clickers

[elastoplastscavenger]

i have next to no experience with clickers. heres what i know:

i got a clciker that was made out of bent steel with a screw and a big washer with a small threaded hole in it. the big washer was glued to the riser and the bent steel screwed into said washer.

it cost me £1. it wasnt worth it....and in my case it didnt work because my arrows were too long and i couldnt hear it click when it wasnt hitting the riser.

i just got the cheap cartel magnetic clicker for £2.70 or something. i havent had a chance to use it. initial impressions are good for the money but the pivot pin fell out when i was fidling with it. it should be a press fit i think. mine just falls out under gravity. it has been fixed with 2 small bits of insulating tape.

[Murray]

The first question is, why did you buy a clicker when you had no idea how to use one

I personally don't like the magnetic clickers, but they're the only answer for people like yourself who has overly long arrows. I had a cavalier clicker many years ago and it was solid. Frankly, if you buy cheap Korean knock-offs (which is essentially what Cartel is all about), you get shoddy goods. Send it back to the supplier and buy a Cavalier would be my advice.

[Shirt]

Originally Posted by Murray

The first question is, why did you buy a clicker when you had no idea how to use one

Glasgow.

'Nuff said.

[sky_high30]

I've a magnetic one that sticks out about 3/4in in front of the riser - i'm a bit paranoid about getting my arrows cut short...

[Old Greebo]

Ah! Good! A thread about clickers!
I'm going to try to redirect this here conversation away from the clickers themselves, and onto the subject of AIMING.
As I understand it, a real archer draws his bow and IMMEDIATELY his sight gets centred on the gold. No, not on the gold - on the little 'x' on the middle of the X bit of the gold.
And it stays there. Spot on. Without wavering.
Then he pulls the string a little bit more (which doesn't, of course, cause the aim to waver one teensy weensy bit from that little 'x') and the clicker goes 'click!'
Whereupon he lets fly, and the little 'x' inj the middle of the X bit of the gold is obliterated.

Me?
I draw and I aim. The little thingie in the middle of my sight wavers round the gold. When it more or less lines up with some part of the gold I let fly. I score a 7 if I'm lucky. If I had a clicker fitted, and HAD to let fly when it told me to, I'd be lucky to get a5.

At what stage of expertise should one fit a clicker?

[Kellog]

I was put on a clicker after about 4 months or so, which felt and still feels like it was very early. A year later I still don't really get on well with my clicker.

[Tobytoolbag]

Originally Posted by Old Greebo

Me? I draw and I aim. The little thingie in the middle of my sight wavers round the gold. When it more or less lines up with some part of the gold I let fly. I score a 7 if I'm lucky. If I had a clicker fitted, and HAD to let fly when it told me to, I'd be lucky to get a 5.

At what stage of expertise should one fit a clicker?

Sounds like there's two issues here - the aiming, and the clicker.

The clicker is a fairly easy one - And when your draw length is consistent enough that thoughts of trimming your (very expensive carbon/aluminium) arrows to accommodate the clicker doesn't fill you with horror!

Personally, I started using a clicker at the beginning of the indoor season (which, up here, starts earlier than normal!!), so I could be familiar with it for shooting long ranges outside. Indoors, you can probably get away without one, as slight variations in draw length have negligible (although some) effect at short range, but outdoors, those same slight variations when you're shooting 60m+ can be the difference between hitting the gold and hitting the black below your aiming point... The trick is remembering that you control the clicker, and not the other way round - it's an indicator that you've reached your benchmark draw length, and not a cue for you to loose, even if you're aiming no-where near the gold! I sometimes practice drawing through the clicker (ie letting the clicker go off), and then letting down without loosing the arrow, just to make sure that it isn't hard-wired into the brain that every time the clicker goes off I've got to let the string go... I like to show the damn thing who's boss every now and again!

If you've got a problem controlling the aim enough that the majority of the gold is in your sight ring, it sounds to me (IMHO) like you need to drop the draw weight, or work on your form, or both... But don't worry too much about the 'little thingie in the middle of your sight' - it's there to make you over-aim - just worry about how much gold you can see through the ring that surrounds it... There's an excellent explanation about how it all works in Murray's excellent Archer's Reference... If you're struggling with keeping your aim steady over the gold, just forget about where the sight pin is, and focus on the gold of the target - and the subconscious mind will take care of the rest - trust me!

[elastoplastscavenger]

Originally Posted by Shirt

Glasgow.

'Nuff said.

i got the clicker 'cos it's a fairly important bit of kit is it not? after my performance in a competition yesterday it might help tell me when im doing things wrong. i seem to either shoot gold or pish.

yesterdays competition i shot a 373 with 5doz arrows and 3 misses.... normaly id be shooting 450-500 with zero misses, i cant actually remember the last time i missed.

[wingate_52]

I put a clicker on my recurve after about 6 months of shooting, just when we finished the outdoor season and went indoors. I thought the indoor season would get me used to using the clicker. My technique became techniques, my scores dropped. but I stuck with it. I still have not got the right technique or timing yet, I still need lots of practice. That is the only thing to do to improve on a technique. When I am happy with my technique, it is one less thing to worry about. It should become natural. I am sure that when I go outdoors again, the clicker will improve my scores,and if not, the arrow stays on in windy conditions. My indoor scores have improved, I have gone up in classification and my handicap has gone down. Eventually I will hit a plateau, and eventually I will go up and down, but get that technique right and you will get better. Too many changes of equipment and body movements is what interupt progress. Some is neccessary to progress. Make a physical note of what works and what you were doing/felt like at the time.

[Bald Eagle]

I was at Lilleshall a few years ago on a coaching weekend and Tommy Musgrove, one of the best coaches I've ever seen working, was trying to get an archer to come cleanly through the clicker. He moved the guys clicker forward(towards the back of the bow) and asked him to go through his shot routine and as soon as the clicker went off to loose. (This was done at 10 yards) For about an hour the guy kept shooting and all the while, Tom would move his clicker forward towards the belly of the bow and he would repeat his routine until he was back to his natural reference point when he loosed. After this the archer was more in control of his release and his draw was more controlled. The guy had lost all confidence in his shooting and was suffering "clicker syndrome" He was a top archer, so it can happen to anyone. This is a good way of controllingnclicker panic.