The Best Recurve Limbs for Beginners in 2025

If you’ve decided that a recurve bow is the way to go, you’ll need a pair of limbs. Beginners often find the options overwhelming, but this guide will walk you some of the best recurve limb options for beginners currently on the market, helping you find the perfect pair to start your archery journey.

Limbs are the flexible, curved sections of the bow that store and release energy when drawing and shooting an arrow. They’re always sold in pairs, and it’s important to get the right set, as choosing the right limbs affects draw weight, performance, and the overall shooting experience.

When you’re starting out, it’s best to look at low-poundage limbs which are relatively inexpensive, as you’re going to need a different set when you get a little further down the line. (Even if you can afford the very best, buying the most expensive set of archery gear when starting out isn’t a good idea as it can be harder for beginners to get the best out of it.)

Limbs are usually available in short, medium or long lengths, which you’ll often see as 66″, 68″ or 70″ – this refers to the full length of the bow when put together on a medium length riser, rather than the actual lengths of the limbs themselves.

Which one to choose as a beginner will usually depend on your height. It’s best to ask someone at the shop or at your archery club if you’re not sure exactly.

Archery shops are very good at welcoming beginners – it’s a big part of their business – so it’s usually a good idea to book an appointment if you can. (Bear in mind if it’s your first visit and you’re buying a complete recurve bow you might be spending a couple of hours there!)

Once you’ve got your limbs, check out my Recurve Tuning Guide to learn exactly how to your new bow up correctly.

WNS Delta F2 fibre / foam | £80

WNS is a brand from the Korean company Win & Win, who are a well-known manufacturer of quality gear. The WNS Delta 2 fibre/foam limb is a decent option if you’re starting out. If you select a 68 inch limb (the standard for most people unless you’re very short or very tall), you can go up in two pound increments all the way from 16 pounds up to 44 pounds.

They’re also inexpensive. If you’re in your first year of shooting you will almost certainly progress a bit, poundage wise, and this is a great option for something you won’t be using forever.

If you just want limbs to do bow training at home, these are some of the best recurve limbs to use. You don’t need expensive limbs to do this and doing bow training with your normal limbs isn’t always a good idea. Sometimes limbs will suddenly start breaking or not behaving the same after doing a lot of bow training with them, so it’s best to do that using a cheaper limb – and this one has a huge variety of weights available.

WNS Motive C5 | £180

I have personally shot these limbs, and for entry-level limbs they feel surprisingly good. At this slightly higher price point you are getting limbs which include ‘unidirectional carbon’. This means they are usually a little stiffer and smoother to draw, and the shot will be a little less noisy.

If you already have a decent riser and have a couple of hundred pounds to spend on limbs – and you are a little more confident about your poundage range – these would be a strong option.

Entry level limbs can often be a little ‘flappy’ and they’re not as stiff as more expensive limbs. But these shoot very well and should get your archery career moving along nicely.

WNS Procyon C5 carbon/foam | £190

Another WNS option is the Procyon limb, which are available at an interesting price point just very slightly higher than the C5. These come in both wood and carbon fibre flavours, with poundages between 20 and 44lbs.

The carbon foam ones come with blue accents, whereas the carbon wood ones come with red accents. At first glance they seem very similar to the other WNS Motive limbs, but they are made with different materials and are likely to feel a little different when you draw them. These ones also don’t come with limb covers, although you can buy those separately.

These are now widely available in 2025 and are one of the best choices for beginner recurve archers who want to upgrade from entry-level limbs to mid-range limbs.

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Buying second hand limbs

Don’t be afraid to look at eBay for some second-hand options, especially if it’s at the lower end. As mentioned, you’re certainly going to be upgrading anyway.

If you’re buying second hand limbs, see how deep the marks are around the limb bolt, because that will help to indicate how much they’ve been used. If the label has washed off it’s not a big deal, it’s just likely they’ve been used in the rain, which is very common in the United Kingdom!

You can generally check the overall condition from the pictures, but if you’re buying limbs from somewhere like eBay the important thing when you get them is to shoot them straight away and check their alignment. Make sure there’s no hairline fractures or cracks – get an experienced archer to help if you’re not sure. Don’t forget, you have a lot of rights as a buyer on platforms like eBay, so you can always return them if they are damaged.

Win & Win Winex limbs

These were actually one of my favourite limbs a long time ago and they were really nice to use. At the time, I had Hoyt 900 CX’s, Hoyt 990 TX’s and when I tried these Win & Win Winex limbs I couldn’t believe how much nicer they were to shoot.

These are a good example of something which was once an expensive product for top archers which is now available at a much better price.

You can often find them going on eBay for under 200 pounds, which could be an absolute steal. But as with all limbs, make sure they are exactly the right length and weight for you. Don’t get something that is ‘quite close’ to what you need, especially if you’re starting out.

Another option is sellmybow.com which is a newer website for trading secondhand archery equipment only. It might not have the same range of stock as a site like eBay, but you can at least be sure that the kit on sale is sold by archers for archers, which adds a level of reassurance.

These Sebastian Flute Elite carbon limbs are good option for only around £200. Sebastian Flute equipment generally is usually aimed at beginners or intermediates, so it’s a good starting point.

If you’re not sure if any bit of archery gear is right for you, don’t be afraid to ask questions of the seller. Most sellers online in the archery world are pretty friendly, and everyone was a beginner once. Believe it or not, most sellers online want you to get the thing you need and aren’t just trying to make a sale – they don’t want the item returned or a negative review.

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