recurve bow

[humphrey]

hey guys,
in the next few months im wanting to get a nice recurve bow for hunting and target/3D. i currently shoot a crossbow so im keen to get one for hunting friends properties in nsw. ive seen a few fred bear and black widows on american archery sites and like the idea of an all wood bow.
what can you guys recommend and what sort of price for a goody. also, is there anywhere in oz that sells black widow bows? they seem to have an amazing reputation. :D :D :D

[Axe]

Only place to buy new Widow is from Black Widow, (I have bought two) only other choice is a used one, plenty in USA, don't see too many in Oz. Thought about an Oz built recurve? Some good ones out there, last June I bought a "Huntsman" (bowyer Mark Kimber) top shelf stuff. A new Widow approx.$1400-$1600 by the time you get it here (varies on combination of timber chosen) Huntsman $1250 for base model, again more depending on choice of timber etc. Hope this helps :D

[humphrey]

thanks axe.
wow...the black widows cost a hell of a lot more than i thought they would.
i've heard a few guys here praise the samick bows.
anyone with any experience shooting with these bows please tell me their thoughts. and are they all wood or fibreglass limbs? and most of all are they consistently accurate?

[ricochet]

Humphrey- contact Glenn Newell he makes good bows, and is on this site

Rick

[Glenn]

Humphrey, the Samick bows are good value for money bows. They make a copy of the Black Widow and the origional Wing Presentation Hunter, I have shot both of these bow and I thought the Wing version was a much better shooting bow than the Black Widow version. Very good take down bows for under $400.00...Glenn...

[humphrey]

thanks glenn.
im looking at a samick hunter sht. its a 60inch takedown for $300.
the store says they are sold out and only have a few left handers left. for a store to be carrying three left hand of one model bow im guessing they are pretty popular. i'll be going in a few weeks to have a test shot. i haven't shot a recurve since i used those crappy 30 buck jobs they give the cadets at schools, and i must say it kinda gave me a bad first impression of trad bows.
if i find its my thing id love to one day get a bow through you and hand on the oldie to the mrs.
one thing im a bit confused about is the shooting off the shelf. do most people to this? also is it fine to just use one of those small plastic screw in flipper rests?
thanks again.

[Glenn]

I use to use one of those plastic type rest on my recurve for a long time but these days I only shoot off the shelf. Shooting an elevated rest can change the tiller of the bow because you move your drawing hand further up the string but a lot of bows are tillered for an elevated rest, I can't remember how the Samick I shot was set up...Glenn...

[MrRecurve]

I can vouch for both Glenn Newell and Mark Kimber.

I bought one of Glenns recurves for my girl about 3 years ago, beautiful bow to look at and to shoot, couldnt be happier with it, and cant wait to add one of Glenns reverse handle longbows to my collection.

I met Mark Kimber and shot his bows just recently, and have to say that they are simply awesome, both aesthetically and to shoot. Very fast and smooth, I couldnt believe I was pulling 10 pounds more than usual, no stacking whatsoever. Most comfortable bow Ive ever held or shot!

Am saving as we speak.......................

[humphrey]

is shooting off the shelf still pretty accurate when compared to shooting from a rest out to say 30 metres?

[Glenn]

There shouldn't be any difference shooting off the shelf as to a flipper rest, but feathers will fly better off the shelf better than vanes...Glenn...

[humphrey]

well i went to have a look at a few recurves today and i was very dissapointed :cry:
i have a 31 inch draw, which means that after the 28 or so inches, the bow stacks heaps for the last 3. he told me that almost all recurves will have quite a bit of stack after 28 or so inches.
when we measured it on a scale, i was holding 55lbs on a 40lbs bow, and 67lbs on a 50lbs bow. the only option i had was to get a longer bow, like a 64inch, but even then he estimated that with a 50lbs bow, i would be holding over 60lbs. looks like i might be better off going back to a compound. :( :( :(

[Axe]

Humphrey,
Sorry for your dissapointment mate, don't give up, you can have one made to suit your draw, cost may not be prohibitive, depending on what you want, & keep prowling the "for sale" pages on archery sites, talk to the Oz bowyers, maybe they can put you on to used one, hang in there. Good luck.

[fish]

humphrey,

I said this once before the server crashed, but here goes again. A couple of months ago I purchased one of these-

http://www.hwarangarchery.com/

and will not be returning to the western style recurves. I have a 31"+ draw and these little bows do not stack at all out to 32" (they are made for it). It is very quick and extremely accurate. There is no arrow shelf though so I guess these bows may not be for everybody.

[humphrey]

definately an interesting little bow. :shock: do you just tilt the bow to the right and the arrow rests on your hand against the bow? how much do they normally sell for, and do you just use a finger tab for release?
and could you shoot carbons out of these succesfully?
when you say accurate, what size groups would you pull with a bit of practice at 20 mtrs? :wink:

[fish]

humphrey,

I shoot three fingers under and yes just tilt the bow to the right a bit and rest the arrow on my hand. I've made a leather sort of glove to protect my skin a bit from the fletches. One thing I have noticed is that shooting off your hand is hard on your skin (hence the glove) but easy on the fletches. I have now shot 12 of my arrows over 500 times each and the bottom feather still looks as good as the rest. They tend to cop a flogging when shooting off a shelf. I shoot gold tip carbons at the moment and they are great with the bow. I am able to get 3-4" groups with half a dozen arrows at 20m most of the time. On good days I have shot out my nocks. They open up occasionally but it's usually due to opperator error. I did have a bit of trouble recently when the string serving wore a bit and the arrow nock tended to be pushed down the string by the nock point when drawn and then fly back up to the nock point upon release. This caused porposing arrow flight and shocking accuracy. I devised an elaborate way to fix the problem but re-serving the string would also have worked.

I was shooting a Samick take down recurve prior to purchasing this bow and my groups went from 12-14" with the Samick, down to 3-4" with the Hwarang the very first time I shot it. Needless to say I was hooked. The Samick was just not designed to be drawn over 28" (27" was probably more realistic) and I was designed to draw 31".

I paid $400 US for my bow. The price includes two fast flight strings, a bow sock, a canvas zippered bow case and freight from Korea to my NT PO Box. The bows are hand made in Korea upon order.

[MrRecurve]

I have a genuine jade thumb ring designed for drawing this style of bow, just need a bow to draw with it! Thanks for the link!