Hill bow, do they all kick like a mule?

[Stone Knife]

I have two Hill bows built by Craig Ekin and both are of a high quality in workmanship. I'm new to this game but I'm no dummy either and i know for a fact that shooting a Hill bow with no or little hand shock is all in the hold. When i hold mine with a loose grip with the center of my grip on or near the thumb joint they will shoot just as shock free as any other trad bow. I had a martin Savannah and my Hills both shoot a shock free as that one. Granted there not as fast but they will kill a deer just as dead as any other bow. I like mine for the history behind them and their traditional D shape. I will probably have other bows also but i like my Hills.

[bayoulongbowman]

Ghost dog told yall about The Liberty bow , The English and I love it! The next one which is the closest Hill style bow built like John Schultz to me is either a Sunset-Hill bow built by Nathan Steen or one built by Van Norman of Wildfork Archery . Two class bowman taught by Schultz. I might add bow and arrow setup , draw length should be made custom to the shooter. If the arrow or draw is off by even a inch, you can have problems , handshock etc.. I have studied and asked and this is what the bowyers tell me. Good luck my friends.

[Ghostman]

I shot a couple at Denton Hill a few years back and it had so much handshock I almost lost a tooth filling.

Definately not my type of bow!

[Kingstaken]

I shot a heavy poundage Big 5 many years ago that a buddy I mine had just gotten. It gave me hand shock so bad I had a migran headache. The shock crawled up my arm, shoulder and bounced around in my head. No joking. With all the sports I played I never felt anything like it.  Of coarse back them I shot compomund and stiff armed the longbow. I agree with Archer 1, HH especially must be shot with a bent arm and heel the bow.
I just picked up a Halfbreed that has a smaller handle deisgn then other HH. It's @ 26" and even tho the weight is a bit much at my 27.5" draw (@28" or 2" it jumps almost 20#, what ever happend to 3# per inch LMAO)there is no hand shock. Sending to Hill to bring weight down.

[Sant-Ravenhill]

Dick in Seattle,

Well thought out and very well presented...thanks for the time and effort!

[royking]

longbow,longcurve,recurve.three different types of bows.All shoot and feel different.The straight limb narrow limb will be the most active in youre hand and you need to hold on to it,but its the lightest in the hand and in my oppinon one of the most enjoyable to shoot.Its not going to be the easiest to master and thats why a lot of us shoot them.

[Danny Rowan]

Every Hill bow I have ever shot jarred my teeth out. Do not like them for that reason, tried every way I knew of gripping them no help. These were all with heavy arrows too.

Danny

[trh1]

Ghost Dog said it solid right. I shot my Liberty English yesterday and it was smooth. I am amazed at how accurate,fast and forgiving it is also.

[Smilingg]

One more thumbs-up for the Liberty English. Mine is 59@28 and has no hand shock at all.

I have never even heard of Liberty English shooters experiencing hand shock. I've shot mine with loose grips, firm grips, gripped high, gripped low--no hand shock. Most of my shooting sessions are 50 to 100 arrows flung.

The first thing that struck me when I got it was its smoothness. The next things were how forgiving it was and that it seemed, somehow, to be a harder hitting 59 lb. bow than others at that weight.

Get Mr. Boice to send you one or just ask any Liberty owner if you can fling a few at your next shoot. You'll see what Liberty owners are talking about...

[Matt E]

It never ceases to amaze me at the  negative rhetoric HH bows receive. Harl said all that needs to be said about them in his first sentence.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Any of you guys want to sell those hard kickin' Hills cheap, just let me know.
Thanks

[LAR43]

What Scattershot said!!
Properly set up & held there's no more apparent hand shock than any other bow I've ever shot.

Just like girls, ya can't grip 'em all the same!

Larry

[Jeff Strubberg]

Both of the Hill bows I've tried loosened my fillings.


Obviously other people have had different experiences, but the ones I shot felt like a steel fencepost strung with aircraft cable...

[David Mitchell]

Wow, some of you guys must be extremely "shock" sensitive!  I own two Craig Ekin built Hills and absolutely love them both--and, no, they do not rattle my teeth.  Sorry but they just don't.  Guys who have that experience must be doing something I am not.  I have had friends try mine who had heard that claim and were simply amazed as they looked at me and said, "that bow doesn't have any hand shock" then promptly ordered one for themselves. I own a wall full of bows--recurves, hybrids, and Hills and "Hill style" longbows, and the Hills are among my all-time favorites...Dave

[Montauks]

I'm bringing and shooting my 70" 60lb @28  "Big 5" to the Joan Leonard memorial bunny shoot this sat. All are welcome to shoot it and perhaps I can take some notes and come up with a general concensus yay or nay? BTW I'm using Beeman 29.5"  400's with 200 grains upfront.

Gene

[Stone Knife]

I'll have my big five 66" 48# @28" at the bunny hunt anyone that wants to try one in a lighter poundage version is welcome.

[Frank V]

I'm going to line up behind Scattershot. I have shot Mike G.s Hill & if someone wants go get rid of one of those hard kicking Hills there are some of us here willing to take them. Frank

[Dick in Seattle]

I’ve listened to all of this, and it brought to mind my earliest driving experience.   More years ago than I like to admit to, I decided to learn to drive.  I took the keys and got into my grandad’s beautiful 1941 Buick.  I was able to start it and get it rolling, but needless to say, I cracked it up.   When granddad was through chewing me out for doing it, he asked me to tell him exactly what had happened.   I told him that the lousy car wouldn’t steer.  (It was very heavy, practically a tank, and had no power steering.)  I had much more to say about the “lousy” car.   When I wound down, granddad asked me if I wanted to keep cussing the car, or learn to drive it.  Wise man…    

Since then, I have learned to do many things, sometimes because I needed to, sometimes just to prove to myself that I could.   A couple of years back, I decided to learn to shoot a bow, because my eyes weren’t up to doing well with a muzzle loader any more.  Just a few months ago, I decided to learn to knit… just because.  I’m working on my third sweater, a rather difficult one.  I have tried a few things and not succeeded because I was simply personally not able to, for whatever reason.  However, I have never tried something and quit because it was the something’s fault, when I knew perfectly well that many other folks had succeeded.  Granddad taught me better than that.

Incidentally, a few years later, when I had a drivers license and convinced him I was a good driver, granddad gave me that Buick.

Dick in Seattle

[poekoelan]

To those of you who have a Hill bow and have execessive handshock: what are your arrow speeds like ?

[Stone Knife]

Someone once said you either love them or hate them.