Hi! new member with some questions about bows/asiatic style.

[kevshin21]

Hi guys! My name is Kevin and I am a newbie to archery. I only took one lesson from a archery pro shop and I fell in love with it. I have been looking around from shop to shop and I have found a bunch of recurves and compound bows but a few longbows and Asian bows are nonexistent. Why is that? I live in California if that helps any. Anyways my real question for you guys are how come Asian bows are not very popular? are they much harder to use? Are western bows more efficient and accurate than eastern style bows? I really want to get an Mongolian bow or some sort of long bow but don't really know which one is better (if there is anything as better).

Thanks guys!

[TheFatboy]

Hi Kevin, welcome to the site    

To answer your question... I believe the main reason would be, that horsebows are not as common as the average longbow or recurve. Here in Europe we've got mainly Grozer and Kassai, who craft and sell many Asiatic style recurves. In USA, I actually don't know of any bowyers who mainly craft and sell these bows. There are custom bowmakers like Lukas Novotny of the Saluki Bow Co., and James Parker of Hunt Worthy Productions, but these custom bows are more expensive and exclusive than what Grozer and Kassai can offer, not to mention the waiting time you have to endure to wait for these custom bows, so they aren't really accesible to everyone.

I, myself, have got a bow from Saluki. I had to wait a year, and pay well over 1000$ in total, as I handpicked all the woods myself. If you let Lukas just craft one using his imagination, it won't cost nearly as much, but it will still be in the upper end of pricey bows.

Do not despair, it is certainly possible to acquire a horsebow without paying this much. Attilas Archery sell some fine horsebows for around half the price of a Saluki horsebow, and don't think that this means, that the quality of these bows equal the cost. This is not the case. But I won't lie to you; there IS a difference in both looks and performance, between the less expensive and more expensive bows. For some, it just ain't worth the difference in cash. That's all up to you  

[Mudd]

I have owned a few of them. One of my favorites was a dainty little Korean bow with made of carbon with a paper thin tree bark covering. It was a great shooter but the covering wasn't as durable as I needed. I was used to my Osage selfbows and it couldn't be handled or thrown about like they could so I sold it before any real damage could be done to it by me.

I hope someday to own a real sinew backed, horn belly bow. I like the Mongolian  or Hun styles.
All of them that I've had the pleasure of shooting were some of the smoothest drawing bows a person could ask for, plus they knew how to handle an arrow.

Welcome to tradgang! Enjoy the journey with the rest of us.

God bless,Mudd

[Jmgcurve]

Welcome to the   . Get a cup of     , and let these guys lead and entertain.

I have never shot any of the horse bows, so I can't be of help there.

[TheFatboy]

Oh, and by the way, the performance of a heavy draw-weight horsebow of the correct design, is second to none. Period.

[Ragnarok Forge]

I think that it should be mentioned here that horsebows are normally rather short in length which tends to make learning to shoot them well a bit tough for a beginner.  I would look at a longbow for your starter bow and as you improve your form to where you hit consistently look at a horse bow.   If you watch the classifieds here you will see a lot of really nice bows for good prices on a regular basis.  I think that part of why horsebows are not sold heavily in the US is that there simply is not a lot of reasons for them.  If your a hunter a longer bow will serve your purposes better, If you shoot target the same applies in most cases.  Not that there is anything wrong with horse bows.  I have been looking at buying one myself.

[Mechslasher]

i'm guessing the reason you don't see as many horsebows out there is that they are just too radical for most shooters.  had fred bear shot one, you would probably see more on the market.  although, bear's super 48 is a sweet shooting little bow. i own several of james parkers horsebow type bows and they are about all i shoot any more.  i've built and shot just about every type of longbow and recurve design and i still go back to the little bows.  i recently bought a 52" turk design drawing about 45#@28".  with full lenght 35/55 goldtips and 190gr. up front, its still a rocket launcher.  its point on at 35 yards.  here's a link to some real composite horsebows james is working on.  you may have to log in to see all the pics.

  Composite Bows

[Jhoneil1]

Where in Cali? If you are in Socal, I can let you shoot some of mine and see how you like it.

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Ditto... Where in California? I'm in Santa Rosa and own a Seigeworks "Sidewinder" which is a horsebow style heavy hitter at 68#. It puts arrows right where I look and didn't take too long to learn at all. The bow is made in Texas but I recommend buying one in stock and already made without fancy woods or finishes. If you have to wait to have one custom it sounds like you might be in for some heartache according to the feedback he's gotten on this forum... Relative to other similar bows on the market they are very reasonably priced.  PM for more info.

[Gil]

Hi Kevin!Take a look at the bow in my avatar,I bought it in Korea ,but I know 3 rivers sell something like it.Its smooth to draw but for a newbie, I think a regular american style recurve would be better to learn properform and shot execution.

[KentuckyTJ]

Welcome from Kentucky

[Jhoneil1]

Like Gil, I would actually recommend a recurve if you are just starting in archery...Horsebows/Asian bows are better shot with a thumbring.

[kevshin21]

Thanks for all the replies! I live in Covina and I go to Temple city/Arcadia/Pasadena on the weekends.

One more question for you guys, is there any advantage/disadvantage between 3 under, split finger and thumb ring style techniques?

[Jhoneil1]

Oh then you should know me! I will bring a few Asian style bow this Saturday in Pasadena.
No real advantages to shooting styles - all are fun to learn.

[kevshin21]

also I don't know how to edit my post but I also wanted to ask what are good beginner bow brands? I was looking at samick bows how are they? I do want to get all styles of bows (recruve, longbow and asiatic bows) but so far I have about 300 to spend. I was looking at the samick sage but I haven't found any pro shops that carry it because its very important to try it out first right?

[kevshin21]

Jhoneil1 are you in that pasadena roving archers place? I was planning to try a lesson there.

[Jhoneil1]

There is a guy in Pasadena shooting the Samick Sage. He is left handed tho. I shot it and I think it's a great bow for the price. You can ask him where he bought it if he shows up.

Yeap - I am with the Roving archers. I am one of the archery instructors there.

[TheFatboy]

Kevin, there is a significant difference between a three-finger release, and a thumb release. You'd think that a release is a release, but...

A thumb draw is a tiny bit smoother (due to string angle), the release cleaner (meaning a little less noise and a little more speed), and you are potentially stronger with a thumb draw, as you are locking your thumb. Not to mention that the arrow is also automatically locked in place by the index finger of your draw hand, so it won't fall off your hand/shelf. Very convenient    

[59Alaskan]

Welcome to Trad!  I am pretty new here myself.  I have enjoyed this thread as I know nothing of horse bows.

In terms of beginner bows, I do suggest trying used bows first.  You can find them here on Tradgang or other places.  You can try several styles / brands as you won't lose so much if you decide to sell one and try something else.  Quite often you can limit losses to just shipping costs.

I found Istill don't know my true taste in bows after shooting almost daily for 6 months.  That's part of the fun.  The never ending search for the perfect bow!

[tecum-tha]

Ok, all asiatic style bows can be shot with split-fingers,too. No need for the thumb-draw. In my opinion the thumb-draw does not lend itself to hunting situations from a treestand or blind as the mediterranian draw.
In choosing the right asiatic bow for you, it is really important that you know your draw length.
A lot of this bows are built for longer draw length and are "slow as a noodle" under 28" draw.
Then there are styles which are great for draws below 28", but not as great for 30"+ draws.
When it comes to asiatic bows:(performance/bang for your buck)
draws over 28": Grozer bio-composite turk or assyrian
draws under 28": Hwarang model 25 over hwarangarchery.com or KAYA (from 3 rivers, from an electronic bay dealer etc.)
I draw 25.5" and shoot the Hwarang model 25 with a 10 grain/lbs arrow with a 58#@25.5" bow (70#@28 nominal) average about 185 fps.

In order to get the right poundage, you have to study the force-draw curve of these bows.
An example you'll find in a german language test I did here:
 http://rsengineering.de/Bogentest/Hwarang_Test.pdf
For a force draw curve see: