Archery

[Alan]

Bit of a long shot (haha scout pun) anyone into archery in RL ?

Been looking for a new hobby and really like the idea of Archery, but no idea about the different bows, start up costs, certifications, clubs and all that. I supose a search on google would reveal any local clubs but what should I look out for and how much would it cost if i seriously enjoyed it.

Any budding Archers out there ?

 

[Thorwyn]

It´s been a while, but during my active SCA time, I used to do some semi regular archery stuff.
For a start, I´d recommend a recurve bow, they´re not too expensive (some companies are even leasing the bows) and you can change the different pieces to fit your needs (increasing draw weight after a while of practicing for example). Stay away from longbows at first. They´re pretty expensive and hard to shoot with.
If you want to have some outdoor fun, find a local outdoor archery club. They´re usually "hunting" plastic targets/animals in the woods, which is far better than spamming a piece of paper with your arrows. I could give you a couple of links, but the majority of those links are german.

As for the costs....
You can get a decent recurve bow for like 150 Euros. Add 50 Euros for arrows and string and other equipment and you´re almost there.

 

[Outlander]

Goto an archery range/club 5 mins from my house where they craft bows of all types and have a target range. If starting from scratch they provide training courses as do most Ive been at, ranging from average 50-150GBP for these lessons by instructors there. All equiptment is supplied by them if you dont want to buy your own to start with, then from then on your looking at bows from 100 quid plus usually then all the other extras you can get like bracers n stuff. A few places Ive seen that do individual lessons for like an hour for around 10 quid each also. Best just to find a place near you and see what things they have to offer

 

[Alan]

mm found a few sites, but whats the difference between a compound and recursive bow ?

 

[Thorwyn]

Compound bows are those high tech bows with coils and double strings etc.etc., whereas a recurve bow is just a bow consisting of 3 separate parts: the handle and the two arms.

 

[Cozak]

Compound bow use's pulleys so that you can get like double your draw weight from your regular one.

 

[Alan]

Compound bow use's pulleys so that you can get like double your draw weight from your regular one.

Draw weight ?

<spot the noob> well if you dont ask, youll never know hehe

 

[Thorwyn]

The force you need to pull the string

 

[Vae]

Recurve bow:
What you think of as a conventional bow except it comes in 3 pieces - Riser (metal frame in the middle which you hold and everything attaches to) plus two limbs (the bits that actually bend). The limbs are usually wood laminates (strips of wood glued together in a certain way) but can also be carbon fibre. A draw weight (i.e. the weight held on the finger tips at full draw) would be in the region of 32-38 lbs for a average man.

Compund Bow:
Instead of one string from the end of one limb to the other it uses (normally) 3 strings (well 1 that goes back and forth 3 times). A compound bow uses a cam (pulley) at the end of each limb that means that the draw weight of say 60-90 lbs is what you pull back until near full draw when the cams roll over and reduce the weight you end up holding on your fingertips by about 70-85% i.e. 90lbs becomes 22.5 lbs with 75% letoff cams meaning they're piss easy to hold onto once drawn back.

A compund bow shoots in different competitions to recurve due to it's advantages and can use a magnifying sight.

Arrows: Fibreglass (toys for beginners basicly), Aluminium (vary in quality from beginners up to competition standard) or Carbon (Used almost exclusively by anyone shooting outside in competitions. I did shoot with a guy who used a compund and he shot carbons outside as they're small and thus don't catch the wind but inside he used aluminium treetrunks of arrows because they gave him a greater chance of cutting the line on the target between the different score bands and thus getting the higher score.


If you're interested I'd suggest you find a local club and enquire if they do taster courses. Quite a lot do and you'll start out on crappy fibreglass bows which will give you an idea. If you do enjoy it you have a choice. You can buy a basic recurve bow and accessories for approx £125 as shown on quicks online shop: http://www3.btwebworld.com/quicks/index.htm
Thsi woudl probably suit you for quite a while and you can achieve fairly decent scores with it. However if you decide to get seriously into it then you're lookign at spending quite a bit more. I think I spent about £800 on my kit over a couple of years while at Uni. And now it's sitting in storage at Kensington Palace (or at least I hope it is as I haven't shot in a year or two).


The major UK shop chain shop for archery is called Quicks www.quicks.com and they sometimes also have ranges at their shops. Their website also has some potentially useful info on it for you. There are also some decent (and cheaper online suppliers) but I can't remember names atm.

edit: This is who I used to order from a lot and they were pretty good http://www.altservices.co.uk/

 

[Bahumat]

oh come on be a man....get some tinfoil, wrap it round you and get a cross bow....be an armsman and record it pls pls pls

 

[Alan]

.....loads of usefull stuff...

Thank you !!

Very helpfull, and nice to know you can start out pretty cheaply.

 

[Rediknight]

Thank you !!

Very helpfull, and nice to know you can start out pretty cheaply.

s'funny seeing this thread here - saturday i start an Archery Supervisor/Instructor course go me!

Unless they sack me for sitting around posting in forums all day, instead of working heh!

 

[Ezteq]

w00t, i used to do archery as a kid and loved it, have been wanting to join a club locally but cant find one i kind of have an urge to make my own bow i saw a show where Ray Mears made one and it looked ace. If your after buying a bow go on ebay i look on there sometimes for archery stuff cos im starting a weapons collection and they have some nice ones up for auction sometimes.

Good Hunting!

 

[Dukat]

i kind of have an urge to make my own bow i saw a show where Ray Mears made one and it looked ace.

Ahh I saw that I think, was toying with the idea too but I think it would be almost impossible to get it like he had his, you need to 'balance' the cuts on the bows 'arms', and even then, with a 'homemade' bow like the Ray Mears one, you're only likely to get a few shots out of it before it brakes

I've always been interested in archery, think I'll be having a look for a local range or club as well

oh come on be a man....get some tinfoil, wrap it round you and get a cross bow....be an armsman and record it pls pls pls

lol!

 

[Jeriraa]

Ahh I saw that I think, was toying with the idea too but I think it would be almost impossible to get it like he had his, you need to 'balance' the cuts on the bows 'arms', and even then, with a 'homemade' bow like the Ray Mears one, you're only likely to get a few shots out of it before it brakes

I once made a longbow out of ivory. Its not that hard at all but you need really really good wood. It must be 99% straight and without any branches. Also its very tricky to start making the bow since you have to split the staff exactly in the middle over its full length.
After that its rather easy and there are several detailed guides with pictures on the web.

PS: I prefer Crossbows.

 

[Sypher]

im a RL archer that shoots for my county, have been shooting for 8 years now and its loads of fun! i also teach beginners and developing archers regularly

as to starting up as a beginner, first thing you need to do, is join a begginers course somewhere, this will give tou the basic A-Z of archery and they will develop your skills and give you the right idea about what archery is about

second thing you need to do is decide what sort of archery you want to do, the field one, where you shoot in woods at animal faces (or sometimes rounded target depending on shoot) , or the one where you are shooting in an actuall field at a round face (target), this is the one i compete in

thirdly you have to join a club, this can be advatised on newspapers, or another good way to find one is go to a nearby archery store, the main one in england is quicks, they will get you going and answer any questions you need. still not have a bow yet, if you join a club, they will lend you a bow to use, and will help you to home your skills as an archer, + this gives you a good oppotunity to see what different bows are on the market, cause litrally there are 100's

as to opinions on bow, id always say beginners in target archery should use the recurve "trainer bow" these can be got in sets from round £80-£150 with all the basic equipment. dont ever try compound bows when you are just starting, they need a degree of experience before performing properly.

price is usually a factor to people starting archery, heres the top tip to buying bows for the first time, dont buy the best looking or the most expensive stuff, the starting sets will be excellent for money and performance, archery stores will help you out a great deal in making your decision, you will be trying out the bows ofc.

if you want something that will last you a lot longer than a starter bow, try going for an international fitting riser (the sales people will know what it is) and international fitting limbs, try to get the cheaper ones but this will mean buying addisional equipment, arrows etc which can shoot up to £400 for the better of the cheaper stuff.

i shoot recurve myself and do very well with it, although my equipment exceeds £400 by about another K, it doesnt mean that its always better, it just has certain qualities that i require. dont go to compound for about a year-2 years after beginning, or you wont be shooting due to frustration =)

archery is mind over matter, and theres alwasy harder nights, but if you work at it, and develop well, you will get such a great thrill out of achievement =)

if you have any questions about archery that you need to know (doesnt matter how nooby you think it is) just pm me and ill do my best to answer to your satisfaction =)

 

[Darksword]

Ahh I saw that I think, was toying with the idea too but I think it would be almost impossible to get it like he had his, you need to 'balance' the cuts on the bows 'arms', and even then, with a 'homemade' bow like the Ray Mears one, you're only likely to get a few shots out of it before it brakes

THIS is the part of her post you concentrated on? wheres the concern for the whole

im starting a weapons collection and they have some nice ones up for auction sometimes.

part? A WEAPONS COLLECTION? dear god woman why? lol your scary

 

[Sypher]

oh, just adding cause i read the threads more closely, 2 things
1= crossbows are not archery =)
2=never buy a bow from ebay, u need to try it yourself because bows are personal to the user

 

[Dukat]

A WEAPONS COLLECTION? dear god woman why? lol your scary

lol, my uncle used to have a weapons collection, swords mainly plus a few de-activated fire arms.

Always used to be cool going to see him, always had hundreds of weapons in the living room, was like walking into a museum.

But yea, the idea of ezteq with a weapons collection does start the alarm bells ringing if her avatar's anything to go by I'd say theres about to be a world-wide shortage of chickens

 

[Ormorof]

bought 3 bows while i was in kenya (and arrows too, amazed i got through customs )

though these are supposed to be "proper" hunting bows and are far harder to draw/aim with than those ive tried when ive done abit of archery, never joined a club or anything but i can recommend archery as a hobby (brother does it all the time and it looks great fun )

 

[Jaem-]

When I'm on holiday, I always go to Archery ativity places, can't say I know much about it, but its great fun.

Really like it in and out of game, perhaps I should take it up as a hobby sometime too.

 

[eggy]

I once made a longbow out of ivory. Its not that hard at all but you need really really good wood. It must be 99% straight and without any branches. Also its very tricky to start making the bow since you have to split the staff exactly in the middle over its full length.
After that its rather easy and there are several detailed guides with pictures on the web.

PS: I prefer Crossbows.

Ivory? Either you are a sick individual or you meant another word.

 

[Thorwyn]

He probably meant yew tree.

 

[Rediknight]

Ivory? Either you are a sick individual or you meant another word.

whats wrong with using Ivory? As long as it wasn't poached - what you think they make all them piano keys with? well... apart from the synthetic piano keys... personally, i think they should make piano keys out of human bone - it'd be waaaay spookier then

 

[Jaem-]

He probably meant yew tree.

The branches bit does make it sound abit like a tree.

 

[Conchabar]

lol get with the times you old wanaabees!!!!1 its nukes and bombs these days pfft point and click i tell u point and click¬¬¬11

 

[Ezteq]

A WEAPONS COLLECTION? dear god woman why? lol your scary

rofl whats wrong with that?? i've always loved swords/knives/daggers (mostly because of the detail some of them are real pieces of art) got in to guns because i like shooting but due to gun contorl regs. in the uk have to settle for a bb gun lol and bows and arrows are lovely too the craftsmen ship that goes in to them, well all good items is amazing.

tbh i'd be more afraid of the stamp collectors

we've got a club down here called the pesutes(sp??) club and they do all that sort of stuff aswell as loads of other outdoorsey activities, might give em a call.