Tag Archives: arrow puller

Sep 8 2012

Buying equipment – more bits and pieces part 2

Ok so this is the second part to buying equipment etc

Hopefully you or your students have bought the basic bits mentioned in the previous posting and now you want to get yourself a bow.

 What kind of bow should I buy?

Hopefully you’ve had the chance to try a few different bows at your club and this might influence your choice. I’m not going to tell you to go out and buy “x” or manufacturer “y” as the choice should be yours based on your feelings. All I will do is give my views and thoughts. Hopefully it will help

I would always recommend a simple 3 part take down recurve to start with. My first bow was a Samick Polaris 3 part take down which was about 30lb in draw weight. After a few months I bought some new limbs and settled for 37lbs at my draw length.

sharon - old bow

Sharon – shooting her first bow

Why this bow? Well mainly for these reasons (many I have mentioned in previous post)

  • Relative cheap
  • Easy to maintain
  • I shoot field archery as do my students, so I’m not looking for a hunting bow. A simple recurve can work for target or field.
  • Can shoot it instinctive with wood or metal arrows for HT BB (sorry Hunting Tackle or Bare bow) or you can add sights.
  • Lots of people have experience of this type of bow so lots of advice out there.
  • Good to gain confidence with and return to potentially.

A friend (Adrian) from my old club Black Arrow shot one of these for years and got just outside the top 15 in the NFAS national championships. So don’t think that because they are entry level they aren’t any good.

It is also good to go back to if you develop bad habits or have an injury. I had a car accident a few years back and went back to light recurve to rebuild strength back.

 Comfort

 Hand grip – Bows will have different size hand grips and some you will like others you won’t. Some archers like a plastic grip others prefer the feel of wood (I’m a wood fan and have a wooden grip on the metal riser of my recurve)

When will you be shooting? Remember in winter months you may be wearing gloves, so you need to find the one that feels right in your hand.

Draw weight – don’t overdo things at this stage or over-bow yourself, go for something that is comfortable to draw and shoot. You can easily pick up some new limbs a few months down the line. (Over-bowing is when an archer has a bow of too high a draw weight and struggles to shoot it, developing bad habits or worse an injury)

Partly due to our sedentary life style these days too much tv and not enough exercise, many of the muscles you need to use in archer are under developed, so over bowing is a serious problem. In young archers it can have a negative effect as their bones are still growing and developing.

Also remember you might take a break from archery for a couple of weeks due to work commitments, holidays etc and it doesn’t take long to lose muscle tone.

Risers – Metal risers are heavier than wood, carbon are lighter than both. Problem is Carbon risers are very expensive (several hundred pounds for riser alone) and not ideal for a beginner, so give some thought to the physical weight of the bow assembled not just the draw weight.

Me shooting my Samick Vision 1

Me shooting my Samick Vision 1 in the rain

Off the rest or the shelf – For a first bow you really want to shoot off an arrow rest. Don’t go for expensive one. Plastic Hoyt super rest works fine (in fact Sharon uses one on her competition bow.)

Hoyt rest

Hoyt rest Sharon’s old bow

 What I need to know?

Draw length is very important; in fact it’s vital as this will possibly restrict your choice of bows. If you have a long draw then short bows will not feel comfortable.

If draw over 28″ look at 64-66 at least in my view.

Budget – set yourself a budget you can afford and stick to it. It is very easy to spend more. (Another downside of ebay and getting caught up in excitement of bidding)

Club restrictions – may sound strange but some clubs don’t allow carbon arrows, or are longbow only for example. Some target clubs that share their shooting ground with sports clubs have a policy on using carbon arrows

What limbs to get?

Between manufacturers limbs will feel different even if they are the same draw weight, and will release energy differently depending on what they are made from.

Don’t go for the first ones offered try a couple of different lengths and weights

Don’t go for heavy draw weight limbs initially, you can always upgrade later.

Also get the limbs and bow weight checked when you buy it. Just because the limbs say 28lbs doesn’t mean they are 28lbs with that riser, so its worth checking (A few years back I bought a Solo flatbow, rated at 40lbs at 28 inches, when weighed it came in at 46lbs at 28 inches!!)

Ask for advice from the archery community – (Jordan Sequillion blog has run some very good blog entries on bows and poundage, also check out Charles’ Archery blog )

Couple of final points.

Bow length and stacking (stacking is the feeling of increased resistance in the smooth draw past a certain point)

Short bows tend to work for people with shorter draw lengths, Sharon loves small bows but her draw is only 26 inches. She shoots a custom made bow (Blackbrook bows by Andy Soars) this comes in at 38lbs at 26 inches.

Though the norm is to have bows rated at 28” draw, shorter bows often have a 26” rating too

If I were to try to draw Sharon’s I struggle to get past 26 inches as it stacks past 26” because it has been designed and built for the best performance at 26” My draw is just past 29 inches and all my bows are set so I can draw smoothly up to my full draw, with an even increase in draw weight.

Never draw a bow that has been designed for another archer without their permission.

If you have a long draw length then go for a longer bow 64 inches plus.

People will have had experience of bows, shops etc so its worth talking to others in your club. I tend to offer to go with any new student when they go to buy a bow.

I’ll try to put one last posting on what to consider after you have got your bow, maintenance or bow and string, bracing height and soemthing on arrows.

As always, thanks for reading.

Aug 31 2012

Buying equipment – first bits and pieces part 1

Having been inspired by some of the recent articles on here, including ones by Jordan Sequillion I thought I would put a posting together on buying equipment as a newbie. The only problem is it grew longer and longer, so I thought I would do a couple of postings, so here goes.

This is very much an overview and I’ll go into more details in future postings.

As a coach I often get asked by students about buying a bow, how much do they cost, what should I got for, where can I get one, I’ve seen one on ebay,etc. I always reply by saying wait a few weeks or couple of months, use the club equipment for now until you have a better idea of what is a good buy.

But sooner or later your students will want to purchase their own bow (which is great don’t get me wrong) but there are a few things that might be worth getting first. So I have put this post together to offer some advice

First things for any new archer to buy (before a bow) should be

  • A tab or glove of their own, normally I recommend a beginner starts with a tab, it’s easier on their fingers and promotes good finger position on the string
Simple finger tab

Simple finger tab

  • Belt quiver, you can pay a small fortune for some quivers, but when you are starting go for something simple.

    simple belt quiver

    simple belt quiver

  • Arrow puller, makes life easier for drawing arrows
  • Whistle (for safety calls and is a necessity for insurance on some sites)
  • An arm bracer or arm guard that fits (doesn’t fall down the arm or is too tight and cuts off circulation, and they like, there are loads of different designs, some that go all the way up the arm some that only cover the forearm.
Leather arm guard

Leather arm guard

  • Arrow rake for finding those arrows that fall short (a cheap decorating roller can be used, once modified for the purpose )

What kind of bow should I buy?

As a first bow the best is the take down recurve practise bow in my view.

They are relatively cheap (£55-£75 depending on where you get them), so if they don’t stick with it it’s not such a huge investment. Also you might be able to pick one up from club member who has progressed.

The limbs can be upgraded to heavier poundage as archer develop their strength and skill (I did this after a few months myself, with some shops giving a discount if you trade your old limbs in )

They are forgiving to use which is what you want as a beginner.

They come in a vast variety of sizes, shapes, poundage so good for all abilities, heights, draw lengths etc so are easy to find one suitable for all shapes and sizes of archer.

A basic beginners recurve doesn’t require as much maintenance as a longbow,  compound or performance recurve. Sharon still has her first bow and we use it for coaching all the time and its over 4 years old.

Arrows – for arrows I tend to recommend aluminium arrows for a beginner, they are durable and cheap. Easton Neos Beginners Alloy Arrow work well and come in variety of lengths and spines.

I tend to recommend avoiding carbon arrows at this stage even though you can get them for less than aluminium. There tend not to be as durable if they catch the side of a target or branch and some clubs don’t allow beginners to use them. They are also harder to find in the undergrowth with a metal detector.

Where should I buy my first bow from?

  • NOT eBay – there is nothing wrong with eBay before anyone says anything. I simple would not advise anyone to buy their first bow off it, as you don’t know the history or condition of the bow.
  • Try before you buy –  really important, try bows of different draw weights, bow lengths and manufacturers. You will find that some limbs will feel harder to draw than others
  • Visit local shop – There are a number of archery shops (Quicks, Merlin etc) round the country and all quality ones will give you the opportunity to try first and spend time with you. My first bow was bought from Quicks Archery and they were very helpful and spent time explaining everything. (If possible take an experienced person with you when looking to buy one ideally your coach or fellow club member)

Ok that is a start, I’ll add more and another post on other facts to consider like draw weights, measuring exact draw length for arrows etc, comfort and bow lengths etc next week

Thanks for  reading, let me know what you think.

Jun 19 2012

Bow, arrows and kitchen sink …..what do you carry with you on a field shoot

In field archery you are on your feet walking a course from 10am until 4-5 pm or longer sometimes. This means you often have to carry not only your equipment (bow arrows and quiver) with you, I mean all the other stuff. Depending on what the terrain is like you could be on flat ground or going up and down hills all day, so carrying lots of kit can be very tiring.
Some archers travel light others carry everything but a kitchen sink.

Me at the woodGuess I am somewhere in between, on a normal shoot or when practising at the wood (see picture above) besides bow and arrows in my quiver I tend to carry a tube of spare arrows on my back. Whilst it’s not a Batman utility belt I do carry a small first aid kit, for bites, scratches plasters etc, though it has been used on many occasions for patching up other archers who have decided to try and chop their finger off whilst extracting arrows from tree stumps or have sliced it open when a carbon arrow has snapped.

Add to this a water bottle or mini thermos flask if it is cold, whistle for emergency signally which is on a retractable key ring along with an arrow puller (very useful for giving you a better grip on arrows when drawing them from a 3D or target boss), a multi-tool and an arrow rake in my quiver for finding those arrows lost in the undergrowth. I often carry some snacks in the quiver pouch (the main bag for drinks and sandwiches is normally left at central spot) and a spare finger tab etc.
If the weather isn’t great I carry a small pac-a-mac that I can put on to keep me dry.

Unlike some other archers I don’t carry a knife to dig arrows out of trees or stumps; I find an old flat headed screwdriver works just as well. It also means I’m less likely to cut off one of my fingers when extracting the wayward arrow from some tree that moved across the target as I release (always amazes me how many trees seem to move in to protect a target when I’m shooting)
I know a few people laugh at how much I carry but others have been grateful when I been able to lend then a finger tab, patched them up after cutting themselves or got the pliers out to retrieve a wayward pile from tree stump.

So what do you carry when out shooting?

To round it off I’ll have a metal detector in car, along with a kit box for spare strings etc
I quite like the small backpack that can double as a seat which I’ve seen appearing at shoots, but know I would forget to pick it up. Thanks for reading