Tag Archives: “field archery”

Mar 22 2013

Literature Review – Idiot Proof Archery-How to Shoot Like a Pro

I recently bought this book (Idiot Proof Archery-How to Shoot Like a Pro) on a trip to Wales Archery.  But I had first seen a copy about a year ago whilst competing at the Scottish championships. Some of my club members from Artemis had a copy and were promoting its content.

Idiot proof archery

Idiot proof archery

I like the style of writing, as it makes the book an easy read. It also means you can easily put it down and pick it up or flick through.

I think it gives good advice for those wanting to improve and I found the Dos and Don’t chapter particularly informative and insightful. Another thing is if you are a coach or interested in developing coaching skills there is some good advice and tips throughout the book on things to look out for in your students.

I particularly like the quick key points tips in the margins.

I would classify myself as a traditional archer in many ways, in so far as I shoot mostly wooden arrows from bows without sights. I have a compound and carbon arrows for my recurve, sights etc but prefer instinctive shooting, which means some of the material and subject matter covered is not as relevant. Having said that I still found this very insightful and in short a good read.

Images can be a little small but they succeed in getting the messages across. the one thing I think is lacking is an index of content to aid in finding topics.

I’ve included a link to Amazon below but as I said I bought my copy from Wales Archery, which is a great little shop in Crick, Monmouthshire.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Idiot-Proof-Archery-How-Shoot-Pro-Step/dp/0971281211

ISBN-10: 0971281211

ISBN-13: 978-0971281219

Mar 14 2013

Tips and Advice – screw in points

Getting the perfect matched arrow takes time and relies on a number of factors, from overall arrow weight,  to flexibility / spine of the shaft, fletching size etc. One of  these factors is the weight of the pile or point. A heavier pile makes the arrow flex more, whilst a lighter pile makes the arrow stiffer.

For this reason we have been trying to fine tune Sharons’ arrows (Easton X7) and have recently changed her points from glue in pins to screw in points with obvious inserts into the aluminum shafts. The X7 are great arrows, and work well from here bow but we thought we might get a slight improvement. By using inserts we have a greater access to different point weights to experiment with.

Sharon Shooting

Sharon Shooting

The old piles came in at 60 grains and the feeling was it might be making the arrow a little too stiff. So we spent sometime looking at alternatives. By the way we have looked at going for carbon arrows but Sharon preferred the X7 as Carbon ones, as the carbons came in too physically light for here bow.

I’ve used a 2 part epoxy glue to secure the inserts into the shafts, which appears to work well. We’ve opted for these inserts and points which we got from Bow Sports. The inserts are 8/32 with 9/32bullet points.

Arrow points and insert

Arrow point and insert

The one thing with we’ve discovered is that the screw in points sometimes work lose. Now the easy answer to this is to apply a little glue, the only problem with this being that if you need to remove the piles the only answer is to then heat it up to break the glues bonds, which will also break the bonds of the glue used to hold the insert in.

One trick I’ve come up with using plumbers tape or PTFE tape. I cut a small piece about an inch in length and then wrap this round the threaded bolt, then screw this into the insert in the arrow.

new pile and insert

New pile, you can see the tape wrapped round thread.

The result of using the tape is to make the threaded bolt a little tighter in the insert, so making it less likely to undo or loosen.

Technical Facts for those interested in weights etc

  • Old piles / nibs were 60 grain
  • Insert 14 grains
  • New screw in points 80 grain

Hope you find this of use and as always thanks for reading.

Mar 6 2013

Shoot Report – Pride Park

Pride Park

This shoot report covers our experiences of the Pride Park March shoot. This was the first trip to their new wood, which is only a stones throw from one of our old clubs Black Arrows wood.

So on Sunday we headed just north of Derby, about  an hour and 20 minutes drive for us. The weather was dry but not as sunny or warm as the previous day, which had been the first real sign of spring arriving. But as I said it was dry, though it did get cold in the afternoon, which was a shame.

The shoot would also be a test for Sharon’s new arrows or rather piles for her x7. We have been experimenting with the pile weight in her arrows and she had tried a few different ones out on Saturday. So Saturday evening was spent with me swapping out old points for new inserts and screw in points.

Our shooting group was made up of 5 people, Pride Park limit their group numbers to 5 and I think this is a good plan. There was a good flow with no hold ups. The only delay in the day was after the lunch break, by which point it was getting a bit cold as the wind had picked up. In fact there was a really relaxed atmosphere all day.

The course was a mix of paper faces, 3D targets and couple of hessian / fabric faces. We started in the small wood, with a downhill hessian target.

first target

Sharon at first target

It was good to see that targets, especially paper ones, had been put out at sensible distances making them hitable targets.

target 13 Close paper duck

target 13 Close paper duck

In fact there were a few larger faces put closer than normal that confused a lot of archers, resulting in them misjudging the distance.

Scott shooting target 15

Scott shooting target 15

The paper faces included my 3 least favourite, the ermine,  standing hare and red squirrel.

JVD Ermin target face

JVD Ermin target face

JVD Hare target face

JVD Hare target face

JVD Red Squirrel target face

JVD Red Squirrel target face

Why do I hate them? Well besides 2 of them being very small (ermine and squirrel have a 20mm inner scoring zone) the 3rd, the hare, is easy to miss if you lose your line and go slightly left or right, as it is quite tall but skinny.

For those interested I scored 20 on the ermine, 8 (3rd arrow) on the hare and 16 on the squirrel. so that is 2 first arrows and one 3rd, not too bad really.

It all it was a good day with Scott and Zack Ball, Norman joining Sharon and I to make up our group of 5.

Despite being very close to Black Arrows wood the grounds are very different. Black arrow is on a hillside and quite small whilst Pride Parks ground is made up of 2 woods with a connecting field / hedge row, with a small coppice that allows for steeper angles and downhill shots, the other wood is more open and flat allowing for longer shots.

As for how I got on, not great 604 on 36 targets, top score in my class was 654 I think. Sharon did well getting first place again in ladies Barebow. Guess the new arrows worked.

As always thanks for reading.