I don't think you should buy/order any recurve until you've demo shot a few. There is no letoff when shooting a recurve. You hold all the poundage and since you're used to shooting a 60#-65# compound with maybe 80% letoff, that means you're only holding a little over 13# at your anchor point. Most newbies think they can easily shoot a 45# bow because they're used to shooting 70# compounds and the vast majority of them get a rude awakening when they draw that 45# recurve to their anchor point for the first time. Most of them "struggle" to get those last 2" to reach their anchor point.
Another point. The production made recurve bows you listed, their poundage is measured at 28". Recurve bows add 2#-3# of weight every inch past 28" so you could be holding 47#-48# if your draw length is 29" and you buy a 45# recurve sight unseen without shooting one first.
The worst thing you could do is buy a 45# recurve without demo shooting one first and then find out you're over bowed weight wise. If you're over bowed, your arrows will be all over the practice target group wise at 20 yards.
I used to shoot compound bows for awhile and all of mine were set at 62#. If you look at my signature, you'll see I own two custom made recurves, 37# and 42# at my 30" draw length. In my opinion, there is a big difference in the "feel" between holding 40# and 45# when shooting any recurve or longbow.
I've been shooting low poundage recurve bows for 47 years. Started bowhunting when I was 14 years old and I'm now 61 years old. The lightest recurve I owned and took a deer with was when I was 16 years old and the bow was 36#. The heaviest recurve I owned and took a deer with was 44#. I've taken many whitetail deer, feral hogs and javelina during the last 47 years. Don't under estimate what a 40# bow can do if you can do your part and make a broadside lung shot at 20 yards and under with a very sharp 2 blade broadhead. If you can do these things, you'll find a 40# recurve can kill a deer as easily as any 45#, 50#, 55#, 60# and up recurve.
BTW, the last 5 deer I've taken with my recurves, the distance has been between 12-17 yards. They were all recovered within 40- 60 yards because no animal goes very far without lungs.
In my book when shooting recurves or longbows, accuracy trumps poundage.
Last edited by Night Wing; 04-28-2011 at 03:24 AM.