Just starting - buying bows - is this good choice?

theTinker

Hi Everyone,

Myself and a friend are interested in starting archery as a hobby. We will give it the length of the summer and stick with it if we like it obviously.

I've been reading around and understand how all the bits n'bobs work. So I'm ready to buy a pair of bows and try it out. The UCD club website links were quite helpful. They directed me to a online shop that has "starter packs". I like this as attaching risers and limbs together without any knowledge of what sizes/materials are good together seems problem prone.

Here is a page that has some starter packs.
http://www.merlinarcherycentre.co.uk/acatalog/Bow_Sets.html

http://www.merlinarcherycentre.co.uk/acatalog/Archery_Set__D1__Family_Pack.html

I wasn't really about to figure out the difference in the starter packs. They all look very similar. I didnt want to use the "higher price = better" mentality.

I was hoping that you might let me know if the family pack is good enough value/useful and just want to make sure im not about to buy a terrible mistake. If one of the other packs are good too, please let me know.

If you know of any irish based sites/dublin located places i can easily pick up a starter pack, or has sales persons that would put together a starter pack for me. please let me know.

Thanks

theTinker

I just wanted to add that i do not have a huge preference to which bow style to use (recurve/compound). I just wanted something kinda "bowy" without too much wierd stuff happening on it (compounds seem like very complicated bows with all that wheel stuff).

There are some very cheap bows on that page I mentioned up above. If one of these are a good start, i'd be happy with that. If they are crap then i apologise for insulting your eyes!

Carebear11

Stop rite there my friend! As always I beleive it is at this stage that I point out a few simple bits of advice before you start.

1. You should never buy a bow and just start shooting if you have never been told what to do.

2. All clubs in Ireland run archery courses through out the year, these are usualy 6 weeks long and all the equipment is supplied, hence no waste of buying gear and then deciding you dont want to continue.

3. No amount of reading up on stuff will realy give you an idea how equipment works if you have never done archery before.

Where are you based? Just from a point of view if you want to do a course in a club.....

theTinker

I can be a bit bull headed i guess.

we're based in tallaght/drimnagh (though we drive). A course would be nice i guess but its just our weekends are usually fairly booked up and we are currently out 50% of our evenings looking for a new place to live. So we are a bit time constrained. I figured we could buy some bows, set up a target in a long backyard (about 15 meters), and practice shooting. If we liked it, extend it out to a club/field shoots.?

From your reply, i guess this is a newbie assumption? Is it difficult to learn without a club?

Carebear11

Yes and yes, also if you are not a member of a club you can NOT compete in ANY competition anywhere in the world. We usualy suggest that being a backgarden archer is a bad and potentialy dangerious idea, if you are in tallaght then your in luck there is an archery club in your area called Greenhills Archers, they run evening courses during the week (as most clubs do). There is also one of the main archery shops, Archery Shop Ireland, down the road in Blessington!

For a full list of clubs and club contact details and general Irish archery info follow this link: http://www.archery.ie/club.html

ruiner

It's not difficult to get an arrow from the bow into a target but teaching yourself what would be considered a good shooting form (the way you shoot the bow) is quite hard, especially if you are not around more experienced archers.

Even apart from that you would be better in a club to learn the safety rules and about bow maintenance.

theTinker

Hi,

I've contacted Greenhills club and will be signing up for their course starting next week tomorrow.

Since its only on once a week, I'd still like to practice myself. Would anyone or one of the helpful posters above take a look at them bows i posted and let me know if they are worth getting?

Carebear11

The bows look good for a beginner but if you would be intrested in buying any archery stuff, beginner or experienced talk to Keith or David in Archery Shop Ireland down in Blessington, they give great advice and also arent to pricey! Follow link: http://www.archeryshop.ie/

Greenhills would also be good to talk to, most clubs have second hand equipment in good nick up for sale, but to be honest I would wait untill you have done the course and then get your own gear if you want to stick with it.

Happy shooting!

Panserborn

Hope ye like archery! Beware, it can be dangerous to your career as you skive off to go training!

In terms of the bow packages you have linked in your first post ........

The first one seems to be the KAP Surprise bow. We bought some of these for the club and trained beginners on them. Not bad, the riser (handle) feels good which is no surprise (no pun intended :rolleyes:) as KAP is an off-shoot company of Win&Win - one of the better manufacturers of risers.

The second link is for what looks like fairly standard wooden bows. Most of us here learned archery on bows like these. Personally, I'd prefere the KAPs though. One thing to think about is the length of the bow. It you would consider yourself tall, then get a 68-70" bow if possible. As others have said, the crew at Greenhills will help you decide on bow length.

As it happens, we bought our KAP Surprise bows from ASI - the one in Blessington. Worked out cheaper than what you seem to be about to pay on the Merlin site.

Happy Shooting!

archerymad

hi,

just read your post there, i would point out i shot with a surprise for almost 2 years,

however, the limbs that go with the bow are useless when you go above 24 pounds, so i moved to another bow...there is a site, quicksarchery.co.uk i think, that has a fairly good choice of entry level bows and targets, your best bet is to go to keith and dave tho, in archery shop ireland

Sparks

I suppose here's as good a place as any to delurk.

Been trying archery of late (thank renegade_archer for that, he shows up in our club to shoot air pistol, next thing you know there are recurve bows everywhere...). Just bought a basic kit, though I don't recognise the brand name (interNature archery?). Straightforward wooden riser. 70" 24lb recurve. Nothing fancy, the sights are a common pin taped to the riser. Saw renegade's kit, and realised that given how I take target shooting, I'd go bankrupt if I didn't keep repeating I'm just doing this for fun, I'm just doing this for fun, I will not spend my entire paycheque on all-aluminium kit until I can keep all the arrows out of the cat to myself...

I can barely keep every shot on the target even at 15m at this stage (so my paycheque's safe for now)


But at least I have my first bruises

Carebear11

Oh you havent had a bruise from a bow smack till you have had a 43lbs recurve lash accross your arm with no arm guard or even worse a 60lbs compuond, now they give one hell of a bruise!

Sparks

And hopefully I never will - my new armguard goes from the wrist back up past the elbow

Carebear11

Haha! You should be safe so......

Sparks

At the moment though, my sight is basicly a straight pin in a bit of sticky tape on the front of the riser. Is it worth getting something that'd be - while still quite basic and cheap - a bit more robust maybe? Given that the arrow landing on the target at 15m is still not a sure thing with me?

Renegade_Archer

The internature kit should have two holes on the side to accept a sight - I'd be very surprised if it didn't - a Cartel sight should do the job nicely:

http://www.bowsports.com/acatalog/recurvesights.html

Panserborn

Carebear11 wrote: »

even worse a 60lbs compuond

Not that bad actually. Got worse ones from my recurve. I never shoot the compound with an armguard as if my form gets squishy then a right good whack on the naked arm wakes me up again and forces me to put things right.

Sparks

http://www.bowsports.com/acatalog/info_145.html

£8 for a sight I can take off the bow when putting it away. Looks good to me!

Renegade_Archer

Might be worth checking with Altervices (http://www.altservices.co.uk) to see if they have a similar sight in stock, as they deal in euros.. there are also our own Keith and Dave of http://www.archeryshop.ie - they are usually pretty competitive with the British suppliers...

Sparks

They seem to either not carry it or be looking for twice the price or thereabouts. (And it's not yet worth spending more than a tenner on my sights yet methinks )

Carebear11

Panserborn wrote: »

Not that bad actually. Got worse ones from my recurve. I never shoot the compound with an armguard as if my form gets squishy then a right good whack on the naked arm wakes me up again and forces me to put things right.

Mac, your compound gave me some nice whacks, drew blood like!

Sparks

Right, after some emails with renegade, there's an order gone in for sights, a stabiliser and a finger sling.
It's a damn good thing he doesn't have so much time to write emails these days or I'd probably have ordered a Bernadini Luzor riser
(I've got a 32" draw, alas )

HansEbert

okie... your a leftie right? i believe i shot with u in woodbrook, im the lefty with the grreen aerotec and the messy hair?>! have u already bought a bow? ive got a gold medalist that is manly... PM me if interested? only cuz if youd treat it right

Sparks

Sparks wrote: »

Right, after some emails with renegade, there's an order gone in for sights

Oh bother.

I'm not complaining about the sights, as such, you understand - they're much better than a pin and a piece of tape; and I wasn't expecting gold-plated carbon fibre for all of a tenner.

However, one bit has already vibrated off and made a successful bid for freedom, and I'm having to tighten up the elevation locking screw between every shot. Now I'm figuring that the lack of tuning of even bracing height is a major factor here, but in the meantime, is there a mid-level sight somewhere between the tenner and the hundred quid range which will hold together for about a year and do a reasonable job? (It doesn't *seem* terribly onerous a task...)

Renegade_Archer

Bit of string wax or similar in the threads?


If you really feel the need for a new sight, Cartel to a pretty decent wormscrew sight...

http://www.bowsports.com/acatalog/info_Activa.html

Sparks

Oh, I feel a need for a new sight allright, it's just that it's the same need I feel when I walk past an RX-8 or a shiny new laptop, I don't trust it as far as I can throw my bow (about four feet, it turns out).

I've got my shopping list laid out for as soon as I know the specs for the arrows, and a shibya isn't on it. But I'm just wondering if the club ought to get a bunch of cartel sights like this one for the beginners, or if it's a false economy. If there was a sights that cost around the €30 mark or so and which lasted for a year before starting to shed parts, I'd be tempted to grab that and pass on my current sights to herself, who's rapidly overtaking me on the archery side of things. (Hence the need for shiny new kit, to buy extra points and maintain my lead! )

The wax idea sounds good, I'll try that.

Panserborn

Sparks wrote:

or if it's a false economy

Nope, not at all. From a club who have some serious barebowers, I can tell you that "starting out" on barebow for any longer than 2 training sessions does nobody any favours. Barebow and recurve are very different and good habits in one are form destroyers in the other. If you want to get the club with a few recurvers then buy the cheapest sights you can get for the club bows - or fork out a little more and get 30 buck sights. But one way or another, get sights.

Our best barebow shooters evolved into it as opposed to starting at it and just never putting on sights, or "I just prefer barebow". Start em with sights, get em used to aiming with an anchor. If barebow is still their thing then well and good.

The Cartel K-Sight is an excellent sight for a good price. Just keep an eye on the screws and you'll be grand. Also, there is a tendency with the K-sight to not learn how to use the microadjustment on the windage, often archers just twist the pin screw instead. Microadjustment is good on it though!

I'll stop lecturing now :P

Sparks

I'll stop lecturing now

Don't stop now, I'm taking notes here!
(Seriously, don't stop now, the more I learn the less mistakes I'll have to blame on someone else later)