Does anyone else experience excessive wrist slap when shooting a straight wrist grip?
I do on a lower braced longbow.
Straight wrist grips are my favorite. Agree with fnshtr. Only when the brace height is too low. I do shoot with a slightly bent arm. Also a slightly open stance.
Yup. I have noticed the same thing.
I shoot with a straight arm, and try to stay away from straight wrist grips.
Hill styles always have me rummaging for the armguard. And I do the open stance-bent elbow thing. It is a low brace height that necessitates this stratagem.
Killdeer
I have a new-to-me gorgeous 68" Dave Wallace Mountain longbow ( Thanks again, David ! ), and I had one heck of a bruise from the wrist slap until I got the hang of it. :eek:
I love shooting it, the bow just reminds me to do everything right. :D
All my bows are straight grip either D or R/D and the only time I notice wrist slap is when my brace height has dropped too low. A couple twists of the string and it's fine again. I've even shot a whole 28 target course and not realized I had forgotten my arm guard until I went to put my gear away.
I think if there is no chance of wrist slap on a Hill style bow, the brace may be too high. Nothing like a good Hill style arm guard with a Hill bow.
Agree with the others. No slap until the brace height gets too low.
It really shouldn't make a bit of difference if the bow is a low-wrist or high-wrist grip. Arm slap is a result of form and/or brace height.
I agree with manhantango. I wear an arm guard only with a long sleeve shirt to keep sleeve out of the way. I do rotate my elbow out. Some folks like my wife can not without pain. I shoot low and med grips.
Arm guard, bend your arm and change your stance a little, and FF string, especially a FF string.
On Hill longbows the old B50 strings had more carry through. Not saying that they were not shootable with them set at a 6" brace, because they worked just fine for a lot of shooters for a lot of years before fast flights were around. I shoot with a B50 every so often, after a bit of getting use to the feel of them, I really don't know if it is all that big of a deal to have the string tag my arm guard and the bow having a bit more action.
Not sure what kind of string you're using, but if you're getting wrist slap with a dacron (B50/B55) string, a low-stretch string may help.
As John Schulz stated and wrote about with a Hill style bow and the brace heights that he suggested, the bow string tagging the arm is a normal part of the shot. Now the word used was 'excessive' and no mention of the bow, the string, or if a sturdy arm guard was on. Trying to go to extra lengths to avoid it with certain bows and set ups would require a considerable divergence from normal form.
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
As John Schulz stated and wrote about with a Hill style bow and the brace heights that he suggested, the bow string tagging the arm is a normal part of the shot. Now the word used was 'excessive' and no mention of the bow, the string, or if a sturdy arm guard was on. Trying to go to extra lengths to avoid it with certain bows and set ups would require a considerable divergence from normal form.
My pal here absolutely nailed it. Trying to make a Hill something its not is a pointless exercise. I have had an on/off affair with Hills for several years now and recently I realized I cannot be happy without at least one on the rack. They command allegiance to a particular set of form/setup parameters, but for a person that shoots often and enjoys a variety of bows switching back and forth shouldn't be an issue. I can say this, though you must commit to shoot them well, in my opinion no other style of bow is so purely conceptualized to take split second yet fairly accurate shots.
Proper Grip and form AND A M.A.L. Armguard.
I have been lucky so far. The sweet spots on brace height for all my Hill bows is outside the wrist slap area, unless I screw up the grip. I still ALWAYS use an arm guard. However, the possibility of a slap on the wrist is just part of it.
I never use an arm guard and never get slapped. Only bow that would do that was a Frank SanMarco. Those thin whippy tips caused it I'm sure. No issues with Harrison's or Hills
No reason to get slapped. If you are, you're not gripping the bow correct.
I have a 62" Super D with a SBD string on it and have never had string slap. The Super D does have a locator grip on it. I'm new to the D shape bows so I'm not going to act like I know what I'm talking about with them. Just thought I would give me personal experience.
Proper wrist & elbow rotation is the key to shooting a low brace height bow without using an arm guard.....
Some guys can shoot clear down to a 6" brace...Not me..... If i get below 6 3/4" i'm getting bit now and then and should use an arm guard, but rarely do.
I shoot with a bent wrist and relaxed bow arm. Hardly ever get bit if there is enough tension at brace. This is something no one has mentioned. I do use an armguard when wearing a long sleeve shirt or a coat.
God bless, steve
QuoteOriginally posted by mike g:
Proper Grip and form AND A M.A.L. Armguard.
Lucky for me, I have a M.A.L. arm guard that has saved my hide quite a few times. :)
I shoot a D style with a 6 5/8 brace in a T-shirt with no arm guard. No slap. Make sure you position your palm correctly in the grip, I use the "lifeline" , bend the elbow slightly, naturally.
Howard never wore one.
I guess he had no wrist slap.
(https://peterostecher.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/howardhillpeterostecher-177.jpg)
Neither did/does Schulz.
(http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n559/jeffbschulz/86914b96-589e-4664-8428-d8b7ad5dcdaf_zpsd2b7f214.jpg) (http://s1139.photobucket.com/user/jeffbschulz/media/86914b96-589e-4664-8428-d8b7ad5dcdaf_zpsd2b7f214.jpg.html)
I only shoot straight limbed D bows and I haven't been using an arm guard and don't hit my arm but I guess if Howard and John used one......... I notice theirs look a bit different, which one is best?
I get a little tap, on occasion, but alot of that depends on where the bow wants the brace set with the particular arrows you are shooting at the moment.
Wrist slap, in and of itself, does not mean poor form. It's one of the nuances of Hill style bows. We're built differently with varying bone structure, to some degree. I cannot extend my arms to a straight elbow. I have a slight bend even when extended fully. Some can extend their arms past a straight elbow to an inverted elbow joint. Hence, some of us get wrist slap and some of us don't.
Arrow flight and being on target are more important than a gentle or moderate tap. A full on welting slap means something probably did go wrong.
We each will have different findings as evident in the responses to the OP; including mine.
When I went from a B50 to a Chad string on one of my bows, even though the brace is the same 6+" the scuff on my arm guard went from just above my wrist to a full inch closer to my elbow and the scuff is shorter. I have seen cases where I could hear the slap on the arm guard, in my case I do not hear any extra sound, the skid angle must less. Some guys like to float the bow more out the thumb, but for me that is not a solid place for the bow to sit.
Louis Armbruster put his arm guard on in morning before he put on his boots.
Yep, nothing wrong with wearing leather!
There's another pic of Howard in one of my Longbow Digests, shirtless, very rare in the day of the gentlemen!
Still wearing!
Another couple Bama boys, Jerry and Byron, wear, too!