Same riser. Two sets of limbs. Hitting arm with one set?

[jonsimoneau]

My buddy and I have been working on form a lot. Last night when he was over he was shooting a bow with two sets of limbs. One set is longbow limbs. The other is recurve limbs. When he shoots the recurve limbs he has not problem. But when he put the longbow limbs on he was hitting his arm one out of three shots. Why is this?  The brace height is the same for each set of limbs. And he is gripping the bow the same way too since it is the same riser. Any ideas?

[moebow]

Is his elbow rotated in?  Probably need video of the two different bows being shot to tell for sure.

Arne

[jonsimoneau]

Arne the thing I don't get is it is the same riser so same grip. He is only hitting his arm with the longbow limbs. Maybe he is gripping the bow wrong but for whatever reason the recurve limbs are masking it?  I could see it with two different bows but I'm confused by it since all he did was switch limbs. Hmmmmm.

[McDave]

Are both limbs the same weight?

[jonsimoneau]

McDave the longbow limbs are five pounds lighter.

[Guru]

Jon, I wonder if, on the longbow, the string might travel forward more on recovery than the recurve?

[McDave]

Since the longbow limbs are lighter weight, he could be getting his body more into the bow with the longbow limbs. Or, said another way, he might not quite be coming to full draw with the recurve limbs so that he ends up shooting in a somewhat more open stance, which would put his bow forearm further away from the string. You could check this by standing on a chair behind him and observing the gap between his forearm and the bow as he draws each set of limbs. Or, just put an arrow on his shoulder blades and see if it points more to the left of the target at full draw when he's shooting the recurve.

If that is the case, he might actually be shooting with better form with the longbow limbs, and might just need to use an armguard, or adjust his elbow rotation, as Arne suggests.

[moebow]

One thing you could try, to start to trouble shoot the problem.  Have him come to full draw with the recurve limbs and measure the distance from perpendicular to the arrow to the biceps.  Should be about 4 inches for an adult male.  Then do the same with the LB limbs, should be about the same.  If not, what Dave is saying is most likely correct.

Arne

[jonsimoneau]

Ok guys. If he makes it over tonight I will try that. I'll probably break out the video camera too.

[jonsimoneau]

Guys. Thanks to all of your suggestions we discovered the problem. What was happening is this. It was all in his bow arm. When he started his draw he had his elbow pointed outward. And when he was at anchor it remained this way. (He is the type of shooter like myself who "holds" for a few seconds.). However when he began to pull through his release he was subconsciously rotating his bow arm elbow down just before release which was causing him to hit his arm occasionally.  This is bad form as we know and his recurve limbs were masking it somewhat.  Since I am the one who taught him how to shoot I became curious as to whether or not I was sometimes doing the same thing. Video cameras do not lie. I noticed that I too sometimes do this. And I too sometimes hit my arm with a longbow!  Luckily this is an easy fix that will improve accuracy with both the longbow and the recurve. What a revelation!  Thanks guys!