A little Advice

[maverick petey]

Hi all,

I'm after a little advice. I am looking at moving over to shoot compound as well as my current recurve and longbows (I know greedy aren't I). Anyway, I have been offered a new Bowtech general at a massively discounted price through e-bay, but want to make sure that the bow will meet my size requirements. Currently my recurve draw length is approximately 29inches and wanted to make sure that the 30inch draw length the the General offers will allow me to shoot. What is the best way to measure this and in peoples opinions would 30inches be long enough?

Any help will be greatly appreciated as i dont want to spend money on soemthing that is not suitable for me.

Cheers
Peter
Maverick Petey

[geoffretired]

With a recurve draw length of 30" I would expect the compound draw of the bow to be set shorter, unless you intend to shoot off your fingers. With a release aid, you normally use an inch or more for the release aid as the hand is further back from the bow string. Or looked at another way, when your hand is in its usual position the string is about 1 inch forwards of the fingers as a result of the release aid.

[Little Miss Purple]

Be careful you don't buy a bow at a great price... then find you have to pay a silly amount to change the cams!!

[rstamp]

PM Sent

[ArcheryRoxStar]

short of going to an archery store and just checking everything is ok with a 30" general, which would be the best option if possible, you will run a bit on faith with the bow.

the bow would be fine, but the thing with short axel bows, is usually the draw length has to be a bit longer to acomidate you face shape and reference position on side of lip and/or on nose.

if its not perfect when you draw up, either you can shorten the d loop, use a shorter neck release aid such as a carter, or just dip your head a little, as long as you have your hand/nose and lip possition referensed consistantly, this will not be a problem at all.

alternately, bows usually have some movement with the string, so u can get just beyond 30" by lossening the string a little.

[Hidden Hippo]

If your recurve D/L is 29" then chances are it will be somewhere around the 28" mark for a compound due to the extra length of the d-loop and the release aid. My recurve draw is around 27.5" and my compound has to be set at 26" to get a decent anchor position - too long and you won't be able to get into the back wall properly and will have limited rear shoulder movement.

[Random_guy]

modules to alter the General's drawlength are ~£11, so even if its the wrong DL for you, it won't be expensive to get it to the correct length!

[Jerry Tee]

Tie a 'D' loop on your recurve, beg ,borrow or otherwise obtain a release aid. Draw to a comfortable reference point on your face. ( If in doubt about where ask a compound archer) and see where your draw lenght comes to. The general is a short bow so you might not get your nose on the string. If you are happy with that OK. I am fairly certain that the cams are module adjustable for draw lenght.

[ArcheryRoxStar]

Originally Posted by Hidden Hippo

If your recurve D/L is 29" then chances are it will be somewhere around the 28" mark for a compound due to the extra length of the d-loop and the release aid. My recurve draw is around 27.5" and my compound has to be set at 26" to get a decent anchor position - too long and you won't be able to get into the back wall properly and will have limited rear shoulder movement.

i am the opposite, i have a 27" recurve draw length and a 28" compound with A2A 38". it is important that your release hand isnt too far back, however, it should be somewhere behind your jaw line to get consistant anchor. make sure you still have movement of your elbow for relevent back tension.

with regards to the modules, you can buy them for around £11, however, you cannot get higher than 30" on a general.

[GeoffT]

I would expect a compound draw length to be 1" to 1 1/2" shorter than the same archer shooting a recurve.

I have seen it said by several people; Bernie Pellerite, Chris Jones to name but two, if my memory serves me right, words to the effect that "most compound archers could improve by reducing their draw length".