Shooting Longbow

[PZee]

So I'm still in England, 2 months after I thought we'd be settled in South Africa.....

Anycase, I've got some time on my hands and drove to one of the bigger archery stores in the area. Basically they have 1 whole wall dedicated to the darkside (wheels), 1/2 a wall for olympic style recurve, 1/4 for English Longbows (What I shoot), 4 American Longbows and 2 recurves. I shot all 6 the tradbows and was very disappointed. 2 longbows were Black hawk bows for about $120, made in china, the other 2 were Petron bows, $400, made by this store. All 4 of these kicked like mules, and actually left my wrist hurting, although I did get good groupings at 25yrds with the cheaper chinese made bows. I wont mention the recurves as I really didn't get on with them at all.

Now my question is, I've been looking to buy a Longbow for a while now to use in SA for hunting. Was this just a bad experience at a store where they really don't know about these bows, or will shooting longbows always be like that? I did ask the salesman if they had the correct brace height, and he just looked at me with a blank expression. I wasn't looking to buy any of these bows in anycase, I would rather buy a second hand 2 or 3pc here in the classifieds. But now it's put a bit of doubt in my mind, as my ELB is a really smooth bow to shoot. Although I have made a few board bows and laminated bows and none shot like that, is it maybe the glass?

Thanks for your help and advice in advance

Pete

[McDave]

I have longbows made by Morrison, Black Widow and Robertson, and none of them kick like that.  In fact, my Morrison longbow probably kicks less than my recurves.

Modern American longbows (other than primitive longbows) break down generally into two categories: those with recurve style grips and those with "straight" grips.  The straight grip bows can vary from grips that are actually straight to a more contoured grip with a locator notch.  My Morrison bow has more of a recurve grip, while my Black Widow and Robertson bows have contoured grips with locator notches.

Then there are purists who shoot Howard Hill style longbows, with really straight limbs and grips.  I shoot with a couple of friends who shoot Howard Hill bows, and they (along with about a hundred or so other guys on this forum, apparently) won't shoot anything else.  My experience in shooting their bows is that they kick a lot, but on the other hand, they're slow           .  To each his own, I guess.

BTW, I've shopped on the internet at "The Longbow Shop," located in Birkenhead.  The people there seem really knowledgeable and friendly.  Don't know where Birkenhead is with respect to your location, but if feasible, you might want to check it out.

[Shakes.602]

I learned that Most of My "Kicking/Hand Shock" was due to  2  Things: Arrows too Light  :rolleyes:  , and Holding the Bow in a Death-Grip!!  :eek:   Just My Experience, might try it too!!  

[PowDuck]

Feel confident in buying a bow here. Most ones I've seen here are glass but not all.
In my experience my ChekMates, Shrews, Thunderchild, Arkansas Sticks and Navajo's all shot well with little to no hand shock. FOR ME my Fedora had a lot of shock and didn't fit ME well at all. Lots of folks love Fedoras.

And, no, shooting longbows will NOT always be like that.

[Rob W.]

My r/d longbow doesn't even rattle the metal band on my watch when it goes off.

[Bjorn]

Shooting a modern R/D longbow should be a joy with no shaking and no rattling. It is very common for a modern bow store to know very little about non-compounds. Buy a  bow made by a reputable bowyer from the classifieds, or from one of our sponsors-you should have a great experience.

[Terry Lightle]

My Cari-bow is a joy to shoot with no mule kickin

[smokin feathers]

Not all shoot like that!! I even have a r/d bow that has no more shock than most r/d bows and is quieter to boot.

r/d's are great, my morrison is nice, but I got an acs yesterday and have shot it about a total of 8 hours since noon yesterday.(I wore my fingers out!! third one is numb) I put it up about 6pm and grabbed my morrison and it scared me when I shot it from being louder and more handshock!! I didnt think the acs was that much quieter but i knew it had a different feel

[smokin feathers]

Originally posted by smokin feathers:
Not all shoot like that!! I even have a d shaped bow that has no more shock than most r/d bows and is quieter to boot.

r/d's are great, my morrison is nice, but I got an acs yesterday(adcock riser with a&h limbs) and have shot it about a total of 8 hours since noon yesterday.(I wore my fingers out!! third one is numb) I put it up about 6pm and grabbed my morrison and it scared me when I shot it from being louder and more handshock!! I didnt think the acs was that much quieter but i knew it had a different feel