[Closed] Any Archers in the House?

I'd keep an eye on the border Facebook page as that where they do their sales, from my glance around the other day the massive over stock isn't there yet so it's likely to be a while for the flatbows, and if you are passing and a stock bow fits it is always worth trying to negotiate, I timed it right and have two very nice bargains including a Hawk Hunter GL for less than a cottonmouth

I might just do that, thanks for the tip!

Target archers aren't into leather - they prefer colour-coordinated or branded kit. I very much doubt it's a market that you'd make anything out of - as you say, etsy is full of people that do it for a hobby and aren't looking to make profit.

Back to arrows, how much difference will 25gr make on my points? I've got those Saunders threaded combis in 100gr, would 125s soften a stiff arrow considerably?

Back to arrows, how much difference will 25gr make on my points? I've got those Saunders threaded combis in 100gr, would 125s soften a stiff arrow considerably?

I'm a little frustrated - I spoke to Merlin who advised on length and spine. Then they came back to me saying that Easton had changed the un-cut length to just under an inch shorter than they advised.

But they said with nock/pile fitted, they'd still be long enough for my draw (which they are)...

However, the slightly shorter arrow is too stiff for the bow - bare shaft is hitting the boss at almost 45° at 12 meters. I'll get some 125gr when I go to the Longbow shop and hope for the best... Perhaps the Bear Paw bow might be a little faster than the Ragim too which would help.

I know, I should have bare-shafted one before I built them up, but Merlin forgot to include threaded inserts, so I soldiered on with the fletching and fitted the inserts last. 🙁

ouch.

Im afraid I cant really help on tuning as I learn from my coaches, but the most important advice I get given is to go to the shop with my bowset before buying.

Wales (and I assume Merlin too) have a small shooting range, and a full selection of bare-shaft arrows to test following taking draw and poundage measurements.

Chap at Wales sucked his teeth, plucked out a bare shaft of the right spec and lo and behold, I banged it straight in at 90 degrees. Good guess. Good guess. At £150 for a set, I was loathe to splash on mail order....

Lego Cresting Movie

Found the movie on my external drive, couple more to follow.

My current version, I roll the arrow with my hand.

Sorry about the music (noise) it seemed fun at the time with Dance Ejay 😉

Shooting clays in slo motion.

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 200fps

Shooting Fimbles in Slow Mo

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 200fps

Flu Fly Flying Far Far Away....

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 200fps

My arrows 29.5 inch. About 2.5 inch sticking out the front, 100grain piles.

Fly like magic 🙂

PS I dont look at my arrow, I look at the target 🙂

Lego Cresting Short Version

@fibrose
Nice Cottonmouth. Civilised poundage as well
🙂

I'm a little frustrated -

I know, I should have bare-shafted one before I built them up, but Merlin forgot to include threaded inserts, so I soldiered on with the fletching and fitted the inserts last."

Next time 🙂

Get a stock arrow shaft and nock it. Stick a leaf or a bit of card on the end dand draw back to your anchor and this will give a miniumum length. Leave a couple of inches on the shaft for future snaps at the pile end.

If you go wood next time that is. I assume your carbons have all bee cut short 🙁

4 inch feathers, 100grain pile and for 5/16 dia shaft.

The pile and nock gives you an extra inch. Dont worry about arrow sticking out the front,,,,and dont look at it when you shoot.

Use the force,,,,hunting tackle (barebow) vision that is 😉

"Aim Small, Miss Small"

My arrows 29.5 inch. About 2.5 inch sticking out the front

Are you the anti-gibbon? 🙂

31.5" arrows, with 1/2" out the back of the bow.
Me sasquatch.

I'm a little frustrated - I spoke to Merlin who advised on length and spine. Then they came back to me saying that Easton had changed the un-cut length to just under an inch shorter than they advised.

But they said with nock/pile fitted, they'd still be long enough for my draw (which they are)...

However, the slightly shorter arrow is too stiff for the bow - bare shaft is hitting the boss at almost 45° at 12 meters. I'll get some 125gr when I go to the Longbow shop and hope for the best... Perhaps the Bear Paw bow might be a little faster than the Ragim too which would help.

Arrow spining is a dark art and I find there is a lot of bollox out there

I shoot 70-75# spined woods full length with 100 grain piles out of my 48# border took 6 sets of arrows to get it right, if I break the end then i put a 125 pile on which compensates just about right

If the eastons are to stiff it's ramp up the pile weight significantly? (150 or 175) or get a faster bow or sell them

Just going up 25 grains isn't going to make enough difference IMHO

Finally tracked down my Portland 2000, which strangely is in better nick than I remember - riser looks brand new. Sadly though I can't seem to find any of the gubbins for it - literally have the bare bow without even a string.
Advice please - when I bung it on eBay, should I (buy a string and) string it for the photos? And what sort of string is considered de rigeur these days? Fastflite still ok?

Bump for the day crowd!

I would of thought a standard Dacron would be more suitable for an old bow

there are a couple of string makers on ebay who are OK

I want to know when the invite to BBQ and shoot at councilof10's wood is coming out 😉

It's not that old 😉

I had a fastflite back in the day - this was a time when dacron and kevlar were available too but FF was the way to go. Not sure if it still is even though I can see it being used.

I had a fastflite back in the day - this was a time when dacron and kevlar were available too but FF was the way to go. Not sure if it still is even though I can see it being used.

As far as I am aware string technology hasn't moved past fast flight

Killed it :-)..... in Slo Mo.

Nice shootin', Tex.

redthunder - Im just back from a cracking day at Wye Valley Field archery course. My first time shooting at something that isnt round and multicouloured! Good laugh.

Only just seen this thread, I'm a compound shooter, shooting an Elite Victory 37.

What are these sight marks? Nowt worse than a group of twiddlers on a peg

A Flatbow with sights? Get in the sea.

(-:

Only just seen this thread, I'm a compound shooter, shooting an Elite Victory 37.

You can get counselling these days

Used to shoot at the Bucksburn club in Aberdeen with my stepdad. He used an ancient longbow and I used whatever compound I could get.

Just bought a bow from Amazon and as soon as it arrived, I knew I'd cocked up. It's pretty much a child's plaything.

I've now got 2 new bows since I last posted, my Bearpaw Hopi finally arrived and is absolutely gorgeous, but I also bought a second hand Samick SKB to put me on... I'd always wanted one, and I love-love-love it!

My garden/wood continues beyond my boundary for a few miles - a wide, steep-sided heavily-wooded valley that is an SSSI, so completely unspoilt.

I've been heading off with the SKB and half-a-dozen POCs in a pocket quiver and shooting rotten stumps - and I can honestly say, it's THE most pleasurable, relaxing and satisfying way to spend an hour or two on a summer evening.

The wood is almost impenetrable, so I'm reduced to crouching along deer/badger tracks or paddling through the stream for most of it, but there are some stunning spots and loads of wildlife - I've seen countless deer, baby fawns left in long grass, baby owls screeching at me, buzzards feeding carrion to their fledglings...

The SKB, being a tiny 'horse bow' style is perfect for this environment. It's as light as a feather, smooth, silent and ridiculously fast.

I'm getting fairly accurate now too. I've been doing a bit of 'paper cup' training with the Bearpaw which has helped massively, I'm now hitting tennis balls at 20-30 yards (1 or 2 hits out of 8 arrows), so definitely improving!

I've also ordered a load of these [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292113326469 ]foam mats[/url] to try as targets - cheap as chips and they're supposed to be pretty good...

The Hopi:
[img] [/img]

@councilof10

I suggest a mat/mat/carpet/mat/mat and hang in a net of some kind and shoot both ways 🙂

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4204/34274050194_7ac0b5fe1d_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4204/34274050194_7ac0b5fe1d_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/UdFt2U ]P1380152[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

Foam gym mat and blanket and geotextile road fabric to hang the target.

Or make a 3D'ish deer from regular foam.

This my range deer 🙂

I've made a layered carpet boss to exactly the same design as layered foam targets (I'll post a pic when it stops raining!) and it works really well. It weighs a ton though, and I couldn't believe how much carpet it took! (around 4 rooms-worth of canvas-backed carpet scrounged off a carpet fitter who removed them).

It's really kind to arrows, stops them easily and doesn't seem to degrade at all from shooting in one spot.

Not worth the hassle though, took ages to make - I'd probably have been better buying a couple of 60cm foam bosses.

I love that 3-d-deer, how did you make that? How does it hold up to repeated shooting?

I'm thinking of getting a One-Two Tree that I can shoot from several markers.

[img] [/img]

The foam targets I make have lasted for almost year and are still stoping arrows. One now needs a repaint.

They are only used about once a week with about 10 arrows max by two people.

I dont think it would survive to long in a club environment.

And my poundage is 38lb. I'm confident it would stop higher though.

Essently the foam is for holding the arrows the key for stoping them is the secret patent core....tell you all later.

I will sort out some pix later, might put them on my blog for the record.

Not had a huge amount of time for shooting this week - BabyCouncilNo1 is only 12 weeks off arrival and Other Half is in full-on nesting mode!

Had an hour last night while she was at pre-natal yoga and remembered to take a pic of the carpet boss. As I said on an earlier post, it works perfectly, looks like it will last pretty much indefinitely, but is flippin heavy and probably not worth the amount of time it took to make. I used mini-ratchet straps to compress it. I've got some hessian to wrap it in - make it look a little nicer!

I also tried those foam tiles which worked out about 20 quid for 16. They come shrink wrapped in bundles of 4 tiles, and you need 3 bundles to stop an arrow...

Time to just bite the bullet and buy some proper foam targets I think!!

On another note, I shoot completely instinctively at the moment and I'm trying not to let any sort of reference aiming creep in, but I'm constantly shooting slightly high... Any ideas?

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

I'm hopefully heading for a shoot tomorrow 🙂

I'll try take some pix of my target butt designs for you.

Basically:

Use your foam tiles, couple of pieces of carpet, more foam tiles (if you want to shoot both sides, hang in a debris net sling from a branch, or hazel cut off.

Cheap and very light.

However, if you buy foam butts add some feet. Easy to move around 🙂

Classic foam banded butt.

With feet 🙂

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4287/35308796915_653320a1fe_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4287/35308796915_653320a1fe_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VN7PbB ]P1430844[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

The foam deer...

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4275/34921197110_c32f525a91_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4275/34921197110_c32f525a91_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VcSggm ]P1430830[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

The middle is a dense foam pad with a blanket wrapped around.

You could use carpet, taped or banded in between the main foam.

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4211/35308796625_f21ae54035_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4211/35308796625_f21ae54035_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VN7P6B ]P1430831[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

Ethafoam butt

Plywood sides and feet.

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4208/34921297930_1bf8849d17_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4208/34921297930_1bf8849d17_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VcSMeC ]P1430329[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

Hanging gym mat design...

Foam tile, carpet core, net and then hang from branch.

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4249/35179172401_a9dddf200c_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4249/35179172401_a9dddf200c_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VAEskc ]P1430265[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4245/35308948825_7ab8e8302a_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4245/35308948825_7ab8e8302a_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VN8AkK ]P1430271[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

Ethafoam in a sand bag design. Carpet core or blanket.

Hung by wire from a branch.

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4248/35179211151_2489753c9b_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4248/35179211151_2489753c9b_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VAEDRi ]P1430280[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

Unshackle yourself from the foam butt 🙂

Semper Fi, carry on 🙂

Some great ideas there Redthunder, I'll have to see what I can adapt to for shoot.

I'm going to have to keep one eye on aesthetics as I'm landscaping the wood as part of my garden, but I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some novel solutions...

I've now snapped all but 3 of my POC arrows so need to replace them... The Easton powerflight I got for my Bearpaw seem far more robust than wood so I might go for another set of those for stumping...

New bit of foam-age...dino target 🙂

and another... Straaaaava 🙂 Based on Britain Deetail soldiers.

Bit of fun 🙂

and

Quite with this shot 🙂