Fed-up new archer - Is it me?

[div_ad]

I did a new entrants course, did ok, joined the club, borrowed a club bow for a few months, realised I wasn't doing too well but was enjoying myself and decided to buy my first bow.

I had listened to lots of advice and went to a reputable shop and spent £350 kitting myself out with KAP riser and limbs (not too heavy) a good sight, a good button etc. etc. It was set up for me in the shop and they took a good deal of time and trouble to give me what they thought was right even advising me to have cheaper arrows.

So off to club, assembled bow and shot 30 or so arrows. All were scorers though not brilliant. Then at half time people noticed I had not put the top limb in correctly and that the string needed a few more turns. We corrected this and....

I didn't hit the target in the final 30 arows, All the arrows went so far left that even the maximum ajustment on the sight wouldn't bring them back to the target.

Being a good club with nice people (they might recognise this post- seriously though they are good) I have had lots of offers of help. e.g. My bow grip might be sending the arrows left, the button is too stiff, the tiller needs adjusting, the string needs more turns etc. Next week some very kind Master Bowman is going to set up the bow for me.

Are my problems normal? Is this me or the bow? Will it come good in the end? Should I let people tinker with this new bow?

[komtox]

Welcome to the world of archery. All these problems have been experienced by most new archers at one time or another, give it time & a bit of patience , it will come good in the end..

[darthter]

It sounds like when the adjustment were made to the limbs & string, the centreshot was not adjusted to compensate.

This should be an easy thing to sort out & you could have a go at it yourself.

Stick in there....once its all sorted I'm sure you will shoot a lot better.

[pHz]

if you want to try the basics of set-up yourself then all the resources listed in this current thread will help -

The Order of tuning - from bare components to full set-up

- of course if youre AT ALL unsure about tinkering with your bow then wait until that experienced archer has a look

slainte rob

[josh 77]

I've had most of the problems you are having, and through practice and with patience they will sort themselves out.
Also if the archer is a master bowman im sure they know how to set up your bow properly so its a good idea to let them take a look.
hope it goes well

[N.Vodden]

welcome to the club These things are all normal and it does take a little bit of effort and time to tune the bow in and get things right.

Dont be dissuaded by setbacks like this, god i remember when i first started and got my first setup! after getting the bow roughly tuned i decided to do a bareshaft test to check everything over. I fired and there was an almighty CLANG! the arrows were too stiff and it had gone so far left, it hit one of the steel uprights that support the clubs roof at the side of the hall! i moved further over into the hall and a bareshaft was hitting roughly centre of the target ok... but 2 targets to the left! only 18m away, it was about 2 whole metres off!!

best of luck with the session with the MB at your club, i hope it all comes together and stick with it, its really worth it

[thewayitwas]

I am surprised everything went so differently after the limbs were reseated etc. I wonder if the limb was not properly seated when it was set up at the dealers. If they are close by you could go back to them and ask them to look at it. Still the MB should know what he's doing.

[Thunk]

Yes - that's archery! Look at it this way - if it was simple you'd soon get bored!

Getting your bow set up correctly is essential. However, tuning it from there on is not quite so easy - you can only tune the bow as accurately as you can shoot. (If you could shoot an arrow into the same hole in the boss time after time after time, that would be perfect; then the bow could be tuned perfectly to you as well). As it is, you will get a basic tune which will allow you to shoot as well as you can at present; as your form improves over time, so the bow's tune will need refining also.

So don't be fed up - there's lots of fun ahead. And it's very addictive!

[wingate_52]

Don't get fed up. Everything will get better. Then you can go outside and shoot.

[MarkH]

Although you don't say what distance you are shooting I would definately get them to check which eye your'e using.
If your right handed and start using your left eye this will easily move the arrows that far left. The fact you cannot adjust your sight enough is a good indication this may be the case.