and am currently trying a recurve after shooting longbows for fifteen years. Yes, I often do things backwards! I have a 17" Titan II with long Samick Extreme BF 2.0 limbs. So they are 55 lb. limbs bolts cranked down to 60; I have a 1/16" positive tiller; I have an 8 1/4" Brace height; I have an SBD string with puffs and wraps; and I am shooting Gold tip Hunter XT 340 (7595) @ 31" with 100 gr. insert and 250 gr. points, TW 650gr.; knock height 5/8" with a tied dental floss knock above and below shooting three under. I know every bow is different and it will just take tinkering but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.


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## Beendare (Jan 31, 2006)

Brad Isham said:


> I have an 8 1/4" Brace height; I have an SBD string with puffs and wraps; and I am shooting Gold tip Hunter XT 340 (7595) @ 31" with 100 gr. insert and 250 gr. points, TW 650gr.; knock height 5/8" . I know every bow is different and it will just take tinkering but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.


 Not green but I shoot almost the same setup. I have a Titan riser too. I shoot 54# and my 31" beman mfx 340's tune great with 75gr inserts and 125g heads-200gr total. You might have too much weight up front depending on where your side plate is. Side plate on my Titan is about 3/16" thick


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## mtn3531 (Mar 6, 2009)

Brad Isham said:


> Hey GEREP,
> HELP!
> I have just gotten the same set up and am currently trying a recurve after shooting longbows for fifteen years. Yes, I often do things backwards! I have a 17" Titan II with long Samick Extreme BF 2.0 limbs. So they are 55 lb. limbs bolts cranked down to 60; I have a 1/16" positive tiller; I have an 8 1/4" Brace height; I have an SBD string with puffs and wraps; and I am shooting Gold tip Hunter XT 340 (7595) @ 31" with 100 gr. insert and 250 gr. points, TW 650gr.; knock height 5/8" with a tied dental floss knock above and below shooting three under. I know every bow is different and it will just take tinkering but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.


What is your draw length? Sounds like you are running too much weight up front. Any particular reason you are running 350 grains of point weight? I bet you'll be better served with a 100 or 125 gr point with that 100 gr insert.


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## GEREP (May 6, 2003)

Brad Isham said:


> Hey GEREP,
> HELP!
> I have just gotten the same set up and am currently trying a recurve after shooting longbows for fifteen years. Yes, I often do things backwards! I have a 17" Titan II with long Samick Extreme BF 2.0 limbs. So they are 55 lb. limbs bolts cranked down to 60; I have a 1/16" positive tiller; I have an 8 1/4" Brace height; I have an SBD string with puffs and wraps; and I am shooting Gold tip Hunter XT 340 (7595) @ 31" with 100 gr. insert and 250 gr. points, TW 650gr.; knock height 5/8" with a tied dental floss knock above and below shooting three under. I know every bow is different and it will just take tinkering but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.


What's the issue Brad? Is it too noisy? 

The first thing I would ask, before even thinking about getting into any tuning/silencing options, is in regard to what you are used to shooting. You said you have been shooting longbows for 17 years. Are you talking D shape longbows?

The reason I ask, is that in my experience, you just aren't going to get a recurve to shoot as quiet as a D shaped longbow. They are just two different animals.

If it sounds too noisy to you, what is it that you think you're hearing?

I had a friend tell me one time that when he shot his metal riser ILF (Morrison) it sounded like a gun going off. It was simply a matter of shooting an arrow that was waaaay to stiff and it was slamming into the riser. He was ready to get rid of the riser when it had absolutely nothing to do with the riser. 

Are you shooting off an elevated rest?

Years ago, I couldn't for the life of me get a Hoyt Gamemaster quiet. I tried everything. limb pads, brace height, wool wraps, you name it. all of those helped a little but it wasn't until someone told me to dump the 16 strand dacron string (rope) that came with it, and switch it out with a 12 strand D97 string that it really got quiet, not to mention much less shocky. I can't tell you now many people I've told that story to, and simply by doing nothing but using a skinnier string of different material, they saw a huge improvement in their Gamemsters.

What is it you think you're hearing? 

Can you post a video?

KPC


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## Brad Isham (Nov 16, 2013)

Thanks, I'm trying to keep 600 or 650 grains for hunting, especially elk. Hard to imagine too much weight on a 75-95 shaft. I can probably cut it to 30 and reduce the point to 200 keeping Total Weight to 600. I'll give that a try with one shaft. Thanks so much for the advice.


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