Limb education needed

[Rheron]

Hello friends! Im currently shooting a set of long black max recurve limbs on a 21” riser. It’s a good shooting bow if I’m doing my part but in my quest for never ending change I’m wanting to shorten up the overall length of bow. 66” is the length now. Would prefer to be in the 64” or 62” range if possible. Would you reduce the riser length to a 19”-17” and keep longer limbs? In my mind that will be a smoother draw. Or shorten limbs on the existing 21” riser? Why would you chose one path over the other?
Ryan

 

[Beendare]

Whats your draw length?

You won’t see a lot of difference between a 21” riser and 19”

Same with med/ long ILF limbs…with the caveat; sure there is a difference between the feel of the different recurve limbs.

Recurve limbs open up and do have a sweet spot depending on your DL. The performance differences will be minor, its more about feel.

Example; I have a 30.5” DL and like a 64” bow, 19” w/ longs…but I can shoot a 62”…and a 66” just feels smoother And more forgiving.

 

[Beendare]

And fwiw, those rebranded black max limbs are decent but nothing special. You will find that many of the name brand lower end limbs ($100-$200) are pretty darn good.

You can spend a lot more to get a small amount of improvement.
I like the WNS C3 or C5 at well under $200 at Alt Services. Great limbs and those will give you better performance that the BM’s.

At a higher price point those Uukhas are fantastic. The SX50 is about as good as it gets for a $350 limb.

Lots of good limbs besides those…but I would recommend staying with name brands; WNS, Samick etc vs the no name cheapies. Its not worth losing an eye…..

 

[nevadabugle]

Draw length info needed. Also riser brands you are considering. The limb pad angle could figure into the answer as well.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I usually prefer a riser of medium length and limbs that are a bit longer. It just feels a bit better to me. When I was buying my black widow, I went with a PSA as its their middle riser length and I got it built out to 62" so my limbs are a bit longer. I like it.

My longbow is a bit different and has a 15" riser and is 62" long. I dont think it matters much for a longbow since any longbow has less riser mass than a recurve so the shorter riser made sense to me.

 

[Rheron]

My DL is 32”. Current riser is a 21” whitefeather lark. I just bought it last year. It’s fairly decent especially for the cost. That’s why I’m somewhat leaning towards shorter limbs vs a new riser. However I’ve never even shot a 64” or shorter bow. Was concerned a 21” riser and med limbs giving me a stacking issue

 

[Beendare]

My DL is 32”. Current riser is a 21” whitefeather lark. I just bought it last year. It’s fairly decent especially for the cost. That’s why I’m somewhat leaning towards shorter limbs vs a new riser. However I’ve never even shot a 64” or shorter bow. Was concerned a 21” riser and med limbs giving me a stacking issue

Its going to depend on the limb.

“Stacking” is a term that I see being misused A lot- but anyway. ….are you pulling to the front of your face or alongside?

I also like Thinhorns strategy above…longer limbs shorter riser with my 30.5” DL.

I bet you would like medium SX50’s with your riser but thats the extreme end of the range…but maybe not.my 64”, 19” riser with Uukhas won’t stack at 32”…another inch and they would A little.

Junxing 19” riser is cheap on Ali Express…and as good if not better than yours.

 

[Rheron]

Its going to depend on the limb.

“Stacking” is a term that I see being misused A lot- but anyway. ….are you pulling to the front of your face or alongside?

I also like Thinhorns strategy above…longer limbs shorter riser with my 30.5” DL.

I bet you would like medium SX50’s with your riser but thats the extreme end of the range…but maybe not.my 64”, 19” riser with Uukhas won’t stack at 32”…another inch and they would A little.

Junxing 19” riser is cheap on Ali Express…and as good if not better than yours.

I anchor alongside my face. The “c” shape my hook creates fits over my cheek bone.
Feel like this will ultimately be a “ just buy some limbs and see” type thing. Never shot another limb besides the BM I have.

 

[Beendare]

I anchor alongside my face. The “c” shape my hook creates fits over my cheek bone.
Feel like this will ultimately be a “ just buy some limbs and see” type thing. Never shot another limb besides the BM I have.

You might want to keep it that way…these limbs can become an addiction.

The BM limbs are good..but then so are all of the other cheap fiberglass limbs.
Obviosly I think the Uukhas are worth it…I have 3 pairs.

Idea; why not just stay with the long limbs? 66” is not that much different than 64”…but I already know the answer…its why I have 5 risers and 5 or 6 sets of limbs…grin

JIC you aren’t aware, the Tradlab website has some accurate tests done on various limbs inc the ones you have as a comparison.

 

[Rheron]

I’m not different than most people shooting trad- I love to tinker with my set up. Sometimes I make horrible component swap choices and have a real negative impact. Other times changes work well.
Currently have 40# limbs, at my DL I’m holding 47#. With a set of 40# medium length limbs I would expect the draw weight at my anchor to increase??

 

[Beendare]

For anyone debating this subject; Remote over on Trad Talk main forum has an excellent and very informative thread on the cheaper off brand Carbon limbs that are cheap.

Many guys chiming in on the different cheaper price point limbs

 

[KentuckyTJ]

Call and ask bowyer but I would keep it the way you have it. That’s a really long draw length.

 

[Rheron]

Call and ask bowyer but I would keep it the way you have it. That’s a really long draw length.

Draw length is a blessing and a curse. I’m just shy of 6’5”. Makes for great power and speed of an arrow- however it also makes it hard to find a draw weight I want at the draw length I have. Normally there is some math involved. Maybe one day I’ll have a custom bow

 

[Beendare]

Draw length is a blessing and a curse. I’m just shy of 6’5”. Makes for great power and speed of an arrow- however it also makes it hard to find a draw weight I want at the draw length I have. Normally there is some math involved. Maybe one day I’ll have a custom bow

Its a blessing. We can shoot 45# and the short 26” DL guys need to shoot almost 10# more to get comparable performance.

The Xcurve long Uukhas on a 19” riser will be fine to 32”. Uukha has a chart

. The std limb profiles will almost surely stack on a 19”, its close though.
Std limbs on a 21” will be fine.