Equipment

We advise all new archers not to buy any equipment until they have completed the beginner’s course and obtained the advice of their coach. It is easy to buy the wrong things and waste a lot of money otherwise. Common problems are buying bows that are too powerful for beginners (over-bowing will make it difficult to improve your form), and getting arrows that are not properly matched with the bow.

The following reference material is to be used in conjunction with discussions with your coach.

Bows

Bows can be of several types, such as horse bows, long bows, recurve bare bow, ‘olympic‘ recurve, and compound bows. Which you prefer is an entirely individual choice. Most people choose either bare bow or olympic recurve, but a substantial number like long bows, and there is always the ‘dark side’, the compound bow. Most of what is below refers to olympic recurve bows, which is a bow fitted with sights, and possibly stabilizers and clickers, as seen at the Olympic Games.

The size of the bow is governed by the draw length. The general rule is

draw length + 40″ = bow length

Bow length is determined by the length of the riser plus the length of the limbs. Different combinations give different lengths. As a rough guide:

Draw length	Bow length	Consisting of
< 26″	64″	23″ riser + short limbs
26″ – 28″	66″	23″ riser + medium limbs or 25″ riser + short limbs
28″ – 30″	68″	23″ riser + long limbs or 25″ riser + medium limbs
30″ – 32″	70″	25″ riser + long limbs

Some makers also produce 27″ risers, giving those with 32″ draw length the opportunity to have a 72″ bow. In general, the preferred combination if there is a choice is to take a longer riser and shorter limbs, as this combination has lower moving mass and thus is faster.

Riser

This is the ‘handle’ of the bow. It can be made of wood, aluminium, or carbon fibre. The most important features are that the grip is one that you find comfortable, and that it has all the features that you require. For example, if you are not going to use it as a bare bow, then it should have fittings for sights and stabilizers. It is also a good idea if the limb alignment can be changed (on inexpensive bows it cannot).

Risers can be extremely light, such as the Fibrebow at not much more than 600g, to moderately heavy, around 1.5kg. In price they vary from as little as £40 to over £600.

Limbs

While the riser is really just something to hold that keeps the limbs apart and lets you add things like sights, the limbs do the real work of the bow. On longbows and American flatbows these form a gentle curve, but on recurve bows they start curving towards the archer, but then bend the other way, with the tips pointing towards the target (although, on a promotional shot for The Hunger Games somebody had put the limbs on back to front!).

There are three basic types of limb fittings (ie how the limb attaches to the riser): bolt-down, International Limb Fitting, and Hoyt Formula.

Bolt-down. For the most part, bolt-down limbs are used on cheaper beginner’s bows (but also on some more traditional hunting bows used in the States). The fitting is not entirely standardised, so you will either buy riser and limbs from the same manufacturer, or check with the dealer that they are compatible. The problem with bolt-down limbs is that you can’t adjust them, neither for alignment, nor for fine adjusting the draw weight to tune your arrows. They do make it inexpensive to get started, eg the Core Silhouette is currently £34.49 for the riser and £27.90 for the limbs. If budget is a consideration, or you are buying for a youngster and not sure how long they will keep up archery before picking a new fad (we’ve all been there), then this makes a lot of sense.

International Limb Fitting. The ILF was originally developed by Earl Hoyt (founder of the Hoyt archery company) back in the ’70s, and many other manufacturers adopted it as a standard. This is by far the most popular system, since there is a wide range of risers and limbs from different manufacturers and price points, which you can mix-and-match as desired. The limbs can be wood/fibreglass, wood/carbonfibre, or carbonfibre/foam. They range in price from about £50 for Core Prelude up to over £600 for the top of the range Win&Win, MK, and Uukha limbs, or over £700 for custom-made Border super-recurve limbs (made by a top manufacturer here in Scotland).

Unless you are on a tight budget or buying for youngsters, we would normally recommend starting with ILF. The minimum weight available is around 18lb, or 28lb for high quality limbs.

Hoyt Formula. In the past decade Hoyt came up with a redesign, called the Formula system. This is similar to (but incompatible with) the ILS that they also invented some decades ago. The primary difference is that the riser supports the limb further from the joint, which is supposed to improve stability of the shot and make it smoother. It also works very well, but the range is more limited than with ILS, especially at the lower price range and lower bow weight end. Prices seem to start at about £230, up to £700. It is a good system, but choice is limited and no entry-level prices or poundage.

Draw weight. Some years ago, men started at 26-30lb and women at 22-26lb, but nowadays this is considered too powerful to start. The problem is not that beginners cannot draw such bows, they certainly can, but that as a beginner the archer needs to concentrate on developing good form, and this is easier to do if you are not struggling with the weight.