Been away - Ready to have fun again

[Greg Owen]

I have been away for a few years and am ready to have fun again.  I have several fine bows to play with. I have a Black Swan Wave, McCullough Griffin, and a Kanati bow. All are in the range of 45-50# @ 28 inches.   I do have one question for the experts here. I will be shooting these to build muscle and form. Here is my question.  How much weight should I go down to on my 'fun' bow?  I would like to shoot 10-20 arrows with the heavier bow and then switch to a lighter bow to just shoot with for another hour and have a good time.  I'd like a relaxing time.  Is reducing the weight 5# enough of should I go with something even lighter?  What does your experience say? Thanks

[Orion]

Welcome back.  Depends on how heavy these feel to you.  I usually shoot about 5#-7# less for targets than for hunting, though quite often, I just use my hunting weight bows for targets as well.  Regardless, it's pretty easy to jump back and forth at that small weight difference.  

Though a really light bow will certainly identify and exaggerate any form flaws one may have, there is a point where a bow becomes too light for me.

[Captain*Kirk]

Welcome back!
I hunt with 45# recurves, but do my heavy practice and form work with a 35# Tamerlane. It helps a lot to work with a light draw bow, it exaggerates your form errors but does not overstrain your muscles.