I'm shooting mild R/D bows almost exclusively -- Robertson, Mohawk, an older Frederick. But a recent purchase (on a whim) of a Super Ghost has me looking hard at the Great Northern Bushbow.
And recently I learned that three people I've dealt with on Tradgang are all looking at flat bows.
Why a flat bow?
Well depending on how you define "flatbow" here are a few examples.
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=098600
I dont think GN Bushbow or Hill style longbows are technically flatbows though because I think the limbs have to be significantly wider than the grip. Basically a recurve without the recurved tips.
From what I have found flatbow definitions are pretty broad in that a flatbow is a bow that has a rectangular limb cross section and a longbow has a D-shaped limb cross section (no to be confused with a D-shape when braced)
Then again Hill style bows are called semi-longbows by some...
My thoughts were that an "American flatbow" had wider and thinner limbs where a longbow has thicker and narrower limbs, I always thought the flatbow was more stable in side to side motion and would be more forgiving to operator error.
The don't have to be six foot long to get cast.
When I talked to Steve Turay about this topic he told me they were made in glass bows to be able to shorten up the bow length and still maintain good shooting characteristics. Now, this was before (I guess) bowers had figured out the magic in still making a narrow limb, deep core bow short and still a joy to shoot.
I do know Steve told me the Barage replaced his Huron ( flatbow) because he feels the narrow limb , deep cored bows are quieter and more stabil. With that said, he will still make a Huron if you ask,