just got to thinking about this after posting on another topic. i just got my first longbow( bear montana) and got to thinking....has anyone ever twisted a longbow limb? just from looking at my montana, its limbs are so thick! along with that, what is the worst thing you have accidentally or purposely( not like that would happen) done to your longbow. i WAS always a metal riser recurve guy but this bow has changed my mind about needing a metal riser for toughness:)
You could throw that one out of the stand, and probably not damage it one bit! That's why I love longbows. My buddy Robert uses his to beat snakes to death with!
I was shooting my BRAND NEW ACS in the garage and my top limb hit the rail on the garage door so hard my wife heard it upstairs. It honestly sounded like a rifle went off but it didnt even put a scratch on the limb. It scared the %$#@ out of me.
I often throw my longbow out of the tree at the end of the days hunt. Just climb down and retrieve it. Recurve is another story.
those are some tough bows! i really do enjoy just shooting this bow. its pretty plain but i thought about having the finish redone or maybe even a camo dip? out of curiousity, at one time didnt black widow offer refinishes to any trad bow in good shape. i ask that because i love how thick and durable their marine epoxy clear is.
Only thing i noticed that would be different(better) on a custom bow is under the leather grip, you can see the two lams joined. they're not really spliced together, just butted up against each other.....but hey i didnt expect perfection. either way the shur grip i put on really feels nice...not so worried about staining nice leather:)
I slammed mine in a cardoor the other day, put a dent in it, other than that its just fine. :confused:
Love shooting them, love making them. Grinding out #15 right now. Only ones I've "gone wrong" on were my own errors in the building... three of those. Two I rescued and got good bows out of anyway. The third one I just don't understand... I put a tip wedge in backwards and had to cut the limb back 4". Of course, had to do the same for the other limb. I ended up with a 70# bow on a layup designed for 40#. It actually shot for awhile. I still can't understand why it broke 8^)
My first ones had butted joints like you observed. Now I lap joint them real pretty.
As you noted, those narrow limbs are amazingly tough and forgiving. I haven't had one that showed any twist. Just make 'em and shoot 'em.
I've come to think that most of us way over think trying to shoot longbows (real longbows, not the R/D's). I used to try to explain longbow shooting in great detail, but really, they're pretty simple. Now I've boiled it down:
1. Get a longbow.
2. String it up, using traditional fistmele.
3. Find an arrow that flies straight to your eye.
4. Shoot the bow. It'll tell you how it wants to be shot. Listen to it.
5. If after a few months you can't hit with it, accept that you're lacking the longbow gene and go back to a recurve.
Or, as Grandpa used to say: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. Don't be a damn fool about it."
Sorry... I'm sitting here with my coffee and pipe and feeling a bit whimsical..... But there's more truth in the above than not...
all very true,dick. they are so simple and a great stress relief. my wife says to me the other day" why dont you shoot the hoyt gamemaster, you have killed alot of stuff with it. that longbow looks just like a stick". i told her she wouldn't understand:)
If you beat that Montana with a stick, you'd break the stick. Longbows are tough by nature, and that fibreglass is particularly so. Not a bad shooter either. It's what got me into traditional. Can't go too far wrong with a good longbow.
Well the brace height was wrong on my hybrid longbow and both limbs leaned hard to the left. I got the bowyer that built it to let me in on what was wrong and he straightened them right up with some twisting of the string. Then next day I was shooting and thought One limb still looked off and put a little pressure on my thigh with the limb and snap the limb split. I don't know if the string popped off or if I twisted the limb and it delaminated but I honestly didn't use any pressure at all. But yeah bad stuff can happen. Luckily the bowyer is a great guy and said he would build me a new one. Don't lean it in the corner cause you can twist your limbs always hang it up or lay it flat.
Well, my longbow was left on the roof of the truck once when I was leaving my hunting area after dark. Had to drive back a half hour to find it laying beside the gravel road.
It's been dry fired at least a half dozen times for reasons ranging from too loose arrow nocks to cracked nocks or just some sort of screw up on my part.
It was left resting across the bed of the truck in the driveway when I was practicing and forgotten due to a distraction with the family. Then later I backed the truck up and when I stopped suddenly (because the wife was yelling something about my bow and pointing...) it fell off onto the cement driveway.
It's been tossed up over creek banks and steep hills so I could climb with both hands. It's been dropped out of trees intentionally and once by accident when I was sleepy.
It's survived TWO crushed pvc cases when flying across country.
It's been leaned against trees, target butts and trucks only to be knocked over onto dirt, rocks, gravel etc.
It's been in hot cars for hours at a time and in sub zero temps on stand.
I NEVER use a stringer. My draw is 32 inches and the bow is 66". I've shot it tens of thousands of times.
I own about 15 or more recurves and almost never shoot anything but this one longbow. It's definitely my "go to bow".
i have a BEAUTIFULL selfbow made by Mark Baker that (still can't believe!!) i set on the roof of my Jeep and then left for home. about 100 yards down the ole dirt road i hear something sliding on my roof and watch as my longbow hits mock10 and flys in front of me! got out, picked her up and none the worse for wear, couple scratches is all, one WELL MADE bow!!!!!!!!
I dropped my Bamboo Longhunter out of the stand from about 18 feet. It landed on the end and popped the string completely off. I strung it back up and never had any problems at all.
wow guys!! all these stories and THEY lived to hunt again.
hey mr. bulla, the bow your speaking of...is it a montana? either way, that bow has to be bombproof!! i can only imagine what these instances would do to a recurve.
Things not to do is strap to a mountain bike handlebars backward. I did this and snagged a tree limb as I was going down a mountain trail and it split the laminations apart :knothead: :banghead: . Sent it back to the bowyer and he glued it back together and told me he could not guarantee it would hold. So I made it my carp hunting bow. After several thousands carp it still holding. But then I moved to Alaska and there are no carp up here. :(
bmb, I told you it was a club! :bigsmyl:
guys...i think centuar has turned me into a longbow man:) thanks again for the club:)
Yeah the Montana is one tough bow and a great shooter, its what got me into this and benched the wheelie bow!
bowhuntingfool- this bow is a great shooter. it is so easy to look at a spot and hit it. im a gap shooter with all my other bows( recurves) and im sure ill gap shoot with this bow, at further distances, but from 15 yards and closer...its simply, pick a spot, draw, and watch her fly. and on top of that im only pulling 48# and shooting some 550 gr. 2018s. im use to shooting 400-430grs. max out of my recurves. but my point on distance is pretty far out there....so to me it makes more hunting sense to have a arrow that has a point on of 25yrds. that way im not aiming a foot below the animal at 15yrds.
I made a 60" d/r longbow (not naming the owner,nor was it me)
On a cold eve,it was laid on the truck hood in the dark whilst the rest of the gear was put away.
Out on the highway,a car was met after gaining full speed,the bow blew over the top of the truck,then was run over endways by the next car. Don't remember if the string came off or not,but man did it gouge the limb edges on the blacktop.
It was sanded a bit,edges refinished and hunted the rest of the season and maybe the next!!
I was amazed to say the least!!
Yeah I was shooting a 620 grain arrow and pulling 50#, the arrow hit where I was looking, a real shooter. I killed my first buck with it last year, its in my Avatar. I put a Bobby Graham string on it, hush puppies and a leather lace up grip and will never sell this bow!
apex - lol the guy that uses his longbow to kill a snake is the guy that needs more short yardage practice. :)
rusty
My go to bow is a 64" 64@27" longbow I built in 1992. All Osage. At the time I used materials I would not use in anyone elses bow. Glass had some cracks I could hide under the tip overlays, and the lams had some bad spots. It has spent most of its life strung and much of it standing in a corner if I wasn't huntin or shooting. I have dropped it out of trees and it once slid down a good bit of mountain side. Its been dry fired a couple of times and I'll even admit to throwing it once when I took out my lack of shooting skills on it. Its a great bow, I start my eighteenth season with her on Thursday.
Hill style, straight grip. Sure hard to beat.
I too have a special longbow I made yrs ago. It's been all over the world with me. I have probably thrown it out of 30+ tree's over the years. Usually after I killed something and was anxious to get down. I always look for a bush or softer spot if I can when I make the toss. Its been refinished 4-5 times and is mostly retired now. Maybe 60 or so big critters to it's credit.
Great tools, longbows.
Doug
all great stories guys....seems like these longbows have long lives. :)
bmb asked, "hey mr. bulla, the bow your speaking of...is it a montana?"
No, it isn't. It's a Lonetree Ocelot made by a Mr. Castoe out of Oklahoma who has gone on to the happy hunting grounds. Looking at it, you'd not think it was such a tough bow. It's got slim tips and lots of reflex/deflex (kinda hybrid style). Like the other guy who had his come off the truck and get run over, it's got a couple dings in the edges of the limbs but that's about it.
I tell ya, between modern glues and the longbow's inherently simple design, it's no wonder these bows are so rugged.
I left my Ferguson Patriot leaning against my truck after a shoot, loaded everything else in and left... backing over the bow in the process (gravel parking lot). Luckly a buddy saw what happend a picked it up for me.
No worse for wear other then a small ding in the riser.
I was flightshooting 125#. shooting 400 grain arrows and had nocks busted nothing happens to the bow.
Just had to add the latest chapter to the saga of my "tough" longbow....
Yesterday, after my hunt, I leaned my bow against the side of my truck and unpacked all my stuff. Then I drove off and went home.
Turns out, I left the bow leaning against the truck and when I backed out, I cut the wheels to the left to turn and drove over my bow with a '98 Expedition. Didn't know it and went on home. Figured it out this morning when I was getting ready to walk away from the truck to go hunt and realized my bow wasn't there! Panic mode all day for sure. Finally got a call this evening from the guy who found it and got it back. It was still strung but I drove over the top limb for about half it's length in a hard packed gravel parking lot. There are a couple dings and two small splintered spots on the edges about 1/8" by 1/4" and a good ding in the wood of one limb edge. Lots of white marks in the upper limb but I don't THINK they go into the glass. I'll have to check by sanding the finish off. I pulled the bow to my full draw of 32" and it pulled normal but I don't intend to shoot it until I get some super glue in the splinters and clamp them down. I expect I've got a lot more arrows to fling with her.
THAT'S TOUGH!!!
I dropped my recurve out of my stand the other day.
I watched as it fell 15 feet...did a complete flip, and landed perfectly upright on a large flat rock.
This obviously caused the bottom limb to load up..and shot it off like a spring several feet away.
Climbed down, picked her up, checked her over, pulled her a few times...and climbed back up and continued hunting.
Im sure my curve is tough enough...but it could NEVER withstand the abuse you guys have put your longbows through!