Bow Stability?

[rraming]

I was looking at a Bowyers website and he was mentioning that a longbow is more stable than a recurve, he also seemed to imply a straight longbow is more stable than a reflex/deflex. That is the way I read it anyway.
I have read alot of threads about recurve vs longbow but don't recall anyone mentioning this - is this make believe?
Does not really matter where I saw it, he is not a sponsor, just wondering where this came from.
Any bowyers care to comment?

[Shakes.602]

Sounds Bass Ackwards     to me, at least from my experiences I cant say I agree.

[rraming]

Me too, since I can barely hit my own foot with a longbow - LOL!

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I'm guessing he makes straight-limbed longbows?

[rraming]

Three types of longbows, including reflex-deflex

[centaur]

I have to agree with the bowyer.  It has been a while since I had a straight limb longbow, but since I got a HH just last week, my shooting immediately improved with it. It probably has something to do with the length (mine's 68"), but I am amazed at how smooth, stable, and forgiving this big ol' honkin' longbow is in comparison to my r/d longbows.

A longbow is more forgiving of release errors if it is tillered right on. I shoot a left hand recurve quite often and for me, an off balance release shows up more in the arrow flight than an intentionally really bad release does with my favorite longbow.  As far as r/d bows compared to Hill style, I think it is more of a length thing than inherent stability. It is possible with some standard grip longbows that bend too much at the fadeouts, to force left to right torque if the bow is not gripped properly. The most forgiving and stable  bow one can shoot in my experience is a reverse handled longbow of reasonable weight, you cannot affect them at the grip very much nor can they be thrown off balance very much with a release that is loading one finger more than it should.

[BWD]

Stability has more to do with mass weight, good balance, more so than a longbow vs. recurve issue, to me.

[Crash]

He is probably referring to the limb stability.  If you think about it logically, a deep cored, narrow limbed longbow will react less to a poor release than a wide, narrow core recurve limb.  Most people shoot a recurve better overall, but I believe that is due more to the center shot nature, heavier mass weight and pistol type grip.  Take a recurve limb in your hands and you can twist it side to side much easier than a narrow deep core longbow limb.  Same thing happens with a bad release.

[PaddyMac]

For me, the longbow has to be "balanced" just right in the crook of my thumb. Any torque from the heel of my hand sends the arrow left and any torque with my fingers on the back torques the arrow right. When I miss to the right, my fingers sting. When I miss to the left I can feel it in the heel of my hand after the shot. The grip of my recurve removes most (not all) of my ability to torque left and right.

Release errors, like plucking, hurts me more on the longbow than recurve, which is why I say that the longbow helps me more with my form.

So I would say the recurve is more stable laterally than the more vertical grip on longbows. I also admit to having no experience with "low hand" or "low wrist".

Oh, yeah, and BWD's x2. My TD recurve is MUCH heavier than my stickbow.

A properly tuned and tillered longbow whether it is a relfex, r/d, or a string follow will sit dead on target at the release, just as still as a heavy risered recurve.  If there is motion that is caused by the shooter or if the bow is slightly out of tune or tiller, it is possible that the heavy target style risers with a pistol grip can slow that reaction down some. This matters to target archers and those that are shooting with a vertical bow at a still target, but for a fluid hunting style shot, limb stability under a stressed situation is what makes a good killing shot, no matter what kind of bow it is. I have had some very stable recurves in my years and some that were too touchy for me to hunt with.

[Lee Robinson .]

There is an old statement that applies here...and that statement is, "rob Peter to pay Paul." There is a factor of trade offs, for there is no free lunch in all aspects of performance. To excell in one area, you often have to give up something in another area. The goal of a bowyer is to find the perfect "balance" of desired traits for the given task at hand. What is the task? Unauthordox shooting in hunting situations? Tree stand applications? Shooting rabits? Or...is it shooting stationary targets from a static position?

Howard Hill was no fool, but niether are olympic archers. We have to first ask...WHAT TYPE OF SHOOTING you are going to do?

There are several types of stability. Stability comes in terms of forgiveness. There is torsional (or lateral...side to side) stability and there is also "beam strength" (vertical) stability. A longbow is technically more resistent to both than is a recurve. But, at what cost? In GENERAL the "traditional" longbow while more RESISTENT (forgiving/stable) to a shooter's errors is in my opinion also more likely to CAUSE an archer to develop shooting errors. For every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. Generally speaking, a longbow will have more handshock than will a recurve. Of course there ARE EXCEPTIONS to this depending upon the design of the longbow or recurve at hand...as some longbows have practically none, while some recurves thump like a mule...but those sitations are more exception than the rule. Generally, recurves are gentler in the hand than are longbows. For this reason, if an archer shoots a longbow for a long time...a heavy thumper...then they are more likely to develop "reactions" to the thump...and it is my opinion that few longbow archers learn to master that reaction. Howard Hill, Wilhelm brothers, and a few others certainly acheived that task for the distances they shot.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALxH2-pwOQ    

For many however, learning to maintain a proper follow through becomes more difficult as the bow's thump becomes more and more pronounced. This is why we learn to prefer bows that don't have such thump upon release.

For these reasons, it is my opinion that a recurve shooter is less likely to develop "action/reaction" issues, but if they do...their equipment is more likely to reveal poor arrow flight when it does happen. Again...this is of course only a GENERAL STATEMENT and would vary depending upon the quality of the specific bows and/or archer.

Again, the bowyer's goal becomes balancing...obtaining the optimum of the desired traits while also maintaining the minimum of the undesired traits.

Now, we have a lot more information about these trade offs on our site for those that are interested in such readings or videos. I don't wish to "come off as a salesman" so to speak, but instead would like to just offer MY OPINION. Others are free to disagree, but of course I make bows based upon my beliefs. I don't try to change the archery world or anything...but here is a video that illustrates some of my views on stability. The first 3 minutes demonstrate stability, but around 3:30 seconds I begin to explain why this stability matters. Those interested can review it at their will.

    http://keepitsimplearchery.com/apps/videos/videos/show/14179600-limb-stability-demo  

Ultimately, there are some excellent recurves and some excellent longbows. You can find both good and bad examples of either. I think seeking the ideal balance is exactly why many "hybrid" bows have now become extremely desireable...and preferred by so many archers.