Gap Shooting Problem

[Porkchop1]

I'm switching from instinctive to gap shooting and I'm confused.  I shoot a recurve that's 45#@28" and my draw is 26".
I've been shooting for about 20 years so my form is consistent.  I changed to 3 under to get the point closer to my eye.  Then I practiced first at 10 yards.  Placed my arrow tip on the bulls eye and the arrow struck about 15" above the bull, I shot 12 arrows like this then dropped my arrow tip 15" below the bull and I was shooting a small plate group in the bull.  Then I jumped to 20 yds and did the same thing.  But my arrow struck about 30" above the bull.  Is this normal and if this holds true I'll be holding 10 feet below the bull when I'm at 40 yds (exaggerating for effect).  And is there a book that teaches gap shooting that's easy to understand?

[reddogge]

My only thought is you have a low anchor so the arrow is still rising at 20 yards from 10 yards. Most guys who gap are shooting fairly high anchors, ie: middle finger corner of mouth. My point on distance is 30 yards with this anchor and I'm shooting split finger!

Try finding your point on distance first and work back to the target. I'd stop at 15 yards, not 10.

[Porkchop1]

My only thought is you have a low anchor so the arrow is still rising at 20 yards from 10 yards. Most guys who gap are shooting fairly high anchors, ie: middle finger corner of mouth. My point on distance is 30 yards with this anchor and I'm shooting split finger!

Try finding your point on distance first and work back to the target. I'd stop at 15 yards, not 10.

I thought you wanted the nock closer to your eye? So I switched to 3 under. My split finger draw is middle finger to the corner of my mouth.  I'll go back to split finger and try that.  Unfortunately my range doesn't have a 15 yard target, so I'm stuck with 10.  Thanks for the help.

[McDave]

This is how gap works for me for a typical bow/arrow combination.  The gaps will change with other bow/arrow combinations.

10 yards - 10” gap
15 - 15”
20 - 20”
25 - 24”
30 - 20”
35 - 15”
40 - 10”
45 - 0” (point on)
50 + 15”
55 + 36”
60 + 72”


Note that negative gaps increase until about halfway to point-on, and then decrease until point-on.  Then they start increasing again in a positive direction as far out as your bow will shoot.  If you imagine the arc of the arrow as you are aiming directly at a spot at your point-on distance, it arcs up until it gets about halfway to your point-on, and then decreases until it hits the point you are aiming at at point-on.  To use gap, you take the height of the arc above your line of sight and place your arrow point that same distance below the line of sight in order to hit your target.

[reddogge]

I thought you wanted the nock closer to your eye? So I switched to 3 under. My split-finger draw is middle finger to the corner of my mouth.  I'll go back to split-finger and try that.  Unfortunately my range doesn't have a 15-yard target, so I'm stuck with 10.  Thanks for the help.
[/quote]

That's the idea but I have been shooting this type of bow split-finger since I was a boy in 1955 and am reluctant to change. Besides, as mentioned, my point on distance is only 30 yards with this type of grip, well manageable for hunting and 3-D. I also gap at the riser so my gaps are 1" @ 20 and 15, 1/2" @25, point on @30.

[Wolftrail]

I would try adjusting the nock height before doing anything.   I found that accuracy, 3 under or split did nothing either way.  I prefer instinctive but thats my 2 bits worth.  Shooting 3-D gap does not work so well for me.  But I read some good stuff on here so I will take it to heart and try some gap shooting as per post.

[mahantango]

Look up Jimmy Blackmons  "The gap compromise" on YouTube. Best explaination/instruction I've ever seen.

[YosemiteSam]

I'm no expert at this but I'll give it my best.

Projectice physics are pretty universal.  If you're familiar with rifle shooting basics, think of it like setting up a scope/rifle for MPBR. 

Here's something typical for a deer rifle (purely hypothetical & rough):
0 yards = -1.5"
25 yards = 0
100 yards = +3"
200 yards = 0
250 yards = -3"
MPBR = 250 yards.

For gap shooting with one of my bows, I'd see something like:
0 = 0 (don't try it, though)
10 yards = +9"
15 yards = +12"
20 yards = +8"
25 yards = 0
30 yards = -10"

There are always two zeros as the arc of the projectile trajectory crosses the line of sight.  For a rifle, it's further out since the sights are elevated.  For a bow, the first zero is at the "muzzle" since it's the arrow itself that is the front sight.

As mentioned, Blackmon's video on the gap compromise is great.  There are a number of things you can do to lower the arc of trajectory, or even just the perception of it.  Anchor points & arrow length both cause a change in the angle between your eye, the arrow tip and the nock.  The sharper the angle, the flatter the trajectory at closer distances (low gap variance).  The wider the angle, the greater the variance in your gaps at these ranges.  You can adjust the angle by anchoring higher and/or having longer arrows. 

Then you can also make your arrows lighter or heavier to adjust the speed.  Lighter arrows will show larger gaps but will have lower variance in those gaps over distance.  Heavier arrows will have smaller gaps but a greater variance in the gaps.

The best thing I ever experienced for keeping small gaps is long arrows.  Last year, I moved to a shorter bow that I prefer for hunting.  But putting 32" arrows into a bow quiver that's mounted on a 50" bow gives up a lot of the advantage of that 50" bow (lower limb clearance).  So I went with very heavy, short arrows as a compromise to keep the gaps within reason.

Much over 10" or so, gaps become more difficult for me to estimate -- especially on smaller targets like turkeys.  I can picture a handspan width on just about any target but 20" or 30" is a lot harder.  The point of the arrow is somewhere in the dirt.  Blackmon also put out a more recent video showing how to gap at the riser using a little cheater mark to set the vertical gap.  While it may or may not be legal for competitions, it's proven its value at my home range.  I put a little white line on the riser that I can see at full draw that sets the vertical gap at about 19 yards.  So from 10-22 yards, I'm +/- 3", assuming I did everything else right (not always a safe assumption).

Hope that helps a little.