I had a guy who worked at a pro shop in Birmingham,AL try to sell me a bow once. I had never pulled a bow back before. I was 21 yrs old, bench pressed 430lbs, wore a 50 size jacket and 33 size pants... yes I was in shape at the time. I asked if I could shoot a bow like it before I bought it. He said sure, you can shoot my bow... when we walked over to the range, the guy had a nice little smirk on his face when he said, O btw, my bow has a 90lb draw. Now this guy had a huge build, 6'3" and about 280lbs, built like a tackle for the Tide, and here's me wearing a saggy sweatshirt bout 190lbs... He actually thought it was funny, his attitude, til I bout pulled the wheels off his 'specially made' heavy Mathews and asked them if they made a heavier model, bc it was so easy to pull.
Yes, I knew what he was doing, and granted it was a compound, but still I didnt like his smart butt attitude. Needless to say, he didnt sell me a bow that day. For him it was an ego thing, but I dont think everyone thinks that way who shoots heavy bows. I have had some guys look at me funny for shooting my homemade 65 lb recurve, asking why I wanted to shoot such a bow when a 50 lb would kill anything in North America. I feel that is another ego problem all together, possibly jealousy.
I feel that if I practiced with a heavy bow, that I would eventually be able to shoot it well as long as I was careful not to injure myself during the workout/shooting sessions. As an amateur bowyer, I would be nervous to make a recurve in the style I like to make, forward handle, medium wrist style mostly because I would be afraid it would break in the center of the grip. So that may be the most obvious reason... not that many are made to begin with to have the opportunity to be sold, and like a GT500, no one wants to sell them.
Dave
Topic: Why mostly heavy longbows? (Read 678 times)
