Blackwidow MA/SA series have quite a few laminations in the riser.
That makes em tough, and a little heavy.
I prefer some mass weight.
The bows, to me, have a slightly different feel on the draw. Maybe all bows w rear mount limbs feel that way?
I shot next to Ken Beck on the practice range one morning at Cloverdale in '88.
An absolute gentleman.
The rich history of the company, and the customer service I have had........you bet I'm a fanboy.
Have shot a lot of bows, and still prefer a Widow.
Must say my friends Chastain was pretty sweet.
And for a factory bow my Hoyt Dorado w Tradtech ILF limbs converted to direct bolt on, was probably a best bang for the buck rig.
I cant remember what yr exactly, but me and bowfishing bud went to local dam/levee and I saw one zoom out, from the elevated perch.
Trotted down the grassy hill to get to ledge and boogie down it for a shot.
Wet shoes from prev cement wall venture in containment area, on grassy slope...........I got to slippin n slidin and picked up speed.
Ended up bashing into a boulder. Tried to save the bow and sacrifice myself.
Blood was comin out pretty good, arm and leg. Bow took a nasty gash on limb, but stayed strung. I went home, proly shoulda got stitches but didn't go to ER.
Called BW and they said send it in. They fixed it and I took a deer w it that fall.
But the repair looked to crack. Hundred of shots on the repair.
Called again and Roger said it send it in for eval, later called and said it was toast and would I be cool w a new build for 165 bucks? (maybe was less than that).
Mine was last of handcrafted and the new ones precision crafted, and he apologized for the difference.
Uh, no reason to apologize man, and yeah build me one to same spec.
I killed a couple deer w that one but had some spine problems and went to wheels, which did not fix it.
So laid out of all indoor and 3D and barely shot enough w wheels n sights to hunt. Talking 200 arrows or less a yr.
Rebroke rib next to spine and my pain went away and started hunting w recurve and wheels again. Was maybe 5 yrs of laying out of archery.
Got a few used Widows, metal riser. Like the HS best.
Met some widow shooters over the years and all have been good dudes.
Ive had a widow around off and on since 87 and shot well enough some people remember me.
Shot Cloverdale and a yr or two later some dude to do plumbing work at a relatives 2 hrs away from that place.... pulls up as Im in the driveway working on a Jeep and goes "hey, youre that blackwidow guy" LMAO
FWIW Im just a nobody that got around to some local, semi local shoots. Hell the biggest deer Ive ever shot w a bow, was with a Widow.....first trad deer. And it might have gone 100" gross LMAO.
Not saying a widow is for everybody.
Have had folks slam em, even talk crap to me face to face at shoots.
Then I let em shoot mine.
It was tuned perfectly.
It wasnt too noisy, and it was quick enough.
Had more than one say "I cant see the arrow flying"......ya aint supposed to at 20 yards and in.
So.....that there told me what kind of experience and skill level my critics had.
A well tuned widow is a good hunting bow.
But some may not like certain aspects of em.
Thats why all those other guys make bows.
I wish I could hunt my 400 dollar used Widow HS. It aint about the money. Its a cool bow and I havent shot a deer with it yet.
But having spine and shoulder issues I figured lower # and one last build.
Worst case my son in law gets a slightly used plywood bow LOL
Last edited by hookeye; 09/18/22.
