Be Excellent To Each Other

Good job!

I've never done a field course, my club doesn't have one, I'll have to look into it and see if there is a local club that does it.

3 sessions with a longbow, 3 hits on the dummy. 100% record so far.



Which is fitting, as due to the wonders of ebay, I now have 3 longbows...



The current weather is pissing annoying. I did manage to get the first of my 252 scores at 50 yds on Tuesday though!

Nice work!

I’ve got one week left of the beginner course. They don’t give me any coaching notes or anything which either means I don’t particularly need it, or i need to ask for it.

I’ll be looking for a bow shortly, I think! I’m using a 70 inch bow at the moment, with somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds of draw weight(?) and they’ve suggested I stick to the same bow length but go up to 22-25.

I started on 22lb limbs and moved up to 30lb after a couple of months, then stuck at that weight for 6 months. I'm at 38lb limbs now and still getting used to them.

The longbows in the picture are 53lb, 46lb, 40lb top to bottom.

22lb long limbs on the orange riser in that picture was what you used at the cottage

I now have my completion certificate for my beginners course!

Whoop!

I've ordered a load of wooden sticks to make some traditional arrows to go with the longbows (Port Orford Cedar, wood fans), so that's my next project!

Nice, presumably you sharpen the wood to a point rather than having metal tips?

I officially completed the beginners course last night, and now have details on membership! It's £200 for the year, pro-rated as the months tick over because everyone renews on the same date, and I can literally just turn up and shoot at their facilities whenever I want.

Although obviously I need a bow to do that. A decent beginner bow set runs about £350 according to the guy running the course, and he's recommended a shop over in Staffordshire (Merlin Sports) who will do a personal appointment to 'size me up' etc.

Well, lots to talk about here!

Longbow arrows



Home made vs shop bought, can you tell which is which...

Club prices, £200 seems pretty normal, assuming that gets you archerygb membership too, which is £60 of that. That will allow you to shoot in competitions if you want to.
My place is very different though, it's basically a shipping container and a field and I have a key to the container where all the kit is stored. As long as there are 2 of us we can go and setup and shoot.
We do have set club nights where a keyholder will try and make sure they are available so folks can shoot, but it's very laid back. We haven't charged club fees for the past 2 years as their in money in the kitty to buy new targets etc... from tasters sessions and beginner courses, so I just paid the £60 for archerygb membership.

Regarding buying a bow, read this first:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Archery/commen ... ideadvice/

I personally went the second hand route to start with, you will outgrow your first setup relatively quickly if you are anything like me, and want to replace a lot of stuff.
While £350 is technically possible, plan for it to be closer to £500-600 which is more realistic if you don't want beginner everything (which you don't, some things are worth buying once and sticking with, as nothing really wears out and the tech hasn't really changed in 30 years...).
I know Merlin very well, everyone goes there for their first bow, and subsequent bows... If you are buying new in the UK you go to Merlin. I've spent a lot with them the past year! (the parts to make the longbow arrows came from them, for example)

I'm coming to meatup, so we can talk more there.
If your interested, I don't use my first bow anymore, and can put you a kit together if you want something cheaper to grow out of secondhand isn't for everyone though, especially not in the archery world!

https://www.sellmybow.com/ is good place to pickup secondhand gear, or Facebook marketplace. EBay, not so much unless you really know what you are looking for.

Yeah, Archery GB membership is included in that. This place is a field with two ranges (one long, one short) and a field archery/3D archery course, and then a purpose-built indoor range (funded by Sport England!) with room for up to 7 targets at distances up to 25 metres.

I would definitely be interested if your first bow would be suitable for me -- I imagine I'd need some longer limbs though as I'm a bit taller than you (IIRC) but presumably the riser and other stuff would still suit? But yeah, let's chat more at MeatUp!

I have long limbs, due to my draw length so it would work for you. I'll dig some stuff out and set it up over the next couple of days and bring it to meatup. You are welcome to borrow it to get you started, even if you don't want to buy it

That'd be ace, cheers dude. See you on Saturday!

Only things I won't be able to hook you up with are a bag and arrows. I can give you some carbon arrows, but I doubt you'll be allowed to use them at the club, as they are hard to find with a metal detector, so most clubs ban them!

Nah, carbon arrows are allowed -- but yeah, they don't recommend them for beginners because of that very reason!

I've had a look, and this is what i've got free that I can let you have.

Mybo Rio magnesium riser with button and rest
Mybo Synergy star long 22lb limbs
Cartel sight
Fastflight string (I'll set the brace height and nocking point to get you going, but you might want to play around with that depending on the arrows you want to use and your shooting form)
Stringer
Finger tab
Long rod (it's an old alloy one, all the ones these days are carbon, but it'll let you play around with one and see what difference it makes)
Some carbon arrows (they are 1000 spine, so a bit too weak really, but they shot ok at the cottage with that bow, so it'll give you something to play around with while you work out what you want to do)

That should get you going. I'm in no rush for any of it back so feel free to borrow it until you know what you are looking for, or if you like it and want to make me an offer, that's cool too. I'm not doing anything with it all


Stuff you'll need to get on top of that lot.

Bag
Arm guard
Some proper arrows. I recommend Easton Aluminium ones to start with, but Merlin will be able to tell you what you need. I predict they will recommend Easton XX75 Platinum Plus 2013, which will cost about £10 each. Make sure you get at least 8 arrows.
Arrow puller
Quiver
Bow stand
Bow string wax (i'll wax the string to start with, but you should redo it every so often)
Bracing height gauge (I'll set it to 22cm-ish, as that should work well, but it needs to be checked every so often as it will change over time, particulary with a new string)
A finger tab that you like, it's personal preference.

That would be absolutely amazing dude, if you’re sure you don’t mind! Cheers.

Get a room.

as long as it's 20m long

I should probably be doing some work....

Noice. Like an old-timey reloading bench

Oh, only just saw that you'd posted this.

Thanks.

Halfway through, that's enough for today, it takes ages...

Competition day today!
First time shooting a National which is 4 dozen arrows at 60yds and 2 dozen arrows at 50yds, with no sighters for the second distance. I did both sessions, so morning and afternoon. Bloody knackered! I've walked 10k back and forth to the target, and pulled 40lbs back 156 times...

Had a team gb paralympian at the competition, luckily she wasn't in my category!

Needed to score 428 twice to get my Outdoors Archer 1st Class classification, to go with my Indoor Archer 1st Class classification I got during the winter season. I shot 423 in the morning and 438 in the afternoon, so that was annoying I figure I have another National in my future soon...

The National is the standard club length competition, so I'm playing with all the big boys now, the good archers will be scoring low 500s in the regular, so going to take a while to win one, but I did get 3rd in my class, so another medal for the collection

That's great work, dude. Well done!

What's the reason for the no sighters on the second distance? Is it supposed to be an extra challenge, or is it assumed that at this level you'll know really what kind of adjustment you'll need to make your sight for the -10yds?

I sent off my membership application for my club on Friday, just waiting to hear back from them about payment and stuff and then I'll be able to get out there with your bow and see how I get on -- I also bought a bow bag (with an arrow tube), a quiver and an arm guard! And one of the 'ribbon' bow stringers.

Extra challenge I believe, but I'm not too sure.

Bow bag really does remind me of the Scottish term for a scrotum.

Everyone else had a tent, and I had tent envy, so i've ordered a shelter...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glymnis-Protec ... B0BRKKBQD1

Some photos from the day, with my paunch fully on display

I'm now a fully paid-up member of the archery club, so I can get to starting shooting.

Once my leg stops being a twat after that 10K last weekend, of course.

Sweet, let me know how you get on with the bow

New arrows work pretty well! 110yds or so.

Next aim is 60yd 252 score, which only 3 others in the club have done before at recurve, then it's 80yd 252, which has never been done before at our club...

Some shooting in the woods, I joined a small field archery club about 20 miles from me. Mainly because it's open all day everyday, and you don't have to have anyone else with you to be able to shoot (just a whistle!).

Haven't shot barebow in a long while, so form is all off and I have no idea where to aim, but not too bad in the end! This is about 30yds.





A very satisfying noise, but I probably shouldn't risk my phone like this too often

That is very satisfying. Half expected a few bits of apple to fall down the screen.

Yeah, I gotta admit, I love the 'thunk'. Far more satisfying than the sound bullets make when they go through their targets.

Okay Gaz… [backs slowly away]

Paper targets, I should have clarified

Went to my archery club for the first time since paying my dues, did some indoor and outdoor at 20 yards, and some outdoor at 30 metres. I'm not particularly consistent yet, but I must have been doing alright as one of the other people there asked me how long I'd been doing it for and when I said I'd done the beginners course last month, they said "fucking hell."

Good job dude, are you going to do the 252 scheme?

I’ll give it a little while yet so I can improve consistency — my anchor point is still all over the shop, for a start, but yeah I’ll be doing the 252 and I’ll give some of their Heritage competitions a try too

Maybe he meant you were really shit, even for a beginner.

That is a possibility

Target longbow today

<Looks to camera>

New goal. Win a medal in a tournament with a longbow I've made myself by hand. The journey begins! I've ordered tools, need to get some wood to practice basic bows and then we can get cracking with a proper bow stave.

Sounds like a good challenge Meanwhile, I haven't managed to get back to the club since the last time, just constantly on call at work!

Maybe towards the end of next week.

I've done the most important part... Designed the logo for any bow I make...

You'll need an app

I sense a bit of nominative determinism here!