I would define recoil a little differently.
Recoil is NOT the jump a bow makes when shot. The jump is an after effect caused by the grip of the bow being below the plane of recoil.Both in guns and bows.
RECOIL is the felt reaction of the shot caused not by the limbs and string (at least not ONLY by these) but by the arrow being accelerated forward. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The more energy you put into the arrow, the more recoil you will get. Also, recoil is affected by the mass of the bow. A heavy bow will reduced felt recoil.
again, the jump happens simply because our hands are below the arrow and it's palne of motion. If we held the bow above the arrow, the bow would want to jump down, not up.
We can reduce jump (lift or "flip"
by adding weight in front of the bow. the farther out, and more weight, the less lift we will see/feel.
Reducing felt recoil is as simple as adding weight to the bow. Front, center no matter.
Another charictoristic of a bow, is what the bow does after the arrow is gone. It WAS pushing into your hand all the way until the arrow left the string, now it is neutral. Your arm having some elasticity while holding the bow pushes the bow away from you after the arrow is gone (thank goodness for wrist/finger/thumb slings). Now that there is no force acting above your hand, the balance of the bow will change. DURING the shot, you want the bow to remain level...but after the arrow is gone, we loose that balance, and the bow wants to tip forward. That is what I concider "shock" how bad the bow wants to get away from you after the shot.
What does any/all of this have to do with the topic at hand? Basically, each archer will want/need to adjust the balance of the bow to his/her arrow weight, and stored energy of the bow, as well as their grip (high grip, less weight added out front etc).
So when I read "Bow "A" has a lot of recoil or shock" to ME this means he doesn't have it balanced for HIM/HER. ANY bow I buy will get outfitted with a stabilizer, and balanced to work best for me.
The other attributes (Vibration, and Noise) will be a lot harder to get rid of all else being equal.
SMOOTHNESS? I look at that as the draw cycle. round wheel bows are normally QUITE smooth. MOST 1 cam bows are NOT. To ME it doesn't matter unless I'm shooting more than 60 arrows or so. It does NOT change accuracy, only the way the bow is drawn.
MOST faster bows in MY definition are NOT smooth. quick to peak power, rapid drop into a very small valley. ACCURATE? YES. SMOOTH? NO.
This is why I shoot the damn bow myself...how it FEELS to ME is more important than shock/recoil or smoothness.
That said, of COURSE
<u>MY</u> bow is best. Why because
<u>I</u> MADE it that way! No lift on the shot (stabilizer balance/length) no vibration (doinker/limb savers/leeches) and no hand shock (enough weight in the stab to absorb the energy).
No, you won't find my bow on the shelf of your archery dealer...you'll find one kind of like it...it will say Alpine Stealth Force. but THAT bow simply doesn't shoot like MINE. WAY to much shock/recoil/vibration etc <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>