Hill and Schultz Longbows

[Airdale]

I have seen some older Hill bows and Schultz bows made without shelf or window leather or rug material, just plain old wood.  Others have also followed this trait.  How do they shoot?  Pros/cons.

[centaur]

JD Berry is making the Heritage, which is a shelfless Hill style which harkens back to those days of yesteryear. It shoots very well. There is a bit of a learning curve, but if you have shot Hill style, it won't take too long before it feels natural.

My go to bow this year is the prototype Heritage, from James Berry no leather against the bow and a very minimal leather ledge that extended just past the center of a 11/32 wood shaft.  The bow is 3/4" at the arrow contact point, no sight window.  I use the bow both left handed and right handed.  I shoot the same spine wood shafts that I do out of similar weight standard longbows.  I cannot tell that there is any draw backs when using smooth wood arrow or any additional sound.  It has been a very deadly deer and small game bow for me so far.

[Jim Picarelli]

I shot my JET without leather...shot just fine

[Charlie Lamb]

Howard Hill shot without any leather covering on the bow as regards arrow passage. He and many of his contemporaries looked at any padding on the arrow pass as a crutch to cover a bad release... in which event the arrow would make an audible "click" as it passed the bow.

As far as benefits of shooting with or without leather padding I'm not sure there are any.

[Green]

To my knowledge, I'm the only shooter of James Heritage that has a shelf on his bow.  Just a 1/8" slip of leather under the grip and it's really not necessary.

   

   

I've owned almost 30 Hill/Hill style bows over the last few years and this is the most natural shooting one I've owned.  As for the plate, I haven't found a need for anything there.  With a properly matched wood arrow, the bow makes no noise during the draw.

[two4hooking]

Hill Shot this way as did Bob Swinehart.  One advantage not already stated was to increase the spine range that would fly well as you are moving the bow more toward center shot.  

Nate Steen also sells his Sunset Hill bows with no sideplate and inlays a little round piece of leather under the finish at the arrow pass.  I have some sideplate material on mine currently just so I can shoot a lighter spined cedar that I have a surplus of, but it shots fine without it.  It is just another thing that can be removed for simplicity sake if you desire.

[Orion]

Agreed that removing the leather side plate brings the arrow closer to the center of the bow, increasing the acceptable spine range of the arrow. But it's not a very large difference.

The bow pictured, Green's JD Berry, has no cut in arrow shelf at all, which has a much larger affect on spine required. Even though the riser in this area appears to be thinned considerably from side to side, the arrow pass is still prouder of center than a cut in arrow shelf would be, putting the arrow further from the center of the bow and reducing the acceptable spine range.  Not a big issue.  Matching spine just has to be more precise on a bow that doesn't have a cut in shelf.  I like the simplicity and sleekness of it.

[mike g]

My latest HHA Tembo Is shefless so I can shoot it both ways, Hence the bow's name Ambi.
    I don't use a strike plate on it, But I do have a 1/8 piece of leather for somewhat of an arrow rest, Not really needed.
    I ordered the Grip to be 3/4 wide and 2" deep.
I have no problem shootin it at all....

[Green]

Orion....you are correct, the riser is a mere 3/4" thick at the pass, and the widest part of the limbs at the fades are 15/16". These bows are extremely spine tolerant.

When i got the call from James that the bow was coming, I started all kinds of elaborate testing plans because I was not sure what to expect.  I picked some prime Wapitis,44# with 125s, 47# with 145 and 160s, 53 with 160s, Surewoods 55, 57 and 58 with 160s, 1816 with 125s, 1818s with 125, 145 and 160s, and 1918s 28" with 145s and 27" with screw in 145s, 170, 200s and 160s on glue-on one piece tapers.  All are 27" bop except the 28" 1918s.   1818s with the 160s were to light, 1918s 27" with 145 screw ins were too stiff.  All of the rest fly fine.  I shot a 55 Wapiti with a single bevel Hill that was down to its last sharpening that was 148 grains through a buck that ran 80 yards and as far as I could tell, that arrow flew perfect as well.  It was a rather long shot and all I saw was feathers rotating around the nock all the way until it disappeared  through the deer.  Perhaps the performance of this bow has something to do with its spine tolerance, it is about as fast as a Robertson longbow that is 3 pounds heavier, which also happens to be the same cast as my 53 pound Morningstar.   I also think that the strength of one's release may have a lot to do with spine tolerance.  I shoot alternate hands, bows like this are very useful for me.  The argument of having something more center shot a bit has some merit for those that only shoot one side, but like Dick Robertson told me, that with longbows it seems that the arrow wants something to fly around.  I also can imagine that on a rainy day the launch of an arrow against a hard wood surface  may be different than the launch of arrow against a wet piece of deer skin.

[zagaya]

Didn't know anyone was doing this, but I don't get out much.  Very cool.  The leather insert is very much like St Charles did in the Billets to Bow movie.

I put thicker inserts in mine, my next one will have them as well.  I like to occasionally hang the bow with an arrow on the string when I am hunting.  Gots to have an arrow rest to do that, but really a finger makes a good arrow rest as long as the feather quill edges don't cut. I do think that a rest does help some for arrow handling when hunting the way I do, sit some/ sneak some/sit all day on a Huntmor hiding.

[Moots]

Back to the top for a great bow -- the Heritage.  I have one on order, and can't wait.

Rob
(Moots)