chek-mate firebird
 

Got my new firebird today, man does it shoot hard. It seems a tad noisy, though. My setup: 51#@28 (28"draw), 30" 2016 arrows, 125 gr. head, 7 3/4 brace height and 4 spyder silencers. Any tips to quiet it down? I haven't had time to mess with the setup yet. My intial guess were, brace height too low, arrows underspined, or silencers aren't good. Let me know your opinion.

RE: chek-mate firebird
 

I bought a chek-mate firebird on e-bay. At first I thought the limb guide bolts had been wallowed out, causing the limbs to not align properly. I tightened the limb bolts more snugly and that seemed to cure the problem. I am very impressed with the bow however. Mine is 57# @28". I now have the brace height at 8 1/2" which seems to work very well. I have rubber cat whiskers on the bow and it seems quiet. I know you will enjoy the bow.

RE: chek-mate firebird
 

Moose, here is what I do when I am tuning a new bow. Start with a naked string (no silencers), and gradually raise the brace height until you find the "sweet spot). On a Firebird, it will probably be around 8 1/4" to 8 3/4"--it will vary from shooter to shooter, different strings, etc. Then, put the silencers on at either the 1/3 points or the 1/4 points on the string, and slide them up or down an inch or less at a time until you find the spot where they work best. Worst case scenario, put a set on both the 1/3 and 1/4 points. A well made string will be quieter than one that is not; flemish strings are generally quieter than endless. If you have a problem with limb slap, invest a couple of bucks in "Bow Hush", or buy a skein of wool yarn at Wal-Mart and wrap the part of the string that contacts the limbs. I wouldn't put mole skin or anything like that on the limb itself.

The short bows can take a little more tinkering to quieten down, but that should help a lot.

Chad