[Tracker1]

I draw my 62in royal huntsman to almost 30 and it honestly is smooth all the way to it. I got my next one coming in a couple months it’s 64in. Figured if 62 is nice 64 gonna be even nice. For the money for a new bow to your specs from an awesome dude like Kegan it’s hard to beat

I agree. If I ever got one it would be 64” also.

 

[GilV]

At a 28" draw I shot 62" RD longbows.

A&H ACS CX bows I shot at 64" with a 28" draw. The reason I chose 64" bows was because OL Adcock had told me that the 64" was his best performer. I assumed with my 28" draw.

I shot ASL longbows from 66" to 70" with my 28" draw and 68" with my 30" draw. I ordered a new Hill Wesley String Follow bow about a year and a half ago. Craig told me to go with 68" or 70" for 30". He thought 70" would be better for 30", but I went with 68" and it was fine at my draw.

After going back to recurves after my injuries and experimenting with Anton weights, I find heavy mass weight bows to be the most stable and comfortable to shoot for me. When I couple the risers with limbs like Border, Uukha and Nika that are so smooth and great performers, it is hard to go back to light longbows.

At one time I loved the simplicity and light feel of a longbow. Now with the equipment I have I find it very hard to go back to the longbow.

 

[Tracker1]

At a 28" draw I shot 62" RD longbows.

A&H ACS CX bows I shot at 64" with a 28" draw. The reason I chose 64" bows was because OL Adcock had told me that the 64" was his best performer. I assumed with my 28" draw.

I shot ASL longbows from 66" to 70" with my 28" draw and 68" with my 30" draw. I ordered a new Hill Wesley String Follow bow about a year and a half ago. Craig told me to go with 68" or 70" for 30". He thought 70" would be better for 30", but I went with 68" and it was fine at my draw.

After going back to recurves after my injuries and experimenting with Anton weights, I find heavy mass weight bows to be the most stable and comfortable to shoot for me. When I couple the risers with limbs like Border, Uukha and Nika that are so smooth and great performers, it is hard to go back to light longbows.

At one time I loved the simplicity and light feel of a longbow. Now with the equipment I have I find it very hard to go back to the longbow.

There is so much to like about ILF bows it makes it hard to spend money on one piece recurves or longbows.
GilV was your injury archery related?

 

[GilV]

There is so much to like about ILF bows it makes it hard to spend money on one piece recurves or longbows.
GilV was your injury archery related?

No. I tore my rotator cuff in my bow arm in my 50s lifting weights. I came back from that injury and could shoot up to 80# longbows again.

Then I had a head on car accident that fractured my sternum, herniated 7 discs in my back and dislocated my foot. That stopped me from shooting for a couple of years. I came back from those injuries and could again shoot heavy bows.

Then I tore my bow arm rotator cuff two times since I retired in 2016. I fell on a ocean rock jetty surf fishing for striped bass. Then a second time just casting a surf pole. Those two injuries were much harder to come back from. I assume since I am older now. I am still weak in my bow shoulder but I am older now and it seems that it is harder to come back.

Some months ago I injured my drawing arm shoulder moving heavy equipment. That injury luckily didn't affect shooting the bow. The only time that shoulder didn't hurt was shooting.

If I wanted to work on it I could shoot up 60# again, but I don't want to these days.

Since I want to get back to hunting traditional fast I hold, aim and shoot a one pin sight (the point). I used to shoot instinctive and when I hit my anchor the arrow would be gone. I don't have enough time to be able to do that again. Plus I don't want to take a chance injuring either of my shoulders again.

Added this in an edit. I have arthritis in both shoulders. I attribute that to archery, weight lifting and doing mason work in my youth. Luckily that isn't a big deal and barely notice it.

 

[Tracker1]

Wow GilV, that’s a hard way to go, good luck on your with your efforts and strategies.
I have been healing my shoulders 6 weeks and it’s killing me, it’s very hard not to shoot. I too have a bit of arthritis, probably also from many years of weightlifting and martial arts. I also have stenosis in my cervical spine. I think my real problem is shooting way too much for the last four years.
I am also hoping to get back into shooting and possibly hunting again. I had been shooting a kind of instinctive which you know takes a lot of shooting. I too may look into a sight to reduce how much shooting I need to do. I have both a single pin and an SRF sight I might play with a bit.

 

[Grizz67]

Marie is right...gettin old Sux.

 

[GilV]

One of my best friends has bad arthritis in his shoulders. He is a year older than me. He is one of the best Trad shooters I know. We shot heavy longbows together for many years. He could actually use the thumb tab shooting 70# longbows. I could never shoot heavy longbows with one, but I could occasionally shoot a 70# compound, but even that was hard and I reverted to fingers. When compounds came out we started off shooting compounds with fingers, instinctive and canted. That was natural to us, but the break over was not natural to us.

He shoots trad most of the year. It kills his shoulders and by hunting season he reverts to a compound at first. He does switch back to Trad off and on during hunting season. He usually scores with both.

If you looked at his back his shoulders are uneven. His drawing arm shoulder is about 2" closer to his spine then his bow arm shoulder. That was from shooting the heavy longbows. I told him he was full of chit. Then he took his shirt off and showed me. Ha!

My other best friend also shoots trad all year, but at hunting season he goes back to a compound. He shoots well but he worries about being inconsistent on that first shot. He will also start off hunting with compound, but does switch off and on back to Trad.

All three of us wish we never shot heavy bows. It led us all to have bad habits. It was an excuse so we wouldn't feel we needed to shoot a compound. We never really knew that you didn't need that much weight to hunt. Today with the materials and designs in archery there really isn't a need.

Whenever I first injure myself I would switch a compound during hunting season until I was confident to hunt Trad again. After each injury when I was confident in my shooting I would hunt with Trad.

These last two injuries have taken a long time but last year I hunted Trad and this year I am committed to Trad again.

If I injured my shoulders again to where I have to stop shooting for any extended period of time, I will switch permanently to the compound and just shoot my Trad bows for fun.

It is all archery and bow hunting no matter what type of bow you use. It is all good and fun.

 

[Tracker1]

GilV, thanks for sharing. I did look at one option you had mentioned, just shoot low poundage traditional for fun. I can hunt with a compound or even a crossbow. I have had so much pain in my shoulders for the last two months it hurts to sleep. For the last two weeks my shoulders seem to be getting better. I just need to make sure I take enough time off.
I did shoot a lot of heavy hatchet cam bows in my younger years and that probably didn’t help.

 

[JMark]

My Bamboo backed Hickory six footer most definitely stiffens up during the last 1/3 of draw. Some might subjectively say there is a wall at about 29”. My 64” Montana R/D longbow however is a mostly consistent pull to 29”, tightening ever so slightly the last couple of inches. No other relative longbow experience to relate.

 

[Carboniac]

I only had two longbows but quite a few recurves, the 68” longbow seems to draw stiff compared to my recurves, so my question is, do longbows generally draw stiffer? Also, I see many longbows are not very long so I would think that would stiffen up the draw.
I‘m sure some longbows are different, but to those into longbows, what would you say the general differences between them and recurves are? It seems like recurves are faster for the same poundage.

uhhhh.....
wtf is "stiffness"?

Its not a term used to describe bow draws.
Logically it would just mean a bow of a heavier weight. A 50 lb bow will have a "stiffer" draw than a 40 lb bow - if we just go by the word definition.

We do use the term "smoothness." And basically smoothness is the opposite of "stack."
A "stacky" bow increases draw weight rapidly at the end of the draw cycle. A "smooth" bow a slow and steady increase in draw weight as you go through the whole draw cycle.

 

[Tracker1]

uhhhh.....
wtf is "stiffness"?

Its not a term used to describe bow draws.
Logically it would just mean a bow of a heavier weight. A 50 lb bow will have a "stiffer" draw than a 40 lb bow - if we just go by the word definition.

We do use the term "smoothness." And basically smoothness is the opposite of "stack."
A "stacky" bow increases draw weight rapidly at the end of the draw cycle. A "smooth" bow a slow and steady increase in draw weight as you go through the whole draw cycle.

Word police 😲, did I commit a trad violation 🤣.
Stiffness is a term “often used” to describe a draw on a bow, it’s the opposite of smooth. I have had many bows and limbs of the same poundage, one is smooth from the start and the other is stiff. It’s not hard for someone to understand what a stiff draw is 😉.

 

[Carboniac]

If that came across as harsh to the OP that wasnt my intention. Inexperienced shooters should ask questions.

But as to the majority of responders - really? This used to be a place where informed people gave good responses - this thread is a bunch of gibberish.

 

[Carboniac]

Word police 😲, did I commit a trad violation 🤣.
Stiffness is a term “often used” to describe a draw on a bow, it’s the opposite of smooth. I have had many bows and limbs of the same poundage, one is smooth from the start and the other is stiff. It’s not hard for someone to understand what a stiff draw is 😉.

As I said its fine that new shooters dont know terms. But terms are important.

Google Search

Google Search

People should have explained the right terms instead of getting into the meaningless conversation. Because using the right terms opens up a lot of resources.


Tghat said its makes no sense at all to say a bow is "stiff through" its whole draw cycle unless the bow is just too heavy for you - and it is impossible to know what you mean by it.

 

[Tracker1]

Wow 😲, I can’t believe the response. I have heard there were people in the trad community like this but this is the first I have encountered one on TT. Maybe it’s an ego thing 🤔.
That said, everyone on TT have been extremely kind and helpful here, something I boast about to others. I guess others on here have been shirking their responsibilities and should have been setting me straight from get go 😂.

 

[stevelong]

nothing. edited. my bad.

 

[stevelong]

yeh most on here are pretty helpful and positive with response.

 

[Supraspinatus]

uhhhh.....
wtf is "stiffness"?

Its not a term used to describe bow draws.
Logically it would just mean a bow of a heavier weight. A 50 lb bow will have a "stiffer" draw than a 40 lb bow - if we just go by the word definition.

We do use the term "smoothness." And basically smoothness is the opposite of "stack."
A "stacky" bow increases draw weight rapidly at the end of the draw cycle. A "smooth" bow a slow and steady increase in draw weight as you go through the whole draw cycle.

I think it's more complex and muddy than that. It appears to me that people use the word "smooth" to describe different things.

The most common usage is, as you say, like the opposite of stack - instead of steeply increasing stiffness near and beyond anchor point (stacking), the stiffness increase is moderate late in the draw, or in some few cases absent ( with Border's most curvy super curve limbs, for example).

But other people describe longbow draw force curves as smooth, which kind of makes sense, as the DFC of a longbow is essentially a straight line, meaning that the increase in stiffness is the same for each inch you go into the draw.

I've also seen people describe some bows/limbs as "soft." This one is confusing, but I do feel that some limbs qualify. But I think "soft" is used relative to expectations. If I'm used to the stiff early part of a super recurve draw force curve, I will find the first half of a longbow draw force curve to be "soft" by comparison. And so it is, too.

I think that archers with lots of experience describe longbow DFCs as being "linear", which is a good term, and highlights the differences between longbow DFCs and recurve & super recurve DFCs, which are curvy by comparison.

Here's a recent video from Border:

 

[Carboniac]

I think it's more complex and muddy than that. It appears to me that people use the word "smooth" to describe different things.

The most common usage is, as you say, like the opposite of stack - instead of steeply increasing stiffness near and beyond anchor point (stacking), the stiffness increase is moderate late in the draw, or in some few cases absent ( with Border's most curvy super curve limbs, for example).

But other people describe longbow draw force curves as smooth, which kind of makes sense, as the DFC of a longbow is essentially a straight line, meaning that the increase in stiffness is the same for each inch you go into the draw.

I've also seen people describe some bows/limbs as "soft." This one is confusing, but I do feel that some limbs qualify. But I think "soft" is used relative to expectations. If I'm used to the stiff early part of a super recurve draw force curve, I will find the first half of a longbow draw force curve to be "soft" by comparison. And so it is, too.

I think that archers with lots of experience describe longbow DFCs as being "linear", which is a good term, and highlights the differences between longbow DFCs and recurve & super recurve DFCs, which are curvy by comparison.

Here's a recent video from Border:

I didnt come up with the term "smoothness" and I dont even like it, but it is pretty well accepted in technical discussions of bows so I use it.

As to "linear" it seems like a more aspirational concept than anything else with bows. Smoothness is the first derivative of the DFC.

 

[Carboniac]

Im not impressed by you

Wow 😲, I can’t believe the response. I have heard there were people in the trad community like this but this is the first I have encountered one on TT. Maybe it’s an ego thing 🤔.
That said, everyone on TT have been extremely kind and helpful here, something I boast about to others. I guess others on here have been shirking their responsibilities and should have been setting me straight from get go 😂.

Im not impressed by your victimhood.

If your bow bow is "stiff" from the start of the draw and stays stiff through the cycle - it simply means you are over bowed.

 

[Tracker1]

Im not impressed by you
Im not impressed by your victimhood..

No victim here, I was being sarcastic, but you are just too angry to realize it.
You said “this thread is a bunch of gibberish”, yet you have not moved on 🤔.