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Limb Ranging

1578 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Atlatlista
Good afternoon!
So im very (very very) new to this forum, and archery in general.
I have shot a great tree recurve bow a couple of years ago as a young kid. And now im getting back into archery!! I cant wait to choose my first (decent) bow!

I plan on buying a sight,rest etc....
HOWEVER! And this is the main point of the thread, i cant use sights in the SCA. (Apparently it doesnt fit with the period theme).
Is there some method wherebye a person can mark a range on the limb of thier bow, so they can "sight in" the distance, roughly....

No doubt this will have people in tears, but hey! You never know!
If it has been awnsered (I cant find anything anywhere) then please link me to it, then remove the thread!

Many thanks!

ArcherOfTheSun
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You would be better off marking the belly of the riser in the sight window. Just take a piece of masking tape and make marks on it for the different yardages.


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I do it all the time. Every time I make major changes to my bow I set a temporary sight. I'll use something simple like a match stick or toothpick taped to the front of my riser, and sight it in for the median range of my shots, usually 20 yards. Shooting with that for a week or so more accurately ingrains the necessary sight picture and shows me how/if I need to modify that picture for changes in yardage. When I take it off it's almost like I can still see it.

A tip I got from a post by Bob Gordon in the Classics Archive here....
http://tradtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5926&page=3
I find it easier to gap shoot there are some good videos and books available to teach you this method.
It's just gapping at the bow instead of the target dkincaid. Some people gap in shaft diameters, I gap in fractions. I'm sure it's not as precise as gapping at the target but I'm not a 12 shooter. I use a really high anchor and the majority of my shots need a 3/4" gap. I may drop a few here and there but I can keep most of my shots inside the ten ring if I focus on center-punching it. At the most I only have to adjust up or down an 1/8" at hunting or ASA 3D ranges.
I think for the most part it's just how you learn. There are many ways to sight a bow and they are all effective.
Marking the sight window using tape and a pencil is a good way to get started.
I'm not SCA, but I'm a member of Adrian Empire. No sights allowed, but a mark on the belly of the bow that doesn't protrude into the sight window is allowed.

I have two marks right now: One for 10 yds and one a bit lower for 20. We don't shoot the same rounds that SCA does and we usually don't shoot over 20 yards so it works perfectly for me.

The marks give me the elevation, but not "windage" but it's relatively easy to estimate holding the mark to the right side of the target.

I'm also finding the more I shoot, the less I rely on the marks.
In classic British Longbow competition it is fairly normal to tie a little bit of string on the upper limb for different distances.

-Grant
Thank you very much!
Il be sure to put all of this into good use :)
Cheers guys!
I had a really cool longbow that I had placed a little black dot from a sharpie and it worked perfect, I had it so it was right at 40yds and it was AWESOME.... I should've never sold that Centaur!!!

I have heard of using whiteout also!

Have a great day,
Kasey
In traditional FITA shooting you can use a rubber o-ring on the top limb that you can move up or down to sight on different distances. Alternatively, you can use the grain of the wood if it is clear enough to do the same thing.
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