# Black Widow Recurves



## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

WIbow -

Here we go again  . Do a search, it's been disscussed ad infinitum.

They are good shooting bows, are they any better than most other high end bows, not in my opinion, not worse, just not any better. I've shoot more than a few of them going back to the original 1300 series target bows, (1960s) and that's the only one I own.

Best advice I can give you: If you're going to spend that much money on a bow, you should know what YOU are looking for before you buy. If you can get to their plant, do so, they'll give you the tour. Try their stuff and see if YOU think it's worth it. Else, see if some one at your local range has one and try that. 

Viper1 out.


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## njshadowwalker (Aug 14, 2004)

A very wise archer i knew told me when i started shooting a recurve not to be fooled. None of the bows will shoot any better then the other or any worse. It will only shoot as well as you are capable


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## Arrowsmit (Oct 5, 2002)

Black Widow makes a truly great bow, but we're very fortunate today in that there are lots of great bows out there. The trick is to find the one that suits YOU best. As far as best shooting for me, it's the BW MA series as far as recurves go, but for you they may or may not be. Only you can decide.

BW has a "test drive" so you can shoot one at home for awhile before you decide. 

VicW.


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

I've owned and shot several, though by no means all, "custom" and "production" recurve bows and I like Black Widows. They are expensive but so are most of the bows I seem to like, save perhaps the new Hoyt Game Master. I prefer longer, 64", MA recurves and find them very smooth and stable with good speed. The standard BW grip shoots very well for me. I have custom recurves with more comfortable grips but they all torque the bow at release. I find the BWs to be a very tough bow with an exceptionally tough finish. One thing that a BW has going for it is that you can call and order a bow made to your specifications and get the thing in a reasonable amount of time. I've grown too old and grouchy to wait a year for a bow, although I may muster my patience for a Blacktail Snakebit at a future date, LOL. Lastly, BW's customer service is very good. 

The last BW I ordered was a MAB (B for black) for target shooting with non-catalong items such as: a shiney black painted finish on the entire bow, riser cut way past center for use with a plunger and arrow rest (I'm shooting a springy rest on it), 66" limbs, and last but not least a prototype all micarta riser for additional weight and stability. The charge for the bow was the last published price for MABs which hadn't been made for several years. "Raven" was not cheap at $710 but is quite a bow all the same. 

Are there other great bows available? You bet. Is Black Widow one of them? You bet. Which one should you get? That's up to you to decide. Everyone seems to have opinions, it's important to develop your own.


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## bluej1165 (Mar 25, 2005)

I've always wanted a black widow but never could afford one. I got to shoot one about six weeks ago at a pro archery shop. It was a psa v ironwood recurve bow. It was a very beautiful bow. The gentlemen that owned it let me shoot the bow several times. He told me he paid over a thousand dollars for it, and it took four months to receive the bow. Then I shot another recurve he had for sale, which cost 450.00. After shooting both bows I was surprised to find out that I shot the cheaper bow much better than the black widow. Not to say the widow was not a good bow, but for my style of shooting I was no longer eager to purchase a widow. Sure they are beautiful, but not my bow of choice.


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## njshadowwalker (Aug 14, 2004)

bluej1165 said:


> I've always wanted a black widow but never could afford one. I got to shoot one about six weeks ago at a pro archery shop. It was a psa v ironwood recurve bow. It was a very beautiful bow. The gentlemen that owned it let me shoot the bow several times. He told me he paid over a thousand dollars for it, and it took four months to receive the bow. Then I shot another recurve he had for sale, which cost 450.00. After shooting both bows I was surprised to find out that I shot the cheaper bow much better than the black widow. Not to say the widow was not a good bow, but for my style of shooting I was no longer eager to purchase a widow. Sure they are beautiful, but not my bow of choice.


The bow prob git you better thats all. If a $100 bow shoots better in your hands the a $900 boiw why soend the extra $800?


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## WIbow (Nov 10, 2004)

Thanks everyone much appreciated!


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## Bonefish (Jan 6, 2005)

I tried a couple a few months ago at a trad show. I have to say they were the smoothest drawing bow I have every had in my hands. I tried a 45 pounder, a 50 pounder and a 57 pounder and I will have to say they draw lighter than they are. I love them and will have one one of these days. If you go to their web page they have a try before you buy where they will send you one to try just for the postage. Warning, don't try them less your willing to pay $880.00 for one.


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## snydley (Apr 7, 2005)

I've seen arrowsmith and vic can shoot! nice wee you again brother :cocktail:


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## non-typical (Jul 5, 2002)

*Black Widow*

Just received my second last week.Started with a few others and when a held and drew the BW, it was all it took.I have 62" MA's, 1-48#,& other is 59#.And they do draw lighter then they actually are.I think you cant go wrong with a BW.

PETE


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## Arrowsmit (Oct 5, 2002)

Hi Ed! How the heck ya been dude? Hey, e-mail me at [email protected] . 

Vic


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## stickshooter (Sep 1, 2003)

A couple of you said that the bows draw lighter than they are. Apparently I don't understand what you mean because 50# on the scale would also be 50# in your hands. Could you explain?


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## LBR (Jan 1, 2004)

Some bows have a smoother draw force curve, and may feel lighter compared to some others. Also, some bow weights are measured differently--some are measured from the back of the shelf, some from the throat of the grip, etc.

A bow that is gaining 2-3# per inch will feel lighter to pull that one that is gaining 4+ lbs per inch. At anchor, a 50# bow is a 50# bow, but getting it there can feel different. A good bow in the 50# range will gain 2-3# per inch of draw.

Chad


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## sticshooter (Dec 10, 2004)

Not a big fan of the recurve's but really like there longbow's.<><


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

This may seem like the rantings of a mad man but I have a theory on why a BW recurve seems lighter and smoother than most: although 50# is 50#, the design characteristics of a BW recurve makes for a high weight at brace so that when you draw the bow it seems to be smoother and lighter. If you started with 1# of brace weight and a 8" brace height, just as an example, you'd be pulling 20" (to get to a 28" draw) and gaining 49#. If you had 15# of weight at brace and pulled the same 20", you'd only be pulling 35# more weight. You'd get to the same 28" and 50# in either case but later would feel lighter and smoother. Again, just a theory. It would be easy to measure the draw weight at given draw length to test this but I'm too lazy to do so, LOL. The difference in feel is relatively small. If you're in good shape and can handle the bow weight easily, the difference would be less to neglible. Since I'm aging rapidly, little differences matter more.


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## jmvargas (Oct 21, 2004)

akruss..your reasoning seems sound assuming there is a draw weight at brace height but wouldn't all bows have zero draw weight until you start to actually draw??


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## LBR (Jan 1, 2004)

You have to start the draw to feel any poundage, but some bows have more pre-load than others--take two bows of the same poundage at 28", the one with more pre-load (starts out heavier) will have a smoother draw force curve because it starts out heavier and has to gain less per inch--and it will feel smoother.

Chad


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

Pre-load is probably a better term for what I was trying to describe. In any event, before you can move the string, there is a certain amount of weight one must overcome and it seems to be particularly high in BW recurves. BW recurves also have a rather high recommended brace height that lends itself to this pre-load and seems to be important to BW performance. I think this is also why BW recurves require a slightly heavier spine than some other bows. Not sure why this phenomena wouldn't make them speedsters. Their speed is good but not tops. Guess you can't have everything.


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## LBR (Jan 1, 2004)

The high brace height actually costs some speed--a lower brace gives more cast, and better speed/performance.

Any bow that is cut well past center will show it "needs" an extremely high spine if you bare-shaft them. You can build out the strike plate a bit and go with a lower spine. I think this is why some folks don't like bare-shafting--this may not show up when paper tuning with fletched arrows? Anyhow, if a bow--ANY bow--is shooting so hard that it *requires* arrows spined 20+lbs. more than the draw weight, it will shoot harder/faster, to the point it would blow anything else away. Just not the case--if it was, we'd have bows easily breaking the [email protected]"draw with 10 grains per lb.

Chad


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## Abel (Jun 2, 2004)

That's why they're so popular. Very forgiving to shoot b/c of the high brace, plus they tune easily with a variety of spines. They might not be smokin' fast, but they're not slow by any means either. A lot of riser mass, even in the one piece models, adds to the equation of a notoriously accurate bow. Throw this all together in a shnazy package and cool advertisments and you have yourself a product. They ain't bad lookin' if you're into that black and red candy stripe thing. I will be the first to admit that I have always wanted an all osage PSA, like the one pictured on their exotic option page. She's a fine lookin' bow.........


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

I use to shoot low brace heights but eventually found I got a much crisper and ususally quieter shot with more brace on nearly any longbow or recurve. Interestingly, BW has been making their recurves with much less centershot than they use to and they still use a comparatively high spine which makes me think it's more because of the design than centershot. BW will give you more or less centershot as you wish. As I stated above, they cut my last one WAY past center so I could use a "springy" arrow rest and tune the arrow to near center. Though I don't think I'd use the arrow rest for hunting but it sure shoots well. 

Abel, the red and white stripes are shown as standard but they'll put in any color(s) you want at no charge. One of the best looking BW MAs I've seen was entirely bocote with brown synthetic lams that blended right in. I've been toying with the idea of a real gold BW medallion with a belly-up black widow spider set in glue above it. I checked with BW and I wasn't the first with the idea. They have a goldsmith that can do the work and even keep a few creepy crawlies around. The creepies may be a draw back to working there, LOL.


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## snydley (Apr 7, 2005)

Bows are like women you didnt marry the first one you dated and when you hit the "ONE" you knew and Married it. Go and date bow marry the one you fall in love with. UNfortunatley for me in the bow department I have been devorced several times but have good working relationships with them all. Still on the "ONLY" wife thou but she is threatening about the bow thing thou.


Snydley  :cocktail:


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## Krakka17 (Aug 30, 2004)

I looked at them for years before I shot one. Heres My opinion... The sink alot of money into their ad's and pictures. The bows shoot OK, Nothing great I'm glad I got to shoot one before deciding to buy one. There are WAyyyy Better bows out there. SHOOT BEFORE YOU BUY!!


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## LBR (Jan 1, 2004)

No doubt that BW spends a lot on advertising--I can't think of an all-traditional bow company that even comes close. Anyone can do a little research and see that professional photographry, lay-outs, color catalogs, full page color ads, etc. don't come cheap.

I'm no fan of BW bows, but I couldn't make a general statement that there are "way better" bows on the market. For some folks there are, for some there aren't. I think a lot of it is perception--when someone has it set in their head they can shoot a particular brand better, they can--but regardless of the reason, some folks shoot BW bows better than they do anything else. 

Of the better bows I've shot, I don't believe there was much difference at all in performance. Some look different, some feel different (mass weight, grip design, etc.) but they shoot very much the same.

Personally, if I were to be looking for a new bow, the things I'd take into consideration (knowing up front they were good performers) are: customer service, warranty, reputation, longevity (how long have they been in the business, and will they be around for the long haul) and, of course, price. You might say even a $1,000 bow is cheap when you consider the years of service it will provide. If I could make yearly payments on it, I might agree, but the thoughts of coming up with a big wad of money like that right off the bat hurts me, and I don't know if I'll be able to shoot that bow for years to come or not.

Find a bow that fits your needs, is reliable and comfortable, one you can put your confidence in, and stick with it--in time, it will be "THE" bow.

Chad


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## LJOHNS (Dec 14, 2004)

I have been shooting an MA since 99' and I love it. There are a lot of bowyers out there nowdays but I am hooked on Black Widow. Sure they are expensive, but most great bows are (including compounds). I have never had more fun in my 20 years of shooting bows than the past few with my Widow!


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## recurveshooter1 (Apr 2, 2005)

Have you ever seen or shot a Dakota Recurve or Longbow, by Rick Welch? You can call him and he will send you a brochure or you can go to www.greatoutdoordiscoveries.com and go to Dakota bows.


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