Quieting the bow

[nutmegjailer]

I just bought the Ibex package. It is a bit louder than I thought it would be. I put limb savers on it but they keep on flying off the bow when I shoot. Has anyone out there had any good results in quieting the bow down....

Thanks.... Rick..

[Dereck]

String stoppers are your best bet but you will never get it quiet so your game won't here it shoot.
These bows are loud only so much you can do to make them quiet

[OkXbowHunter]

I've experimented quite a bit with my Axiom. I came over from a compound this year and I was use to a quiet shooting bow.

Crossbows can be a real eye opener when it comes to bow noise. I honestly believe one of the biggest areas of noise is where the limbs bolt onto the riser. This metal to metal contact can give the bow quite a bit of noise, no matter how tight you tighten the bolts. A ultra thin piece of rubber would probably do wonders, but I haven't looked for one yet.

As for the Limbsavers, they helped some but kept flying off. I was contacted by several of the guys on here and told that the limbsavers were costing me fps. Since I was having a time keeping them on anyway, I took them off and ordered a STS system.

The STS system takes a lot of the vibration out of the bow when it's shot. It also reduces noise, but not by a whole lot. Your dissapator pads probably reduce more noise than the STS system (I think the D pads reduce noise by 8 decibles)

String silencers (NOT the Limbsaver ones, they're a joke) like catwhiskers help a lot, but they have to be put on very well or they will come off also.

I also took my stirrup and wrapped it with the limbsaver rubber wrap. This will take a tiny bit of the metallic "twang" out of the bow when shot.

I plan on doing some in depth testing in the next few months on what really works to quieten a crossbow down and what doesn't.

Growing up trying to keep my bows super quiet and then all of a sudden having one that sounds like an aluminum baseball bat hitting a metal flagpole when you shoot it was quite a shock.

But with all the speed a crossbow produces, the added bow noise is probably a mute point when shooting at deer out to 30 yards. I haven't seen a deer who could jump the string of a fast crossbow under that distances yet.

About as far as they get is "thinking" about jumping it. By the time they get around to ducking, they usually have two holes in their hide

[agingcrossbower]

I've experimented quite a bit with my Axiom. I came over from a compound this year and I was use to a quiet shooting bow.

Crossbows can be a real eye opener when it comes to bow noise. I honestly believe one of the biggest areas of noise is where the limbs bolt onto the riser. This metal to metal contact can give the bow quite a bit of noise, no matter how tight you tighten the bolts. A ultra thin piece of rubber would probably do wonders, but I haven't looked for one yet.

As for the Limbsavers, they helped some but kept flying off. I was contacted by several of the guys on here and told that the limbsavers were costing me fps. Since I was having a time keeping them on anyway, I took them off and ordered a STS system.

The STS system takes a lot of the vibration out of the bow when it's shot. It also reduces noise, but not by a whole lot. Your dissapator pads probably reduce more noise than the STS system (I think the D pads reduce noise by 8 decibles)

String silencers (NOT the Limbsaver ones, they're a joke) like catwhiskers help a lot, but they have to be put on very well or they will come off also.

I also took my stirrup and wrapped it with the limbsaver rubber wrap. This will take a tiny bit of the metallic "twang" out of the bow when shot.

I plan on doing some in depth testing in the next few months on what really works to quieten a crossbow down and what doesn't.

Growing up trying to keep my bows super quiet and then all of a sudden having one that sounds like an aluminum baseball bat hitting a metal flagpole when you shoot it was quite a shock.

But with all the speed a crossbow produces, the added bow noise is probably a mute point when shooting at deer out to 30 yards. I haven't seen a deer who could jump the string of a fast crossbow under that distances yet.

About as far as they get is "thinking" about jumping it. By the time they get around to ducking, they usually have two holes in their hide

Thanks for the great read. Looking forward to your testing.

[georgiaboy]

Did you use the limbsaver's made for crossbow's ?
I put a set on my ibex when I bought it and have not had any problem's !!!
Did not quiet it down much though.I was thinking about getting the STS system but changed my mind...xbows are naturally noisy ...and the more stuff you put on them the more speed you loose !!
Not worth the trade off to me !!
My ibex is fast enough inside 30yds...poor critter will never know what hit them !!!!

[gerald strine]

First off welcome to the forum and congrats on your new bow
You are never are going to get it quiet enough that a deer can not here it so any steps you take to quiet it down are for you only.
Nothing wrong doing what you can to lessen the noise if it makes you happy but the deer are not going to be fooled.
I had an adjustment period coming from vertical bows also but now I am getting so it does not bother me.
If I were you I would wait for the Excalibur string stoppers being released in 2011 and stop at that. you will be more comfortable with the noise by the time next hunting season gets here.

[j.krug]

Welcome to the forum.
Don't worry too much about the noise level of yer Xbow.
The deer don't mind it nearly as much as they do the arrow passin' through 'em!!

[bkisel]

I’m anxiously awaiting the availability of Excalibur’s “STS” like product. Isn’t an “STS” a something you can put on a crossbow that can quiet it down without any loss of speed?

Also, here are my xbow LimbSavers mounted elsewhere because they kept flying off the limbs. Don’t know if they made the bow more quiet but neither do they make the bow slower. I keep them on because I paid for them and think they kinda look cool mounted where they are.

Oh yeah, rubber coated stirrup did, I believe, take some metal twang sound out of the bow when fired.

[j.krug]

Very cool! I like the rubber coated stirrup!

[vixenmaster]

This is the best way to quieten yer Excal, squeeze trigger go pick-up yer deer. Now its backstraps n tenerloin choice fer lunch or supper

[agingcrossbower]

This is the best way to quieten yer Excal, squeeze trigger go pick-up yer deer. Now its backstraps n tenerloin choice fer lunch or supper

This seems to be the best silencer I've come across.

[wabi]

these work well, too -

crossbow silencers.JPG

[bkisel]

I believe you Wabi but where on the CB do they get mounted?

[wabi]

I believe you Wabi but where on the CB do they get mounted?

Operator's ear canals
A simple set of foam ear plugs work wonders.
Seriously, if the noise bothers you they will improve your shooting.

I've been shooting an Excalibur for so long I don't even notice the noise anymore.
As far as the deer are concerned - make it the last sound they hear.

[strum]

when i got mine in sept ..the first thing all my friends started saying was..man that thing is loud..not wow does it look well made ..or danggg it shoots fast,,or even ,,man is that crossbow accurate,,all i heard was how loud it was and how big the limbs were,,,
well first off,,one of them dry fired his and didnt even get to
use it most of the season cuz it so long to get it back and when he did it wasnt right so he sent it back only to wait a month for it to return,,
the other guy never killed a deer this season with his "quiet" crossbow..
I shot 3 deer with mine (didnt recover one,,my fault)
and althogh we never did a shooting contest ..i know i can whup em good if we do..
So i think if i need any silencer it would be the one wabi suggested . just so i dont have to hear any more junk from the guys who dont own and thus dont know what they are missin.
how come silence is such and issue?...My browning 3006 doesnt have any whiskers,limbsavers,or sts stuff on it and it takes deer every year..Just sayin