ET Williams Brown Recluse

[brock ratcliff]

I wanted one of these things bad in the mid 90s. The bowyer was in West Palm Beach Florida. They were touted as the fastest recurve ever made at the time. He used carbon in the limbs, all very cutting edge stuff at the time. He was unapologetic about the rather high price tag, quite proud of the product he had. At the time I drove a truck and figured if the opportunity ever came up for a trip to West Palm, I’d check out his shop and bows. Somewhere along the way he died or retired and I never did make the trip and have never seen one in person.
About the time I had surgery I saw one on a Facebook page I follow. It was listed for sale by a Florida resident. I bought it. He sent it to me a couple weeks later because I was in no hurry and he had a hunting trip planned. I just strung it up tonight and took it for a test drive. At first glance I thought I’d hate it due to the massive handle. I’d already talked to Jamie about him whittling the thing down to a more comfortable size. After shooting it, I don’t see a reason to do a thing to it. One I add some fuzz to the string, this thing is ready to go to the woods. I don’t know that it will because I’m such a fan of my Black Widow, but this is a really nice shooting and looking bow. Really fun to have one since I wanted to try them out so many years ago.
Not a great pic, but considering I’ve shot it a total of 15 times and they all looked about the same as this group, i am pretty excited about having this mule in the stable.

 

[Sgt Fury]

Congrats on getting a bow that you’ve wanted for so long. When it come to recurves, can you, or @Jamie or @Boarhead, or anyone else who shoots them, just pick one up and shoot accurately with it?….if you can shoot a recurve well, do they all shoot well or is there a honeymoon period with them?

 

[brock ratcliff]

Congrats on getting a bow that you’ve wanted for so long. When it come to recurves, can you, or @Jamie or @Boarhead, or anyone else who shoots them, just pick one up and shoot accurately with it?….if you can shoot a recurve well, do they all shoot well or is there a honeymoon period with them?

Some probably take a little getting used to. I suppose folks are all different. For me, if the bow is set up for the way I shoot (no one shoots a one string bow the same and therefore they all have to be tuned to the individual’s style, grip, finger placement and pressure) the bows will all shoot about the same. The only way I can describe it is that I don’t shoot the bow, I shoot the arrow. The bows are just a means of propelling the arrow. With that said, most bows will shoot a properly spined arrow pretty much the same... there is not a lot of difference in trajectory because most of my bows shoot somewhere between 170-185 FPS. There are some bows that by their unique quirks or shapes are not harder to shoot well but are easier to shoot badly. Little fluctuations in hand placement or any other thing can show up in poor shooting. The term forgiveness is over used, IMO, but there really isn’t a better description. That’s is why I already spoke with Jamie about altering this one. That fat handle just seemed like it was going to be a problem. To the bowyers credit, he nailed the pressure point on this things handle, many do not. If that is off a little, accurate shooting is difficult. A strong willed archer will still learn to shoot em, but it takes more effort.

I guess that was a long-winded way of saying “ Nah, a bow is a bow”.

 

[Boarhead]

Yep a bow is a bow just gotta make sure it's tuned and practice alot. Once ya get it right I think ya can pretty much shoot any of them.

 

[Boarhead]

Good shootin Brock!

 

[finelyshedded]

Yup, you really stacked em in there! How quiet is this bow and how it compares to the widow?
That’s what I find is so cool about trad bows, sending a silent missile down range to its target like an owl gliding feet off the forest floor from the top of the ridge to the bottom.

 

[brock ratcliff]

It was actually fairly quiet for not having any silencers on the string. Seemed about the same speed wise, but I was shooting at night and I can’t tell the difference between 175 and 190. It’s somewhere in that range I’d guess. Not much handle vibration to speak of, likely because the riser is massive. I’ve not shot it enough to pass final judgment, but I think I’ll like that bow.