A "forgiving" bow?

[AlanF]

Good reading guys, thanks.  Recently sold a 60" 3-piece longbow and while I am waiting on another bow I purchased an older 52" recurve to shoot.  I have been surprised how much more difficult it is to shoot with any consistentcy. Perhaps it is telling me I need to work on my release and refine my tunning...  Now if I can figure out where to start.  Thanks.

[Apex Predator]

The one that fit's the shooter best, is the one that he will be most consistent with.  

If you are constantly having to concentrate too hard on how you are holding the grip, it may not fit you well.

All things being equal, the longer bow will be more consistent.

Just my opinion.

[Elksong]

What makes a bow forgiving?  GOOD shooting form.  If the shooter has good form, he can shoot any bow well. The bow will always out shoot the shooter. Some bow attributtes may help with flaws in a guy's form, but far to many people look for the magic bow,arrow,glove,string or what ever that will make them shoot better. More often than not if you look at top level shooters, it's not what they shoot, but how they shoot that put's them at the top.

[overbo]

Maybe the better question is?
What asspect of a bow effects forgiveness the most?
I'm w/ Curveman,
When looking at bows.I'll grab the limbtip and give it a twist.I stay away from NOODLE LIMBS

[Bowmania]

Look at olympic bows.  They all have a riser set foreward of the limbs.  To my knowledger without exception.  How many of "our" bows have this design?  The only one I can think of is the St. Joe River.  It's the most forgiving bow I've ever shot.  (I just shoot LB's, maybe a BW recurve has this design?) But I have no way to judge that on paper.  I just know that I'll do something bad with my release hand and am amazed when the arrow goes where it was pointed.

I've done some "unscientific tests" of left and right misses with Adcock and Morrison.  Then also added in a 3 piece RER LB and SJR to the tests, but don't have as much data as I do for the A and M.  It's just a tough thing to measure.

I wish I had a shooting machine that I could build a release that was as wide as three fingers.  Now torque that release 2, 5, or 20 degrees until there's a noticeable difference between a torqued shot and a non-torqued shot.  Let's say that Bow A is shot with a 15 degree torque and it shoots 2 inches different at 20yds.  Bow B the difference is 1 inch at 20.  Now we have an AMO standard and let me start selling bow B.

Bowmania

[Bowmania]

Odd I didn't see the above picture.  It shows what I discribed.

[Woodduck]

What bow is that, pictured, above, from Titan_Bow?

[Bowmania]

Yes!

[Bear]

In no particular order:

-Overall length.
-Arrow shelf as close to hand as possilble.
-Mass weight in the riser.
-Deep core, narrow width limbs
-As much working limb as possible.
-Reverse handle. Or any handle that moves the throat of the grip towards or ahead of the back of the limbs.

[RC]

I believe a bow that allows a consistant grip will deliver more consistant accurracy thus being more "forgiving".

   A bow that has a suitable and comfortable draw weight for the shooter will be more accurate for them thus more " forgiving".

  And I also believe a bow that is longer with less finger pinch will be more forgiving.


   One thing no one has mentioned is that a "slick" glove or tab will always be more accurate shooting than one you can`t get off the string without miss - aligning the shot.Thus more "forgiving".RC

[dan ferguson]

I know some oldtime shooters used longbow with stringfollow for shooting moving targets or close exibitition type shooting, they used straight limbed bows or ones with backset for hunting. Said they could by with more on the stringfollow bows.

[md126]

what do ppl mean when they say "string follow bows" ??

[larry]

when the bow is unstrung the tips would be behind the riser (toward the shooter) as opposed to in front of the riser (away from the shooter)