Longer Bows Vs. Shorter Bows

[Bullet Hole Bailey]

So I heard some controversy from A guy I went to a shoot with and some others that said longer bows were more smooth but they liked the shorter bows speed? anyway...just curious what your opinions are and or facts....thanks!

[Kanga]

Speed is no great concern when shooting Trad gear.

I will take smooth every day

[Bullet Hole Bailey]

So you prefer smooth like me.....i just love it

anyway i have a fred bear polar at 64"....i had someone tell me not to get anything under64" but he was shooting a long bow and it was confusing me because he kept going back and forth from talking about long bows and recurves....heres an awesome picture of an elk he shot....its the home page pic

www.blacktailbows.com

[Arthur P]

Some short bows are dogs, some longer bows will shoot smoke and vice versa. Speed is a function of bow design not length.

It all depends on thier force curve. How much stored energy thiere is. Thats why some recurves smoke longbows. They feel harder to pull the first half of the draw and get easier the last. They store more energy. But I have seen some recurves have so much mass in the limbs, they are slower than the longbow that is properly designed. Like ACX's limb have very little mass, and will smoke more recurves.


Its all a balance of limb mass, and draw force curve.

[va bowbender]

ORIGINAL: bigcountry

It all depends on their force curve. How much stored energy there is. Thats why some recurves smoke longbows. They feel harder to pull the first half of the draw and get easier the last. They store more energy. But I have seen some recurves have so much mass in the limbs, they are slower than the longbow that is properly designed. Like ACX's limb have very little mass, and will smoke more recurves.


Its all a balance of limb mass, and draw force curve.

bigcountry is right.
I have different bows for different situations. I really like my 50" Browning Cobra I @ 40# for in my pop-up blind while turkey hunting. I Like my Predator 60"and Bear Custom TD 56"@ 55# for treestand hunting. My Wing Red Wing Hunter and Bear Grizzly both 58" are just fun to stump shoot and hunt with. The longbow is fun for 3D, stump'n and whatever.

Shoot as many bows as you can get your hands on and enjoy them all for their likeness and differences.

[BobCo19-65]

I can only give you my opinion, and that is I like longer bows in general. I consider 60" short and I don't think I would go much shorter then that with a 29" draw. I do plan hunting with the 60" though for a few reasons. Below is a pic of me at full draw with a 60" bow, I'm pulling it around 67#'s at 29". Notice how much the limbs are working. I still feel "safe" behind the bow though because of the materials it is make of (I wouldn't feel that way on any bow). On a longbow, I don't think I'd go much below about 66". I have had 60" longbows in the past that I really didn't like much. Ended up selling them.

One thing for sure, I have a 66" black widow that is 66lbs at 29" draw. Mentally it feels easier to draw and shoot than my 60" 58lb recurve. You start knowing the wieght after 20 shots.

[Bullet Hole Bailey]

cool...thank you very much guys!

[PowDuck]

Wow, Bob-Co. That's cool how you get FUTURE pictures of your bow.