You will notice a marked difference between any custom bow vs. a production bow in smoothness. That being said I own a great plains recurve, and I have shot several Great Plains longbows. I believe that great plains bows may be the smoothest bows that are made, and second in performance only to the Pronghorn bows, which are in my opinion the fastest and smoothest, most accurate bow made. The great plains bows are smooth, have no hand shock, and are average speed, but definitely faster that the bear montana. Bill Foreman, who makes the great plains bow line is a stand up guy, and also supports our local bowhunting organization, the Colorado Bowhunters Assn. Go ahead and get the great plains, it will probably be the last bow you will ever need to buy, and thats a very good investment.