Two Finger release for a target recurve archer

[archer_thom]

I used to shoot with only the index and middle, and it worked quite well - 560 FITA 18's, 600 FITA 720's, and the only problem was that I had too much pressure on the fingers at over 40lbs. The scores above were shot with 36 and 38, at which I had no pain at all. I also saw a very experienced archer shooting 620 FITA 720's with only the middle and ring fingers, when asked why he said that he'd hurt the index and found that it made no real difference.

I'm not the first to say this, but if it works for you...

Just make sure it doesn't hurt, hurt is bad.

[piphil]

I'm assuming, given the advice in this thread, that too much pressure on the index finger is a bad thing? I have quite a large callus on my index finger at the moment, but very little on the middle and ring. Would this be pressure related? I've also found the end of my middle finger going numb at times though (although this seems to have corrected itself recently), and I wonder if this is an effect of the "hidden nerve" mentioned early in the thread...

[archer_thom]

Originally Posted by Yorker

Do you shoot with a tab ? If not you will be much much more aware of the bowstring leaving the fingers and it will lead to callousing.

You mean people shoot (fingers) WITHOUT a TAB?!!? EEEEE!!!

Sorry, just had to share the imagined pain.

[piphil]

Originally Posted by Yorker

Do you shoot with a tab ? If not you will be much much more aware of the bowstring leaving the fingers and it will lead to callousing.

I do use a tab, it is fairly thin though (well shot-in). I may try shooting without a tab as a training exercise, but a slightly lower-poundage bow would probably be wise!

And I seem to be callousing well on my index finger with a tab anyway. I'm assuming there's some kind of inbalance either in my fingers or in the wrist; I'll try and get some pictures/video of my pulling hand/release and see if this reveals anything unusual.

[piphil]

Originally Posted by Yorker

If you think about the angle of the string - the middle finger is always going to be further back (and it is longer),meaning that the bottom and top - or in your case the top - is going to be exerting more pressure to keep itself square with the other fingers. This means its in tighter contact with the string, so when the string goes obviously...

I find I feel my release more in terms of finger shaving even with my two leather layer cavalier elite, just because you now have such a different weight distribution. It could well be your release is fine, you just need a thicker tab

Thanks for the advice. I think maybe I need someone experienced to have a look at it and tell me it's fine. I think I may need to slightly change the angle of my wrist - I get the feeling my elbow is a little too high, and this is causing my fingers to rotate in relation to the string, so that the ring finger sometimes even comes off. This doesn't happen when I'm actually concentrating however...

I will see if I can get another layer for my tab in the meantime, see if that'll help with the callousing...

[wanshu]

Having fingers that fit the string angle at full draw will help of hinder the overall pressure on each finger. Had reason to discuss this with a very good elderly archer recently and he has adapted how he holds the string due to the length of his fingers. His first finger is very long and gets in the way.

The first joint from the tip of the fingers on the 3 drawing fingers will vary as we are all different. As others have said adapt and work with what we have. My 3 finger joints are more or less in line with each other, although I did go through a spell 2 months ago when my index finger was very tender during and after a shooting session. This faded away slowly and I have had no recuring problem. The V formed by the string at full draw does not make it easy for our fingers to fit. Mechanical release would solve this problem.
Would be interesting to see the results. I can imagine what some purists will say. "May as well shoot compound then" or something similar.

To be honest I'm looking at this from the angle of those archers who seriously want to shoot recurve but struggle because they cannot physically make their fingers do whats needed. Also they may risk injury from using 2 fingers. Health and safety first? What would the rules say in this instance? Just curious. Must everyone fit into the box regardless or is there room for change.