2 questions for old longbow shooters

[dan ferguson]

1: I shoot a 68" 72# hillstyle longbow hillstyle grip, love the bow, shoots good, but I do notice some string contact with the bow arm about 3 inches from my wrist. wear spot on my armgaurd, the bow is braced from 6 3/8 to 6 1/2. I can shoot without armgaurd but wouldn,t want to do it a long time. Is this normal?                                             2:The brace height will change from when I first brace it, after shooting I have to rebrace it. I run good fastflight strings. Is this common with a bow of this poundage?

[SCATTERSHOT]

String stretch is the only reason I can think of that your brace height would change. Anybody can make a bad string once in awhile, try another and see if it doesn't help.

Unfortunately, string slap is a fact of life with Hill style bows, although some have modified the way they grip the bow to minimize it.

Howard Hill maintained that if the string wasn't slapping your arm, the bow was braced too high.

Good luck!

[Brad_Gentry]

I believe Howard Hill said that if your bowstring didn't hit your wrist when you shot it, your bow wasn't made right!   :D  

You might want to take a look at how you grip the bow... may be getting behind it a little too much.

[Woodduck]

Can you rotate your bow hand more clockwise? Are you on the thumbside of your lifeline?

[TexMex]

"2 questions for old longbow shooters"
You talking about the bow being old or the shooter?  

[dan ferguson]

Thank you guys for the answers, the strings have got me baffled, tried different strings from good makers, I can live with it but I do check the brace alot, and TexMex, BOTH

[BobCo 1965]

Actually I believe HH said if the string doesn't "bite" your wrist, it is braced too high.

[Orion]

Despite Howard's admonition, raising the brace height to 6 3/4 will likely stop the string slap, and the bow will still shoot well, and quieter.  The fraction you lose in performance won't be noticed.  A fast flite string shouldn't stretch once you have it shot in.  Fast flite materials, because they stretch less, don't move as far forward when the arrow is released, and that usually reduces or eliminates string slap.  Might you be shooting a dacron string?  That's generally what HH puts on their new bows unless you ask for fast flite.

[mike g]

Dan....
    After you attain the right Brace height.
Then it's all in the Grip, or how you grip the bow....
    I rarely hit my Armguard with the string....

[30coupe]

Once your string is shot in, it shouldn't really stretch much no matter what kind of string you use. I use B-50 exclusively and after a couple days of practice shooting and adjusting the brace height, I rarely have any stretch. I usually shoot a 10 strand string (B-50) on anything 50# and under; 12 strands on my 55# longbow. I do get some slap with the longbow, but that's what armguards are for!

If your string is still stretching, something is wrong with it. Time for a new string!