Can someone help me setting up my recurve??

[RobinMcHooderton]

My neighbor gave me an old spray painted recurve. I took it home and lightly sanded it down. Its a beautiful bow now that the spray paint is off. It says its a Damon Howatt, but has no model. Its a 58 amo with 50lb draw weight. I bought a new string. I bought a bow Square, and a pair of noch pliers and nochs. I have read more articles on how to properly tune a bow but I'm at  stand still. Here is my problem. I shoot 3 fingers under and i have my nock set about 1/2 inch above center. I also have the riser height at 8 inches. The bow is still pretty loud and half the time the back of the arrow jumps up above the tip during flight! What am I doing wrong??

[McDave]

If the back of the arrow jumped up above the tip all the time, it might be a tuning issue.  If it jumps up above the tip half the time, I'm pretty sure it is a form issue.  Maybe you have a high elbow and are pressing down on the arrow nock at full draw, which causes the arrow to rebound off the shelf some of the time.  Maybe you're not coming to full draw with good back tension, so you're not able to get a clean release all the time.

While I'm not familiar with your particular bow, 8" would be too low of a brace height for many recurves.  You may want to experiment around with a higher brace height, 8 1/4" - 9", and see if that quiets down the bow some.

[Hardhed]

This site will help you a lot -  http://www.bowmaker.net/tuning.htm

[RobinMcHooderton]

Thanks alot... I will try with a higher brace height and let you know how that does. Yeah my form is horrible, that prob has alot to do also.

[RobinMcHooderton]

yeah I took the brace height to 9 inches and was a little more quieter, I took it back down to 8 1/2 and was about the same. I took my nock point down to 3/8 above the center from where i previously had it at 1/2 an inch above center. My arrow kinda bends side to side in flight now instead of up and down... Can someone come down here to alabama and help me with this thing!

[McDave]

Probably 8 1/2" is a good brace height for now.  If your form isn't the greatest, I would raise the nock point back up to 1/2", or even 5/8", as that is more forgiving.  Your remaining wobbles are an indication that you need a stiffer or weaker spined arrow.  You can either experiment by trying arrows a little stiffer and weaker than the one you're using and see if you get better arrow flight, or you can (actually should, if you're serious about this) read the article on arrow tuning Hardhed referenced.

[RobinMcHooderton]

Ok. I took the nock point back to 1/2 and I am working on my form now. When I relax and focus the arrow does seam to fly smoother and straighter. I think im getting there. Do you have any tips or pointers on my form and stance?? I would like to be shooting quarters out of the air by next week if possible. Just kidding!

[McDave]

There is a lot to be said about form - it's almost as bad as golf.  When learned, and ingrained, it then needs to be forgotten, so when you shoot you can focus only on the point you want to hit.

Look down a few posts to the one called "Terry's Form Clock."  I probably learned more about good form from that, and discussions about that, than any one other thing.  But you tend to pick up a pointer here and a pointer there.

One little hint I'll leave with you, that it took me a long while to figure out: no matter what position your feet are in, your shoulders and allignment should be the same as Terry's clock.  So if you stand in an open position, you rotate your upper body into a square position with the target, usually as you draw the bow.

Learning good form, whether archery or golf, makes an incredible difference in how well you shoot.