Brace Height for Herters Perfection?

[Bible5]

I have a Herter's Perfection #50 52" long and it says the string lenght is 46inches. It is very short and curved. Can anybody help me with a brace height recommendation.

[George D. Stout]

Brace height is not etched in stone...it is a variable that must suit the shooter and his style.  The shorter bows...like your Perfection, tend to like a higher brace....say 8 to 8 1/2, but you must find what works for you.  One thing you must consider....Herter's are marked differently because they didn't adhere to AMO markings on their bows.  They measured their bows from tip to tip., so your bow is actually a 50" AMO, hence the 4" shorter string 46".

Buy or make a 47" flemish-twist and twist it to the brace height that fits your style...is quiet and shoots well for you.

[Bible5]

Thankyou ! I just made the string and was confused about the brace height. I haven't ever owned a bow this short.

[acolobowhunter]

I still have my Herters Perfection Stika and I agree with George I believe it is 8" +.  I can look in the catalog, as I still have it when I ordered it back in the early 1970's.  However it is a 66" @ 65 lbs. but the measurements still might be similar.  After that you will just have to start shooting and tuning after that.

[idahobeartrax]

I have two 52" Model Perfections from the 60's and 70's. They were my first two 'real' hunting bows when I graduated from the old 'peppermint stick' solid fiberglass bows I had as a kid. The push to short recurves that occurred in those days was not good for traditional archery. None of the short, under 56", bows made by any of the companies were forgiving. In fact, they were just plain miserable and difficult to shoot unless you had about a 24" drawlength. My opinion is that the early success of compounds can be contributed to a great degree to how hard these short recurves were to shoot well. If we had been shooting 60+" bows, the rise of the wheel bows may have been different. In the early 80's when I was shooting my first 'good' trad bow after a short stint with wheels, I had the opportunity to shoot an early Allen compound. My recurve outperformed the early compound-Hands Down!. Sorry for the rant...but I feel that the manufacturers' marketing of short recurves and the archers of the times (me included) acceptance of the sales pitch created an environment that made compounds more attractive.

So as for the brace on a 52" Herters Model perfection? They are so short, and so curved, you gotta go somewhere close to 9". As George pointed out above, it is different for everyone, and as a rule the lower the brace height you can get to shoot consistently and quietly the better.

I knew an ole' boy who used to tease me about my Herter's "Super Stackers". The guy forgot more about shooting bows and hunting than I will ever know, and as usual, he was 'on spot' with his description of the bows. My advice is to do as I have, hang your Perfection on the wall and enjoy the beautiful and really cool  curves of the bow, but don't expect too much if you decide to shoot it. Unless you are about the  size the "Eighth Dwarf", you are going to really have to work at enjoying shooting the bow.

If you happen to have an interest in a couple of 'lefty' 52" Perfections; lets talk!

[Bible5]

Thanks for all the info ! It does seem very stacky...but I picked it up (and a #40 Black HAwk Wasp) at a flea market for $20 ,with a pile of old 2018 shafts I just couldn't pass up the deal as both were covered inold camo socks and were perfectly mint underneath.  May be I will just hang it after I try and shoot it or just give it away to somebody who want to learn to shoot. "Old Bows never die...they are just given away"