Anyone know anything about archery?

[TacitBlue]

I haven't shot a bow (loosed a bow?) in at least ten years but I recently had a renewed interest in archery. I still have my two recurve bows, but most of my arrows have been lost over the years and I have no idea how to select which length, weight, shaft diameter etc. Searching the internet for this information just confuses me so what I need is a recommendation. Any help would be appreciated.

[Romulus111VADT]

This might help - http://www.bowproshop.com/choose-arrow-length.html

[ozzy72]

Read about the work of a certain Mr. R. Hood?

[patchz]

Depends on your draw length and the weight of your bow. It's been quite a while since I fooled with it and have forgotten most of what I knew. All I can remember is I was shooting an 82 lb. pull Power Mag with overdraw and aluminum arrows. I can't remember the length or size of the shafts and I sold it all when I quit.

[machineman9]

As far as I know, the length should just be so that the tip of the arrow (or just before it) is resting on the arrow shelf. That's how I've always chosen my arrows... It's probably not the best method, but just so long as your draw won't pull the arrow too far back, it seems like a good reason to choose this method.

I never really concerned myself with choosing a good weight or diameter, I just chose the nicest looking arrows... Purple and silver 'jazz' arrows with two orange and a black fletching 

[TacitBlue]

Machineman9, actually, from what I have been reading, your method for length seems to be the normal way to do it.

I've been looking at those jazz arrows and they might just do it for me.

LOL, when I was a kid I used to just use whatever arrows my parents or other family gave me, none of them matched and I shot quite well. So maybe the other things aren't as important as length.

[Apex]

My archery experiences:

Long long ago we kids would get Tommy H's bow & arrow set, the real thing, and go out into the woods with it.

[H]

LOL, when I was a kid I used to just use whatever arrows my parents or other family gave me, none of them matched and I shot quite well. So maybe the other things aren't as important as length.

I used to make bows from birch limbs or climbing a young birch tree until it bent down, then cut off its top; most of my bowstrings were baling twine. When my dad was gone I made square shafts on the table saw (I was @ 10) and fletched them with chicken feathers -- once with aluminum (which flew well after cutting above my thumb on the pass) -- and painted them with Pactra or Testor's model paint. My best one (and my only such accomplishment), however, I whittled from an exceptionally straight branch; I lost it on a range shot, whereupon, it flew many yards beyond my expectation into the woods.
Strangely, at short range I was better at accurately hitting moving targets than still ones. A garter snake was stopped cold in its slither when I hit it on the head with an untipped arrow.

8-)

[TacitBlue]

Very cool H. I've often thought of making a bow, or a medieval-style crossbow. As I said, I haven't been involved in archery for the last ten years or more, but these things still occur to me because I like making things.

Also, I found a few arrows in the attic the other day and took my 45lb recurve out and shot it. I can still hit the target bag most of the time, but I need some practice.

[H]

I've often thought of making a bow, or a medieval-style crossbow.

A fellow of French descent (many Canadian French about; some of my cousins are) that some of my ancestry's archers had beaten back the much more numerous French. He thought I was speaking of my Native American ancestry but I meant the English longbowmen at Agincourt. The longbow outreached the crossbow on that field; the Genoese crossbowmen wound up shooting their allied French knights in the back in an attempt to match them.


PS- In Thomas B Costain's The Black Rose, one of the main characters sports the longbow.

8-)

[TacitBlue]

I'm a little surprised that anyone, especially a person who uses a crossbow every day would think that they could match the range of a longbow. But I guess war can make one desperate.

I didn't metion it earlier because I don't consider crossbow shooting to be archery, as it is an entirely different skill. I have a modern recurve crossbow made by Barnett. I don't shoot it as much as I would like, but I am familiar with limitations and advantages of the crossbow. Mine differs just a little from the medieval version with fiberglass prods and a string release mechanism that would confuse even the best engineer of the time.

[H]

I don't consider crossbow shooting to be archery, as it is an entirely different skill.

Not entirely, but it's more like an alternative-powered gun. At closer range, it was more effective than a bow.

8-)

[BFMF]

Untill they make a belt fed bow, i'm not interested....

[H]

Untill they make a belt fed bow, i'm not interested....

Not quite belt fed; a lever unit made the crossbow version "somewhat" more like a bolt-action rifle but respectively even more clumsy because the loading procedure was rather 'delicate' (most archers trained for rapid-shot with a bow were more effective).

8-)

[patchz]

Untill they make a belt fed bow, i'm not interested....

Jaimie and Adam made one on MythBusters.