• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Beginners guide to archery (Archery 101) BY MARK DUERDEN Welcome to Phoenix’s beginners guide to archery. This archery 101. In this guide you will learn: 1. How to find if you’re left or right-handed 2. About the various types of archery bows and styles. And you’ll find out which type is best for your style, level, and 3. How to choose the right arrow type to match your bow Pt1: How to find your dominant eye shooting eye Figure 1 - Click the above image and watch our Youtube video on this subject Before you start shooting any bow you need to find your dominant shooting eye. For instructions on how to find your dominant eye, you can either watch the short video above. Or do the following: 1. First, make a little triangle with your hands like this (see the Youtube video cover) and look at something. 2. Next, put your hand away from you whilst keeping them in a triangle shape. 3. Last, bring it slowly back to the eye you want to look through. Your hand will naturally be attracted to your dominant eye. As you can see in the video, when I did it, my hand ends up on my right eye. So that means I’m right-handed. I’ll hold the bow in my left hand. And I’ll pull the string back with my right hand (with the arrow under the dominant eye). That’s how you find your shooting eye and how you aim. You need to do this before you decide what bow you want to shoot. That way you’ll know whether you need to buy a left or right-handed bow. So, before you go any further find out which is your dominant shooting eye. Pt 2: The 7 Type of Archery Bows Figure 2- Click the above image and watch our Youtube video on this archery bows Fiberglass bows Fiberglass bows are great for groups like scouts, schools, and army cadets. They’re also a decent choice for the absolute beginners or very young archers. The reason? Because they’re tough, robust and difficult to break. Some wood bows types are easy to break. Especially if you dry fire them. Archery Tip 1: What is a dry fire? In archery, a dry fire (or dry loosening) is where you fire a bow without an arrow in place. This can happen for various reasons. Sometimes it might be because the bow is missing the arrow, or the arrow breaks whilst being drawn, or the arrow is misfired. When a dry fire occurs when energy – which should have been transferred to the arrow – ends up being sent back into the bow. This can cause significant damage to the bow. The amount of damage depends on the bow type being fired and the amount of energy which is released. Compound bows are significantly affected by this due to the amount of energy stored in their limbs when drawn. In addition, fiberglass bows don’t come in many weights like the other bows. The maximum weights on fiberglass bows are around 26 pounds for the model in the video. Fiberglass bows are also ambidextrous too. So, you can shoot them whether you’re left or right-handed. To conclude: they’re versatile, virtually indestructible and don’t require much strength to shoot. This is why they’re a great choice for kids clubs, schools, and beginners. They’re also cheap to buy. The downside is that fiberglass bows don’t come in heavy draw weights and poundages. Prices for fibreglass bows start at about £35. A great beginners fiberglass bow to start with is the Rolan Snake Bow. If you buy a fiberglass bow from us we’ll put the rest on, we’ll put the string on, and we will put the nocking point on. If you run a club, school or another group we can provide you with these bows in bulk. Just get in touch with us regarding prices and availability. Junior recurves Wooden bows are what I would class as the next step up in a beginner’s bow (when compared with the fiberglass bows). Yet again, a junior recurves are a good choice for a new archer, the cubs, the scouts, girl guides, the army cadets, schools, young archer, and absolute beginners, etc. Figure 3- It’s easy to know whether the bow you are using is right or left handed. The arrow shelf would sit over your knuckles The bow I’m shooting is a right-handed bow in the video and the image above image. You can tell it’s right-handed because the arrow should be sitting over your knuckles. If it’s left-handed, it wouldn’t feel correct when firing. And the arrow wouldn’t be over your thumb. It would feel weird. The bow in the above image and video does not use ILF limb fittings. Archery tip 2: What are ILF fittings? ILF stand for “International Limb Fitting”. ILF fittings are a standardised way of fitting limbs onto risers. If a riser is described as ‘ILF’ it means that ILF limbs can be fitted to it. This ensures that limbs and risers are compatible with each other, even if the limbs and risers are manufactured by different companies. When using ILF fittings you need to unscrew the bolt to take the limbs off. It can be a bit slow. In the video, it takes me a minute to unscrew the bolts and remove the limbs. Tip: always make sure you put the limbs on the correct way around. It might sound obvious but not all wooden bows show you how to do this. Basically, the limb which has the weight on it goes to the bottom. And the other limb goes to the top. Figure 4- When dealing with ILF fittings, the limbs with the weight on it goes to the bottom Always have the curve facing away from you. Also, the limb with no writing goes to the top. The other limb with writing on it goes to the bottom. I would recommend using a stringer to fit your string. I wouldn’t try any other way. You can buy bow stringers from our shop. This above picture and the link is a bow stringer. They are around £5.50. You can buy cheaper ones, but I don’t like them. The ones I recommend are thick. They’re like car seatbelt material. They’re strong and will last years. In conclusion: Wooden bows are great bows for new archers and juniors. However, they’re more advanced than the fiberglass bows. Wooden bows come in various sizes: from junior heights right up to adults’ sizes (Around 54” – 70” tall). The average draw weight for a wooden bow is around 10 pounds up to 38 pounds. And the prices of these bows start at around £70. In my opinion, there’s little difference when it comes to brands and makes. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t matter really what they say on them. They’re all probably made in the same factory in China. But that doesn’t stop them being great bows. We can get the Sebastian Flute ones which are now WNS. The ones in the video and pictures are Armex ones. We can get Core ones too. There’re loads of them about. And we can get whichever ones you want. If you think of a bow make, we can get it. Just contact us (phone 01282 425 967) if you have your eye on anything. Wooden recurves Wooden recurve bows are made of wood but use fiberglass limbs. They also have a wood core and wood risers. You can shoot off the shelf or use a rest with these bows. The bow in the video doesn’t come with any bushings. This means you can’t attach things like sights and stabilizers to the bow. So, it’s better for those seeking to practice traditional style archery. Wooden recurve bows more advanced, and I wouldn’t recommend them for the absolute beginner. Likewise, wooden recurves are not as customizable as the recurve with metal risers. The bow in the video is a takedown bow. You can tell it’s a takedown as the limbs come off. And the limbs in the image and video are ILF limb fittings. You can get one-piece recurves. And, like the takedowns, these come in various sizes. Figure 5 - In this pic I’m holding a takedown recurve bow (left and a one-piece recurve (right) The size of the bow you choose is determined by your height. Contact us if you want any advice on this. Just let us know how tall you are, and we’ll find a bow which is suitable comes with suitable draw length. Rule of thumb is: at 60-inches in height you will have about a 29-inch draw. If you wanted a longer draw (like 30 plus) you’ll want a longer bow. One-piece recurves come in various sizes, weights, and styles. And you can get left and right-handed versions of these types of bows. When choosing a recurve bow you need to decide whether you want a one-piece or a takedown style. A lot of people like the takedown style as you can pack them away in a small space. They can be packed into your car more easily as you can disassemble them (or take them down). I can’t recommend you one over the other.

Load more

  18

Copy Link