Longbow Advice

[dross]

I grew up shooting a bow. I was taught instinctive shooting and I've never used a compound.

I sold my Martin recurve a few years ago and got out of archery. My wife and daughter have shown an interest now, so I'm going to get back into it.

I've always liked the beauty and simplicity of the longbow. I want to buy one in the 35lb range, I want it to be high quality and good value. I will mostly use it for target shooting and sometimes small game. Mainly just for fun, but I still want nice quality.

Advice?

 

[Hookeye]

My buddy does well with a Tomahawk. Think the one he shoots 3D with (and wins) is 38#. Not sure what length he got.
Is a Diamond series.

Tomahawk Bows "The Best of the Best"

 

[Jacobm]

A guy at my work was in much the same situation a few years ago. He shot a recurve and was about to order a custom longbow. He heard that I have been shooting longbows exclusively since the early 80's so he came over for a chat. At the end of the discussion he went off and picked up a used longbow, went to a number of traditional shoots that year (almost everyone is willing to let you shoot their bow) and then spent some pretty good money on just the bow he wanted.

I know you said you are familiar with recurves but longbows have very different characteristics. If you haven't shot many longbows before you may want to take it slow. Some customs will set you back better than a grand. I find the cut of the handle section to be a big influence on how the bow feels in hand.

Bows in the weight range you are looking for are not hard to find used on line and there are some great traditional archery web sites out there.

You are fortunate to live in an state that has some very good bowyers and a number of big traditional shoots. We use to drive as much as 8 hours to attend the bigger shoots and it was fun for the entire family.

You are so right on the feel of simplicity with the longbow. Grabbing mine and some judo points for a walk in the woods is one of the best ways to unwind after a hectic day.

 

[Hookeye]

Kinda nice to shoot before you buy...........Cloverdale is in June.

Or call and then drive to 3 Rivers.

 

[I am the cheese]

Three Rivers is an Indiana Co. I got my girlfriend hers through them. We wnet there actually. They let you walk through the shop, which is full of everything on your wishlist. Anyways I bought her one of their youth bows. It comes in at 30-35# and is alot of fun for her to shoot. Me too! Its the Nogel something or rather. You can't miss it. Pretty cheap too. Good for lefties and righties.

 

[printcraft]

Longbow Advice

Never wait by the computer after 9:30 pm hitting "refresh page" expecting anything to come of it.

 

[Mad Dog]

Kinda nice to shoot before you buy...........Cloverdale is in June.

Or call and then drive to 3 Rivers.

excellent advice on both counts!


Mad Dog

 

[Scarecrow]

Bass and Bucks in Wabash has a great indoor archery range.

Bass And Bucks

 

[THard6]

My buddy does well with a Tomahawk. Think the one he shoots 3D with (and wins) is 38#. Not sure what length he got.
Is a Diamond series.

Tomahawk Bows "The Best of the Best"

did you see the price on those bows?! I think my debit card started shaking when I looked at them! it's a piece of wood for God sakes..
i'd say put a spending cap on it and save yourself money. especially if you're just going to use it for playing.

 

[42769vette]

I know you said long bow not recurve, but I have no experiance with either except I shot this a few weeks ago at ATA.

Traditional Bows | Kodiak | Bear Archery

I was very suprised at how smooth the draw was, and how accurate it was (even for me never having shot without pins in my life)

Ya I know I added nothing to the conversation, but the kodiak was the smothest recurve (not long bow) I shot all day.

 

[Hookeye]

Guess you didn't shoot a Blackwidow

 

[Hookeye]

did you see the price on those bows?! I think my debit card started shaking when I looked at them! it's a piece of wood for God sakes..
i'd say put a spending cap on it and save yourself money. especially if you're just going to use it for playing.

Yeah I saw the price.
I've had 3 Blackwidows built, first one in '87 for $475, last one was $860 in '04.
My current Hoyt (factory recurve) I have about $525 in it. It's OK, but certainly no BW.

Custom bows may offer a little better performance and feel. Some folks can't recognize that stuff (folks have different levels of touch/feel/perception), but just because a person says it's not there that doesn't mean it isn't.

The more one shoots the more they should be able to notice such subtleties.

Also, a poorly tuned custom is just a poorly tuned custom. Had folks bash BW as a brand becuase they shot one their bud had. I asked if they ever shot a tuned one? No was the answer, and I let them shoot mine.

The smiles, jaws on the floor and repeated shooting made believers (and sold a few bows)

For me the biggest issues are grip and shock. For that reason i pretty much hate factory longbows, and many factory recurves.

I've taken brand new bows and ground the risers and grips to make them fit me better. My buds who shoot also found my mods to be improvements.

For a cheap bow, one usually with extra wood Samick makes some usable stuff. The Bears of old, and of some little time back, sucked. I have not shot any of the new Bear traditional line. A bud had a new TD and said it was pretty sweet. I would caution on buying any of their stuff from 5 or 6 yrs ago.

The old old stuff has sentimental and collector value (depending on what it is). They are usable, but often have a lot of limb resonance and are slooooooooow. You can add Sims mushroons or wrap around dampeners to the limbs to tame the noise/buzz out.

I would suggest buying a decent string, the old off the display rack AMO $8 B50 stuff doesn't cut it. A nice flemish B50 from 3 Rivers is around 16 dollars and can help with slap/buzz (old bows you run B50).


Back to sticker shock.........there are some really nice bows out there, museum quality wood working, that if had for a K would be steals. Buy a used bow to start out, see if one wants to stay in the game. if so, try other bows and see what your preference is.........then start saving for something nice.

Value? I sold my last BW for $600, and it was 4 yrs old. I lost around $300. But I killed a few deer, lots of carp, some small game and shot it, no kidding, probably on average 100 or more arrows a day. I got my $300 worth out of it.

The reason I sold it was due to injury, I had to go to compound, and my injury got worse to where that was a dozen arrows before deer season affair.

Eventually I healed, so am back to recurves, but one F up and I might be done again. So a K for a bow is pretty risky for me. If I had it, I'd spend it though.

Killing deer with top end gear makes the venison taste even better

 

[Hookeye]

FWIW there are places that make ILF risers (recurve and longbow).
There the limbs have some adjustability in poundage and tiller.
Plus you can buy different weight limbs (have a hunting set, target set).
or if you change your mind, sell your too light/heavy set and get another.

So a beginner might want to go that route, start out light, get good form and then order a second set of limbs as they advance.

There are some hot rod modern material longbows that reportedly are super smooth and FAST, but IIRC my bud said the one he tried out was $1500 and it looked ugly (compared to the multi wood creations others offer).

 

[I am the cheese]

I found all my kids bows in garbage cans. Sounds silly but people were just throwing them away. I knock on the door and ask. Found five bows in a wide range of pounds for them. All were checked by my local archery shop at the time. Safety first.

 

[Hookeye]

On equipment prices........
I much prefer to drive beater vehicles and shoot better bows and guns

 

[ISP 5353]

Lots of great advice, but the best is to try and shoot it before you buy. Longbows are a little different than recurves. Each one has a feel all it's own. I would look at some of the used bows at a big shoot like Cloverdale or Compton and go from there.

If you feel ike taking a chance before shooting one then just watch the classified listings on the traditional sites.

I have been shooting trad stuff for quite a while and if I may offer another option, look at some of the lower priced ILF bows from Lancaster. You can pick the riser and limb combo you want. You can switch limbs from recurve to longbow any time you want. They are easy to tune and adjust. They are probably one of the best options for folks getting into or back into traditional archery.

That said, I live near Indy. You are welcome to shoot any of my bows and see what you think. Most of mine are a little heavier, but they can still give you an idea of what the bow looks and feels like. Good luck and have fun.