Drawing Past Length - Newbie Question

[tman74]

Hello,

I have a newbie question about drawing and shooting a bow past the draw length. If a bow is 50# @ 28", is it possible to draw slightly past the 28"? I watched a vid that stated this is called "loading". Does this harm the bow, or affect shooting negatively? Thanks.

Chris

[McDave]

Most bows are rated at 28", for comparison purposes and because that is a common draw length.  The actual length a bow can be drawn will vary with the bow.  A short bow, say a 54" recurve, might have a maximum draw length of 27", while a longer bow, say a 64" recurve, might have a 32" maximum draw length.  The actual recommended draw lengths will be specified by the bowyer and may be more or less than the examples I used.

If you're shooting a recurve, and you don't draw it enough, you're not working the recurved part of the limbs and you're not getting the full efficiency out of the bow.  If you draw it too much, the bow begins to stack (I'm not sure if this is the same thing as "loading" or not) which means that the draw weight increases disproportionately much for each additional inch that you draw the bow.

The bottom line is that you want to find out from the bowyer what is the maximum recommended draw length for your bow, and not draw it past that, or your shooting will become erratic and it won't be enjoyable to shoot the bow.  You do want to draw it close to the recommended draw length, so you get the maximum efficiency out of the bow.

[bendbig]

No going past the 28" as you've stated should not hurt anything. Unless of course you are pulling several inches past the stated inch. The stated # @ 28" is what the bow is tillered at. I'm sure someone will chime in with a better explination, or try doing a search. Good luck.

[Stumpkiller]

Yepper.  28" is the AMO standard for weight markings.  I draw 30" and all of mine are marked at the 28" draw.  Both of my Bears have a nice tendency to pick up lots more speed in that last inch past 29" as the tips uncurl.  A friend of mine who was a Martin dealer with a 27" draw used to say "It's disgusting how you get that speed out of those Bears."

BUT, some shorter bows have a tendency to get mighty hard to draw all of a sudden just past 28".  It's called "stacking" and can be a problem for taller archers and bows of 58" and below.

[tman74]

Thanks for the replies. Just wondering if a recurve will preform better or is more forgiving than a longbow when it comes to drawing past? Thanks again.

tman74

[McDave]

This is the way I would interpret your question: does a recurve bow or a longbow have a steeper force/draw curve past the optimal drawlength?

The real answer is, it probably doesn't matter, since you shouldn't be drawing a bow past its stacking point anyway, because you won't ever be able to shoot that bow very well.

However you can compare force/draw curves for recurves and longbows, such as   this  one.  For the one noted, the curve for the recurve and r/d longbow gets steeper past the optimal draw length than the straight-limbed longbow's does.  Therefore, stacking would be more noticeable for the recurve and the r/d longbow than for the straight-limbed longbow.  Other examples may vary.

[bamacrazy]

Depends on how far. Almost any trad bow will be fine when drawn to 30". Some short bows might "stack" when drawn past 29".

[CG]

There's an illustration in Fred Bear's "The Archers Bible" of a glass-backed bow being drawn by a machine until the limb tips almost touch to prove how durable they are.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

How about the black swan that was drawn to like 45 inches?  As far as lb vs. recurve I don't think it would matter.  I'm not an expert by any means but no matter the bow drawing a couple extra inches should affect both the same.  I'm sure some of the bowyers will be along to answer this.

[7 Lakes]

Bows are marked at 28" from tradition and AMO standards.  

I've built custom bows for archers with 26" drawlengths with thinner than normal glass.  This will lighten up their limbs and shoot better for them.  I always mark these bows at 26" so anyone coming across them in trade will know they weren't built for a 30" draw.  

A production bow is probably built bomb proof, with overweight glass, so no worries there.

[lpcjon2]

I may be mistaken but the draw weight for a bow past the 28" (if marked as the weight at 28)is like 5# per inch past 28.
  My bow is marked 62#@28 and I draw to 30.5-31"

[snakebite]

Mcdave has it. Ipcjon, a good bow will pull about 3# per " past 28"

[Bowwild]

I measure all my bows with a very accurate digital scale (mostly for fun). I've found what snakebite reports to be right on.  Almost every bow I have, whatever it is rated at 28" I lose 6#'s at my 26" draw.  Of course the rated draw weight isn't always correct. Usually it is or very close 1-2 pounds. However, I measured one this week that was 5 pounds higher than the spec on the limbs. (54# instead of the marked 49# at 28").  The good news is that was better for me because I like to be around 46-48 pounds at my draw.

I couldn't overdraw a bow if the guy standing three people behind me was pulling the string.