Choosing a Bow

8/13/2019 Choosing a Bow

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CHOOSING A RECURVE BOW SET UP

Here at On Target Archery Products, I found fitting archers with their first recurve bows a

very delicate task as there are many considerations to take on board. Getting the roer set ufor the archer!s strength, ability and asirations is the role of the dealer but it is crucial that

the buying arties "esecially when they are #none archer$ arents% understand how their

concerns about erformance, durability and budget are taken into consideration in the choices

made. In this article I will try to give some guidance so that arents and archers can

understand how choices can be made.

Left & Right handed / Eye doinan!e"

&ecause archery is a shooting sort, aiming is of great imortance. It is usually

recommended, if ossible, to kee both eyes oen while aiming. This allows for rela'ed

facial muscles and less strain on the eye muscles which is a big deal when we can shoot u to()) arrows a day sometimes * or + days in a row However, when keeing both eyes oen

to aim at an ob-ect, one of our eyes will #dominate$ the other and dictate the movement of

our arm towards the ob-ect. This is why if you are right eye dominantwe will recommend

you to shoot right handed, left handed for left eye dominant.

Hand dominance and eye dominance are not always linked and it can haen that right

handed eole are left eye dominant and therefore asked to shoot left handed and vice versa.

ost archery coaches will try to entice you to shoot according to your eye dominance as it is

the best ossible situation for future archery greatness// However it aears that some archers

find shooting the oosite way of their natural hand a challenge. In which case, if agreed by

your coach, it is O0 to disregard eye dominance and shoot with your natural hand, however

this obviously means closing the dominant eye while aiming. 1e also can disregard eye

dominance when an in-ury or handica revents shooting the referable way.

To check your eye dominance, ask somebody to stand 5m away from you, overlap your hands in such

a fashion that you can create a little gap/hole between your thumbs. Raise your arms straight until

you can see the person in front of you through the hole. If the person sees your right eye through the

hole, you are right eye dominant and vice versa.

Shooting right handed means holding the bow in your left hand and pulling the string with your right.

If you cannot shoot with both eyes open for any reason, then you will close your left eye and aim with

your right eye.

#$a% engthThe archer!s #true draw length$ is the distance from the nock groove to the throat of the bow

handle2riser at full draw. The #AO draw length$ also called #bow draw length$ is the #true

draw length$ lus ( 3$. &e aware that most coaches and archers refers to the #bow draw

length$ when using the term draw length, and it is also what we use to select a bow length for

an archer.

A beginner archer!s true draw length is difficult to ascertain because it is very much

deendant on how good and settled their form is. It is not wrong to assume that a beginner!s

draw length will increase by 4$ to ( 4$ in his2her first 5 months of shooting "mostly due to

the settling of the front shoulder and a firmer chin anchor%. 6or youngsters it is comounded

by the fact that they could have a growth surt at any time, so that the draw measured today

will be invalid tomorrow/// 7nderstanding how your archer!s draw length can vary over time

is an imortant fact when choosing bow length, limb oundage and arrow length.


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easuring your draw length !ou might have come across a method which suggests to measure your

arm span and divide it by ".5 to indicate your draw length. This method is very crude and should be

used as a mere appro#imation only. It is recommended to have an archery coach or an archery

dealer do the measuring while the archer pulls a bow to full draw, they can look at the archer$s form

and determine if he/she is pulling the correct draw length.

Bo% ength

The roer bow lengthfor an archer is deendent on his2her bow draw length "8ee table

below%. If the bow is correct for the archer, the otimum limb ti curve is achieved at full

draw which leads to ma'imum arrow seed and accuracy. If the bow is too long, the arrows

will go slower, if the bow is too short the arrows will go faster but the archer will e'erience

a stacking feeling at full draw and the limbs could sustain damages over time. As

youngsters can grow significant amounts in short eriods of time, it is temting for arents to

get longer bows for them to grow into. In our oinion it is O0 to do so while the archer if still

a beginner who will not be challenged at longer distances and as long as the conse9uences are

understood by the buying arty. In cometition however, youngsters often cannot ull thenecessary oundage which would allow them to consistently shoot the distances they should

be shooting. In this situation, getting the roer bow si:e from which your youngster can

safely get the ma'imum arrow seed is essential.

;)< bow 7 to *(< draw length ostly beginner2wooden bows designed

for youngsters.;=>5?< bow *(@ to *)< draw length

5*>5)< bow *+< to *5< draw length

55< bow *;< to *=< draw length #8tandard$ si:es. ost recurve

manufacturers "Hoyt > 11 B 8amick B

8ebastien 6lute%5=< bow *C< to +?< draw length

C?< bow *D< and u

Eecurve bows are made of a riser and two limbs. Often there can be several choices in riser

and limb lengths which can make u the same si:e bow. ost #standard$ si:e recurve bows

come with *+$ or *;$ risers but now even *C$ riser are becoming available. Fimbs usually

come in short, medium and long si:es "8ee table below%. In general it is referable to go for

the set u which has the shortest limbs as they often rovide the fastest arrow seed.

Ri'e$ Length Fimbs 8hort Fimbs edium Fimbs Fong

()* 5)$ 55$ 5=$

(+* 55$ 5=$ C?$

(,* 5=$ C?$ C*$

%ow length& %ow length is the distance from the tip of the top limb to the tip of the bottom limb of a

strung bow, measured along the length of the outside face.

'imb stacking& when an archer starts to pull an appropriate si(ed bow ,the weight loading on the

fingers increases in a more or less constant manner until full draw. )hen pulling a short bow the

weight loading increases in a linear manner at first but rapidly changes to increase e#ponentially

close to full draw making it more difficult to reach full draw and potentially pull through the clicker.

#$a% %eight -.ondage0

1hen choosing the right oundage for a young beginner, there is a fine line between what is

necessary to allow them to develo their archery form, what is re9uired for them to comete

in their age grou and what can hurt them hysically.Total beginners buying their first bow without revious training


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It is of utmost imortance that beginner archers start with a light oundage bow which can

allow them to develo their form. If they struggle with the oundage they will never be able

to rela' their uer body and achieve a osture conducive with good erformance. At the

local club, all beginners, including adults, are taught on bows which have (= to *5lbs limbs.

&eginners who have been shooting club gear and are buying their own

Archers who have been shooting with club gear for a while have a better understanding oftheir hysical limits, but often have been shooting fairly low oundage set>us designed to

allow them to develo their form. 6rom e'erience choosing a limb oundage e9uivalent to

double their age "i.e *?lbs for a (? year old% is a starting oint for most D > (+ year olds,

many women start at around *52*=lbs and men at +?2+*lbs. However one oundage does not

fit all as two children of the same age or two adults can be vastly different in si:e and

strength making it difficult to generalise. Here at the sho, we usually assess what oundage

the archer seem comfortable with and then recommend to go *lbs more as this should assure

that the archer is not growing out of his set to 9uickly while not overbowing

ometitors

Getting set u for a bow with cometition in mind or ugrading to cometition gear has its

own challenges. It ays to check what distances you are going to have to shoot incometition, and what oundage would be re9uired to shoot that distance

consistently2cometitively. In most cases we would advise against increasing the oundage

by more than *lbs at a time, which means that it is essential to lan ahead if ma-or oundage

ugrades are necessary. How often can an archer increase his2her oundage deends widely

on the overall strength of the archer, the amount of training the archer is utting in and the

9uality of the archer!s form. isregarding those can result in overbowing which leads to

decrease in erformance and in-uries, the more common in-uries being to the ulling

shoulder.

Getting your archery coach to advise on a suitable oundage is the best otion. Here in the

sho when looking for a suitable bow for an archer, we get him2her to draw the bow and we

watch their bow arm, if it shakes while they are drawing or on anchoring, it usually indicates

that the oundage is too heavy. Of course ulling the bow in a sho * or + times without even

shooting an arrow is not even close to conditions when shooting (? ends in a row, so listening

and trying to understand how the archer is feeling when they try the bow is very imortant.

%ow *raw )eight . The poundage of a bow is determined by the +Strength of the limbs and the

length of the bow and is by convention measured at a "- bow draw length whatever the length of the

bow. anufacturers usually mark the limbs with " poundage ratings , one for a " riser and one for

a "5 riser. %ecause of the laws of physics the rule is to subtract pound for each inch of increased

bow length. 0ence a set of medium limbs which are rated "1lbs for a " riser 2making a 11 bow3

will be produce "4lbs if placed on a "5 riser 2making a 1- bow3. This means that if you are buyinga second hand pair of limbs, be vigilant with the information provided. Those poundage ratings are

not fully regulated and the manufacturers do not disclose on which risers the ratings have been done.

)hen mi#ing and matching brands and products some discrepancies can occur between the stated

poundage and the actual one.

It is also worth noting that risers with International 'imb itting have a 67 weight ad8ustment

range, therefore the position of the limbs bolt will affect the pulling weight.

9ctual *raw )eight. The poundage rating is done at "- bow draw length, however the chance that

your bow draw length is also "-is minimal. If you are using a bow that is in the right si(e range, the

rule of thumb is to add or subtract appro#imately two pounds for each inch your bow draw length is

over or under the "-. 0ere is an e#ample& if you have a 1- bow with 6lbs limbs and your bow

draw length is ":, then your actual pulling weight will be around "-lbs, if your draw length is 6


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then you will pull 4lbs. %e aware however that if the bow is stacking 2too short for your draw

length3, or too long, that rule is invalid.

Ri'e$ and i1 2aity

%udget archery sets sets with wooden risers are great for the #weaker$ and #younger$archers as they are much lighter than sets with aluminium risers. They are very cometitively

riced and make great beginner sets for all ages. They do, however, have their limitations in

cometition. 1ood is greatly affected by ambient humidity and temerature and wooden

limbs are not as efficient as other tyes of limbs. In general the keener the archer, the 9uicker

they outgrow their budget set.

Intermediate sets sets with international limb fittings and glass limbs are a great introduction

to cometition and can suit your archer for several years, esecially if the limb oundage is

ugraded regularly. These sets offer the same tunability as high end set at a cometitive rice,

however, it must be noted that not all limbs are e9ual. The ability of the limb to transfer its

energy into the arrow deends greatly on its comosition. In general terms wooden limbs are

the least efficient, then Glass, then Glass2arbon, then arbon26oamThis roerty issometimes used to comensate for lack of oundage, for e'amle at *)lbs a bow with

wooden limbs would reach +?m while a arbon26oam could get to );m using the same sight

mark. "This is an e'amle only%

There is often debate amongst archers to decide if it is better to buy the best riser ossible and

then ugrade the limbs or if to buy a reasonable riser and get better limbs. In our oinion,

there are otions covering different situations. If you are not on a restricted budget buy the

best riser suitable and start with entry level limbs. Jou can then ugrade the 9uality and

oundage of your limbs as you become more Kbow fit! and your archery imroves. If you are

on a tight budget utting more money into the limbs rather than the riser will give you a

greater gain in erformance initially. If you are on a budget buying a second hand riser is

worth considering as they usually stand well the test of time, for limbs however there isotential cracking or delamination, issues brought about by every day use, as well as the

additional roblem that you don!t know how they have been handled or if they have been dry

fired

Arrows

)hat type 6or beginners who shoot short distances "LM+;m% and are likely to shoot the

ground or the archery stand , aluminium arrows are a erfectly reasonable choice. They are

robust, erform well at short distances and are cometitively riced. The better aluminium

arrows are slightly lighter and have a higher straightness stringency than beginner arrows and

are suitable for early cometition.

6or cometition however, the idea is to shoot the arrows at the highest velocity ossible with

the set u available. 7sing all carbon or carbon aluminium arrows is then a big advantage as

the arrows are smaller in diameter and lighter giving you more seed "&e aware that lighter

arrows can be more affected by the wind%. Getting arrows which have the otential to fly

faster can comensate in some e'tent to a lack of oundage.

)hat si(e Arrows come in different si:es referred to as spine. Potentially there is only one

correct sine which will allow you to shoot the arrow straight out of your bowN all other

sines will make the arrow oroise and land to the left or right of the target. The correct

arrow sine for you and your bow is very imortant for consistent flight and deends on your

actual ulling weight and the length you want to make the arrows "/ ot the draw length%.

)hat length The arrow lengthwhich gives the best erformance is, at an archer!s full draw,from the nock groove to the lace where the arrow contacts the most forward ortion of the


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arrow rest ($. 6or archers who use a standard clicker this allows for the clicker to be

aligned with the front of the bow. However, for fast growing youngsters and beginners with

unsettled draw lengths using this method can lead to having arrows that become too short

very 9uickly.

Therefore, for beginners and youngsters who are not using a clicker, it is usually advisable to

make the arrows between 4$ and ( 4$ longer than stiulated above "otential added drawweight should be taken into consideration if the draw is to increase%. aking the arrows

longer than necessary means that the arrows are going to be very slightly slower. This is

however a concession to make to allow for the arrows to last "otentially% longer.

6or cometitors using a clicker it can get a little trickier. 8tandard clickers have to click on

the riser or the riser e'tension, restricting the otential arrow length. If longer arrows are still

desirable, one can look into a magnetic clicker which self clicks or e'tended clickers which

mount on the sight bar. The effect on arrow seed should however be carefully considered

when looking at arrows longer than ($ over the recommended length.

9rrow Spine& the spine is a measure of the amount a "; arrow, supported

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Choosing a Bow