Thought I might pick up a bow and mess around a bit, but I don’t know where the “sweet spot” is in equipment. I’m certainly not going to plop down more than a few hundred, and I’d like to find something that will outshoot me for a good long while.
H.
Ask Geena Davis.
Does she still think Renny Harlin is a genius?
I used to do competition archery shooting years ago, and I still do the occasional bow hunt.
My advice for a beginner is get a compound bow designed for light hunting. Compounds don’t require you to unstring them if they sit for a long period of time, and are much easier on a beginner. Since much less force is required to hold them back than to pull them, a ndbeginner has a much easier time practicing their aim with them than fighting a recurve’s string.
Look for a Bear (it’s the brand name, not the hunting type), or Browning. The most important thing to look for in a compound bow is the draw weight and the let-off percentage of the wheels. The draw weight is the measure of force it will take to pull the string back, and the let off is the percentage of that original force that is “let off” and no longer required to maintain holding the string back.
Depending on how big you are, you should look at something in the 50-70lb draw with atleast a 70% let-off. If you don’t plan to get into hunting, start with a 50lb draw. Most of those will have about an 80% let-off on average. Make sure it has an adjustable sight set on. It shouldn’t run you more than $200-300.
Then just pick up an ass-load of Easton aluminum arrows with target tips and have fun.
They may try to sell you other shit like hand releases and so forth, but I’d stay away from all that for now. Always learn to use your hand before moving on to toys. ;)
Oh, and never dry fire a bow.
Target shooting or hunting? Composite materials make bows much lighter and stronger than the old wood models. I have an old Browning that looks sweet but it’s heavy.
You will need a good sight, you’re going to want a forward balance weight, the shortest pull you feel comfortable with and arrows that match. Make sure you have a good backstop behind your target so you don’t kill the dog next door. If you’re going compound, don’t cheap out on releases, overdraws or forearm protection, just make sure it’s all comfortable. Make sure the adjustment range matches your pull length.
A decent bow starts around $300 with no accessories.
Links:
http://www.merlinarcherycentre.co.uk/resource/home.htm
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-20,GGLG:en&q=olympic-style+archery
I should have reinforced the “olympic”, I’m really only interested in recurves. While compounds are certainly superior in control and speed, I’m looking for a bit more “pure” experience, with the option to move into competitive FITA shooting at some point. That actually brings up another question, does the competitive world use sights on recurves in all disciplines, or is that a FITA vs. Olympics thing?
H.
God knows I do.
While we’re on the topic, does anyone have any pointers for (US) archery ranges? I suspect that setting up a target on my apartment balcony would end in all sorts of hilarity involving me being incarcerated, but I could see picking up archery as a hobby if there was a nearby place to go shoot. I’ve played around with it a couple times in various instances and enjoyed it when I did. And god knows an activity that didn’t involve an LCD screen would be good for me.
What’s wrong with taking one for the archery team? Getting arrested would be a political statement!
The hobby of shooting arrows sounds fun.
The hobby of protecting my rectal area from guys far more butch than me does not.
I’m often particular about my hobbies that way.
Yes.
Being left-eye dominant and right-handed is a recipe for fail.
Hmmm, good point, I’ll give you that one…
I’d suggest finding a club near you where you can try it out for a while, before spending money on any equipment. I haven’t done any competitive archery in a long time, but I’m of the opinion that you can’t know what bow will suit you until you have spent some time shooting and finding what works for you. The club I used to belong to had a bunch of beginner equipment you could learn on, before you went out and bought your own bow. Apart from anything else you will probably find that your preferred draw weight will increase slightly the more you practice (stance gets less awkward, a little bit of of muscle development).
If you have no choice about buying equipment upfront then I would argue that you don’t need any weights or stabilizers for a while - just a bow, a good sight and some arrows.
Speaking about difficulty stringing…
I took a whole quarter of archery at school, just plinking away at 30 yards with a light bow most of the time. But with even a 50 pound bow I remember a feeling of, let us say, concern, at what might happen if the bow slipped away from the inside of my foot while I was trying to string it…
As a very amateur fencer, I know that occasionally someone really does get impaled with a foil or epee that breaks the wrong way at just the wrong time – but really the odds against are so great you might as well not worry about it. But I wonder how many people are actually injured by drunken or sloppy attempts to string a bow? More perhaps than are actually injured by arrows? I bet a 100 pound longbow could really do some damage if a bowstring breaks at the wrong moment.
But then you get a cool eyepatch.
Combine that with the bow and you’ve got the start of your superhero gimmick.
That is why you use a stringer. Much safer than the under the foot thing, though you do have to be prepared to point and laugh at people who’ll insist it ruins the lamination on the top limb. And a 50 pound recurve is on the heftier side of what you’d shoot, especially as a beginner.
I shot quite a bit back in uni, for a pretty competitive team. It was a lot of fun, though in retrospect that was at least the drinking and socialising that went with it. Still, shooting a good round is satisfying. But for the OP, seriously join a club for a bit, before you go out and buy any kit. They should be able to lend you stuff while you get started, and you’ll then get advice on buying an appropriate bow and arrows. Try and find one that shoots different styles, so you can see what you like. There’s quite a difference between indoor and outdoor, and outdoor has some sub-disciplines - target, field, and even clout (but that’s a very odd round!), and that’s before you get into the question of what class of equipment you want to use. A club will also give you easy access to second hand equipment, people are always trying out new toys and selling them on later.
If you do decide you want to keep doing it, your initial costs shouldn’t be too astronomical. The really high end stuff is very spendy, but you don’t need that unless you get really into it.
Once you start making your own strings, you’ll know that you’re a hopeless case! In any case, have fun trying it out.
Edit: Just noticed the secondary question on sights. There’s not, as far as I’m aware, any difference in the equipment restrictions between Olympic and FITA (but I could be seriously out of date). There are different classes in general competition, though, so people shooting recurves with stabilizers and sights don’t compete directly with compound archers with stabilizers, magnifying sights, levels, release aids and all the other stuff. There’s also classes for barebow and traditional bows, which appeal to some.
HA! I had a friend that got into that. Spent big money on the jigs that looked like nothing more than nails on a board. The first string he made snapped about halfway through the pull and whipped him in the arm. The mark wasn’t funny but the little girl scream he let out was pure comedy gold.
He never made another string.
dude, you just shamed me into getting my bow down off the bookcase and stretching the bugger a bit.
The new stuff is nice, but I love my old Brown compound. It’s big, heavy and bulky with a 50% let-off and has open sights. If you can hit something with it, you can damn near shoot anything! Wow, now I’m getting the bug too.