Bow performance

[Bill Carlsen]

I posted this link on the Bowyers Bench but thought that some of you might find it interesting reading. It is a study of Olympic bows but the science involved is obviously applicable to hunting bows. The study compares self bows, long bows, recurve bows and what is unique about the performance in each. It also gets into some detail about materials and designs and the pros and cons of old technology vs. new technology.

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~archery/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Fundamentals-of-the-Design-of-Olympic-Recurve-Bows.pdf

[FarmerMarley]

Thanks for posting this. Looks like a fascinating read I saved it to my computer and will have to read it some day when I feel like getting all "geeked out" about bows.

[Bladepeek]

Interesting read. Maybe an over-simplification, but if cost were not a consideration, it sounds as though multiple layers of carbon on both back and belly could produce a faster and still more stable bow. I'll bet we will soon be seeing $2000 bows that aren't even fancy, but shoot like a house afire. Sure glad I can't shoot well enough to be tempted by them  

[Bowwild]

Thanks for this Bill!

[reddogge]

duplicate post

[reddogge]

Thanks Bill, I did save this as I'm always interested in this kind of stuff. I have friends who would fall asleep reading it though. Particularly interesting was the part about stability in a recurve limb showing the most stable postition to be where the recurves are uncurled fully. This leads to bow and limbs length discussions and the best limb and bow length for a certain draw length. A lot of people make bad choices here.

[Kris]

Look forward to reading this!

Thanks Bill

Kris

[hybridbow hunter]

Great reading

[ChuckC]

thanks for the info Bill.  I will read it this weekend.

ChuckC

[lt-m-grow]

Thanks Bill.   I didn't read it all yet, but read enough to know this is just what I have been looking for -- bow physics for dummies.  Seriously.

I love this sort of stuff.

Very interesting, many years back Jack Howard suggested a bow for me that would be optomised for a shorter draw length.  I was over drawing because with my takedown,(with sights), I seemed to shoot tighter at the longer draw. He told me that bow was actually designed to be able to handle any draw length and the tips were in a bad position for my natural draw length. According to this study, the modern recurves gain in stability at their maximum designed draw length. I have been to shoots where the olympic archers were competing and when considering the arrow speed they were getting, it gave me the green mit envy blues.  It is all about the specifics to get the best bow possible for the shooters parameters. Hunters can greatly benefit from the same tech. Imagine a properly designed bow for a particular shooter that can out shoot a bow that is ten or more pounds heavier, a huge advantage.

[maineac]

Thanks, like others I will save it for a time my focus is ready.

[katman]

Very good read, thanks.

[Nativestranger]

Originally posted by pavan:
Very interesting, many years back Jack Howard suggested a bow for me that would be optomised for a shorter draw length.  I was over drawing because with my takedown,(with sights), I seemed to shoot tighter at the longer draw. He told me that bow was actually designed to be able to handle any draw length and the tips were in a bad position for my natural draw length. According to this study, the modern recurves gain in stability at their maximum designed draw length. I have been to shoots where the olympic archers were competing and when considering the arrow speed they were getting, it gave me the green mit envy blues.  It is all about the specifics to get the best bow possible for the shooters parameters. Hunters can greatly benefit from the same tech. Imagine a properly designed bow for a particular shooter that can out shoot a bow that is ten or more pounds heavier, a huge advantage.

There is no need to be envious. Those target shooters get their arrow speed from shooting ultra light arrows at 5-8gpp.  At my club the most common target arrows are 250 - 300 grains. With the exception of top high end bows like Borders, there's nothing special about the performance of target recurves compared to traditional bows. A well designed traditional glass wood RD hybrid or recurve will match or out performs most mid range target recurves. One thing about target bows is they will shoot a 6 gpp arrow day in day out with no ill effect. And that's nothing to do with being ILF or carbon foam. The cheaper wood glass and bolt on limbs are doing it as well.

[Nativestranger]

Wrong post. Please delete

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thanks Bill... Interesting read....

But i'd sure like to see the bow that put out a DFC chart with a let off in PPI between 26-28" like that.... Kirk

[Friend]

Bill...Excellent informative report.

Thank you for sharing

[Bowsey Wails]

Thanks Bill. It's calculus, and thats great stuff.
Tim

[Cherokee Scout]

very good info.

[Bill Carlsen]

Glad you guys liked it. I found it to be informative and it addresses a number of issues that arise on a regular basis.

Reddoge...exactly my first response. I just wish I could get thru the technical stuff better....the conclusions and practical applications are what interest me.