I want to buy a bow for my girlfriend, but she only has  a 24 inch drawlenght. Is it able to get a good arrowspeed out of this very short draw? Which bow would be good?
Thank you in advance!

Go with a short bow and you should be fine, something like 52", and I guess it would depend a bit on what you consider good arrow speed.

What weight would she be able to handle?

Killdeer

At the moment she shoots a lefty Hawkeye 35# at 28"(62" long), which is a quite fast bow whith a 28" draw, but with her babydraw the arrows are coming out like a 200 years old turtle.
I don't think that she can go over 32# at 24".

So she is pulling a bit under 25#. It is more a question of bow weight than bow length, so maybe you have a 45# bow that she could work into?

If she is kinda iffy on shooting to begin with, she may not want to put that much effort into "weight training", but a 45 pounder would be about 33# at her draw, depending on design. Maybe you can find a used Kodiak Magnum (I know...I push these a lot, but they are a great bow.) that weights between 40 and 45. They made a lot of them in the late sixties and early seventies that were in a greater variety of weights, not your standard 45, 55, 55, etc..

Or you could just go ahead and order her a custom ACS.   :rolleyes:
Killdeer   :D

My wife has a ~24" draw length and shoots a 56" Sley .  45@28 and does just fine..

Look into Maddog.  Mike makes a custom midsize recurve that is 1/2 the price of a used bow.  He can make her one at her draw that will fling arrows with great speed.  I have a 23" draw and shoot his midsize longbow.  I have a midsize recurve due anyday.   www.tradstore.com/mta   Can not recommend Mike enough!
Katie

Killdeer said: "So she is pulling a bit under 25#. It is more a question of bow weight than bow length, so maybe you have a 45# bow that she could work into?"

She got that right. The notion that shorter bows perform better at shorter draw lengths is an old myth. With her draw length she needs to look for something that peforms decent for sure, especially if she's going to hunt. Any of the good performers at 28 or 30" will still be the best at 24"....O.L.

Thank you for great advise!
She tried a 45#/28"- way to strong!
40 at 28" with a very smooth draw will be the upper end.
She only shoots 3D.
@Killdeer:The A&H/ACS is reserved for myselfe- perhaps/maybe/I'm quite sure- :D  my new bow for next year!

Katie is right that Mike Mecredy sells a very nice bow in his mid-size recurve for only $150, including 4 arrows. Can't beat a deal like that, and Mike is a pleasure to deal with. You can custom order the bow to her specs, and if she decides later to go to some other bow, she will always have a nice backup. The main thing is to get her a good quality bow that will help keep her interested in archery long enough to gain some decent level of proficiency. Then you have her hooked. If things don't work out, at least you haven't broke the bank on her equipment while still getting her something very nice. It may not be an ACS CX, but Mike's bows are darned good at flinging arrows down range and they look good too!

Allan

Sent you a pm.

I just got my wife a Maddog Prowler II for Christmas. She pulls 24" also. I was going to get her the mid size recurve but Mike had a Prowler in stock that missed weight for an other customer and he made me a deal I couldn't pass up.

He worked it down to 30# @25" for me. I was very pleased when I finally saw it. Bocote riser with walnut limbs under clear glass. Weighs nothing in the hand. I only got to shoot it briefly before I had to leave home. It shot very nice! Fun bow!

I'd recommend Mike at Maddog highly...he seems very concerned that you are getting the right bow and are happy with it.

I'll be home the 19th and posts some pics after I tune it in.

Hello,
today I shot a 58" Marin Mamba and a 62" Hawkeye through the crono.
At 24" the Mamba is 3 fps(average out of 10 arrows)faster.
At 28" the Hawkeye is 5 fps faster:
O.L., I know you are one of the best bowyers in our days and I trust in your statement about bowlenght, but I think that only counts  for longbows and not for recurves.