Mar 26 2026

Episode 143 – barebow tinkering, archery news, crossbow concerns, suggested podcasts and more

Episode 143 is now live and in it cover quite a few different topics. As always it is on Spotify and Amazon music

If you are on any archery forums you will probably have heard the various reports about Quicks Archery going to administration. Now I’m not 100% clear on the situation here as some are saying it is still trading while others are saying it has closed. Either way it’s a shame, as we bought our beginners bows from Quicks, when they had a shop just off the M69.

The other big news concerns the government’s proposals concerning Crossbows and how the government have plans to stop the sale of new crossbows and potentially bring in licencing for current owners. There has been so much chatter on various groups that it is getting hard to find the complete details.

There is a lot of concern that this might start the process of outlawing or restricting other types of bows.

Any loss of life is tragic and yes there have been deaths associated with crossbows but, when you look at the figures for knife crime which last year saw over 200 fatalities in 2025, and over 260 in 2024 I feel this new legitration is a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

For those interested here are the results for the call for input https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/controls-on-crossbows/outcome/controls-on-the-use-of-crossbows-on-public-safety-grounds-government-response

In other news, the NFAS results are out and all the proposals have been accepted into the rules except the altered scoring for Pro ring, which is a shame as I quite liked that one as it made a distinction between the inner kill and pro ring.

Briar Rose Club shoot date is out and it is the 19th of July. The good news is we have people already booked on, I think over 20 so far. The dates in July so if you aren’t attending the Welsh Champs up in North Wales why not pop along. It’s open to all nfas archers and all styles, sadly no dogs though. It would have been nice to avoid the same weekend as the Welsh champs but this was the only date our land owner agreed too due to other events on site.

Full details are available on the Briar Rose website https://briarrosefieldarchers.wordpress.com/

I’ve been trying out the Skylon edge 6.2 arrows and huge thanks to Steve at the club helping me tune in a barebow set up. I think I need to replace the rest though as the current ones not quite long enough. I’m using the Kinetic Honoric limbs on my old Samick vision riser. Also need some 100 grain points as I thought I had some but only 80 grains in the right size thread.

Here are some links to podcasts I mentioned

Merlin Archery adventures podcast which is a new adventure for Merlin and Jim , there are 2 episodes out currently

The other one is Rich over at Archery Geek Outdoors

That’s all for now, enjoy your archery and thanks for supporting this site.

Sep 18 2025

How do you track your progress

In this episode (episode 130) of the podcast, I do my best to answer a question from a follower. The question is about how you go about tracking your progress and monitoring your improvement in archery over time.

I break the process down into tracking progress when shooting at your home club grounds and when you venture out onto competitions. It’s a tactic I have used for several years and the process works well.

I’m not going to be giving advice on how you improve your archery in this episode, it’s solely about tracking your progress.

Home club

The difficulty with shooting the same course is you don’t always focus in the same way, you can become a little complacent resulting in a lack of focus in the same way. I’ve used this phrase in the past ” You learn to shoot the coach and targets, you don’t learn to read the shot.”

In NFAS the goal is to shoot as few arrows as possible when at a competition, as your first arrow will score the highest being 24 pts / 20 pts / 16 pts. If you take a second arrow this will score 14 pts / 10 pts, with a third arrow scoring 8 pts or 4 pts. Remember in the most commonly used course round in NFAS, the Big game round you only get to shoot a max of 3 arrows. If you miss with the third and final arrow you blank the target i.e. score 0 points.

There are other rounds but the Big Game round is by far the most commonly used.

The first thing you will be wanting to track are the number of blanks you have when you are shooting. Chances are when you are starting out you will be getting quite a few of these. As I explained earlier a blank is when you shoot all 3 arrows but fail to score. You obviously want to try to reduce the number of blanks and over time as your skill improves you will, replacing them with a successful hit.

The next this you will want to track are the number of 3^rd arrows which are scoring. Note down what you scored, was it a 4 or an 8. Ideally an 8 means you have learnt from the 2 previous misses, compensated and produced a good shot.

You also want to track the number of 2nd arrows and what you scored, was it a 10 pts or 14pts . A 14 normally means you have been able to correct you mistake or misjudgement, nailing it the second time.

The final step is to track the number of 1^st arrows and what you scored, was it a 16, 20 or a 24. You goal is to increase the number of first shots that hit.

Over time you will see your arrow count reduce and scores gradually improve, but it may take time. So please be patient with yourself and kind to yourself. Its also worth noting any other variables, like different arrows, or if the weather such as strong winds or rain impacted your shooting.

At open competition

When you start going out to competitions you still want to continue to track your blanks, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd arrows as a point of reference as this can indicate how things are progressing over time.

The other method of tracking progress is to identify a base line as a comparison. The thing to remember is that NFAS courses can vary greatly, this means no 36 or 40 target course can be identical to another. Even if you shoot the same clubs course on multiple occasions chances are there will be differences, whether that be 3d targets used, peg positions or even the weather.

Therefore, it’s a good tactic to identify someone act as a baseline. Ideally the person chosen should be someone who shoots consistently. Not like me who have good or bad days. If you can track their scores and compare it to yours you will be able to judge how challenging the course would have been.

Lets say the you scored 400 and your baseline person Mr Smith scored 600, a difference of 200. Next time you shoot you get 350 and Mr Smith gets 550, still a difference of 200 you know it was probably a more challenging course.

Then on the following course you score 500 and Mr Smith scored 600, you know you’ve probably improved.

I hope this helps and enjoy your archery.

May 7 2025

Episode 117 – Shoot Report – Duvelle Bowmen

In the latest episode of the podcast I give a shoot report for Duvelle bowmens shoot in late April this year.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been to Duvelle and you can see another shoot report from May last year. It proved to be a long day due to a road traffic incident that delayed our arrival by over an hour, but it was a great day, with some fantastic shots. Sadly I did not do the course justice, but it is a learning game this barebow class. Having said this I did manage to get one very lucky shot, with the arrow barely holding in place..