Tag Archives: archer

image of Archer arrow speed check at recent shoot
Aug 8 2022

Bow speed checks

At our recent club shoot (Briar Rose Field Archers) in July, we made the decision that we wanted to run speed checks on compound bows and crossbows, so we set up the club chrono.

For those of you unfamiliar with a chrono, it measures the speed of an arrow and under the NFAS the maximum speed allowed is 300 FPS (feet per second) as per the shooting rules. There is a 3% allowance for variance in chronograph equipment being used. This means a bow reading 309 FPS is still legal.

The chrono has a sensor at either end between metal V rods that are used to offer a guide to the archer as to where to shoot. The archer shoots over the top of the chrono, crossing the 2 sensors between the two V with their arrows. The archers shoot a few feet from the chrono into a boss as shown in the picture below, where you can see the chrono mounted on a tripod and the target boss beyond. It’s important that the chrono is set up level and there is sufficient light for the sensors to register the arrow passing above.

image of Archer arrow speed check at recent shoot
Archer arrow speed check at recent shoot

Anyone over the speed limit would be asked to slow the bow down or not be allowed to shoot.

There were a few interesting observations

  • All compounds and crossbows we tested were legal i.e. speed less than 300 fps.
  • The reaction and feedback from the attending archers were very positive, not just from those who were shooting compound or crossbows, but traditional archers shooting recurves or longbows. These were curious to see what speed their bows were producing.
  • It generated lots of discussion with some about how they might increase their speed. How the weight of arrows affects speed. How shooting light arrows increases speed but can damage bows and so on.
  • Several had never seen or were even aware of what a chrono is or why it’s important. Possible because they were shooting styles other than compound or crossbow.

The latter point is worth revisiting as unless you frequent national championships or 3Ds it’s unlikely you will have encountered one. Few clubs have them or if they do I haven’t seen them often at shoots. This raises the question of whether there are bows out there being shot that are exceeding the speed limits through no fault of the archers.

For those interested you can see the results of the Briar Rose shoot on the club website. Also wanted to say a special thanks to Rich Clarke who manned the chrono. You might know Rich from Archery Geek outdoors Podcasts.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

shooting flatbow
Jul 5 2022

Do you shoot Instinctively at all distances

I’ve tried to create this online survey for peoples thoughts on instinctive shooting and distance judgement. This is a follow up to earlier post on instinctive shooting on my Facebook page, where some commented that they shot instinctively up to a certain distance and then swapped to a more gap shooting approach.

Please feel free to share this with others and add comments below. It’s not overly scientific as there is only 1 question but it is a start.

Thanks for support on this

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9FSQNZB

Jun 7 2022

Range Set up

I’ve had a few discussions recently about range set up and how I’ve set up our range. I thought I would share how my range is set up to support both marked and unmarked distances practice.

We as a club don’t have any indoor facilities so our range is outdoor and this means we need to consider how it can be used all year round. Currently all the trees are in full leaf, but in winter months it can be quite cold.

Range image

We have only 2 bosses unlike other clubs that have several. These are in static positions, meaning we don’t have to set them up each time we want to use them. There are only 2 due to the space available.

These are arranged in 2 shooting lanes.

Each has a 60 ft overshoot behind, which enters into a small cop of trees, with catching mats at 30 feet behind each boss in the trees. These catching mats are sections of old carpet hung to act as a simple arrow stop. Beyond the 60 ft overshoot there is a 30ft high earth embankment. Most of the time arrows don’t reach the backstop mat but they are there just in case. If necessary, I can rig a backstop net between the trees, though I’ve found this seldom necessary.

The 2 shooting lanes are set up near parallel to each other with approximately 10 yards apart at boss end and 15 yards approximately at the furthest shooting pegs.

One shooting lane is marked and pegged at 5-yard increments for archers to develop their eye for fixed distance, to calculate their gaps or set up their sights. This is the one shown in the photograph above.

The other is unmarked distances with coloured pegs used by NFAS adults, so red, white and blue. You can just see the target boss beyond the yellow shrub in the above photograph. These are set to use the available ground and vegetation to simulate what you might encounter on a shoot. So, the red is by a tree, which forces the archer to adjust stance to avoid branches as they draw up. The white is on a small mound of earth so the forward foot touching the peg is higher than back foot. This helps archer develop their stance and balance on uneven terrain.

The blue peg is in the open but with trees between the peg and target giving an optical illusion on distance.

Periodically I move these coloured pegs slightly so they are slightly different. So, I might move the white peg forward, resulting in the archers back foot now being higher. This ensures archers don’t get complacent.

The coloured pegs are not set at 5-yard distances so the red is around 33 yards, white 27 and blue 21. This is deliberate again, so not at 20, 25, 30-yard distances that they might have practiced on the marked distance.

This has proved to help archers who want to get these gaps in and then practice unmarked distances with feedback being positive.

I hope this helps, thanks for reading.