Anyone here do archery?

I plan on doing archery myself, and I'd like to know what brand of olympic recurve bow you would recommend for a mediocre archer (like me...highest score was 176/300). Any thoughts?

Sorry...I just have a Hoyt compound...(I don't even hunt...just shoot it in my backyard...)

JM-99

deer hunter here... killed two with bow and black powder last season.

I have shot bow for going on 45 years now, sice about the time I learned how to walk. I shoot nothing but recurve. What do you mean by Olympic recurve? Do you mean a take down recurve, one with a magnesium or alloy riser? Or is there an Olympic regulation bow you are interested in for Olympic style sooting? Not sure what the scoring you gave means as I shoot exclusively at 3D targets by myself with the only scoring a kill shot or not.

The best midrange recurves are generally Bear, Darton, and Martin. Any one of those will do you very well. They have various styles including takedown and traditional one piece models, in different bow lengths. I would suggest finding a good archery shop with someone who knows traditional archery. Or a Cabelas, or Gander Mountain if there is no traditional shop near you. Remember one thing, plastic vanes do NOT shoot well off the shelf which is the only real decent way to shoot a recurve when you are buying your arrows.

I shot archery in College during the 70's. We used Hoyt Takedown's and shot olympic style. Yamaha was starting to make bows then and some people used them. There were a couple of other companies that made a few bows, but their share of the market was pretty low.

After college I switched to NFAA and shot compounds for awhile. I really liked it but as I got interested in other hobbies I didn't have time for archery practice. I sold my compound but still have my Hoyt.

I don't think the bow is that critical to your shooting. Ironically many of my friends were engineers and we devoted a lot of time and attention to playing with our equipment, when we should have spent more time practicing. Your equipment needs to be good, needs to fit you, needs to be matched so it works together, and beyond that you need to practice with it.

Not knowing what exactly is on the market now, I would dare say that there are probably several models that would work for you, at least until you get up to near-olympic skill. Sporting goods stores may not have a selection of equipment that is good for target archery, for hunting people tend to use shorter bows than they do for target shooting, and we used bows with laminated limbs whereas lots of hunting bows has solid fiberglass limbs.

D@rk, try ringing up these 2 Toronto shops and see if they can be of help.

1) Al Flaherty's Outdoor Store 416-651-6436
2) Central Sports 416-964-8226

Also, Brampton Archery Shop, 905-840-3939, may be worth a call.

BJN, you are quite correct that hunters tend to shoot shorter bows, sometimes to the extent that some feel they even pinch the fingers a bit too much, like my all time favorite recurve the OLD Bear Grizzly not to be mistaken with its newer longer counterpart.

However, you are wrong on the limb construction. Very few hunting bows use solid fiberglass limbs, in recurves at least, I cannot speak for compound bows. Most recurves are made they same way they have been made since I started shooting, actually before, with laminated limbs. It was a process originated by Fred Bear if memory serves correctly. I have not seen a solid fiberglass limbed recurve in many years, with the exception of those little childs beginner bows, and most of them are actually a longbow design instead of recurve.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll look into Al Flaherty's Outdoor Store and Central Sports. Does Lebaron, Tent City or Bass Pro sell olympic recurve bows (the kind that lee said, the olympic regulation type in which only the materials differ)?

expensive, but hope you get some of these..

cy said:

expensive, but hope you get some of these..

Click to expand...

:duh2:...wow, you actually split that carbon fibre arrow!? I plan on just getting a few aluminum, carbon fibre is too expensive for me

after you practice a fair bit with a modern compound bow. one's accuracy improves to the point. you start to shoot different spots on your target to avoid robin hooding your arrows.

I can reliably group shots out to 45 yards with no problems. these new compound bows are flat amazing!

Oh, compuound...too bad I only shoot with a recurve(the wooden laminated one with non detatchable limbs :thumbsdow )...hopefully I can get my own aluminum magnesium alloy/fibreglass/something I may have forgot bows and get the same outcome. I've shot the nock off of a wooden arrow, if the arrow wasn't blunt, it would have definately split it (the arrow bounced back, maybe I need a heavier bow).

After doing some research, I figured that most of them would be out ofmy price range, any recommendations for more price effective brands?

You might try Ebay and some of the online sporting good auction sites. Another idea is to pick up a cheaper regular recurve a Darton, Bear or Martin, buy one of their longer models, and practice with it for a while.

Save up your pennies, and this might mean <gasp> no light purchases, if it is really what you want to do it will be worth that sacrifice. It wont be long before you can pick up an Olympic bow, and the practice with a regular recurve will translate very nicely into the Olympic bow. Simply try to shoot like Olympic shooting would be done. You can buy wrist braces and stablizers like they use. Heck some hunting recurves come drilled and tapped on the riser for a stabalizer.

I guess I'll have to hold back on some lights

Archery is a great sport. Been shooting for 7 years now. Mostly deer hunting and backyard targey archery. Some 3D shooting as well.
Lot of fun!

Sadly my archery has taken a blow the last couple of years due to finances however I still love the sport and hope to get back into it soon.

At the time when I was competing I was using a recurve consisting of a merlin riser and S2 limbs 45lb draw weight and consistently scoring 550+ out of 600 in Portsmouth round and have got third class in a short national

I do miss field shooting as well and also distance shooting 300 meters,I think I will shoot bare back and use a Samick spirit II 50lb draw weight

I used to shoot recurves and longbows in local 3D tournaments. I actually competed in the CFAA indoor championship and won the bowhunter recurve category back in 1992. Good luck getting your equipment and have fun!