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.

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Podcast return – Episode 101

I guess it is time for an announcement from me. I’ve come to the decision to restart the podcast series. I have been very humbled by the support that has been offered to me online, face to face or via phone calls, sometimes very long calls. Thank you all.

I’ve had some very positive conversations on the impact some of my material has had on individuals even organisations who have wanted to learn about target repairs. This has made me realise I enjoy trying to help people and stopping recording or writing has a huge negative impact on how I feel.

My goal remains the same. To provide a perspective of field archery in the UK. Offering coaching tips where I can, product reviews of equipment I bought and used. I’m planning on putting out some material on the Core takedown recurves we’ve been using for years as coaching bows, a variety of shooting gloves, Wildcrete 3D targets and more.

I hope you enjoy the episode and let me know your thoughts and remember if you do have any question let me know.

You can drop me a message via this website ⁠contact me page. There is my YouTube channel where you can find some reviews of Wildcrete 3D targets

Enjoy your shooting and as always thanks for listening, watching and supporting.

Podcast Episode 66

The latest episode of the Podcast is now live and answers a listeners question on how to incorporate using binoculars in their shot sequence in Barebow class.

For those that don’t know the National Field archery Society recently voted to allow archers shooting in the barebow class to be able to use binoculars.

Youtube version below or check out Spotify or other podcast players