Draw length... am I doing this correct?

[Predator Man]

as a retired compound shooter I always shot a 28" bow. I guess I just assumed that this would be my draw length for a recurve or longbow if not longer.  I used a yard stik tonight to measure my draw by putting one end in the center of my chest and pointing the yard stick straight out. I then put my hands together out in front of me and measured 26".  I couldnt believe this so I had my girlfriend mark my arrow at full draw directly above the deepest part of the grip of my longbow. I then measured from the throat of the nock to the mark on the arrow and it was just under 26.5.  

I am 5'8" - 5'9"


Could this be?  Someone tell me if I am measuring my draw length correctly.  

I remember hearing somewhere that 26.5" from string to throat of grip was actually a 28" draw so my real draw would be 27.75? If this is true why do they measure like this?

[Big Sneaky]

You need to measure from the front of the riser.  I like to take a clothes pin and clamp it on an arrow.  Draw it back and the clothes pin will slide down the shaft as you come to full draw.  Measure from throat of nock to back of clothes pin.  That should be your draw length........Cade

[Hoyt]

Predator Man this may help you out.


  http://www.bowproshop.com/arrow-length.html

Here's another rough method...To measure your draw length, determine the length of your arm-span in inches.  Stand with your arms out and palms facing forward.  Don't stretch when measuring.  Just stand naturally.  Have someone else help you, and measure from the tip of one middle finger to the other.  Then simply divide that number by 2.5.  The quotient is your proper draw length (in inches) for your body size.

[Predator Man]

Originally posted by Big Sneaky:
You need to measure from the front of the riser.  I like to take a clothes pin and clamp it on an arrow.  Draw it back and the clothes pin will slide down the shaft as you come to full draw.  Measure from throat of nock to back of clothes pin.  That should be your draw length........Cade

This is a good idea but logically I cant see this being the correct way.  It would be close but I bet that I would get a 1" difference between my recurves and longbow because of the shelf length.  1" may as well be a football field as far as im concerned.

[Hunter 709]

I've been wondering this myself, thanks for asking the question Predator Man.

If you are shooting Hill style 26.5" to the back of the point may be about right.  John Schulz would probably encourage you to shorten that up a bit if you were shooting one of his straight gripped bows.  He went with the measurement from the chest to the finger tips most of the time for anyone he was teaching.  It worked for me to drop an inch and not stretch so much.

[Ryan Sanpei]

Most trad bowyers will use an amo draw length.  It's 1.75" added to your true draw.  You true draw is the measurement from the deepest part(throat) of your grip to where you nock your arrow on the string while at full draw.

Not all bowyers build a bow with the front of the riser 1.75" from the throat of the grip. for example my BW bows all measure 1.75" from the throat to the front of the riser, and atleast four other brand bows measure 1.5" to 1.25"

Many people will shoot a shorter draw with trad gear than with a compound.  I've seen .5" to 2" in difference at times.

[Predator Man]

Originally posted by Hoyt:
Predator Man this may help you out.


   http://www.bowproshop.com/arrow-length.html  

Here's another rough method...To measure your draw length, determine the length of your arm-span in inches.  Stand with your arms out and palms facing forward.  Don't stretch when measuring.  Just stand naturally.  Have someone else help you, and measure from the tip of one middle finger to the other.  Then simply divide that number by 2.5.  The quotient is your proper draw length (in inches) for your body size.

I found the info I needed on that link thanx Hoyt.

26.5 to the throat of the grip is 28.25 amo draw length. So thats what I was expecting.  Mini freak out over.  

[Big Sneaky]

Yep Predator you're probably right, this is just how I do it.  I have also read about the 1.75 from throat of grip.  But as S2 said above, with different bow designs you will get different draw lenght measurements.  Glad your mini freak out is over.  Have a good one........Cade

[raideranch]

I think draw length should be measured from the pivot point of the grip (most inward part of the grip) instead of the front of the riser.  Measuring it from the pivot point like you measure brace height would give you a much more consistent draw length form bow to bow instead of it changing possibly inches because of changes in riser width.   Everyone would have a shorter draw, number wise, but we would have a better measurement IMO.  The only problem is getting the measurement.  You would have to draw back an arrow and mark it the conventional way.  Then move your hand down some and draw back to the same position and have someone mark the arrow again even with the pivot point of the grip.

[bofish-IL]

I have always been told by several old trad. shooters that trad. shooters do not lock their elbow like compound shooters which will make your draw length shorter also. I don't know what I do different but when I switched from r/h to l/h I lost 1.5 draw length.

[xtrema312]

I had some one measure me drawing and arrow and thought that was my draw length, 28", but struggled with getting good release and follow through.  My compound draw was always 28.5", but shooting with a release so I figured it had to be longer with a trad bow, but a lot of people will tell you your draw length will be shorter with trad bows.  I did the yard stick in the chest thing and got 26.5".  No way was that right because my sting arm was way short of in line.  Finally I just worked on form checking with video to see when I got good alignment.  I noticed at 29 1/4" -29 1/2" it seemed about right, and I had much better follow-through with my string hand sliding back on my face and not out from my face.  This I think is the best way to check your draw.
I just did the finger tip measurement thing and divided by 2.5.  My draw according to that is 29.2".  How about that.  This measurement accounts for shoulder spread.  The center of chest measurement my work for narrow shoulders, but it doesn't work for wide shoulder people like me.  It just makes you measurement even smaller as you shoulder get wider.  From this I would say use form to determine, but if you want to measure use the tip to tip measurement.

[Rob DiStefano]

if you haven't been regularly shooting trad for at least a year or so, you may find your draw length shifting less or more.  

lots depends on how your bow arm is situated, either locked or bent or somewhere in between.  and the use of back tension (or not).  and your anchor point.  

for finger shooters, there are differences in target and hunting form styles that can drastically alter arrow length.  most paper punchers have that rigid, locked bow arm elbow, rolled out.  most bowhunters will bend the elbow, as that better allows for many different archer positions and bow angles.
 
each of us needs to figure out the best form for barebow trad archery, and that will dictate arrow length - not the other way around.

[bowslinger]

I measured my draw length using the finger tip to finger tip method and came up with 28.75 inches.  I tried the yardstick method in the center of the chest and came up with 27 inches.  I am aboout 6'0".

Interestingly, if you add 1.75 inches (see bow Pro shop link in Hoyt's post) to the yardstick measurement you get 28.75 inches.  I then drew an arrow several times with eyes open and eyes shut, using a clothes pin on the end of the arrow (Pronghorn 3-piece TD longbow).  Measuring from the nock groove to the clothes pin yielded an average measurement of 28.75 inches, which matches the fingertip to fingertip measurement.

I then went to Stu Miller's dynamic spine calculator to check what length arrow I should be shooting using a 150-grain point on a 2117 aluminum arrow.  The arrows I am currently shooting are within less than 0.5 inches in length from the recommended length for proper dynamic spine.  I came up with my arrow lenth by using OL Adcock's tuning method tutorial to find what arrow flies best from my bow.

What I learned is, shoot  the arrows that fly best from your bow.  You can use arrow selection charts, dynamic spine calculators, etcetera to give you an idea of where to start.  But in the end  trial and error will determine what arrow flies best from your bow.  There are too many shooter-dependent variables to rely on charts.  Try different set-ups (lentgh, spine, point-weight, etc.) to find what flies best.  Or in otherwords, what Rob said.

[Smallwood]

determining draw length...

 http://www.3riversarchery.com/3rdemos8.asp#1

[Kenneth]

Well I just tried these methods and holding the stick in front of me put me at 28.65", putting a clothespin on the arrow I draw 29" when I release but I drop down to 28.5 if I'm holding and then back up to 29" before I release.