Long bow or recurve
 

After 23 years I would like to go back to shooting traditional style archery equipment.
I have shot recurves before but never a long bow. What are advantages/disadvantes of shooting a long bow vs a recurve?
What are some of the better brands of each that I should look at?
Which should I avoid? Any information would be highly appreciated.[:-]

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

As far as I' m concerned, the longbow has only two things going for it. It' s a little bit quieter than a recurve, typically and more importantly to most, it' s more " traditional" . Since I don' t care about how " traditional" my gear is, I opt for a quality recurve. They' re usually a bit shorter, faster and more accurate than longbows, although the longbow guys will argue those points exhaustively. Longbows account for about half the traditional bows at most shoots I' ve been to but also acount for the lowest scores at the shoots I' ve been to and I don' t think it' s coincidence.

So, it all depends on what you want.... longbows are effective. They' re very light in the hand. They' re reasonably accurate. Recurves can be set up to be very fast and even more accurate. I' ll take the additional speed and accuracy for hunting, thankyouverymuch.

Good longbows..... too many to mention but 21st Century bows show up in the winner' s circle a lot.

Good recurves.... ditto.... lots of good ones. Lots of good USED ones, too, at a fraction of the cost of a new bow and if you' re just getting into it, I' d recommend going with a used recurve of about 45 pounds and in the $100.00 or less range on Ebay. Once you' ve been shooting it awhile and your muscles have adjusted you' ll have a much better idea what you' ll really want and can more wisely spend the extra buck for a " better" bow if you care to do so.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

I agree with most everything Robert says, except on one point. Around here, longbows scores at the shoots are at least equal to, if not higher than, the recurve scores. But we' re close to Fort Worth and that' s the home of the Texas State Longbow Championships, so I guess a lot of the better shooters around here have gone longbow for that reason.

I love shooting longbows but I have to admit I' m at least 1/3 better shot with a recurve. Recurves are more stable because of the extra weight in the riser, and they' re usually centershot, which makes differences in arrow spine less of a problem. And they usually have a higher brace height, which also helps accuracy.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

:DJust want to know when the last time 21st Century won a major shoot. been to lots of world and state shoots. Yes in the pass 21st Century has won some major shoots. This in no way is a statement that 21st is not a good bow, but for a lot less money there are bows that will perform as well if not better. [:o]
OH for the centershot recurve, please let me know of one. In forty years of building wood bows to this day I have not seen a wood riser that was able to be true center shoot. Yes there are some that come close, but to date have not seen a true center shoot. I would also note that there is a well know bower in PA. that would also like to see such a bow.[:-]

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

Awright, the semantics police have arrived. Most recurves are cut TO center and not true centershot. Most ' normal' folks say they' re centershot though.

However....

You' ve been building bows for 40 years and never have seen a true centershot recurve?!!? Gasp! [:o] What rock have you been hiding under??

Go to:

www.archeryhistory.com

They' ve got plenty of pics of true centershot recurves on there. Even some from 30-40 years ago with shoot thru risers, the same kind York used to make their STO compounds in the 80' s.

Welcome to today.

[:-]


Come to think of it, my cheap ol' Samick Explorer is cut .16" past center, which makes it a true centershot bow. It' s a wood riser. Made in Korea at that.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

:DThe rock that I came from is very large!! Let' s define center shoot. Black Widow , Jeff Massi. Mike Fedora , Roy Hall, Palmer and Martin the list goes do not!! May be you have not heard of any of these bows, but to this day have not seen any say center shoot!!! All when one have an arrow nocked show 1/8th to 1/4 inch off of center. Maybe the term center shoot is not the true word!! ;) The only recurves that even come close to center shoot are the FITA bows. Rember they have metal risers not wood!![:o]

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

If you' d like to get into a discussion about this, how ' bout starting a thread about it so we don' t screw up benhuntin' s question. I' ve already addressed your point above, but I' d be happy to go in depth with you in another thread.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

Silent String, Ken Redding won the IBO Indoor World Championship in MTRAD Class in 2002 with a 21st Century; it' s all he shoots and he has about seven of them. Unfortunately he only came in 2nd this year.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

There' s no " cut and dry" answer here benhuntin, because there' s so many different styles of bow on the market these days, and opinions vary. The basic answer is longbows are usually lighter in the hand, quieter, and slower. Recurves are generally more forgiving on arrow spine, longbows more forgiving of shooter mistakes. Recurves are generally heavier in the hand, noisier, and faster--but there' s a lot of exceptions to those rules.

I have shot longbows that felt like a recurve to me, and seen recurves with a longbow riser. I' ve shot quiet recurves and noisy longbows. I' ve owned at least two different brands of longbow (still have one of them) that were as fast or faster than most recurves on the market. I' ve owned recurves that were feather light, and longbows that were very heavy.

As far as accuracy, that is in the shooter, not the bow. Having that bow tuned, the right arrows, etc. will effect that. Howard Hill could consistently make amazing shots with his longbows (that style is my least favorite bow, but Mr. Hill could sure shoot them). Put a longbow, recurve, flatbow, selfbow, etc. in a shooting machine and it will be consistent. Some bows are easier to tune than others, and more forgiving though. Bows cut to, or past, center will be more forgiving of arrow spine. This is more common with recurves, but is also done with some longbows. This will, however, make the longbow illegal for some tournaments. I believe that is where the claim of one bow being more accurate than the other has come about. I questioned a bowyer not too long ago who had made the claim that the design he used was the most " accurate" , or one of the most accurate, but couldn' t get a straight answer. How do you measure a bow' s accuracy? Unless there is something wrong (i.e., out of tiller) it will shoot where it' s pointed.

There' s a lot of great bows on the market nowadays. I won' t post any names of new ones because of a conflict of interests ;), but there are many to choose from. In an older bows, many of the old Pearson, Bear, Shakespeare, Root, Browning, Wing, etc. still shoot great and can be found at a reasonable price. Bad thing is you won' t find as many " good" longbows for sale as you will recurves, and they generally cost more--new or used. You can get a cheap longbow, but every one I have seen is just that--a cheap longbow. I may be a bit too picky in that respect, as I have heard some folks say they really like a couple of the cheaper ones that I really don' t like. You can get a good recurve, new, for around $200--I have yet to find a longbow that I would shoot for that price though. About the only brand I flat-out avoid is PSE. I don' t care much for the newer Bear bows, but they have their following. Martin probably makes the best " production" bow on the market, but for what the new ones go for you can get a custom bow.

If possible, go to some traditional shoots--the larger ones generally have several vendors who are more than willing to let you try out their bows. You don' t have to feel obligated to buy one just beause you tried it out. Shoot several different ones and different styles, and see what works for you.

If not, think about what you want in a bow and try to find a used one to meet your specs and go from there. After a while, you will find what works for you and may want to order a custom made bow. Don' t worry about opinions, go with what works for you. I suggest shying away from the super short bows, longbow or recurve, as they are usually not very forgiving. Dang handy for hunting, but they will tell on you more if you make a mistake.

Personally, I prefer a reflex/deflex longbow (" hybrid" ). The better ones incorporate, as much as possible, the best of both. Fast, smooth, quiet, little to no felt handshock, forgiving. I like a lightweight bow, but you can get the hybrids in heavier models--either by wood choice and/or take-down models that naturally have a heavier riser. Whether is looks " traditional" or not doesn' t matter to me. I shoot a hybrid with fiberglass and a Dynaflight string, and have shot carbon arrows in the past. I shoot what works for me (I do love wood arrows though[:-]).

Chad

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

When talking about the accuracy of Recurves vs Longbows, one of the factors you must consider is that in competition (which most people use as a measure of accuracy, whether proper or not) longbows are required to shoot wood arrows with 125gr points, whereas recurves are allowed to shoot aluminum, carbon or wood with any point weight. As a consequence, the deck is already stacked against longbows.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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.

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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:D

RE: Long bow or recurve
 

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! :D 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