Arrows pulling right

[BarryMillership]

I first of all. Fantastic site! I've been trolling the net for ages for a good longbow archery forum to suckle on and the breadth of knowledge some people have here is astounding!

Right. I've been shooting about two months know and estimating yardage and I'm pretty accurate in that respect. However I nearly always seem to miss to the right, usually between an inch and a foot wide. I have my target, which is an army kitbag, set at 60 yards.

I shoot a 65lb Bickerstaffe Hickory, Lemonwood, Osage Longbow and I am a lefthanded archer. I am drawing this bow very comfortably and do not feel strained when in the hold.

However, trying to be a purist I do shoot 3/8 poplar medieval war arrows. Would this greatly affect my accuracy bearing in mind the consistancy of me missing to the right? I use a V medieval draw.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Stance? Technique? Grip?

Also I live in Nottingham, does anybody know of any local BLBS clubs?

Thanks to any replies in advance..

Baz

[robtattoo]

Originally Posted by BarryMillership

I first of all. Fantastic site! I've been trolling the net for ages for a good longbow archery forum to suckle on and the breadth of knowledge some people have here is astounding!

Right. I've been shooting about two months know and estimating yardage and I'm pretty accurate in that respect. However I nearly always seem to miss to the right, usually between an inch and a foot wide. I have my target, which is an army kitbag, set at 60 yards.

I shoot a 65lb Bickerstaffe Hickory, Lemonwood, Osage Longbow and I am a lefthanded archer. I am drawing this bow very comfortably and do not feel strained when in the hold.

However, trying to be a purist I do shoot 3/8 poplar medieval war arrows. Would this greatly affect my accuracy bearing in mind the consistancy of me missing to the right? I use a V medieval draw.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Stance? Technique? Grip?

Also I live in Nottingham, does anybody know of any local BLBS clubs?

Thanks to any replies in advance..

Baz

Hi Barry, welcome to the site mate!

What are your arrows spining at? Also, what's your drawlength? It sounds as though your arrows may be a little on the weak side (although not very) You may want to try cutting 1/8" off your arrow length & trying again.
1" off at 60yds is nothing serious at all! 12" off isn't too shabby with a longbow, to be honest either! Have you been shooting long?

[John Carter]

Asuming your arrows are spined correctly,work on your release.
I'm also a lefty,,,for me a left drift is gripping the bow to firmly,,,going right is plucking my release.
The other I can think about just off hand is your stance,,see if standing with a slightly more open stance helps.
If you stand perfectly straight on to a line to your target,,move your back foot half a foot length forward.
if your bow arm is drifting at the loose this might help stop it,but it's a long shot.
Cheers.

[dangermouse]

try closing your eyes when your fully drawn, if your bow arm consistently drifts to the left or right when drawn up you need to open or close your stance like the other dude says. It sounds like the spine is off like the other guy says. you must be good tho if your only missing by that much i

[gino]

quick question, did you used to shoot recurve?

[alanesq]

Hello Barry,

With a 65lb I would imagine a 3/8" shaft will be too stiff (unless you are drawing to the ear) ?
I can't give much advice on accuracy as I seem to be getting slowly worse :-(

I was once given some good advice on this forum although I have yet to try it
mark a different colour on your target for where each arrow lands (i.e. each arrow has its own colour)
this will then soon show up if the missing is down to un matched arrows

I am in Nottingham myself (Beeston) but I dont know of any local BLBS clubs (they wont let me in as I have a warbow anyway)
I shoot mostly at a target club (Beeston Rylands Archers) although I am the only longbow archer in the club

[BarryMillership]

Hi thanks to everyone!

In response to Robtattoo ; I've been shooting since June. I haven't yet been able come to grips with the concept of "Spining" (Could somebody please elaborate?) A guy I know has been making me arrows. All the information I've been giving him is that my draw length is 27-28" and that my current bow is 65lb.

The arrows he has sent me are 3/8 poplar 34" from knock to pile tip and 23/64 pine 33" So might they be too long/heavy?

In all fairness the target is only 14 1/2" wide tho! I think I've started off with a tough nutt to crack so I doubt it helps my self confidence when I keep missing it!

To John Carter and Dangermouse ; Thanks I'll try the stance thing on Saturday, I was told by the fletcher I use to bring the rear foot back!

Alenesq ; That marking of the target sounds like the best way to test the matching of my arrows.

However I'll probably need a better target for this. Competetively speaking, what size target would I be shooting at in 60 yard (60cm?) and 100 yard (100-128cm?) competitions?

I'm looking to get some straw bosses for both.

Thanks guys! (I'm going to post some stance photos on saturday for you to examine!)

Oh and thanks for the praise, I had no Idea if I was doing any good! At least when I'm lookng for fallen arrows in my thick grass, on my hands and knees, they're normally no more than 70cm apart across!

[dangermouse]

showing your back more to the target means your closing your stance. (I think) everyone is different so find one that your comfortable with... that eye closing trick is a good one. do it regularly if you change stuff with your shot.

the spine on the arrow is how stiff it is. its matched to the poundage you pull back/ the power you put into the arrow.

look up youtube, dont have the link on me and ye can see slow motion arrows flying out of bows. beiter and slowmotion should find it for you. they wobble like crazy even when shot perfectly. they kinda bend around the bow on the way out if your in tune (your arrow is the right spine). im a recurver so i dunno how well this works with longbows.

the most popular stance is an open one with the back foot 90 degrees to the target. opening or closing your stance makes you less likely to wobble in a side wind...

[RichardH]

Here's a clip with some slow mo arrows wiggling their way to the target.

the spine on the arrow is how stiff it is. its matched to the poundage you pull back/ the power you put into the arrow.

Remember for longbow it is generally suggested that the spine of the arrow is approx 10lb less than the poundage of the bow for a 28" draw.

So in your case, with a 65# longbow, the arrow shafts should be spined to around 50-55#.

I started writing a guide to arrowmaking for our club website, and so far have only got down to stuff about spine etc - maybe this info will help explain spine. Please note that this is just my understanding of the issues, and if I've made any incorrect statements I'd be pleased to be corrected. I've been busy with other things, so haven't got any further (and the info is not yet public on our website).

Does that help?

[field archer author]

Originally Posted by robtattoo

Hi Barry, welcome to the site mate!

What are your arrows spining at? Also, what's your drawlength? It sounds as though your arrows may be a little on the weak side (although not very) You may want to try cutting 1/8" off your arrow length & trying again.
1" off at 60yds is nothing serious at all! 12" off isn't too shabby with a longbow, to be honest either! Have you been shooting long?

This may be stating the obvious, but all your arrows should be spined as closely together as possible, or matched. There are simple ways of doing this, such as hanging a weight on each shaft and measuring the deflection. if any are wildy different, discard them. Wooden arrows differ considerably, so this may take some time but is worth the effort. Make sure the grain runs the same way when you measure them. Also, consider that the original war arrows were not designed for great accuracy, merely shooting into a mass of horsemen, so you are well in advance of that!
and the best of luck