Welcome! My oldest son shot a browning youth compound when he was little. You'll get some great help here. Do you have a price you want to stick with?

 

If a takedown will work for you then a good bow would be the Excel. I bought a Samick SAGE to start with and its fine but when I got the Excel, the SAGE had to go. The main thing is DO NOT overbow yourself. Start out with a 30lb bow and work your way up. I made that mistake and it cost me some dinero.........

 

Welcome...help is on it's way. While you wait I would think of a dala if your looking for a metal riser....

I would get some light weight limbs to start say 30#...YEAH I KNOW that seems real light...well trust me you will get better form faster with it and then you can work up to some heavier limbs...50# is about all you need for hunting too BTW.

Jer

 

rembrant is spot on. The Excel is a good riser, but I just happened to check the trading blanket and there is a 20" TD3 for sale. $100 Very nice riser for that price.

 

Welcome! Most of us go through many bow setups until we settle on favorites. The easiest way to do that is to get a good riser, black metal in your case, that is made to the ILF (international limb fitting) system. Then you can choose from many ILF limbs in the used and new markets. Figure on an arrow rest and a plunger to ease tuning. Might as well get a good riser, rest plunger and quiver.

Start with very light draw weight so you can learn excellent form and shoot a lot of arrows without fatigue. I suggest 30 pounds, a cheap used pair of limbs. They will likely be white or silver with graphics and may look lousy with your black riser. Live with it or spray paint them, you will be moving up to 35 pounds soon. 35 is the great training and indoor archery draw weight. With light arrows you will get the same trajectory you will later get with heavier tackle for long range targets or for hunting.

I favor aluminum arrows for your purposes as you can trim them for length for tuning purposes with a simple tubing cutter from the hardware store and a stick of hot melt glue. Aluminum is also generally the cheapest, straightest and most accurate shaft material and has about the right weight for recurve bows.

So go shopping and then get back to us for the next step. When you have your riser length (I favor longer) limb weight (I favor lighter) get back to us for arrow spine (flexibility) choices and point weight. - lbg

 

Hrmm, so the common theme is a starter bow with around 30# pull to learn form? Dang, I was hoping to automatically get amazing end of the line equipment immediately and be set for life like I did with my remington 700 but I do see the logic in what you all are saying.

 

The 700 in 30-06 is my end of the line hunting rifle, but, most of my practice is done with one of my .22s, I can easily shoot one of them 2-300 times a day w/o fatigue, 50 rounds out of the '06 and I'm beat, and broke for the day. and the last 30 or so shots are just me making noise. Same with bows, my 40# I can shoot for quite a while without fatigue, the 55# 10 shots or so, then I'm fighting the bow. and as soon as I can get it by the finance minister, I'll be picking up a 30#

 

Belile, welcome to the forum.

 

Listen to what Longbowguy has to say. Start light and learn good form. With an ILF set up you can get a good riser and keep it as you progress. Get a set of lower end ILF limbsm 30lbs and start practicing. You are going to want to shoot a lot of arrows.

I just worked with an archer who spent a lot of money on a custom (as in made by a bowyer craftsman) longbow - 53 lbs. Beautiful bow but way to heavy for the archer. He was spraying arrows all over the target. Nothing beautiful about that. Go with 30lb limbs. Build good form and stamina. Then move up in weight.

If you are anywhere near a shop, club or range, go hang out and shoot as many bows as you can. While metal risers have a lot of advantages, some people (yours truly included) do not like the way that they feel. There is a lot of subjectivity in archery.

Good luck.

 

Welcome to the forum!

I'll say the same thing, samick sage, 35#, shoot a lot.

But most importantly, have fun!

 

This is the same path I'm taking based on what I read prior to my joining here.

I'll add one more thing: keep reading. There's a ton of information here already written, and pretty much everybody is willing to share their experiences just for the asking!

 

Welcome!

Liam

 

Ya my 700 is .308 and I love it, bull barrel, aftermarket pistol grip stock, bipod,etc. but anyway back to bows! So when looking for a riser do I go by feel in my hand or are there specifications I need to watch for. And with limbs, they come with a set #? I was under the impression that the # was all from the strings material or tightness

 

Where are you in Texas? Maybe we can find someone close to you to shorten your journey.

 

San Marcos, it's near Austin

 

When you talk about shooting target, followed by hunting, what kind of target shooting do you have in mind? 3D, bullseye, FITA, field? I'm assuming you plan to shoot barebow or Trad. Is that correct?

How is San Marcos ranked among the party schools now?

 

We haven't been high ranked for that for a while haha, but UT in Austin is top 3 in nation. Targets will probably be bullseye for the most part. And yes barebow

 

Welcome, some good advice above.

 

Welcome! yep, good advice so far. only thing i can add: the poundage listed on a recurve/longbow is listed as what it is when pulled to 28". now, having said that, if your drawlength has you pulling shorter than that, you'll be pulling less weight, and if your draw is longer, well then, you are pulling more. typically, a bow will pull around 2-3# per inch more when you go past 28, and about 2# per inch for under 28, also. so if'n your draw is 26, then you'd want 35# to get about 30 at your draw, and if you draw longer.... your best bet, if possible is to get to a traditional pro shop and have them check your draw length. if there isn't a shop near you, let us know and we can walk you through a way to measure yourself.

-rich