Tuning a compound shot with fingers

[Andrew Knott]

I have a new bow on order (a Bowtech Commander) which I intend shooting with fingers and a pinsight for field archery.

Does anybody have any views on the most effective method to set-up and tune the rest? I suspect that the lateral force induced by fingers means paper tuning won't be especially effective.

I will be using a Timberdoodle rest which is designed for finger-shooters. My goal is 'good-enough' tuning, rather than spending days' micro-fiddling.

In advance, thanks.

Andrew

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Andrew Knott

I have a new bow on order (a Bowtech Commander) which I intend shooting with fingers and a pinsight for field archery.

Does anybody have any views on the most effective method to set-up and tune the rest? I suspect that the lateral force induced by fingers means paper tuning won't be especially effective.

I will be using a Timberdoodle rest which is designed for finger-shooters. My goal is 'good-enough' tuning, rather than spending days' micro-fiddling.

In advance, thanks.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I don't shoot fingers but know quite a few people who do. It is a very popular class in the SFAA.

As I understand you tune in much the same way as for a recurve. Bareshaft and walkback.

Have you tried shooting a Commander? I would have though that the 80% let off would make a clean finger release tricky. I understood that most finger shooters looked for bows with minimum 65% let off and longer axle-to-axle.

The Bowtech site says that the Guardian and Commander have adjustable let-off between 65% and 80%, but I can't see how.

[reckless]

Commader is a bit short for finger shooting, best to use a 40 inch plus axcle to axcel. with that said. the commander comes with a 80% standerd let of, but can be adjusted to 65% with the use of a couple of little do das that screw on to the mods.
as for tuning it your right about the whole paper tuning as this will give issues.
best to centre shot it like a recurve and bare shaft it. then a walk back to fine tune. also kick the nocking point to say 1/8 above centre for starters and tweak from there.

[Jerry Tee]

Download the Eastonarchery tuning guide. If you find you are getting a little finger pinch then I would draw with three fingers and drop the bottom finger off at full draw.
Personally I prefer a button and flipper rest, I find that combination the easiest to tune.

[stonecold]

I followed Jerrys advice when tuning my bow for finger shooting (Reflex super slam and cavalier rest) - shot a 570 portsmouth off fingers with a pin sight last wednesday and its pretty dam good on the field course as well.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by reckless

the commander comes with a 80% standerd let of, but can be adjusted to 65% with the use of a couple of little do das that screw on to the mods.

Ah time to order some do das...

[Andrew Knott]

Thanks to everybody for the advice. The Easton guide is really useful and I hadn't previously seen the updated version.

On the question of bow length I didn't have any problems with using fingers on the Commander, even though I have a 30 inch draw. I'm currently shooting a Merlin XT which is a similar length. I am dubious about dropping off my third finger from the string as I suspect that it will result in more bow torque, something that I am particularly wary about since I use the bow for field and the combination of not being allowed to use a bubble in my class and strange shooting positions caused by shooting round trees etc, make torquing more prevalent.

[stonecold]

My ATA is 36" - I'm, finger shooting with no pinch whatsoever and I have hands like shovels. !

hiya andrew, andrew if you are a bit concerned with the bow torque have a look at what this guy can do regarding bow grips, "torqueless bow grips"
i purchased a couple of these for my mathews. the bows feel a lot better in the hand, unless you are happy with the grip your bowtech has. or you could just try the pressure button set up.

regards
jim.

ps: see ya at whitefriars if yer going..

[Andrew Knott]

Jim

Thanks for the suggestion. One of the reasons (but not the main one) why I am changing my Merlin for a Bowtech is the handle. The Merlin has a recurve style wooden handle, whereby the Bowtech is a much slimmer grip with twin plates. When testing the new bow, the slim grip performed much better and seemed to help me with one of my problems of gripping the riser after releasing.

Do you know when the Whitefriars shoot is? It isn't on the NFAS web site. I just hope that safety has improved since the last time I shot there.

Regards

Andrew