[Witchie Poo Cat]

Hi guys

Im still doing my beginners course at the moment and using a low poundage KAP surprise bow to practise with.

I bought a Hoyt GM riser from Radar that arrived this morning and my first observation was how heavy it feels compared to my practise bow at the club. I tried holding the riser in my bow arm as if i were taking the shot (this is minus the limbs as they havent arrived yet!) and it feels much heavier, almost too heavy. The practise bow at the club I feel I could shoot all day without getting tired, yet when I hold the Hoyt riser in my bow hand I can feel the weight on it right away and feel like I could barely take more than a few shots without getting tired.

Tonight I went on a few archery shop websites to compare the weight of the riser, and even weighed mine on my scales (1.1kgs) and to my shock I see that the kap surprise and the Hoyt GM are almost identical in weight. This is weird as there is definitely a difference in the perceived weight when holding it.

So, I guess my question is this. Once you add the limbs, string etc does it affect the balance somehow and therefore the riser doesnt feel as heavy when made up to complete bow or am I just imagining things?

While Im here I do have one other quick question. I have worked out how to make sure I use my back muscles rather than arm muscles for drawing the bow but still seem to be using my arms for holding the bow. Any ideas on how to engage the back muscles for bow arm as I just cant seem to get the hang of it (and will probably help counteract some of the riser weight issue too i guess)?

Thanks for your help as always.

Witchie Poo Cat