The Gun Counter

I guess the cartoonist never drew a bow before he drew that bow.

That cartoon bow has almost zero brace height.

Newbies sometimes lower brace height a couple of inches below recommended under the mistaken assumption that they will pick up some velocity with a couple more inches of effective draw. They learn their lesson the usual way - painfully. An arm guard won't stop the bowstring from giving you a bruise, just keep it from drawing blood.

Traditional bows have a power curve that has most of its energy in the first 80% of the draw. The last few inches don't make much difference.

If you want a less painful way to prove this to yourself than leaving welts on the inside of your forearm, you can solve the differential equation for a spring.

Oh yeah, and one more rant.

Hollywood always depicts archers with the quiver on the back. Yes, archers would carry arrows to battle on their backs, but they put the quivers down on the ground in front of them before they shot, or better yet, stuck the arrows in the ground so the points would be nice and septic - an early form of biological warfare.

The quiver on the back is as pure Hollywood as the sword carried on the back.

Try it sometime. Your chances of getting either arrows or sword without taking quiver or scabbard off your back are about the same as getting your cook set out of your backpack while it's still on your back.

D5CAV wrote:Oh yeah, and one more rant.

Hollywood always depicts archers with the quiver on the back. Yes, archers would carry arrows to battle on their backs, but they put the quivers down on the ground in front of them before they shot, or better yet, stuck the arrows in the ground so the points would be nice and septic - an early form of biological warfare.

The quiver on the back is as pure Hollywood as the sword carried on the back.

Try it sometime. Your chances of getting either arrows or sword without taking quiver or scabbard off your back are about the same as getting your cook set out of your backpack while it's still on your back.

My daughter is getting interested in archery. Can you recommend and non-shit-filled sites for her to get some pointers?

Just out of curiosity if you had to use a bow while staying mobile where would you put the quiver. The belt perhaps?

Kommander wrote:Just out of curiosity if you had to use a bow while staying mobile where would you put the quiver. The belt perhaps?

There's a guy at the course I practice who sometimes comes out with his riding boots and Hungarian bow. He can hold 8 arrows in the free fingers of the bow hand. I can hold 3 comfortably, which is what I usually do around the course. I can't be bothered with a belt quiver. I've held up to 4, but I start dropping arrows beyond that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2I-i61d9Us

You can see this Hungarian guy holding the arrows in his bow hand, which is why he can shoot so quickly. His spare arrows are in horse and belt quivers. The Huns would go into battle with 100 arrows in quivers on their horses.

By the way, the hardest part of the horse archery is having a horse who knows what to do. You can't hold the reins if you are shooting a bow.

The same Hungarian guy has a shooting school, where more time is spent on horsemanship than archery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8M00PRbI3c

You can buy belt quivers. Most archery competitors use forward pointing quivers or target quivers, which are more convenient to grab, but get hung up on foliage if you are hiking. Backward facing quivers are field quivers, but not as fast to grab.

http://www.3riversarchery.com/search.ht ... p%20quiver

*watches videos*

Well looks like standard Eastern European safety standards are in full effect.

Weetabix wrote:My daughter is getting interested in archery. Can you recommend and non-shit-filled sites for her to get some pointers?

For target, for exercise or for hunting?

I shoot a traditional recurve bow. My bows are a Zipper and a Black Widow.

If I ever got good enough for hunting, I would have to learn to use a compound bow. I gave away my last one.

A compound bow trades the simple spring power curve for a square wave function, so they have much more power for a given draw weight. However, they have a different feel, and I like the traditional recurve better. It is more of a "right brain" tool than a compound, and it gives more of a workout.

If she likes traditional archery, a great beginner bow is the Samick: http://www.3riversarchery.com/samick-sa ... e-bow.html

I'd buy it with 25 pound limbs, so she doesn't get discouraged, but be prepared to move up to 30 or 35 pound limbs (maybe another $70) if she sticks with it.

I don't know where you live in MO, but I would recommend finding an archery club with a course. I like those a lot more than indoor ranges.

http://www.crossroadsarcheryclub.com/

Most of these places have classes for beginners, so you can rent before you buy.

D5CAV wrote:Oh yeah, and one more rant.

Hollywood always depicts archers with the quiver on the back. Yes, archers would carry arrows to battle on their backs, but they put the quivers down on the ground in front of them before they shot, or better yet, stuck the arrows in the ground so the points would be nice and septic - an early form of biological warfare.

The quiver on the back is as pure Hollywood as the sword carried on the back.

Try it sometime. Your chances of getting either arrows or sword without taking quiver or scabbard off your back are about the same as getting your cook set out of your backpack while it's still on your back.

Back when I was doing a 3-D shoot every weekend with a 60# longbow, I carried my arrows in a home-made back quiver that fit me. Usually a dozen arrows at a time, but these were field points, for shooting at targets. And the nock ends came up about to my earlobe, because I was only drawing a 27-inch arrow, so I didn't have any problem pulling them out of the quiver.

For hunting I used a bow quiver which held two or three broadheads.

First Shirt wrote:I carried my arrows in a home-made back quiver that fit me. Usually a dozen arrows at a time, but these were field points, for shooting at targets. And the nock ends came up about to my earlobe, because I was only drawing a 27-inch arrow, so I didn't have any problem pulling them out of the quiver.

For hunting I used a bow quiver which held two or three broadheads.

I also carry my arrows in a home-made back quiver - actually a quiver that I built into my day-pack. Most of my 3D shoots are 3 or 4 arrows per target, which I hold in my bow hand.

I have long arms. I have a 32" draw, so my arrows are over 34" from field point to nock. With broadheads, they are over 35" long, and the nocks are about even with the end of my bow when in the bow quiver.

Since my quiver is inside my day pack, the fletchings are over my head when I put it on. Yes, I can get them out of my quiver, but it is slow and awkward, and I'm not doing it in one smooth motion like in the movies. I'd carry a belt quiver if I felt the need for a quiver, but I'm never shooting more than 4 arrows at a time. The quiver is for spare arrows to replace arrows that lose fletchings or points on the course.