Posted: 6/21/2008 2:17:41 PM EDT
| ok so I'm looking at getting a longbow for target practice and maybe a little hunting later on. I was into target shooting with a recurve bow a couple of years ago and want to get back into archery. Does anyone have any experience with longbows in general? any help will be greatly appreciated. |
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I'm not sure what you want to know about long bows. Their fun to shoot. I'm not sure what kind of money your looking at getting. They are like fire arms. You can get into one for around 100 bucks and you can spend as much as 2 K. Whatever you get you need to make sure your arrows are properly spined if you shoot wood arrows and you get into the 100lb+ range. Spine is Diameter of arrow. Aluminum or carbon graphite shafts will be a non factor. If your getting into into long bows and you never have shot them be prepared for them to stack. Stacking is as you draw it will become incrementally harder to pull back. IE if the draw of the bow is 28 inches and it's 100lb then it will start off as a hard pull but the closer you get to the 28 inches it will be harder to pull back. Another thins is you can get more lbs out of a long bow if you over draw it. My friend has a 32 in draw(Orangutans arms  ) my bow is no longer a 100lb bow. My bow shoots around 125 may be more when he shoots and is substantially harder to pull a full 32in draw. Re curves for the most part don't stack. a 80lb re curve is 80lbs at 28in or 32in draw and if the strength that is needed to pull a 80lb bow 32 inches is the same as if you pulled it 28 inches. Before you buy a long bow you need to string it and shoot it to see how badly it stacks. As any bow you need to Look for cracks and if it is laminated make sure it's not coming apart. Oh and if it is over 7 ft good luck having it shipped. It will cost substantially more to ship vs a 6 ft one. I hope this helps |
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I have been hunting and shooting with a long bow for about 10 years. Without meaning any disrespect, much of what Tab wrote is not exactly correct. Before you buy any longbow, unless you are buying it from a traditional-only archery shop, I would strongly suggest that you do three things: 1) Get a subscription to Traditional Bowhunter magazine. 2) Attend a traditional shoot in your area. 3) Find someone who is a traditional shooter, and try some of their equipment out. A 45 pound bow is a good weight to start with. It may not be legal to hunt deer with, if that is your goal. If you are just starting into archery, I would suggest getting a decent bow at a lower weight, and learning to shoot well, then, as you develop knowledge, get a good bow and some good matched arrows. Spine weight refers to the flexibility of a shaft. Depending on the draw weight, draw length, relative speed of your bow and weight of the point, you might need a stiffer or more flexible shaft. My cedar shafts are cut to 28.5" and with a 160 grain point weigh 600 grains. For my bow, a 58" longbow that draws 60 pounds at 27 inches, the best spine weight is about 65 pounds. Extremely stiff arrows are typically not needed, and certainly not for a 45 pound bow. You do not need a longer bow simply because you are 6'1". If you are hunting from a treestand, you might prefer a shorter one. I prefer 60'ish inches. I have one of this man's bows, and it is a good one: http://www.dwyerlongbows.com/ Here is a traditional archery supplier with, among other things, some good archery books: http://www.3riversarchery.com/ Good luck - Whelen |
| The best thing right now you can do is go to www.archerytalk.com, it is the ar15.com of the bow world. There will be a lot of great info there. |