[John in NZ]

How do you measure bow length ?
Are you ment to measure tip to tip braced.
Or are you ment to measure it un braced.
Are you ment to follow the lines of the bow or straight from tip to tip.
Either way, my supposed 60 inch Titan/SF combination actually comes in at 57.5 inches braced.
My old 68" inch Hoyt comes in at 66" braced.
But my 58" Bear Brown Bear Hunter comes in at exactly 58" braced.
So am I doing this wrong on two of them but getting it right on the other ?
Is somebody just messing with my head ?
Have I never shot the bow length I thought I was other than with my Bears or am I finally going nuts like my Mrs has always said I am ?
I can get the .5 on the Titan set up because it's an uneven number/length riser but it makes it rather hard to order new limbs if you don't know weather their talking braced, or unbraced in which you lose 2",,,unless you buy a 40 year old Bear.
And why would they call it a 68 inch bow if it's really 66 inches when you actually shoot the bloody thing.

Help,
John.

 

[wstrayer]

It is my understanding that bow length was measured from tip to tip, by following the front of the bow, while unstrung....
I have seen others question/comment on these measurements not being consistent.

 

[petew]

If you ask 10 Bowyers this you will get 12 different answers.:sbrug:

 

[DaveV]

Definitely unbraced. The difference is in how closely you follow all the curves.

 

[stevelong]

27 diff answers for sure, I thought it was nock-to-nock, following the contours on the BELLY side.

 

[Larry Hatfield]

for flight the measurement is the same as i learned in the early fifties.
nock to nock on the belly of the bow following around the recurves but not following the form of the riser. straight from limb to limb.

 

[John in NZ]

Thanks for all the replies, I measured the way Larry has described but from tip to tip not nock to nock.
Nock to nock makes them even shorter.
I think I'll just put my tape measure away now.

Cheers,
John.

 

[Larry Hatfield]

center of nock to center of nock. it works on all bows. when you string a bow it measures the same as your string length. thats the problem you are having.

 

[Rasyad]

Here is the AMO standard:

"AMO CONVENTIONAL
BOW LENGTH STANDARD
AMO Bow Length Standard is designated to be three inches longer than AMO Bow String Master that braces bow at proper String or Brace Height. Bow String Master will carry only the bow length designation. Example: A Bow String Master designated as AMO 66” (bow length) will have an actual length under tension of 63”.
Cable length is determined by placing loops over 1/4” diameter steel pins and stretching under 100 pound load and measuring from outside of pin to outside of pin. Tolerance is +-1/16”. End loops of cable will be 1 1/4” long and plastic coated.
Bow String Master shall have the following material specifications or equivalent: 1/16” 7 x 7 galvanized (Mil-C-1511) or stainless (Mil-C-5424) steel aircraft cable of 480 lb. test.
A Bow String Master Set shall consist of twenty-five Bow String Masters to measure bow lengths in one inch increments ranging from 48” to 72”; (i.e. actual string lengths 45” to 69”).
The AMO prefix to bow lengths in inches means that the bow has been manufac- tured to a length that properly uses a bow string designated with the identical AMO marking. (i.e. A bow marked “AMO 60”, 50 lb. will brace to the proper string height with a string marked “AMO 60”, 45 lb. to 55 lb.)"

Since it is not worth creating or buying steel cable Bow String Masters, I simply add 3" to the bow string of any given bow. As a practical matter, Bow length is only a rough referance for other things that really matter, like bow string length, and optimizing Draw length with the DFC of any given riser and limb combination.

Rasyad

 

[Sid]

It is my understanding that bow length was measured from tip to tip, by following the front of the bow, while unstrung....
I have seen others question/comment on these measurements not being consistent.

I would say that's right. but that ACTUALLY doesn't matter...if you follow AMO.

AMO. means if the BH is right with a standard string for that bow length, then it can be any length you want.

Bow length being determined by the name on the string packet kinda deal.

 

[Sid]

since we want a bow to conform to a compariable length at full draw, to keep string angles equal. se choose to make bows that conform to other bows, such as ILF limb are all standard lengths pretty much. So our limbs except hex5 MKII, are all the same length as the likes of Hoyt and W&W. Its just our BHs are lower, so require a non-AMO string length so to speak

 

[13033]

Using one of Mr Hatfield's creations (my 62" Howatt Hunter), I put masking tape fron nock to nock, both on the belly and the front, took it off, laid flat and measured..

They both came out to 62"

Now I'm really confused! LOL

 

[Cyrille]

If the bow length is stated as whatever inches then the string on a recurve should be approximately 4" shorter, if on a long bow 2" shorter, according to 3 Rivers