I love my Big Jim Monarch recurves and found a used Thunderchild 58" 48#@28" I draw just a little over 28.5" and have some Beman centershot 400's shooting very well! My total arrow weight is 560gr, they bare shaft awesome!

I have a D97 string 14 strand on it, with a pair of wool silencers. Brace height is just a fuzz under 8" I have moved the silencers all over the place and can't seem to quite it down like I would like it. My Monarchs are as quite as can be,I just can't figure it out?

What do you other Thunderchild shooters recommend?

Have you tried putting the silencers at offset locations, and have you identified where the noise is coming from?

A .400 sounds stiff for that set up to me unless you have a ton of weight on it so I would suspect arrow slap, but I can't see you shoot.

Yes, I have moved them all over and have them where it shoots the quietist right now. I thought 400's would be stiff, but I can't get a 500 to work, they tune weak.

I might be getting a little picky, but I like my bows quite. I can group my bare shaft right with the fletched ones and I can shoot a bullet hole through paper at all distances with both shafts. I just puzzled?

8” brace is high, I agree the 400 is stiff unless you have 200+ grains on the front. I would change the string, I have hybrid longbows that would hate a 14 strand D97.

Can you tell where the noise is coming from?

My bow is quiet with the original string, but I tried a D97 on it and I believe that a Thunderchild just doesn't like that string material. I have a Mercury 2 on it now, and it's fine. I'm using cat whiskers for silencers.

Yep try a different string & talk to Big Jim. >>>----> Ken

I prefer placing the silencers at 18.3% of string length. I also use para cord sheath material, just pull the white strands out.

Try a different string…it really does matter..!!

I had a 56", liked 8.125" brace, thin string with puffs at 1/4 of string length.

I can only speak from my own experience but I've found that different bows like different string materials. I've shot bows that sounded n felt horrible..changing the string material made a big difference. One bow may love D97 and another bow may like another string material .it's worth a try.

Measure the exact distance from top to bottom from where the string meets the wood. Divide by 3 and then divide by 4. This is how far from each end you will put your silencers. I use wool and I saturate them with pure medical grade lanolin so they shed water.

So - if distance from the string contact on top and on bottom is 54 inches. Divide by 3 and you get 18 inches. Divide by 4 and you get 13.5 inches. So you put one silencer at 18 inches from the wood/string contact. Put the other one 13.5 inches from the contact point. I usually put the longer one on the bottom, and the shorter one on top to make sure it stays out of the way when I draw. I own three ThunderChilds. I call them my "ThunderChildren". I have done this will all of them and it was the quietest I could get them.

One thing is for certain - the ThunderChild is a "hot blooded" design. It is not the quietest bow in my arsenal - but it is a stone cold killer design. I shot a doe last year quartering on with a Woodsman and it slammed through the front quartering shoulder and punched halfway out the other side and broke a rib on the way out. Insane. I have a 54, 56 and 58. I love all of them. I don't think the TC is designed to minimize sound.

By the way - if you like the ThunderChild you will also really like the Bushman American Native. I didn't think I would ever shoot a bow I love more than the ThunderChild. I picked up a Native and couldn't believe it. Jewett is a Picasso level bowyer and an artist. Still won't part with the ThunderChildren. They are beautiful.

I can't remember where I learned this, I found it on a website. The concept is that it dampens the harmonics of the string. It has worked for me so I do it on all my bows now.

How's nock fit? Tighter will make more noise.

Going to a better string material could also help. Something like X99 that's blended will stretch and creep less, and is usually a touch quieter.

Otherwise, it may just be a louder design. Some are. I test shot one once and felt like it was a fairly loud bow compared to my others.

I have a fairly radical hybrid longbow that I've had for 12 years and it's just loud no matter how you slice it. Limbs that "noodle" at brace tend to be louder in my experience.

Try silencers at 1/4's, then try 1/3 and 1/4, then try 18.3% of string length. Then shoot the quietest. For me shooting in the dark between my yard wooden fence and house/brick wall, it was the 18.3%. Not scientific, but my ears could tell.

So.. Thunderchilds come with D97 and should be very quiet and easy to do so. Brace suggestion is 7.75-8.25"s and most find them to work best at around 8"+. I would bet that the problem is in the spine of the arrow. The centershot is slightly smaller in diameter, but if you have cut it down, it would make it stiffer so that's a possibility.

There are other questions I would have as well, but prefer to do that via phone. Just not enough time to spend on a keyboard.

It is also possible to get an extremely good bare shaft while still bouncing off the bow.. seen it. BigjIm

A couple years ago I had a noise issue that was frustrating me. All over the place with my cat whiskers and no success. Raised my nocking point about 1/8"...success!

Sometimes you just never know. Hope you get it figured out. Then DO let us know please what worked.

This may seem like a dumb question, but do you have a leather limb tip protector on the lower limb? I have had more than one bow I have used them on and they didn't fit tight. That made the bow louder than you can imagine. Took it off and the bow was quiet. DANNY

Big Jim knows his bows, I never would have guessed a 8” brace height for a short hybrid longbow. Every bow design is certainly unique.

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