I finally bought a tab to try out. It was $2 so I didn't have much to lose. It was a split finger design so I cut it into a three under design. I tried it while I was shooting today and liked it more than my glove. I was shooting well with it, and could feel the string better. After a bit I shot with my glove to compare them better. The glove felt foreign and my accuracy droped. So I'm using a tab now. The only problem is my third finger is a bit sore and and will probably develope a monstrous callous after a bit. Some of the shots stung the finger, but that's ok 'cause it was the good releases that stung it. So that started me to wondering why a lot of folk are using gloves. For me the tab is far superior. For those of you who prefer gloves, what's your reasoning? By the way, it was a Koplin model I picked up at a Woodvile Surplus. It seemed a bit thicker than the Bohning tabs they had, and it was marked down from $7, so I went for it.
On a tangent, while I was shooting I almost had a pass through on my burly deadstop. I took a shot and knew I heard it hit the target, but I couldn't see the nock. That's not unusual though for me not to see the nock clearly from far away. I start walking towards the target and still couldn't see it. I was starting to think it hit the target on the side and deflected, and I was hoping the arrow didn't go anywhere near my grandpa's chickens. When Ig ot to the target I saw some of the stuffing on the tire I had my target proped against and all of the arrow, save the fletching, had passed though. None of the arrow was sticking out of the front. I thought that was rather interesting since I was shooting a wood arrow out of a 55# longbow and hit a part of the target that I don't shoot often. Especialy since the arrows never even stuck out the back before. I guess I won't have to worry anything about penetration though. If it can do that to a fresh spot on a deadstop it can sure handle about anything.
I think it's really a matter of what works best for the individual archer. For some it's a glove, and for others it's a tab.
Personally, I prefer a tab for three reasons: I can get off the string cleaner and more consistent, I can feel my anchor much better with nothing covering my fingertips, and I can spin it to the back of my hand and get it out of the way when I want to.
I've tried a dozen or so tabs, they don't cut the mustard just the ring finger on my shooting hand, and about a dozen or so gloves. Thanks to Shrewshooter, I finally found the glove that punches my ticket, the Big Shot slick shot by American Leathers. GRRREEEEEAAAATT glove!!
The cleanest release of anything I have ever shot. It has a couple of "weaknesses" that I have often seen posted as being problems, e.g., can't feel the string and can't feel my finger in the corner of my mouth.
I do however get a good anchor, a good solid and deep grip, and a very clean release. Now I just need to get some pitch blend to protect it from my perspiration, errr, sweat!! <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Not too long ago, I was having some glove problems. I sweat like a pulling mule, and my gloves were getting soaked at tournaments; felt like the glove was glued to my string, so I bought a couple of different tabs. I started out with a tab years ago with my first compound, don't remember why I switched to a glove, but I just couldn't get it together with the two tabs I tried (a BW tab and some other "top end" tab--don't remember the name off-hand now). They just felt foreign to me--maybe if I stuck with it long enough I could figure it out, but since then I bought a couple of new gloves that solved my problem. I agree with what Shrewshooter said--some do better with a glove, some with a tab. I believe most of your top tournament archers use a tab, so maybe I am missing something here. One thing I have noticed--gloves seem to be much quieter than tabs on release.
Use what works best for you.
Chad
Long Bows Rule!
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Tabs vs. gloves?
