Arrow science illustrated last night!

[PorlyP]

My god, I'd never seen or felt how much getting the right arrows help in getting the shot right!

We were shooting at 20 last night for a dozen, all was fine after a little sighting (I had to re-sight as I now use the string picture on the middle of the riser, rather than instinctively shooting), then we went up to 30, and it was then I began to notice that my arrows were too stiff for my bow (22# @ 28, Easton Jazz 29"), as they were jumping way to the right (I'm a leftie, so that means they're too stiff, right? Let me know if I've got it right/wrong!).

Anyway, After trying to get my left-right sorted again, it required so much adjustment that in the end I simply shot at a 10 o'clock Miss position, and thud, gold.

It was amazing to see me consitently miss for a whole end, in exactly the same area, 3 oclock-ish, wheras at only 10 yards less, I was hitting golds.

Next week I'll be put up to 28#, so hopefully the stiffness of the arrows won't actually jump quite as much to my right due to more power being behind them.

After shooting tuned bows at the weekend, I thought that going back to the training bows would suck, and while missing does suck, it did allow me to apply the principles I'd learned on here from people, which in the end allowed me to sort out the problem.

Obvioulsy, I'm not gonna be changing pile or fletch, as I'm not gonna notice too much of a difference at only 30/40 yards, but hopefully the upping of the poundage will mean I won't have to sight out to the left so much

*crosses fingers*

Update: I was speaking a to a longbow archer at work, and she was saying that I'm most likely missing from doing something wrong at 30 yards, as arrows aren't likely to jump that much that they'd miss altogether, is this true? Could my technique actually be consistently bad?

eek! :/

[joetapley]

Main lesson is that however mismatched the arrow or poor the tuning setup, arrows deviate very little from the straight and n arrrow until they've flown some distance. So your results don't mean you're suddenly "doing something wrong" at 30 yards that you weren't doing at at 20 yards just that the effects of a poor setup start to become visible at the longer distance.

'Course you could have been doing something wrong at both distances

[PorlyP]

Cool, I was beginning to wonder if I had somehow picked up a really bad habit, but after dropping nearly 10lbs since trying out thunk and click's bows on saturday, I wonder if I'm loosing badly or simply overdrawing, leading to my bow hand moving and messing up the shot.

Or perhaps I'm just thinking too much!

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by PorlyP

Or perhaps I'm just thinking too much!

Not like that's never happened before...

[provins]

Originally Posted by clickerati

Not like that's never happened before...

Miaowwwww!!!

[Robert]

All I would say is that starting at my club last september I have had some evenings when NOTHING went right and, occasionally, I've packed up and gone home- the way I see it, if I dont know what I'm doing wrong after an hour of (insert mistake) then its time to go home and over a cup of earl grey and some

Arrows that are way too stiff (and too long for your draw length) will still produce results that are more consistant than I was until I had got a more consistant form, stance, anchor, loose, follow through etc etc. certainly up to 20yds and probably as far as 30M but thats probably as far as you can get with poorly matched kit if you are looking to group on a 60cm face- at least thats what I found.

I think that you shouldnt beat yourself up or rush to the shop because probably neither approach is going to fix this, I think its just a question of practice, practice,practice and thats one of the nicest things you can do on a warm summers evening .

Archery is a fantastic sport and the limiting factor in my setup is, as ever, the nut behind the bow.

Robert

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by provins

Miaowwwww!!!

Now now, that's not a miaow, provins. It's simply stating the fact that Porly is a thinker.
I find too much thinking takes the fun out of it. But then, that's me.

[PorlyP]

Originally Posted by Robert

All I would say is that starting at my club last september I have had some evenings when NOTHING went right and, occasionally, I've packed up and gone home- the way I see it, if I dont know what I'm doing wrong after an hour of (insert mistake) then its time to go home and over a cup of earl grey and some

Arrows that are way too stiff (and too long for your draw length) will still produce results that are more consistant than I was until I had got a more consistant form, stance, anchor, loose, follow through etc etc. certainly up to 20yds and probably as far as 30M but thats probably as far as you can get with poorly matched kit if you are looking to group on a 60cm face- at least thats what I found.

I think that you shouldnt beat yourself up or rush to the shop because probably neither approach is going to fix this, I think its just a question of practice, practice,practice and thats one of the nicest things you can do on a warm summers evening .

Archery is a fantastic sport and the limiting factor in my setup is, as ever, the nut behind the bow.

Robert

Cheers Rob, I guess at the weekend I improved a couple of things which when going back to the bow I got used to using without doing those things (string window line-up, tighter loose), simply meant I wasn't getting there, I managed to hit the legs of the boss twice, and on one occasion, dropped short!

I love practicing, and at the moment I'm at my club every night I can, watching others do it properly if I can't shoot.

I'm trying desperately not to try too much too soon, but one thing's for sure, I love this sport!