Follow through

[8Crow]

Hello all, I have a question about follow through that I will test out through practice, but I'd like to get some insight from all of you in the meantime.

I shot my new (to me) longbow for the first time last weekend and after taking some close shots just to get a feel for it, I launched a few at 50 yards or so to get a feel for how the arrows were flying.  The results were not so hot...the arrows took a sort of swirling path.  At first I thought it was an arrow spine issue, but the arrows weren't fish-tailing so much as they were taking a sort of looping path to the target.  Then later, someone with a completely untrained eye happened to notice that when I missed widely, my bow hand was also dropping at release.

About me and my setup...64" cut on center (or at least close to it, I guess) longbow pulling around 51-53 lbs at my ~30" draw length.  I was using full length, 32" carbons in a 340 spine and 100 gr practice tips.

I've shot compound for years and I'm sure my follow through has always been less than ideal, but I've never noticed that sort of arrow behavior.  So that's my question...is a sort of wide, swirling arrow flight what you get when you drop your bow arm or should I be looking for other causes?  It makes sense to get some movement if I drop my arm, I know.  I was just surprised at how exaggerated it was.

[Terry Green]

Bad form and the wrong spine arrows can wreak havok on arrow flight.

Hard to tell where to start without watching you shoot.

[Guru]

Like Terry said, hard to tell without seeing ya shoot.

But if I had to guess, I'd say it sounds like a spine issue...

I'd guess too stiff...try adding heavier heads in small increments and see if it straightens out. I'd think about 200gr. should be close.

good luck

[BobCo 1965]

Form inconsistancies can drive you nuts when trying to tune.

I would suggest that tuning is done over time and not necessarily in one session.

You can only tune as well as you shoot.

Also, this probably is not a final follow through position inconsistancy, it is something that is going on before the final follow through position.

[mahantango]

Those arrows sound stiff, even at a 30" draw. I would try loading the points up to at least 200gr. maybe 250.

[8Crow]

Thanks guys.  I haven't had a chance to shoot again, have been extremely busy, but I will hopefully make it out again soon.  I ordered some 150 gr tips before I opened this thread, so I'll see if those are incrementally better or just the same.  As for BobCo's comment...that wouldn't surprise me.  When I shot my compound, I had a habit of aiming with an open bow hand and then clenching down on it as I release, so I started wrapping my fingers around the grip a little more to prevent that feeling that I might drop the bow on release (all mental, I know), and that helped.  Maybe you're talking about something even earlier in the process?