Recommend a 'starter' AFB?

[Jimbo]

Following on from this thread, I was hoping somebody would like to recommend a AFB for me. I currently shoot a Ragim Victory Recurve at 34lb but want to try a more traditional style.

I don't think I've got the where-with-all to go for a longbow at the moment (as I'm a lazy-chuffer with limited resources) I think I fancy going for an AFB. I've seen the one's that are available through Quicks and KG Archery (although there's no prices on KG), are there any others available and are there any that people would recommend?

The bow would be used in Field Archery using wooden arrows.

Cheers

[Jimbo]

Just been thinking about this post and realised that I may have implied that I think that AFB's are somehow inferior or second-best to ELB's.

That is definitely not my intention or my feelings.

[robtattoo]

You could give either the Internature or Samick a try, both around £100 from Bowsports. One thing worth mentioning is draw weight, you'll probably want to be looking at a much higher poundage than the 34# you're pulling now. Probably somewhere in the 40-50# range. Bear in mind that you won't be holding at anchour for as long, it's not that much of a jump & the benefeits of higher poundage are tremendous. You could always try & get hold of a second hand bow, there's stacks to be had on EBay (mainly from the US, do an International search for Longbow) & you can pick up some real bargains from US traditional forums.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by robtattoo

You could give either the Internature or Samick a try, both around £100 from Bowsports. One thing worth mentioning is draw weight, you'll probably want to be looking at a much higher poundage than the 34# you're pulling now. Probably somewhere in the 40-50# range. Bear in mind that you won't be holding at anchour for as long, it's not that much of a jump & the benefeits of higher poundage are tremendous. You could always try & get hold of a second hand bow, there's stacks to be had on EBay (mainly from the US, do an International search for Longbow) & you can pick up some real bargains from US traditional forums.

Cheers. I like the look of the Internature, I'll have to see if I can get along to Bowsports and try some in the flesh.

It's interesting what you say about poundage, I tried a 35# Samick at the weekend and that felt harder than my recurve. I did only put 6 arrows through it though, so not enough to get used to the pull.

[robtattoo]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Cheers. I like the look of the Internature, I'll have to see if I can get along to Bowsports and try some in the flesh.

It's interesting what you say about poundage, I tried a 35# Samick at the weekend and that felt harder than my recurve. I did only put 6 arrows through it though, so not enough to get used to the pull.

I would heartily recommend the Internature over the Samick. Both of these bows, being at the cheaper end of the scale, do have a tendency to stack if drawn past 28" Although the Internature is far better & is a lot more forgiving. One thing to remember is that you won't have the same amount of cast with a flatbow, that you do with the recurve, hence the need for heavier poundage to get the same trajectory.
It's also worth a look on www.flybowshop.com an Irish archery supplier who does dome excellent bows at really good prices. Take a look at the Bearpaw bows, excellent value bows. Your best bet, really, would be to pop along to an NFAS shoot & have a look at some of the bows people are using. Most folks won't mind you having a feel & shoot & there's so many different makes/styles of AFB around, you'll get a better idea of what's available.
It's also quite easy to train yourself up to higher poundages, myself I shoot a 38# recurve, but all my field bows (flatbows & bare recurves) are around 60-70# All I did was buy a higher poundage bow & every day draw & let down the heavier bow 5 times, morning & evening, for about a fortnight. You'll tend to find, though, that shooting barebow requires a different anchor point to target recurve. You generally anchor to the corner of your mouth & this can shorten your draw-length by an inch or so, making the whole aim-draw-loose cycle a lot more fluid, with far less time spent at anchor. As an axample, after 5doz arrows from my target bow, I'm really starting to feel it in my back/shoulders, due to the length of time I'm holding at anchor. Conversely, I can shoot a 70# flatbow all day long, 12 or 13 dozen arrows, & still feel fresh, simply because I don't need to spend as much time fully drawn, to get my sight picture.

[Macbow]

Rob is spot on. I have an Internature as well as some super high end bows and the Viper is a good bow for the price. My advice is change the big fat heavy flemish string for a 14 strand endless fast flite and if you are handy with a rasp take the tips down a bit as they are huge.
Keep an eye on the NFAS small ads - I have picked up a couple of very good bows at less than eBay prices.
For the money I honestly believe the Bowtec AFBs are outstanding value. http://www.bowtecbows.com
The designs, build quality and finish are outstanding and the costs are extremely low for a UK made custom bow. 42-45lbs will be plenty.

[Haywain]

Looks like this thread is following a noce theme for you Jimbo.... I started out with the Internature... Great bow to get used to the style and very forgiving of the minor errors. And at the price that you can get one if you don't get on with the style, you haven't broken the bank.

One thing I will warn you about though. There are a lot of Flat Bows out there which do not conform to the AFB rules for some societies, especially the NFAS, but are still marketed as AFB. Remember the bow MUST form a D shape when strung, even a slight recurve will put you in another class.

I still have my internature. I was going to sell it a while back, but I discovered it's worth keeping for those times when I'm having problems with my shooting.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Haywain

Looks like this thread is following a noce theme for you Jimbo....

Sorry if I'm being dumb/a newb, what is 'noce' (and apologies if it's a typo, I couldn't figure out what it should be). But, yes, there is a definite theme to my posts at the moment. I am at the stage where I try something, decided I like it, try and found out more about it, get more information, which leads to more questions, and onwards

Originally Posted by Haywain

I started out with the Internature... Great bow to get used to the style and very forgiving of the minor errors. And at the price that you can get one if you don't get on with the style, you haven't broken the bank.

One thing I will warn you about though. There are a lot of Flat Bows out there which do not conform to the AFB rules for some societies, especially the NFAS, but are still marketed as AFB. Remember the bow MUST form a D shape when strung, even a slight recurve will put you in another class.

I still have my internature. I was going to sell it a while back, but I discovered it's worth keeping for those times when I'm having problems with my shooting.

Cheers. Somebody else has mentioned about the one's with a slight recurve, there's one from Quicks catalogue (the Samick Cobra) that appears to have a slight kick on the ends, but I wasn't sure if that was just from the picture.

[robtattoo]

You'll find a lot of flatbows have a 'kick' at the tips. Sorry if'n I'm preaching to the choir here, but that's called reflex. Reflex helps to speed up the bow, quite a bit, giving better arrow speed & therefore trajectory. Down side is that a reflexed bow will give a lot more handshock than a straight bow & is a lot less forgiving of a bad release. The best allround shape is a Deflex/reflex This curves backwards at the riser & then forwards moving further up the limbs. This gives he speed of a reflexed bow & yet is as forgiving as a straight limb. Most D/R flatbows brace to a 'D' profile. Sorry if this is now getting a little more confusing!
Don't get too hung up about the strung profile. The only thing is, if the strung profile still has a trace of reflex, it just puts you into Hunting Tackle as opposed to AFB at NFAS shoots. Not something I've found to be a major issue
As an allround shooter, Macbow's got the right of it. Bowtec bows are excellent quality & frankly £150 ish too cheap for what they are! You certainly won't regret buying one of those lads!

[joelondon]

Just to add my experience of Bowtec, i have just received my first Mistral Bow from Dave at Bowtec this Monday and all I can say is Wow Wow Wow, it is an absolute peach of a bow, I went for 50lb at 66" with carbon added into the limbs, it does feel on the edge of heavy, but nothing a few days shooting it won't sort out and as already mentioned, you will need that extra bit of power above ur recurve weight, i draw about 38lb on my recurve and don't feel the 50lb jump to large.

all the best

Joe