My New (And First) Bow!

[Marcus Mummius]

I have never felt a pain before quite like the one I experienced when my string broke durin shooting. It felt like a mule kick in my left shoulder ...

Wow, just imagining how this would feel makes me shiver hock:

[Et tu brute]

Sounds very nasty, great pic though Jyrki, have you been able to test out the range of the bow? I have nowhere that I can do that unfortunately. I've only just (today) started being able to use my bow again, after having mild repetetive strain injury! It was very painful when I drew the bow, but I could do everything else fine.

[Virilis]

Sounds very nasty, great pic though Jyrki, have you been able to test out the range of the bow? I have nowhere that I can do that unfortunately. I've only just (today) started being able to use my bow again, after having mild repetetive strain injury! It was very painful when I drew the bow, but I could do everything else fine.

No, I have been shooting in the forest only but perhaps the range would be somewhere between 200-250 metres? You have had a minor injury? Let me quess, is it between the shoulder blades either on the left or right side :wink: ? I have had this injury and also a very sore side of a index finger due to the pressing of the string against the arrow, some bruises on my left arm etc. Anyway it is all worth it :wink: ...

[Et tu brute]

Nope, not on my shoulder (what causes that?), but on my left elbow, this is the hand I hold the bow with, I think it was just from the pressure of the bow, plus I was shooting pretty intensively! 250 yards is pretty impressive, i'd love to be able to take my bow out to an open field and shoot it, but despite living in a place where fields etc. are plentiful, there is nowhere suitable to try long range shooting, atleast not without the risk of impaling someone! I'm going to be taking some lessons at my local club pretty soon (unfortunately not with my traditional recurve, probably a modern club bow) so that'll give me a good chance to shoot a bit further than possible at the moment, and hopefully i'll join the club. If I join I think i'll be sorely tempted to purchase a longbow, as that's one of the most active parts of the club.

[Virilis]

Nope, not on my shoulder (what causes that?), but on my left elbow, this is the hand I hold the bow with, I think it was just from the pressure of the bow, plus I was shooting pretty intensively! 250 yards is pretty impressive, i'd love to be able to take my bow out to an open field and shoot it, but despite living in a place where fields etc. are plentiful, there is nowhere suitable to try long range shooting, atleast not without the risk of impaling someone! I'm going to be taking some lessons at my local club pretty soon (unfortunately not with my traditional recurve, probably a modern club bow) so that'll give me a good chance to shoot a bit further than possible at the moment, and hopefully i'll join the club. If I join I think i'll be sorely tempted to purchase a longbow, as that's one of the most active parts of the club.

There is plenty of pressure on the left arm holding the bow, especially when people tend to keep it straight from the beginning of the draw, that`s why the left shoulder is vulnerable! Yes, I have had those left elbow pains too, in fact I have had pains everywhere on my upper body due to bow-shooting :wink: This is a good forum to learn a safe way to shoot with heavy bows: http://www.englishwarbow.com/forum/ The technique is more or less the same as with the recurve bows or at least you can adapt the techniques to your way of shooting...

[Et tu brute]

Ah, ok, I understand you, thanks for the link, i've registered, and look forward to reading the forum

[Memmia]

Hi Dave,

Nice bow you've got there! You will get various aches and pains as a beginner but you'll toughen up after time :lol:
I reckon a couple more weeks of practice and you'll be pulling 150# :wink:
Laudes to you!
I'm looking forward to some serious archery after the baby's born, I'll be starting again from scratch.
That forum is a good place for info and they are very helpful.

[Et tu brute]

Hi, I think I overdid it a bit before I got the pain, one day I shot for about 4 hours! I think if you change that couple of weeks to 4 or 5 years you could be right :lol: Good luck with the archery, you'll have to get the baby started asap, that mini-warbow will be perfect :lol: Your right, the forum is a really great and useful place, I think i'll learn loads