Long bow or recurve

[Robert Williams]

Serious competition shooters in FITA invariably shoot recurves. If longbows were as inherently forgiving and accurate as recurve designs, I' d think over the years you' d have seen a few winning in Vegas or the Olympics or the World championships or other competions. In the Recurve classes, longbows are always allowed but you don' t see many of them... ever wonder why?

I' ve seen quite a few very good longbow shooters with 21st Century bows in their hands. That doesn' t necessarily mean they' re the best, but it tells me that either they make good shooters out of bad shooters or that a lot of good shooters choose them. Pick one.

As for a well known bowyer in Pennsylvania that would like to see truly center cut recruve.... if you' re talking about Mike Feodra, ask him about my Rosewood 66" 560 takedown bow he refinished and made new limbs for this year.

[Floxter]

Robert, while I concur with everything you' ve said, I don' t think we can really compare my FITA bow to a traditional recurve or longbow. I think that a magnesium riser, berger button, elevated magnetic rest, 30" stabilizer, v-bars, sure-loc sight, clicker, and adjustable limb pockets put it in an entirely different class, not to mention arrows that weight around 7grs/lb of draw weight. Moreover, now that the IBO has separated the metal riser recurves with berger buttons and elevated rests into their own class, it' s going to be interesting to see how much difference there is in scores between traditional recurves shot off the shelf and longbows. My suspicion is that the gap is going to be narrowed significantly, despite the advantages the recurve enjoys in its centercut riser and choice of arrow material and point weight. In fact its already shown up in the second leg of this year' s triple crown.

[CT Bowhunter]

benhunting,

Contact Greg at G & M Archery, he has alot of used recurves and longbows at very reasonable prices. You can contact him at 218-224-3263.

[Robert Williams]

Floxter, that' s all part of the design of a recurve - heavier mass weight, more center cut, more forgiving handle design, etc. When comparing short recurves to longbows, the argument in favor of recruve accuracy isn' t very strong, but when comparing 66" recurves shot off the shelf to 66" longbows shot off the shelf.... The long recurve will still be more forgiving and easier for the average guy to shoot accurately, in my opinion. It always puzzled me why the longbow advocates try to convince everyone that the longbow is such a forgiving and super accurate bow. In my opinion, a good longbow shooter has a lot to be proud of because it' s HARDER to shoot accurately than the recurve and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of that if you watch a lot of people shoot. There are some who have mastered the longbow and shoot amazingly well with it but I think the main attraction to the longbow simply has to be that you LIKE them and not because it provides any accuracy advantage.

[Floxter]

Robert, I agree wholeheartedly! And I' m a longbow shooter.

[CT Bowhunter]

Robert you evil man, talking about you communist recurve bow So far I can shoot my longbow (Selway Lil Magnum, 62" ) as well as any recurve I' ve shot. Now Robert you know me, I haven' t shot that many recurves. Most of them I' ve shot have been yours. I just find that the longbow feels better in the hand and seems to point/shoot better for me. Now as I get better as a shooter I may find that my opinion will change, or if you let me shoot that Fedora of yours during one of the shoots I might have different thoughts

[LBR]

For my part, I don' t recall ever saying a longbow, or any bow, is super accurate. They aren' t--accuracy is in the shooter. Put a match grade rifle in the hands of a novice, it won' t win any competitions. All of the " good" archers that I know (Bill Leslie is probably the best known) can shoot pretty much any bow you put in their hands accurately. I' ve seen Bill take a borrowed selfbow and borrowed arrows (that weren' t matched to the bow for his draw) and still shoot dang good.

I have owned a 21st Century longbow--it was a good bow, very quick, but one that felt much like a recurve to me. I' m not downing the accomplishments of those who shoot them, but again I don' t believe for a minute it was the bow. I believe Keith Bain is shooting a 21st Century now, but he has won numerous tournaments with other bows. Sponsership can go a long way--ever notice how many of the big-time compound shooters are winning with Matthews bows nowadays? (just pick up an archery magizine and read the ads and you will see--lol[X(])

Heavy risers, cut to center/past center/centershot riser, etc. do make a bow more forgiving, but that is different than making it more accurate. Howard Hill was accurate. Ben Pearson was accurate. Fred Bear, the Wilheim brothers, etc. were accurate. Byron Ferguson is still accurate.

I have by no means " mastered" the longbow, but I am usually an above average shot. I have competed with recurves also, and won with them, but I am much more comfortable with a longbow. Maybe I haven' t shot the right recurve....or maybe a lot of recurve shooters haven' t shot the right longbow! I personally know one fellow who is an excellent shot, and has taken many state level competions along with gobs of smaller shoots with his recurves. He used to fuss and cuss at every longbow he saw--there was no way he would ever own one of those things, and couldn' t understand why anyone would want to shoot one when they could be shooting a recurve. Well, one day he got his hands on the " right" longbow, and now he owns it. He' s a dang good shot with it too.

One other thing that hasn' t been mentioned (sorry for getting so far off the subject benhuntin) is the difference between shooting in competition and hunting situations. Most all serious target archers have a particular stance, bow straight up, feet placed just so, etc. Take this away from them and most fall apart--not good in the woods. I know one fellow who has taken more game than most folks have seen on the Discovery Channel who says he cannot shoot 3-D targets to save his life (I haven' t seen him shoot)--most with a longbow, some with a selfbow. A few years ago (I believe it was on the Outdoor Channel) an Olympic Champion archer (Jay something?) missed a gimme shot on a deer on camera.

Ok, enough rambling. Again I say, don' t worry about opinions, go with what works for you. Recurve, longbow, flatbow, selfbow--whatever. Archery is 90% mental, and confidence in your equipment is vital. Shoot what works for you.

Chad