Brace height question

[rugbybow]

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I am new to traditional bows and have a Hoyt/Easton Hunt Master Takedown Recurve. It has an AMO 68 and is 45#. What does my brace height need to be? Also does anyone know where I might get a copy of the owner’s manual?

[jhansen]

I can't help you with a manual but there is a rule of thumb for bows.  All this assumes that you have the right arrow for the bow in terms of spine and weight.  For a recurve start at 8" measured from the deepest part of the grip.  Shoot the bow.  If it is noisey slip the top end of the string off the bow and give it a few twists to shorten it.  You should be able to see what direction the string was twisted in when it was made.  It's usually counter-clockwise.  The bow should be a little quieter when you shoot it now.  If you are still hearing a snapping or popping sound give the string a few more twists and shoot again.  Ideally, you will reach a point where the sound is a muted "thump".  Go slow and don't add too many twists at a time. The bow should get quieter and if you go too far it will get noiser again.  9" is about the max fistmele (brace height) for most recurves so if you get that far you need to rethink what is going on.    

I'm sorry that I can't give you a set measurement for fistmele on your bow.  The fact is that two apparently identical bows can require a different fistmele.  Learning to adjust the fistmele for any bow is a matter of experience.  You learn to hear what the bow is telling you.  To make matters worse, once you find the quietest setting you may need to tweak it a bit to get best flight from a given weight/spine of arrow.  It's all part of the fun though and before you know it you will be showing others how it's done.  Oh, and before I shut up the starting point for a longbow is about 6 1/2" with a max of 8".

John

[rugbybow]

Thanks John, I found out a friend of mine is also a traditional bow hunter and he took my bow home and got every thing set up correctly. I had multiple things wrong with my setup. I should have better groups now that it is at least set up correctly! one other question, I am left eye dominate but I am shooting right handed. I am shooting instinctively, is this crazy or should I adjust my shooting?

[jhansen]

You will get different answers to the eye dominance question.  Some say to switch to shooting lefty.  Others say don't worry about it.  I think it is different for different people.  Some do well by learning to shoot with the other hand.  Others don't.  Whichever you decide you have to accept that your learning curve may be slower than you would like.  Your brain is an incredible machine that will learn to handle the problem given the chance.  I'd suggest practice with your dominant hand for a while and see if you can learn to shoot well.  You can always "go lefty" later if necessary.

Glad you got your bow straightened out!
John

[rugbybow]

Yea that is about what I figured. If I learn to shoot right handed and get good groups then who cares! Like you said my ability to get the grouping I desire may take a bit longer but I'm not going anywhere anytime soon!

Thanks,

Tim