I wrote to Rick Welch recently. I told him that I like 3 fingers under more than split,but I shoot split cause the noise and vibration seem to increase with 3 fingers under. His reponse was kind of surprising..it read as follows...
"I don't have any issues with my bows being noisy split or three under. Typically even tillered shoot quieter. Rick"
What has been your experience with 3 fingers under as compared to split? Is there any secret to getting it to quiet down?
Personally I don't feel or hear anything different with my bows shooting split of 3U either . I shoot all JD Berry straightlimbed longbows so u can't comment in others. The only other bow I truly remember was my bear super k and I shot it 3U and it was super quiet
Split is quieter for me.
I don't know when I watch ricks videos weather it be his or his students shooting they are among the loudest bows I ever heard. Maybe it's the audio of the recordings or light arrows I don't know. They just seem excessively loud.
Could be that Rick has a bit of hearing impairment so he would not notice the difference...I find 3 under to be a bit noisier with most bows...I do shoot 2 under which is quieter than 3
DDave
I shoot two under. My ring finger gives me nothing but grief and adds nothing to my draw strength. Split is completely awkward for me.
He's out to lunch...split is quieter no doubt. Bows can be made quiet 3 under but split is quieter in almost all cases I've seen.
I changed about a year ago to 3 under. I alternate between a tab and glove.
I did notice a slight decrease in noise and increase in better arrow flight after the switch. Rather than the bow, I chalked those results up to my poor release using split. I don't think I was letting go of the arrow with my top finger very cleanly at all. Not to say I was grasping it or anything, but my index finger did have a bad influence on my arrow flight.
My recurve I am shooting now is a Hoyt Excel 21 inch ILF recurve. I have the ability to adjust for split or 3 under and when I got it strung up and started shooting it, I noticed I was getting some of the best arrow flight I had ever seen out of any bow. Right then I decided I was not going to touch a thing and leave well enough alone.
Good luck with your journey.
Nalajr
Bows off even tiller do shoot quieter. South cox built a longbow for me tillers for 3 under and it shot as quiet as any bow I`ve shot split. Bows are different as well as Archers and their release.
I switched to three under a couple of years ago and my accuracy improved a whole lot. Much cleaner release. Some bows I`ve tried 3 under were really loud and you could tell the difference and some were not. The little added noise does not bother me at all. Rick is a heck of a shot and critter killer, people don`t pay good money for lessons from him for nothing.RC
Agree with RC, depends on how the bows tillered.
All my bows are tillered for split and there is slightly more noise, or at least the character of the noise is different, shooting three under. It's minimal, but I do like the way my bows sound shooting split.
I believe that Rick's Dakota recurves that he tillers for 3 under are as quiet as most other recurves I've ever heard being shot, whether 3 under or split. Since Rick shoots his own bows, that's probably why he made that comment. Some of the other bows that I have seem noisier when shot 3 under, even bows that I ordered from the bowyer tillered for 3 under.
Black Widow bows generally seem noisier to me shot 3 under, but Rod Jenkins's Black Widow bow, which I believe he shoots 3 under, is one of the quietest recurve bows I've ever heard, quieter than Rick shooting his own Dakota bow or any other recurve I've ever heard. You would have to go to a longbow to get a bow that quiet.
I'm sure that great shooters have great releases, which may be a big part of the reason why Rick and Rod can shoot 3 under quieter than most other people.
Same issue here. Three under is noisier.
3 Under is noisier for me too. I've moved my split anchor point up to the eye socket bone just under my right eye. Seems to be the best of both worlds, quiet release and 3 under accuracy.
LD
I have not noticed a difference between split and 3 under, however I noticed a big difference after I took Rod Jenkins clinic and my release got better. I think we blame much on out equipment that is our own fault.
When I shoot my JavaMan American (longbow), I don't see any difference split or 3-under. I usually shoot 3-under on that one. But when I am shooting my Helms Deep (recurve), I can only shoot split finger because of the noise difference. It's that significant. Go fig.
Alex
My longbow was tillered even but still quieter when shot split. There's less vibrations too. I suspect the issue of noise with 3 under isn't just a matter of tiller but unequal string slack below the arrow as the fingers are released causing mis-timing of the limbs.
To me, three fingers under and a tab feels unnatural. I just can't shoot like that. Just gimme a glove and let me shoot split-finger...
All my bows are very quiet and tillered for split- finger.
I tend to agree with jjwaldman. I think most of my noise and lack of accuracy comes from my poor release. But, I did have a Fox Breed recurve a while back that was dead silent with just cat whiskers and my poor 3 under release.
All of my bows are even tillered, and they were all very quiet when I shot them split fingered. I immediately noticed the increase in noise when I switched to three under, but it really isn't that bad, especially when figuring in the increased consistency of good arrow flight that I am getting.
I switched to 3 under about three years ago because i was shooting high and that took care of that problem...I have noticed that the noise is in how I release..when I knock in with my 2nd finger at the corner of my mouth and rap my thumb around and under my jaw I'm locked in steady..the noise comes in how I release from there..I have to remember to release with just my fingers with my hand remaining in place..the noise comes when I forget and release with my hand and not keeping it against my face...works for me ..hope this helps..
I have shot 3 Under for Years, and 90% of the time, my Ring Finger has slid off the string by the time I get to anchor anyway, so I guess its Really 2 under. My Bows are pretty quiet, so I have no complaints.
I used to Anchor with my thumb tucked in squarely behind my neck, accuracy improved 100% too! just a thought. Thats why my ring finger really didnt play a part with my release.
My bow are quieter shooting split they are tillered for split.
You do need to tune differently for the two styles and that will also quiet em down when I ordered my big Jim I was waffling on weather I wanted to change to 3 under or stick with split Jim told me it doesn't make a difference.
As far a ricks bow just from the videos I have and the ones on YouTube his bow seem ridiculously loud to me Maybe it's the audio of the recording but man just loud!! But when you as accurate as Rick what does it matter.
I shoot my Morrison Cheyenne with B riser and Max 1 D limbs 3 under. It is a very quiet bow with no vibration at all. The owner of The Archery Shop has shot it split fingers on his 20 yard indoor range and it is just as quiet as when I shoot it. I might add that I have beaver balls for silencers and I'm shooting a 483 gr arrow out of my 62", 45#@28" Cheyenne.
Bill
My Kanati is tillered for 3 under, real quiet for me. That was with 766 grain arrows, I am going to go with lighter arrows but its just as quiet as my TallTines that I shot split
I used to shoot 3 under for years. I was trying to get a longbow quieted down, and it was tillered 3 under, and a friend shot it split. Noticeably quieter so I finally gave in and started shooting split again. Most bows I have shot both with are quieter with split.
I think Rick is undecided..I wrote back to him a second time,and he said the opposite! Agreed that 3 under is going to be noisier. Go figure.
In a recurve it is always quitter to shoot the bow the way it's tillered because the string makes contact with the limb. In a longbow you can get away with it little better because no string contact on limb.
Everything being equal. Split will always be quieter. All this talk about a bow being tiller for 3 under makes them quieter to shoot 3 under, than one tiller for split, is nonsense! If that was the case, then why is that bow tiller for 3 under still quiet when shot split?
I tried shooting 3 under for years and every time I did my bows sounded like they were going to explode. It sounded like I was dry firing them, so I gave up each time I tried.
A Tradgang member (I think it was Joe Buck) recommended putting a piece of tape on my drawing hand ring finger around the second joint down. This prevented me from putting too much pressure on the string with my ring finger. You only have to shoot a few times with the tape before you get the feel for how much pressure you should put on the string with 3 under. Doing this and heterodyning the string makes my bows very quiet 3 under.
Bob Wesley told me, "Gil it is hard to beat a 3 under shooter split finger".
That was all I needed to hear from someone like Bob, to try to switch to 3 under. I am still working on it, but at least my bows are quiet now 3 under.
Good luck
Gil
In my 45+ years of shooting bows I shot split finger for 15 of those years.
I started shooting 3-under in 2010. I would never go back to split. I don't notice a difference in sound. I do notice a difference in finger comfort and I like 3-under for that reason.
My hand feels much more relaxed when the fingers are together rather than spread by the nock. Also, the pressure on the index finger with split finger caused me sore fingers at the bottom of the nail.
Since switching to 3-under I also switched to a different way of aiming that makes up for having shot with pins for 34 years. 3-under accommodates my style of aiming much better.
Bottom line it is certainly relevant and interesting to ask folks for advice and their reasoning for shooting this way or that. In the end though, thank goodness, most archery decisions are highly personal choices that need to satisfy only the shooter.
My widow is definitely quieter split
I have started shooting 3 under in the last month with my holzrichter recurves and longbows. My groups have dramatically improved. I believe Jon tillers his bows for 3 under and I notice no difference in noise or vibration.
I shoot 3 under and have never had an animal react until AFTER they were shot. That counts as quiet enough for me.
Gray squirrels are the exception. They can do Matrix moves like no other animal I have seen.
I have always shot three under, however I recently bought a new bow and it just will not shoot for me with three under. I am trying to switch to split but it has totally ruined and frustrated my shooting ability. The only difference in bows before was the noise, three under was noticably louder to me and I have a hearing problem. But this new one refuses to shoot for me with three under.
L.Harris, check tiller and center shot, may need a very high nock point or much different spine arrow, sorry if this seems obvious to you.
In front of a target with all the time in the world I am slightly better with 3 under but in real conditions, after 50+ years of shooting I just automatically go split finger.