Shooting Recurve & Longbow

[Grego]

Been a few years since I shot.  Presently have a recurve (Blank Widow PMA) and was considering a Widow longbow.  I know the grips are different.

Will switching between the two bows prevent me from becoming proficient with either?  Would I be better advised to stay with one style of bow if I want to significantly improve my draw, smooth release and accuracy out to 80 yds.

Thankee

[McDave]

Many of the people I shoot with switch between recurves and longbows, as do I. I took clases from Rick Welch, who has won tournaments with both. It is fun to shoot both.

That said, I'm sure you would shoot best if you chose one bow and stuck with it. But how do you know which one that should be until you try a lot of them?

[Stumpkiller]

What McDave said.  It takes a while for the brain to adapt to the trajectory difference (if there is one).

The grip difference can also mess you up a bit - depending on the wrist angle.  I have the old "splitting wedge" style grip on my longbow and it forces my thumb much higher than my forearm; while my recurves have medium to high grips so my thumb is in-line with the wrist.  This always causes me elevation errors with the longbow initially.

Four months (or more) before deer season I select one bow and use that exclusively in daily practice and all other shooting until venison or season end.

[atatarpm]

I am not going to disagree with either McDave or Stumpkiller for they are both well spoken. I would add that if both bows are properly tuned and the arrows are tuned you may not have any problems. Switching back and forth for me is not a problem with properly spine arrows for both. Elevation issues are in your bow hand and windage issues are in arrow spine. Or in my case,  not properly tuned arrows.

[ironmike]

what i,ve found is that when you get longbows that are 10 or 12 # heavier than your recurves, you'll be able to shoot the same arrow out of all of your bows,now of coarse,folks will over analyze that statement,but when you find the arrow you like, match it to a bow...one less mouth to feed,and your skills will distill cleaner and across the board.this requires that you narrow down what you like,my twelve bows all shoot the same arrow,they range from 60#recurves to 72#longbows,what i change is my style,anchor point .grip and so fourth.

[So-Mo Archer]

Grego, I will second Atatarpm, in that, I shoot both recurve and longbow, and that my proficiency depends largely on the tune up. While there are differences between how both shoot, I will pick one for hunting and focus on it well ahead of the season, so there is little question of "can I". FWIW

Happy shooting!

[njloco]

I agree with what has been said above, I will add that all of my bows shoot the same arrows (GT 1535) at about the same weights, they vary between 38# and about 55#. I have experimented by stringing all the bows and have taken one shot from each one and have had very good results, but I must say at this point that I read moebow's post on holding a bow ( you can do a search ) and that has made it much easier for me to pick up a bow and be able to shoot it pretty good, right off, I have been told by others that I do have good form and a pretty good release, all these things come into play also.

P.S. I will add that if you are starting off after being away from this for awhile, I would stay with one bow for now and get real proficient with it ( something you can draw and hold ).

[Jock Whisky]

I shoot both. I try to get set up so they all shoot close to the same speed which should result in the same trajectory. This means getting the chrony out and a variety of arrow weights but it's a fun puzzle to work on.

[Gregg S]

I have a friend that can pick up one bow after another, both longbow and recurve, and shoot them all equally well. I definitely cannot. Even between recurves I get used to one grip and then it takes me quite a few arrows to get back on target if I switch to another make. Now I'm not saying that I'm a foot off, but, I'm not able to get the groups that I normally can.

[longrifle346]

I go between a recurve and a longbow and shoot both regularly. I also bought bows that shoots similar speeds, even with a difference in draw weights, and I've purposed my equipment so both will shoot the same shafts.

[joe skipp]

I shoot both longbow and recurves. Same arrow flies great from all my bows. I believe I cant my longbow more than my recurve but that's about the only difference. Everything else is the same...draw, anchor, aim..release.