Black Swan Carbon Classic Hybrid

Black Swan Carbon Classic Hybrid by Pete Ward
article copyright

62″ Carbon Hybrid
Review
Black Swan Carbon Classic Hybrid longbow
Reflex / Deflex limbs
62″ / 49# AMO /54# True Draw
Brace 6 1/2″ -7 1/2″
10 strand DF97 black string 59″

Black Swan bows are not a new kid on the block. Arvid Danielson has been building bows since the 50′s. He has also been on the 1980 US National Archery Team, and he holds several Archery world records giving him a solid background in the art of bow building. Some time ago he took a leave from bow building, but now he is back with some of today’s top performers in the longbow category. These bows rival the best performers out there, recurve or longbow.

The Black Swan Carbon Classic Hybrid longbows today are a result of Computer designed limbs and many years of experience. This combination is producing a bow built with today’s new carbon fiber instead of the normal glass, and yesterdays Hickory or Actionwood cores. He has combined the best of both materials for a very fast and shootable bow that I have found to be very accurate and forgiving as well as fast with any arrow weight. The Black Swans are very good High Performance bows.

The unique woven carbon fibers that are used, are placed on the outside of both the back and belly of the limbs in both models, with the highly reflex deflex Hybrid having an additional carbon layer added to the core for stability. Experienced bowyers know carbon is at it’s best on the outside.

The Hybrid that I have been shooting for the past month tops the scale at the same weight as the longbow my wife is shooting, 19 ounces. The lightweight is a joy to carry all day. This bow scales at 49# at 28″ AMO/ and 54# TRUE DRAW. Early models are marked with “True Draw”, a measurement taken at the low point of the grip. All new Black Swan bows are now marked with both measurements, AMO, {the low point of the grip + 1 3/4”} and TRUE DRAW, so there will not be any confusion in the future for customers. At the time I ordered the bows I thought they were made AMO and I ended up at a lighter weight than I wanted to have.

I suggest that you always ask what measurement the bowyer uses when ordering any bow to avoid confusion and disappointment. Arvid has addressed this since we started this review and there will be no more surprised customers in the future. Both ways are correct, and are used by many bowyers today. Ask before ordering, and don’t assume every bowyer uses your method.

Shooting a new bow usually takes some getting used to and arrow selection is normally a trial and error process. Taking a guess at what would fly I started with a stiff 29″ 340 spine carbon arrow, 100gr brass inserts, and 250 gr points for a total weight of 620 grains and the first shots flew on target, grouping very well. This was good news; I had arrows that would fly right away. Next I started shooting lighter points and good flight was there with the point weight going down to 100 grains plus the brass inserts from these arrows.

I next went to a 400 spine with the same results on all of the different point weights so I tried some 500 spines my wife shoots and again the flight is good with point weight up to 175 gr and 100 gr brass. I have been shooting some very light {365 Gr} 400 spine arrows at 3D with the hybrid using 100 gr points with good flight. 125 gr points are a bit better on these shafts.

The black Swan Hybrid is the most spine tolerant bow I have shot to date. Matching it to an arrow seemed like a waste of time for me. They all flew with perfection and shoot where I look. {Sometimes I don’t look at the right place} LOL

I don’t find any hand shock with the hybrid at my 27″ draw, and other shooters that have tested it out to 30″ tell me it is shock free. Like all traditional bows the Hybrid needs string silencers to eliminate the banjo sound effect all bows have. A set of 3″ beaver fur strips is all it took to silence the bow to a hunting level and eliminate the string vibrations. The 10-strand DF97 string that comes with it is loud without silencers and it has a recurve type noise when set at the lower brace height. Increasing the bow to 7 1/2” plus using a padded loop string with the padding extended to the limb contact area easily eliminates this. {Recurves also benefit from this.} With this combination the bow is very quiet and still very fast.

Pages: 1 2 3