Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Elusive One on January 27, 2007, 01:43:00 PM
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Well I have been shooting for about 3 weeks now.
During this 3 weeks my wife has come out several times and shot with me. She is just plain good. From the get go she has been getting really good groups. Her form from the first time she picked up the bow looks right on. She is really starting to enjoy this. We have been shooting at 10 yards and just for fun stepped out to 25 yards to see what would happen. I was pretty eratic and she hit the volley ball we where shooting at twice and the rest where right around it.
So here is my question. She is little and has a 24 inch draw. Our bow is 40# @ 28" and when she shoots there is a dramatic speed difference in our arrows. Since she is shooting so well and is getting so interested I would like to see about getting her a bow. She has no prob pulling this bow to that length. She is in good shape and does warehouse work with me so she is pretty strong from lifting heavy boxes alot. I would guess she would not have a prob pulling 40-45#'s. But to get to that would I have to get a 50# @ 28" or something like that or can i get a 40# at 24". Any advice on this would be nice.
Thanks in advance
Elu
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Try to find her a good used recurve for now in the same weight as the one you have. Either that or let her have the one you have now and get another one for yourself a bit heavier.
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There are lots of bowyers around that will custom fit a bow to your needs
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Since she can't increase her draw length enough to matter what kind of bow would i need to get for her to shoot 40# at 24"? Maybe 46# @ 28"?
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I second Golden Hawk.
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Chek-mate Falcon apprx 225-250 brand new.
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My question is, what bow do you have that shoots so well for her? We don't know if it is a longbow or a recurve, or how long it is or what kind of grip. With those facts in hand, perhaps we could match her up with one that is built the same way.
I agree that a bow around 50 pounds @28" would be about right at her draw.
Killdeer~you are a good hubby! :thumbsup:
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Don't forget to ask her what type of bow she would like.
No point in getting a bow that she may not like.
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The Bow is a Martin Rebel 52" recurve. It is right handed and as far as the grip goes ill just have to post a picture. I'll try to do that and see if i can get the video of her shooting on here tonight.
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I think if she shoots that one well, you should spend some money to get her some arrows matched to the bow at her draw, and find you another bow. That is kind of a short bow for a longer drawlength anyway. It should be perfect for her to learn form on and give her time to decide exactly what she wants in a bow before you order another one in a hunting weight if that is her intention. If all she is killing is paper there is no need to get her a heavier bow, only lighter arrows spined to her draw.
BTW - I second the, "ASK HER WHAT SHE WANTS!!!" That should be the #1 criterion.
Good Shooting,
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Ok this may be to large a file but it is my wife shooting and the picture after is the results.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/rocwin/th_112_1252.jpg) (http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/rocwin/?action=view¤t=112_1252.flv)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/rocwin/shotduringviddee-1.jpg)
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She is good! There are lots of used Martin Rebels around (and Bear K-Mags~same length) that she or you could buy. Ask her if she wants another bow of a higher draw weight, and if she does, then you get to keep your Rebel. :wavey:
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Have you measured her draw length or are you guessin it is shorter? It may be the camera angle but paused at full draw it looks like the arrows are not out past the front of the riser all that far.
She is a pretty good shot. You better practice or life in your house might be tuff with all the ribbing.
Also if you hit play pause play pause real fast on each release it looks to me like she is creeping forward off her ancor and closing her eyes. But hey it seems to be working alright.
Tom
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Thanks for for the excuse Killdeer :)
I just measured her drawlength again and it was 23" not sure if she is drawing different since we are in house or if she has settled into this. The first time was right as she started shooting that i got the 24".
By the way is the pic of the arrows to wide?
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Good grief, someone with the same draw length I have :goldtooth:
Chort
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Here is the grip on the bow...Not sure what type it is.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/rocwin/grip.jpg)
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Hi! I'm dee, Elusive's wife. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I have to say, I don't know beans about all of this. I've never held a bow and arrows in my life until a few days ago, never been hunting, and never really wanted to. BUT....I went out to watch him learning, and he made it look fun. Once I tried it, I fell in love! It's a lot of fun, for sure, and woe unto any discarded, raggedy volleyball that crosses my path!
I was quite bummed when I didn't hit the target at first, but after a while, I finally got to where a few of the arrows started hitting the volleyball and the others would be right beside it. I'm tickled pink and enjoying the challenge. He did ask me what kind of bow, but to be honest, I wouldn't have the first clue. Just point me in the right direction! lol
dee
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From the vid. it looks like the string may be catching her hair, she might want to tie it back. I have long hair and have had that happen, not good. If the string is waxed up good it can catch easily. She is a good shot. Ask her what she wants or take her shopping for one.
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I'll definitely be pulling my hair back now that I have seen the vid. Also, from the earlier comment about it looking like I was closing my eyes. I re-watched the video and I am closing my eyes! lol What's up with that? I think I know why. For several rounds of shooting this afternoon, everytime I shot, I was somehow getting hit in the face and it was stinging like wildfire! I think it made me a little gunshy...uh...bowshy? :(
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure if it was the bowstring hitting me or if it was the tab thingee on my fingers. I think maybe the tab because it goes out past my fingers. Shortly after this video, Elusive tossed out a tennis ball on the ground and I hit it! The first arrow hit the ground right in front of it and the second one nailed it. When I was aiming at the smaller tennis ball, I didn't feel the sting on my face. I don't know what the difference was, but I need to be figure it out! That was rather painful! :D Today was my fourth or fifth time to try shooting the bow and I've gotten better each time. Progress is so addicting!
Thanks again for the help. I appreciate it.
dee
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practice . practice . practice . good job on that group you are doing better than me .
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after watching the video and then seeing your bow, I believe you need an arrow rest on it. Stick-on velcro (the fuzzy piece) works well on the shelf and a small piece of leather( use contact cement or double sided tape )on the window. The grip looks like a standard low wrist pistol grip. The most important thing is it looks like everyone is having fun!!! :bigsmyl:
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Yep Dee, you need to pull your hair back, form is good though other than the little flinch you have upon release.
Also sounds like the arrows are a bit overspined; You can here the metallic "Clank" of the arrow smacking the plate on the way by.
Good job though, you shoot with better form than alot of people I know that have been at it alot longer.
BD :campfire: :archer:
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How long are the arrows you are shooting. It looks to me that you have about 2-2 1/2" of arrow beyond the bow at full draw. How are you measuring draw?
I get the tab slap sometimes too if I don't hit full draw and release early. The tab hits me in the mouth on the follow through.
LOL
Mike
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Well, I'm having a blast! In spite of the negative visit to our nearest archery shop today and getting practically no help, I think we are having some progress.
With some of the other questions Elusive had put on this great site you have here, we had determined that he needed 1816 arrows and I needed 1616 arrows. We went to try to buy some today and the guy at the shop kept insisting that we needed the 21/17's that we already had. (He sold those arrows with the 40@28 bow he sold my parents as my husband's Christmas present)
We told him what we had been told and explained about the site and he informed us that people on these forums will just babble anything, and that he had won many many tournaments. "Oh, and by the way....did we know he had a 31 inch draw??"
I asked him about measuring my draw and he showed us his measuring arrow that you can draw back and it has the inches marked on the side of the arrow, proudly proclaiming his draw was 31 inches..."seee??? See it right there??" but he wouldn't let me do it because he was afraid I would shoot the dang arrow off in the shop. :banghead:
So...still best guess we have on my draw is about 23 inches, if we are doing it right. We told him my draw length was 23 inches and after he finally quit laughing and smirking, he told me I just needed to get a kid bow and arrows, that they don't carry 16/16's there...there's no need for them. Anyhoo, I dug around and found some of what he best guesses is 18/16's (no markings on the arrow anywhere) stuck way back in youth display and we bought six. They are carbon and have plastic tab thingees where there is plastic feathers on the other ones we have? Is that called fletching? Vanes?
Anyway, even with these arrows, man what a difference! They fly faster and don't make half the noise the 21/17's do! It is so much easier to do and after the first couple of times getting used to them, it definitely improved my shot.
I pulled my hair back, and we put some velcro on the bow as an arrow rest, and with the new arrows, it was just better all the way around.
I did notice that when we first tried them, we used a three foot target the guy at the shop gave us and we were shooting all over the place. After we got frustrated and pulled it down and put the volleyball and tennis ball back up there, I nailed the volleyball three shots out of six and the tennis ball twice, with the ones that didn't hit the ball, landing just beside the ball.
Thanks a million for all the tips. They really paid off. Still going to be getting us some better arrows, but I feel like we are headed in the right direction.
Sorry about the length of this post, I'm a regular Chatty Cathy once I get going. :p
Peace
dee
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Dee,
Err Cathy?? :) You might want to check in the sponsor classifieds or on e-bay for your arrows. I don't buy much from my local shops because they don;t have what I need. Most of your local archery shops cater to the compound crowd. That's where the commercialized part of archery is. Most tradgangers and traditionalists make some or all of thier equipment
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Sorry about your archery shop. You have to wonder how many people get turned off about the sport due to know-it-alls like him. There are a lot of good businesses in the drop-down menu at the top of the page, if you don't find your arrows in the classifieds. I use 3Rivers a lot, but there are a bunch of folks listed who will talk with you and get you what you need.
Killdeer :archer:
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Yup, you guys need to get he right arrows and shoot them with feathers, not vanes. If ya want a bow that will be around 40#s at 24" draw, than ya need to find one that is around 52#s. Ya can also get one made to your exact draw and weight. ie. 40#s at 24"s. I really feel if ya get some 1616s with feathers and shoot them out of that same bow, with them cut to 26"s with 100 grain heads the would fly good for ya. By the way, if you are shooting that good of groups with plastic vanes, wait until ya get feathers on some arrows. Shawn
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To find your draw length slip a piece of cardboard over the arrow and draw the bow to anchor, them let it down and measure the arrow from nock to cardboard. Do it a few times and this will be what you are drawing.
A rough guess on draw weight is to subtract 2 1/2 pounds for every inch under what the bow is marked for weight at 28".
Have fun.
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Your doing great. My only suggestions were arrows with feathers, spined for your weight your pulling. The rest material and strike plate. It sounds like your taking care of these. Just make sure you getting all the way to full draw. I think the stingging is you hitting yourself because your snap shooting a bit. When you get to full draw hold it for a second then when your ready to release just relax your finger and keep pulling back. If that makes sense. If you don't you'll tend to creap forward.
Keep it up.
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Thanks for all the tips. I'll try it again in the morning and see if all this is coming together in my head. :-)
Really appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
dee
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Here's something to think about. Two years ago my wife decided to try bowhunting. I searched for the best performing bow I could find. She draws 26" and could shoot a bow of about 45# comfortable. I got her a DAS Kinetics bow because they had a 2 week buy back policy and one of the claims made was that it could be set up for a short draw withour sacrificing performance. Long story short....the bow was all Dave Soza claimed it to be and more. The bow weight she huted with the first year was 46# @ 26" and she shot thru a black bear with it. This year we dropped the weight to 43# and she put two holes is a four pointer. If performance is what you are looking for then I would suggest the DAS bow (or the Dalaa from 3 Rivers) when your wife gets serious. Performance cannot be beat for a short draw/light weight bow. When Laura got hers it was outshooting my bows that were in the 60-69# range. Hard to beleive but true. She is only one of two women in the world that shoots one and I am not sure why more do not.
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Dee, everybody here is a wealth of info...Welcome to the crew.....sounds like youre doin' pretty good already...just practice and more practice. Nice to see more ladies becoming involved in trad. archery. Good luck and God bless! Tim
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First off, thanks for the encouragment and suggestions. It has helped tremendously. I have spent many hours reading on this site and I'm learning more than I can even explain. There is a ton of information, opinions and observations on here that have already vastly improved the way I am shooting. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to help us newbies who don't know beans gather a bean or two. :D
I practiced several hours yesterday to try and get my form down to doing the same thing everytime I shoot, and I noticed that my first arrow shot yesterday was always a good bit off from the other five. Like this....
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/deelyte1/newest12707.jpg)
Then today I went out and shot for about three hours and I didn't have that problem. I had pretty tight groups consistently today, but I rarely hit the ball. The battery died on my camera and I can't show you, but all 6 arrows would be in a group about 3 to 4 inches wide, just all six sitting about 3 inches above the ball. Any ideas on why this is happening? I kept trying to get them down on the target, but they all hit just above now matter where I was aiming, it seemed like.
It's like all of my arrows are going to the same spot nearly everytime I shoot, it's just that spot is not the target I'm shooting at.
Could it be the new arrows? Or maybe I'm doing something different with my shot?
I'll try to take a video tomorrow and see if I can tell if I'm doing something odd.
Anyway, thanks for making new people welcome and for helping us learn to shoot. Kudos to the kindness on this site!
Peace,
dee
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Dee, you have too kind a heart.
Deep inside, you pity poor Wilson. There he slumps, innocent and trusting, albeit a tad bruised, scuffed, and the wind let out of his hexagonal sails. How many kicks and blows has he endured? Surely he was once a proud, young, unblemished thing, as we all were in our youths. And then the years begin to take their toll, the vicissitudes of Life leave their trails upon our bodies, their trails of tears riverbeds on our cheeks. Finally, we lay ourselves down, drained and wan in the cold January sunset, awaiting the rest that we so deserve.
Poor us. Poor Wilson. O pitiless Life. How long do we wallow, mired in our rightious sorrow? How long must we wait for release? Oh, the blessed release from this purgatorial promontory! A joyous returning to our beginnings, our innocence restored, our skin clear and fresh, eyes sharp and bright with wonder and awe! Truly, the final, killing blow is a blessing.
Do it, Dee. Be merciful. Shoot him.
Killdeer :saywhat:
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ROFL!
Killdeer, if I didn't feel bad before I do now! :biglaugh: That was quite poetic! Do you write for those bodice ripper romance books as a side job? Ha!
I'm trying so hard to put him out of his misery, but it turns out wilson, like dear hubby, is made of some sterner material than I can do adequate damage to! Thanks for the bellylaugh!
dee
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dee
It may be your new arrows. In the picture it looks like you are shooting plastic vanes. And if you are still shooting of the shelf or a rug type rest on the shelf that is going to cause you some weird arrow flight. If you are going to shoot vanes you need an arrow rest put on that bow. If you want to keep shooting of the shelf then you can have the arrows refletched with feathers. The feathers will somewhat lay down as they travel across the shelf where a vane will tend to kick the arrow around since they can't lay down.
Anyways it takes lots of practice and you will learn more each day. Don't get frustrated just have fun and keep on shootin.
Tom
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They are plastic vanes still. We have been all over east Texas the last two days trying to find me some 1616 arrows like everyone is suggesting I get. No one carries them. These arrows Elu bought for me yesterday are the closest we could find and they are just youth arrows with plastic vanes, but...they are doing much better than the 21/17's we got with the bow. I have been digging through the classifieds on here and just ran across a guy selling some 1616's. I emailed him and posted a reply. I'm got everything crossed from fingers to eyes! Hopefully, I can buy those from him. :-)
Thanks for the info, though.
dee
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OOps, forget to add. We also put a piece of velcro on the shelf part as someone told us we should try doing. Was that the wrong thing to do? I'm kind of confused on that part. Anyhoo, I'm addicted and having fun, none the less. lol
dee
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Oh and as I am heading off to bed, thought I'd toss this out for anyone who happens to read this.
We have searched the last two days around our area (Palestine, Texas) for arrows. We've been to Tyler, and Frankston. Of the three shops we found, none carry the arrows we need. From all of my husband's posts and questions on here, everyone seems to be suggesting we get 1816 arrows for my husband and 1616 arrows for me. So, that's what we are going to try to go with.
The shops tell us to stick with the 2117's that were bought with the bow we got as a Christmas gift, but just with the youth arrows we got, there has been a vast improvement so we want to try the 1816's and 1616's.
Two of the shops said they could order us some, but if we are going to have to order, I'd just as soon buy some from people who support this site...just seems like the right thing to do. This site has already helped us a lot.
I've dug through some of the classifieds and emailed to ask about some 1616's, but if anyone has any for sale or 1816's or knows someone who does or might, I'd appreciate the info. I'm not real good at finding things on here yet. Still kind of lost.
Look forward to any possibilities. Thanks for all the replies and the help.
Peace
dee
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Dee,
Give Kustom King a call. I just got some 1716 for my wife and they shoot great, she is shooting a bow that draws 41 @ 28 and her draw is around 24-25" at about 31 pounds. we had them cut hers to 29" to keep the spine down a little and they are fletched up pink and white :jumper: They charge $29.75 for 1/2 dos arrows fletched and another $3 per 1/2 dos if you want them cut to size with inserts installed. You could have them cut them to 30" and ask them to install the inserts with hot glue. If you need to cut the arrows down more to stiffen the spine up aluminum isn't that hard to cut and you can heat the points up and pull the inserts before cutting. Call Kustom King they are sponsors of this site and I promise you they will be very helpful and willing to spend time giving you good advice tell them your set up and explain your problem.
Here’s a link
http://www.kustomkingarchery.com
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Elusive, give her that bow, then you make a trip up the road to Bob Lee's and get you a new custom bow built. Then both of ya will be happy.
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Well I really think she needs a stronger bow more than I do. When we tested her draw length it was 23" but when she was shooting yesterday I noticed she was anchoring with the back part of her thumb to corner of mouth and I had her stop at full draw and grabbed the arrow and measured and it was only 20" to far side of shelf. When she tries to pull farther she shoots erratic. I am really clueless as to what to suggest she do. She is shooting very very good doing it that way but not sure how the arrows will behave with that short of draw length at 20 yards versus the 10 we are shooting. My first thoughts are get her a strong enough bow that at that drawlength it will give her enough speed to get some power at longer ranges. Alot of times her arrows wont penetrate the volleyball at 10 yards so it has me concerned. Not really for now but in the future when she decides to take that wascally wabbit down.
Elu
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Dee, I have a 24" draw and shoot my 41# with 1816 and 125 gr. heads at 26". My 45# shoots 1816's at 25" and 125 heads. I shoot 3 under, tab and r/d longbows 54-56-60". Just thought you may have luck with the same set-up. Chort
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Chort that is close to what I have been shooting, I think. The ones I have been shooting are 500 carbons with 100 gr. heads on a 40# bow with 28 inch arrows. I have six 1616's coming in the mail from a guy on this site, that I am going have cut down to my size. I'll try to get them as close to what you are describing and see how that works for me. Thanks for the info. I did get a guy at the pawn shop here in town to measure my draw and he said it's about 23 1/2 inches, maybe 24" max, so we are close. :-)
I love your signature....truer words were never spoken.
dee