Rangeball

As some of you may recall, I am trying to see if there is a way I can get another year or two out of my current Diamond Hornet. The hornet flings an arrow with authority, it's 30.5" ata and 7.5" brace lend itself well to a tree stand, and generally it's a pleasure to shoot. It utilizes the Bowtech PF cam, so the FDC is a tad stiff by today's trend towards smoother draw standards, but not a deal killer by any means.

After shooting a Mathews Outback and getting a taste of this "just sits there with no handshock" feature many of the new breed of bows promise to deliver, I was curious if I could bring my hornet somewhat closer to this style of performance. PABowhunter graciously offered the use of a set of NVs to see if they could address the tad bit of shock the hornet still has after installation of an 8" stealth, which I took him up on. Since the NVs require taking the bow down, and the only press I had could do no such thing, it required a trip to the "local" "Pro" shop. I shot the bow quite a bit before hand, to imprint the feel pre- NVs, then took my bow in. Got it back the next day or so, eager to shoot right away and compare what I felt the NVs brought to the mix, only to find they had my bow seriously screwed up. A couple weeks of sulking and a money order later, I had a bowmender press from WWAG sitting here. Got REALLY busy, it sat here until recently, when I finally put my bow back in order. Have been shooting it quite a bit lately to get things re-tuned and set in, and have come to the following conclusions-

The addition of the NVs seem to have eliminated the little bit of shock/vibration I noticed before their installation. However, this is also the first time my bow has had everything set to the factory specs, so I can't say with 100% certainty that the NVs and not this fact are responsible. Quite possibly a mix of the two.

The NVs look to be relatively simple to install provided you have the equipment to break your bow down. You simply press your bow, remove string and cable(s), unpress, remove the limb bolts and washer, put the NVs in place and tighten up with your limb bolts. You don't reinstall the washers, and reassemble.

They look pretty cool on my bow. I've seen pics of them on PSE's ads, don't necessarily like them on their bows, but they look much smaller and unobtrusive on mine. The greenish PSE brush camo matches my hornet's mossy oak pretty well, actually.

All in all, they seemed to have helped quiet my already quiet bow and remove the last bit of shock/vibration. I'm still getting recoil, which I see as a factor of my bows light mass weight of 3.2#s (versus the 4.3# of the outback) and high energy cam. My next step is to play with mass weighting to see what it brings to the table. I have a plan on how to do this, just need to track down my brother first. Report to follow...

JeffB

Good post.

I like the NVs. I've shot them on several PSE bows, as well as a couple others where they were used aftermarket (it did wonders for a BowTech Stalker I shot!)

However, the NV's are "old news" The new Sims Xtreme Limbsavers are a much better product. I would say they are about half again (if not more) effective than the NVs. They REALLY tame a a bow that has some recoil/vibe.

However as you said, mass weight is a factor too. One reason I've always had bad luck with super light and/or super short bows. I believe the mass weight in combination with the other design factors is why the Outback is indeed so recoil free and so pleasant to shoot for such a small bow. Every time I shoot one I'm floored at how dead in the hand it is, even with arrows approaching 5 grains per pound.

Rangeball

Yeah, but these were free to test...

Only cost me $20 in "Pro" shop disservice and $75 for a bowpress...

Hey... Wait a minute.

Sagittarius

Rangeball,

I have the NV's installed on one of my Bowman's and like them.
Actually, I think they look cool on it too.
Here is Bernie's competition to the NV's and Extreme Limb savers.
The "Control Freak" "limb muffler"
You can get them with QD's which is a big advantage over the NV's.
Just switch them from bow to bow using the QD's.
You can get them in black, silver, or camo.


Sag.

PABowhntr

Darn! He figured it out. I had a deal with his local pro shop and with WWAG......

Glad they helped somewhat RB. I enjoy using mine but have settled for just the stabilizer contraption we talked about. Maybe I will eventually throw another set onto the limbpockets for balance and stability.