CD Archery WF25 Riser Review: Built for Bearbow

Hey archers, Jake here with another gear review, and today we’re diving into the CD Archery WF25 — a riser built specifically with the barebow archer in mind. I got my hands on a lightly used version thanks to Brian (huge thanks, man! 🙌), and after setting it up, tuning it, and sending some arrows downrange, I’ve got thoughts. A lot of them.

Let’s get into it.

First Impressions

The WF25 is a tank—in the best and worst ways. It’s heavy, solid, and clearly designed with weight-forward barebow balance in mind. With a big weight slotted into the riser’s bottom (nice machined channel there), it already sits neutral or even slightly forward before limbs are attached—pretty rare and very welcome.

The finish? Looks like a shot-peen anodized surface. It’s clean, mostly free of tooling marks—CD Archery clearly took time in the tumbling process. But there’s a flaw I spotted: misaligned tool path lines on the sight window side, showing where machining passes didn’t quite line up. Not a huge deal, but worth noting for a high-end riser.

Also: No serial number. That’s a big issue in my book—no way to trace manufacturing info if something goes wrong. In 2025, that feels like an oversight.

Setup & Tuning

Set-up was straightforward. Limb alignment was a breeze, thanks to simple adjusters. One thing to watch out for: the hardware’s on the small side—those 3/32" alignment bolts can easily be overtightened or rounded out. Be gentle!

Tiller bolts, however, are a bigger issue. I found one was bent—and not from abuse. Turns out, this riser uses 3/8" coarse-thread bolts that just aren’t well-suited for the loads they’re seeing. They're undersized at 0.369" when they should be closer to 0.375", and the thread pitch causes big limb movement per turn.

This isn’t a theoretical concern—I’ve seen these bolts bend, and CD Archery confirmed they’ve heard of it “maybe once.” 🤔

I’ve considered making precision tiller bolts for this riser, but the thread choice makes it tricky. If you're interested, drop a comment below and let us know—we might do a limited run if there's demand.

On the Range

I ran this riser with MXT XT Foam limbs and started tuning at 30m. Right out of the gate, it aims beautifully—super stable and forgiving at full draw thanks to the forward mass. But… then you release.

Yikes. 😬

The vibration is no joke—high-frequency, big amplitude, and just kind of harsh. Think “old-school bearbow” harsh. No dampers on the riser, no limb savers installed yet—it’s loud and punchy. Not a great shooting feel.

🔧 Fix? I swapped in the 21oz Kaminski Archery Dampened Barebow Weight, and boom—huge difference. Still some noise, but the hand shock practically vanished.

50m Scoring

After dialing in my crawl and knocking point, I shot a 36-arrow round (well, tried to—Florida lightning had other plans). The bow still held rock solid. Groups were consistent, even with a tuning setup I wasn’t 100% happy with.

But despite a 45# draw weight and 410 X10s, the tune felt weak. I suspect this is due to the pocket angle—more vertical than typical ILF geometry. That might also explain the limited tiller bolt range (only 6 turns out) and why even maxed out, the draw weight felt higher than expected.

What I Liked

• Rock-solid aiming and balance

• Barebow-specific design—finally!

• Super simple limb alignment

• Massive rest/plunger clearance (great for indoor setups with fat arrows)

• Stable at full draw—feels great before the shot breaks

What Needs Work

• No serial number

• Vibration without dampers is intense

• Tiller bolts are undersized and use poor thread pitch

• Limited adjustability

• Small hardware makes you nervous about overtightening

• Overall a “harsh” shooting experience unless damped

Final Thoughts

The CD Archery WF25 is a purpose-built barebow riser that absolutely delivers in stability and setup ease. It’s popular for good reason. But it’s showing its age a bit, and unless you dampen it, it’s just not a pleasant bow to shoot.

If you're into high-performance barebow and don’t mind a bit of extra mass, this riser is worth a look—just make sure to grab a dampened barebow weight and consider adding limb savers.

Got questions or thoughts? Drop them in the comments, and don’t forget to check the affiliate links. 

Until next time