A potential foray into longbow territory

[Archie]

I grew up shooting an old compound, never with a release, always with sights.  Since 2006, I now shoot a BW PMA recurve, and really enjoy it.    I shoot with a custom homemade sight on the recurve.  Lately I've been fooling around with canting the BW and shooting by feel, not using the sights, and I like it.

I'm thinking about getting a longbow and starting to learn to shoot instinctively.  I've been following tradgang for quite a while, although I don't post much, and see that a whole lot of you guys really like shooting longbows, so I'd like to give it a try.  What's the best way to shop for a longbow?  Do reflex-deflex perform differently than D-shape?  Are they equally forgiving?  Does the fact that Howard Hughes and Byron Ferguson both shot/shoot D-shape mean anything?  

I want to get a good one that doesn't turn me off of longbows, yet doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  I would guess that I'd prefer a higher-wrist grip over the Hill-style grip.  Any thoughts?

[LongStick64]

I love (addicted) to longbows, I shoot everything from 56" ILF longbows to 70" R/D longbows and sprinkle in a few Howard Hill longbows. Performance is very close on all of them. With the right arrow, they all do the job equally well. But from my shooting, I have found that an ILF setup with the ability to use an elevated rest and plunger gives my a super accurate setup. They whole key is to make sure you do not over do the weight while you are trying to get used to shooting something new, don't let the weight take away from the experience.
I used to hear all the negatives about shooting Hill bows. Until I started shooting a 68" Hill Cheetah, 51@30. Super easy to draw, my DL is 26 so I'm getting about 36lbs. Very accurate and super fun to shoot as well. Bought it used here so I saved some, instead of buying new.
If you decide to go ILF, you can't beat a Hoyt Excel riser, about 180.00 and a pair of TT ILF longbow limbs for about 150.00. Good luck in whatever you choose.

[Ragnarok Forge]

R/D longbows tend to perform a bit better than true D shapes in the speed department.  It is easier to find a high grip ( recurve style ) riser in an R/D longbow.

[straitera]

Foray away! LB's are different than hybrids which are faster & therefore slightly more sensitive to tune. IMO, they (R/D hybrids) will give you a strong secure ride; however, so have my straight limb Hill bows for over 30 years. Much prefer the smoothness of longer Hills at least 68" ntn or longer. But, I draw 31" which may inhibit accurracy with shorter bows. Finger pinch, stacking, & limb twist, etc. influence your shot a great deal comparatively.