I bought a psa black widow about 10 years ago. It was before they went to cnc. I loved the bow except it was loud. I ended up with 2 sets of whiskers. Finally sold it as it was a little heavy for me. Are the new ones loud? Thanks, Don
Everyone I've ever heard was, and that includes several new CNC models.
I don't own one personally but have friends with PSA's. With well positioned puffs and bow hush I find them to be exceptionally quiet.
Although they are fantastic bows, one of the first things that I noticed when shooting them are how loud they are. The ones I shot only had the black widow string silencers so maybe adding some different silencers would change that. The longbows didn't seem that loud, but the recurves seemed to make quite a bit of noise.
I shoot with a couple of guys that shoot BW td bows and both have the hockey puck LimbSavers on them with string silencers. Both bows are quiet and have good speed.
I Have had a lot of Widows.An 8 strand SBD (Silent But Deadly) bowstring with wool puffs and 8 and 3/4 inch Brace Height made them quiet,very pleasant shooting and faster.
If you get one try that combination!
Maybe it's due to what I've had to compare it to, but I find my PCH to be very quiet. Previously I shot a Hoyt Dorado which sounded like a wooden gong!
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I am shooting about a 600 grain arrow though with 53 lb. bow.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181129/78f66e80978e8f7e5d3e312801219fbc.jpg)
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I have had several, and shot a lot more. With wool puffs and limbsavers all of mine have been very quiet. A friend has several and they seem loud......till I shoot it. He thinks it's his release, could be. I just got another one, a PSA 58" and so far I can't seem to get it to whisper. I'll get her silent sooner or later. I had an old MA 62"er.......that thing was almost silent.......who knows what makes them do different things. :dunno:
I've only got a couple of bows, both Blackwidow PL longbows. Both have two small wool puffs on each end of the string at 8 & 13" from the tip, an 8" brace height and I only shoot heavy wooden arrows. The bows are almost dead silent. Just a dull muffled "Thud".
Love my Blackwidow longbows.
Best
Lex
The PSA I just sold was definitely not loud.
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I think opinions are going to vary on this one. Almost any bow can be made quiet by shooting a heavier arrow, looser nock fit, adjusting brace height, and etc.
Placing string silencers per the heterodyning meathod has helped me quiet bows tremendously.
With proper brace height, correct nock fit and some type of cushioning for string slap, they are as quiet as any recurve. Cushioning methods include, felt pads in bottom of groove, sticktamers, Bow Hush or other yarn wrap or my mountain mufflers. A good part of my customers are BW shooters.
I have a PCH and a KB recurve. They were no more trouble to quiet down than any other recurve.....proper tuning, including proper arrow weight and they just made a dull "thud" on release.
And I am way paranoid about bow noise.
They can be made very quiet it takes some tweaking like many bows. Pick one up out of a box loud as a gunshot but with some love all is very well. My primary hunting bow is a 62" 43@31 old SA and it's deadly quiet put 4 deer down already this year with it. My setup is a braceheight around 8 3/4" with a total arrow weight around 530grains. Hugely important is stiktamers (or something similar) to stop the string slap. As well as some vibrantion dampeners at the fade outs on the limbs. I shoot 3 under which tends to be louder but my bows a nice quiet thud on release. I've more than once killed deer with a second arrow after a miss because they weren't spooked at the shot. In my case I don't know how my long draw and lower poundage play into it, maybe a heavier bow has more noise and may need a bit heavier arrow to compensate. I've owned a lot of different bows and usually after some work you can always find each bows sweet spot for noise and such.
I totally agree with SteveB. They can be as quiet as any other recurve. I like to add yarn wraps to the string where it contacts the limb, or add Velcro to the limb itself. I have found that two pair of small whiskers installed 9-10" and 14-15" from the string ends, along with the padding, makes them very quiet.
The older, skinnier limbs seemed a bit louder to me.
One other thing that some guys overlook, is the rubber O rings on the limb alignment pins. They need to be replaced every year or so. When they flatten out completely, it will cause a bit more noise.
I feel it has a lot to do with string construction and material and brace height.I had a BW SAV ironwood years ago,I made up a padded loop 8 strand D97 with bow hush and home made wool puffs.It was one of my quietest recurves I've had!
Once you find the right arrow and replace the factory string they are quiet as any other good bow
My BWs from the 70s with the aluminum risers were not loud, what changed?
like others have said any bow can be loud and any bow can be quiet...I had a PAX that sounded like a 22...but with proper tuning and 10gpp arrow and some yarn puffs made it quiet. BW bows are built for performance and heavy arrows and yarn puffs wont drag them down too much...playing around with string material, tuning, and silencers can prove to make any bow quiet...tinkering is fun...at least for me...some hate it though and expect too much out of the box...
Mine is very quiet with just small wool puffs. They do have string and brace height preferences. Mine is a 3 piece take down.>>>-------> Ken
Widows arent loud, some folks are just tuning challenged.
I was getting a slap when I first got me new PSR in aug, but after tinkering with its string silencers and brace height, it is whisper quiet now... I love it!
Good luck, shoot straight and God bless,
Rodd
Mountain mufflers and the string puffs! Worked on my '67 Tigercat like a champ! Only thing I hear now is the nock coming off it's nice!
Shot quite a few Widows 50-60@28 with arrows in the 600gr range they shoot great and very quite that is why I'm going to buy a new PSR in Kalamazoo
I just read thru all of this, just started shooting the old MA 2 1/2 (MA2 riser, MA3 limbs) -bow from early '90's- thinner tips than new ones and I think the old narrower ones shoot much nicer than wider ones. Been monkeying with long bows for several years...Yep Widow was quite loud. Saw mention of heterodyning method... looked that up here on TG. Funny, after 30+ years of doing this I always just eyeballed string silencers about 1/2 way between fadeout and end of limb. Measured off 1/4 and 1/3....looks weird, but WOW! Huge difference. Thanks for the info.... middle aged dog learned a new trick!
R
It continues to surprise me that whenever there is a topic about black widow bows being loud there are always so many replies that they simply need to be tuned along with endless combinations of silencers, tape, formulas for silencer spacing etc.. You would think that the bow would come with the right combination of string and silencers to begin with, many do.
I find them to be loud, but pretty typical for a recurve.
Well, the way you phrase it you are assuming everyone agrees that they are loud... I don't find them any more loud then any other high performance recurve, and none of the critters I've shot with them have complained about the noise made at the shot...
After few posts we know now how silent BW Recurve bows are. Few more post and we will be convinced how lightening fast they are. :biglaugh:
I don't know, maybe I'm deaf but I've been shooting them for 25 years, have owned quite a few and killed a lot of deer with them. I've never had an issue with them being loud. I had a video of me shooting my KB and it was whisper quiet.
Have owned two different recurve Widow models.
Both were very fine bows and both were quiet.
Out of the box, yes they are.
But, they can be made to shoot very quiet, and you can do so without having to shoot an excessively heavy arrow.
I used little yarn balls on mine, it made very quiet, I don't think yarn balls affect cast very much, but if that is all it takes, I would not call that a loud bow. Side note, I got to look at a whole rack of new black widow one piece bows of various models. There was not flaw, not a wrinkle or course edge in any of them, from bow to bow the consistency of workmanship was perfection.