Was looking through the Cabelas catalog and saw there A.I.M bows. One of the bows looked a lot like the Samick Hawkeye. A little futher reserch proved that it was a Samick Hawkeye, A.I.M is just a supplier/distributer. This bow looked a lot like the Black Widow PSA takedown. Anyone know anything about this bow? I have always liked the look of the Widow but could never afford the price. If this is a knockoff does it compare to the $1500.00 CDN Black Widow or is it just a cheap oriental piece of sh--? Does my CM TD hunter compare in performance the the Black Widow PSA line? Talking 60#@28" bows?

I got the Internature Viper longbow (part of the AIM group) from a local archery shop owned by Eric Hall (gold medal Olympic winner) who owns the archery shop and is the US distributor for AIM. I talked to him about them. Said it was good bow. I was not real impressed, didn' t shoot worth a S%^$. Lucky I didn' t pay much because it had a very lowwwwww resale $. They have them on e-bay or see if your local archery shop has one and shoot it. You never know you might like it. I own 3 Crusader longbows and they are not even in the same solar system as the Viper!!!

Actually, the Samick line of bows is quite extensive. They make everything from inexpensive entry level bows to very creative quality bows. I believe their most expensive wood trad bow is in the $450-$500 range, which as you noted include the " Widow" style knock-off.

A Korean company, Samick actually makes excellent Olympic quality recurves which are used by the Korean Olympians (tough archers!) and other international competitors.

I think Samick bows are overall a good thing for traditional archery. They seem to cater to youth and the beginner market, providing a springboard for those interested in formal competition or simply those enjoy casting an arrow " from the shelf."

A buddy of mine is running an archery department in one of the local stores. He has picked up the Samick line of bows. So far he has had 3 of 9 bows with some kind of miss. Not to mention delayed delivery, somethings still on the way long after promised deadlines.

Its funny you ask about that specific bow as thats the one he bought. Its nothing like the widow and not worth the 500 price tag it holds. I havent shot the longbow but it feels good and looks decent. I did notice some major variations between two equal bows in weight and length. Kinda made me go hmm but till someone buys them I wont be shooting them

Samick is sending him a new bow being he missed weight by a solid 8lbs free of charge. The tolerances aren' t what I would consider good, but for a beginner bow it migth be considered acceptable although the price tag is a little high.

I have shot the widow nock off with both my heavy cedars and even heavier ash and the bow bounces like a new dance trend. The brace height was super high (over 8" es). He didnt have a flemish twist on it yet so we couldnt play with the brace height much.

The handle was pretty thick also. Unlike most recurves it seems to fit some of the old herters bows imo. Big, bulky and really dont feel for crap in your hand.

Just my 02 after a couple days on the range with one...

I' ll just say that I' ve been less than impressed with the ones I' ve seen. IMO they pretty much rank with the PSE hunting recurves...and that being not too well.

JRW