realmfg

Ok what is actually ment when a bow is more forgiving than another bow? What factors come into play? How important is it?

Harleyryder

I would define forgiving as being easier to shoot,slower arrows, less energy,easier to be accurate,smother draw. all this is a design feature such as longer ATA,rounder cam design,more riser reflex and a GOOD bow

mainehunt

My example of a bow being forgiving is this.

I have an old round wheel Browning that is 44" long(ATA). My new bow is a single cam that is 32" long. With my old Browning I can be downright sloppy on my follow-through and still shoot great groups. The new short bow has to be shot with a good follow-through with plenty of concentration to get the same groups.

Of course the trade-offs are that the new bow is a lot faster, lighter, and the short ATA makes it easier to handle in the treestand.

Kev

extreme1

Typically a bow with an 8 inch brace height is more forgiving then one with a BH of 5 3/4.
A/A and cam design also come into play as well.
How important is it--------all depends on the shooter and his skills.
If your looking for a hunting bow,speed always isnt the #1 priority.Look for a bow with a brace height of around 7 inches .
Also the lighter the arrows the more finicky it can get.Shoot alluminum arrows or heavier carbons in the 400 grain class and will be more forgiving as well.

Arthur P

Higher brace heights, straight or deflex risers instead of reflexed ones, soft cams vs high performance ones... those all help make bows more forgiving and, as mentioned, tend to make for a bow that shoots a slower arrow. Longer axle to axle lengths don't affect arrow speed so much, but the longer bows do resist 3rd axis torque better than shorties. One important factor - and one that is often overlooked by the average guy - is having a handle that fits your hand, is comfortable and forces you into the same grip each time you pick up the bow. Very few bows that are on the market today have a decent grip, IMO.

They could make a short, light, forgiving bow if they wanted to. Problem is, they'd have to drastically cut arrow speeds and slow bows don't sell. Most everybody has some unexplainable notion that a fast bow is more important than one that will shoot where you aim it, regardless of whether your form is right on the money or not.

When you think about it, comparing a 300 fps arrow vs a 240 fps arrow, the 300 fps arrow gets to 30 yards only .075ths of a second faster than the 240 fps arrow. The difference in trajectory at 30 yards is negligible. Since I rarely take hunting shots beyond 25 yards, I don't consider forfieting the forgiving bow just for the sake of a few hundredths of a second difference in flight time, especially under hunting conditions.

In field archery, where consistent accuracy at known yardages is the goal, where you're shooting 112 arrows for a round and fatigue is a factor, a forgiving bow will account for more points on the scorecard. The rock solid form started off with on target 1 can start getting a little soft and mushy by the time you get to target 28.

On the 3D course though, where folks often shoot at targets that are far beyond the distances they'd ever take in an actual hunting situations, where they have all the time in the world to make sure their form is spot on, where they're only shooting a paltry 30 or 40 arrows in an entire day and fatique is not a factor (although boredom could be ), then the extra speed can be more important than forgiveness if their yardage estimation sucks.

Then it depends on your shooting style. A carry-over from all my years of shooting recurves and longbows, my shooting style with compounds is loose and fluid, but not sloppy either. So a bow that's very forgiving is extremely important for me. Unforgiving, fast bows demand a very strict, mechanical shooting style, with everything exactly duplicated on each shot, right down to how much pressure you put on a given area of the bow's grip. Just a slight, seemingly insignificant change of pressure on some of the worst, most unforgiving bows will cause dramatic differences in group sizes. I've never done well with that kind of shooting style, but I'm sure others fare better with the mechanical style of shooting.

But, how important is forgiveness? I can only tell you how important it is for me. You can decide for yourself how important it is to you.

JOE PA

To me, the term always seemed to be something untrue. If you want the shot to go to the right spot, then execute the shot properly. I've fiddled with enough bows now that I can definitely say that some bows were more forgiving for me than others. Unlike others though, I can't always say the the slowest bows I've had were the easiest to shoot. Some bows just seem to amplify errors while other bows seem to keep those shots where I am a little off from going too far astray. I personally like a longer ATA bow, but that is mostly to hit familar reference points like the string touching my nose just right. A bow that fits you and lets you concentrate on shooting helps the mind relax. In my case, it is also hard to relax with many of the current crop of bows that have little to no valley. I do like a solid draw stop, but also like at least a little valley too.

Forgiveness comes to me when I am shooting right, and the concentration is on the spot I want to hit. Sometimes then, the pin seems to float off, but the shot still goes in or very close. Several authors explain this as the subconscious making the correction without you being aware of it. I've had a few times that I've seemed to be "in a zone." The bow seems to shoot itself. I really think that is mostly letting your subconscious do its job, and not messing it up with conscious thought.

Carphunter

This is not a plug...but Hunter's Friend does a pretty job of walking through most of the variables for anyone who cares to read Bow Selection Help

Straightarrow

Forgiveness in a bow is really just another way of describing it's resistance to torque. Heavier resists torque better than light. Longer better than shorter and higher brace heights better than lower. Many other factors affect forgiveness, but they are not directly related to the design of the bow. They include things like how well the arrows are matched to the bow, how well the bow is tuned and the timing on the cams, among others.

Like Arthur said, a repeatable grip is very important. This is an area that I believe is almost ignored by most manufacturers. They make grips that are comfortable, not ones that are designed to make hand placement easily repeatable. In general, the grips feel good and suck at the job they are supposed to do. I think this may be due to all the advise I see on choosing a bow with a "grip that feels good". Poor advise in my opinion. The grip should be easily repeatable. "Feeling good", has little to do with proper archery form.

Another area that affects forgiveness is the draw weight of the bow. If you are close to your maximum draw weight, then the other factors will become more critical. Likewise, if your drawlength is wrong, then torque will be applied differently and with less consistancy.

All this stuff is more important to beginners than it is to professionals. Target archers tend to be more concerned about it than hunters shooting at close ranges. Although a hunter is likely to be concerned with brace height because high ones are more forgiving in regards to the string hitting their hunting jacket's sleeve. It's hard to hit a deer if the string hits your sleeve.

Sometimes it's difficult to determine if a bow is unforgiving because of it's design, your setup, the lack of good tuning or a combination of them all. When you find one that does qulify as "forgiving", hold on to it. Upgrading to the "latest and greatest", seldom brings the results we hope for.

Arthur P

I agree, Straightarrow, but I think that's the wrong mindset for hunters. Target archers have plenty of time to make sure their form is right on. They're always using their very best stance. They can let down several times before taking the shot if stuff doesn't feel right. Hunters don't have those kinds of luxuries. They should not be hunting with a 3D bow, but that's exactly what the vast majority are doing.

A hunter doesn't always know exactly what direction he will be shooting. He might have to twist around to the left or right to get on target. He might have to kneel or squat to get clearance. If he's shooting from a treestand at a close animal, he'll be bending over from the waist. He might have to lean around a tree trunk. In short, it's a rare occasion where a hunter can use pure target shooting form. And then it's very possible that he'll be cold, wet and tired, with the adrenaline going, heart pounding and hands shaking. Your concentration should be only on the animal and shot selection, not on the equipment. When the animal is right there in front of you, that is no time to be overly concerned with getting all your points of form lined out before you can take the shot.

For those reasons, I believe a forgiving bow is far more important for a hunter than it is for the target archer. When you've got a bow that forces your hand to naturally assume the correct grip and will shoot very close to point of aim regardless of minor form issues, then you've got a hunting bow.

psychowolverine

Brace height is the answer. The faster an arrow gets off the string the better.