How to find draw length?

[brown_boy09]

I was wondering if there is anyway to find your draw length by measuring with a tape or something? The sticker that is usually on the limb of the bow is gone on mine. I am planning on buying a new bow and was needing to know my draw length because Mathews dont adjust much. Also is there a way to measure by just pulling back on the bow I have now? If there is do I wear a release or not? Thanks

[Paul L Mohr]

There are several ways to do it, but the easiest is to nock an arrow in the bow, draw it back ( pointed in a safe direction at a target!) and have someone mark the arrow right above your grip. Then measure from the grove in the nock of the arrow to the mark that was made on the front of the arrow. Then add 1.75 inches to it. That is the AMO draw length for that bow.

What I think you should do though is go to a pro shop that sells mathews and let them check your draw length, then try a few bows. They can measure your draw length there, then set a few bows up for you to shoot. And take your release when you do this because it does effect over all draw length for you. Using a different release may cause the bow to not fit you perfectly in the end. It won't effect the actual draw length of the bow, but changing releases will effect where your hand will anchor on your face with a given draw length. So it changes your perceived draw length, and how the bow will fit you.

If you are thinking of getting a new release this would be the time to do that as well.

The reason I say this is because for one, the bow you had may not have fit you perfectly, even if you thought it did. And not all bows fit the same as far as draw length goes, especially short axle to axle bows. I have three different bows set up for me right now and all of them have a slightly different draw length. They are all within an inch or so, but they are all different to some degree.

And not all bows are what they say they are. Just because you have 27 inch modules or in mathews case a 27 inch cam doesn't mean that is what it really is. You need to check it to make sure it fits. I don't know about anymore, but mathews used to tend to run a bit long, almost an inch in some cases. So if you got a bow with a 27 inch draw length cam you might actually be shooting 27.75 inches instead. This is one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of mathews bows, they don't offer a lot of adjustability in my opinion, at least not compared to other companies.

Make the bow fit YOU, then measure the draw length, not the other way around.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Paul