What is it about longer bows that makes them forgiving?

[Apex Predator]

I think less of a string angle is easier for most to obtain a clean release.  I think the longer bow is less susceptible to twitches in a bad release ruining the shot.

[ch1ch2]

My take is longer bows shoot better. tack the quote from zradix  

"Also, I would think it would be easier to twist a longer limb.
For instance, grab a 12" ruler by the ends and twist it 90˚.
Then hold it with your fingers 1" apart and try to do the same thing."
 
and put in in to practice on a 45# bow.  If you twist 90degrees in 28 inch pull.  Your going to have the same 45 # pull over the same28 inch pull so the limb has to be weaker on the shorter bow and easier to twist.

[Crash]

How about physics?  The longer bow has a better fulcrum for moving less during and just after the shot than a shorter bow.  It's easier to whip around a short stick than a long stick.

[Ron LaClair]

Shooting demos with a 70" bow

   

With the proper bow design, forward handle and short riser, a shorter length bow can be as smooth and accurate as a longer bow.

Shooting demos with a properly designed 54" bow.

   

[SERGIO VENNERI]

String angle , both at the limb tips and especially the fingers.

[Zradix]

SERGIO VENNERI,

Thanks for the reply.
I'm assuming you're speaking of the bow at full draw.
What is a better string angle it the tips?
Is it better to have the string at 90˚ or so?
Or is it better to have the string closer to the limbs at the tips?

Why does it make a difference?

Thank you

[HATCHCHASER]

I look at it like the difference in a pistol and a rifle. It is easier to hold a rifle steady.  Longer bows are easier to hold steady which is stability.  Also heavy risers would be more forgiving because it takes more to move them.  String angle is key as well.

[Paul WA]

Longer bows have a different string angle, you dont have to bend the limbs as much...PR

[JEFF B]

well this is very interesting .i shoot a 60" Bow i have a 26" Draw length and i find this Bow real nice to shoot no finger pinch and it is forgiving that i know Because my shooting aint that good. plus i was always told that if ya have a short Draw then a Short Bow will suit you Better than a longer Bow.is this right? i  

[Jeff Strubberg]

Nope.  With a short draw, you may or may not use more of the capability of a shorter bow.  That doesn't mean a short bow can't get the job done.  Ron obviously build one heck of a short bow.

All things being equal, a longer bow will feel more stable and be more forgiving of small errors in form, especially draw length consistency.  

If you have the right form, you can shoot anything!

[Stumpkiller]

Hard to say.  I shoot 30-1/2" BOP arrows and pull the heads right up to the risers, so I'm just about 30" draw.  One of my current favorite bows is a 48#@28" Ben Pearson Hunter of AMO 58".  No stacking at 30", not so smooth as my 62" recurves and certainly less stable than my Explorer (which weighs one ounce short of exactly twice as much!).  But a 50# Martin Mamba of 58" AMO I tried was nasty at my draw length and I didn't care for it at all.

If you watch someone pull a recurve you'll notice the tips uncurl some.  A short draw may not uncurl them much, while a long draw may do much more.  Other recurves have almost, or entirely, static tips.  That has to effect how the bow feels to the shooter.  And why some 58" bows may badly pinch your fingers while others do not.

Something else we haven't mentioned is efficiency: how much of that draw weight is transferred to the arrow vs. used up my the bow when released.  Shock & noise that you feel and heat, wind resistance, internal hysterisis that you don't.  And then there's your choice of arrow weight.  They all effect how you interpret a bow.

[Zradix]

Hey Jeff,

I'm in about the same boat as you.
62" savanah at 26.5" draw.

I shoot it 2nd most accurate of any bow I've spent time with...Most accurate was a 68" Polar.

I'm pretty sure just about every bow has a "sweet spot" in draw length. From the reading I've done, it seems that GENERALLY the sweet spot is at around 87-93% of the bow's max draw. Basically just as it starts to stack.

SO here we set Jeff.. needing a shorter bow to perform sweetly at our draw length...wanting a longer bow for forgiveness...   :(  

That is a good part of the reason I posted this question. Trying to see what forgiveness of a longer bow can     be built into a bow for short drawers like us.

[Zradix]

Originally posted by Jeff Strubberg:
.....
All things being equal, a longer bow will feel more stable and be more forgiving of small errors in form, especially draw length consistency....

I don't doubt this.
I'm trying to figure out why.

[Shaun]

Take a short stick and wave it back and forth - then take a long stick and wave it back and forth. The long stick is harder to move and change direction.

If you twist your bow hand wrist 5 degrees of a circle with a 50" bow the tips do not move as far as with a 70" bow. It takes more effort to move this same 5 degrees with the longer bow.

There are many factors involved in "stable" - that is "harder to make an error during the shot" and length is one of them.

[mahantango]

I'm with Ron on this one. A well designed bow, in the hands of an experienced archer - the length makes no practical difference. Any decent bow is capable of better accuracy than the best of us on a good day. This reminds me of a fly-casting demonstration by Lefty Kreh years ago. His position was that a good caster could cast well regardless of the rod used. To prove his point, he took the tip section of a  rod only - maybe 4-4 1/2 ft. and proceeded to throw the entire 90' of line in a nice tight loop.

With Hill style longbows, the long ones do not change arrow speeds as much with slight variations in draw length and release variances as a higher energy short bow. Although they may be slower to begin with, the change in speed from shot to shot differences and arrow weight difference are not quite as obvious, because the percentage of variance against the limb mass is lower.  With a light limb the arrow changes and energy changes will be at greater percentage to the mass of the limb, even though the it is faster all the way around.
  If the string is torqued by the drawing hand/fingers, the degree of angle of that torque will be less on a longer string.
  That must be why i missed that deer, my bow shoots to fast and has too light of a limb.  That's my excuse and i am sticking to it.

[Jeff Strubberg]

Originally posted by Zradix:
 

Originally posted by Jeff Strubberg:
.....
All things being equal, a longer bow will feel more stable and be more forgiving of small errors in form, especially draw length consistency....

I don't doubt this.
I'm trying to figure out why. [/b]

Because, apples to apples, a longer bow builds weight more slowly, making fractional inches of difference in draw length less critical.

String angle is also key.  The lower the string angle, the more force you have to apply to get the same result out of the bow limb.  More force = more erros, 99% of the time.

[GrayRhino]

Imagine an icy, snowy parking lot.....is it easier to spin donuts in a school bus with a long wheelbase, or a Suzuki sidekick with a short wheelbase?

Same principle was already mentioned with pistols vs. long guns.

A longer bow is inherently more stable.
However, I'm sure that someone with a 54" Suzuki recurve can outshoot me with my 64" International.    

[Zradix]

Maybe..but they won't have as much class...

[Ron LaClair]

"Speculation".....Reasoning based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or supposition.