Thumb ring versus shooting tab or glove (Mediterranean)

[BrokenArrow]

I am shooting both a thumb ring and Mediterranean style using a shooting tab or glove.
Does any one have a good working knowledge of which one or method can draw a heavier weight?
I can pull more with the Mediterranean style but have just begun learning to use the thumb ring.
I notice many horn bow archers using a shooting tab now to shoot from a standing position,
Also which one would be more accurate?
My understanding is the thumb ring was invented to shoot from horseback so as to keep the arrow shooting off the thumb on the left hand if you are right handed so the arrow would stay on the bow when turning to the left.

[mullet]

I found that I had more control when I started using a leather thumb ring, or shooting bare thumb.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

You should be able to pull equally with either method for any weight. Accuracy I don't see as an issue of the release method in so far as one is "more" accurate than the other, it's all about practice etc. As for asian archers shooting more with a three finger release these days, that's really more of the influence of Olympic archery than one being superior to the other. In fact on the smaller horn bows thumb ring can be an advantage if only to avoid string pinch.

Me personally I prefer thumb ring, I tend to get a smoother release and I like the way the arrow is held onto the bow more securely, but that's just me. The one thing I would suggest though is to pick one and stick with it, transitioning back and forth from having the arrow on one side of the bow then on the other is not likely to help your accuracy with either method...

[mullet]

I know what works for me and is comfortable and I draw back to about 34-35" with a thumb ring release. I don't like how a solid ring feels on my thumb with a 60# bow.

[loon]

If you can get a Turkish or Manchu ring working properly, it should take way less strength to hold the string? Ie the ring gets pushed to the sides of the thumb, if I understand correctly. I haven't, though. Manchu archers pulled ridiculous draw weights, sometimes a little over 200lb (very rare, upper limit. average was more like 120lb or something, similar to English archers).
It's all about practice. The more you use thumb draw, the more your thumb will gain strength etc. I can draw mediterranean bare fingers more easily because of the greater surface area but with a thumb tab or ring I can draw about the same.

[mullet]

Yea, I don't have anymore trouble pulling my 60# horn bow with either grip. My 50# Hybrid I pull with my thumb bare finger. Seems to be a lot cleaner release. I've watched James Parker shoot that way constantly with a 85-90# bow.

[loon]

Yea, I don't have anymore trouble pulling my 60# horn bow with either grip. My 50# Hybrid I pull with my thumb bare finger. Seems to be a lot cleaner release. I've watched James Parker shoot that way constantly with a 85-90# bow.

Wow. The string+serving better be reaallly thick at the point it's drawn, then. I think I'd still get all sorts of blisters, or worse.
Thumb ring can be very clean if it works, but it's very hard to get a thumb ring that fits well, in my experience.

Gao Ying talked about supporting the thumb with index and also with index+middle finger. On Turkish archery, supposedly just the index is used and it barely applies any pressure at all on the thumb because of the way the thumb ring works? Yet on other (Ming Chinese?) styles, using index + tip of middle finger strengthens the hold. Turks also drew 100+lb, had tiny thumb rings

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I made my own thumb ring so the fit is perfect. The opening is oval so it slides over the knuckle when put on sideways but then you rotate it and it locks in place and will not slide past the knuckle bone, and that is where all the draw weight is, not on the pad of the thumb as you might think but transferred through the ring and spread out on both sides of the knuckle bone, the part of the ring that goes over the pad of the thumb is really just a guard to prevent injury on a bad release. So the ring does more than just protect your thumb from the string like a leather thumb ring, it spreads the draw weight over the majority of one of the strongest bones in your body and not on the joint at all. The index finger over the thumb should not be applying very much pressure, it's just there to steady your thumb and prevent accidental release.

[loon]

Not on the joint of the thumb when it suddenly gets thicker on the sides? How does it not just push on that joint, if not?
Do you think the thumb rings with guards could do that at all? Like this kind of ring, where the string doesn't just go on the edge but on a 'bent' section

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

If you feel that knuckle on your thumb you'll notice that the wide part of the bone is part of the bone in the middle of the thumb, not the bone on the tip of your thumb, all the weight and pressure in on that bone, not the joint or the bone on the tip of your thumb. That picture is the kind of ring that I use, it's hard to describe but even though the string rests where the lip and the ring meet the pressure is still transferred to your thumb bone, so much so in fact that if the ring is too loose and doesn't lock onto the bone the ring will come right off your thumb and be shot like an arrow, lol.

[loon]

Cool. thanks

That was the kind of ring that Gao Ying described, yet he advocated supporting the thumb with two fingers for more strength. Strange. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

I thought this was the type of ring necessary for that technique. It looks like it takes the force more normal/perpendicular to the oval hole of the ring. so taking out the ring rather than rotating

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

They're both very similar in use, the first one does place the string further away from the oval and this one has the string closer to the oval there's not much real world difference, when you pull you will feel where the balance is, grip too open and the string will slide off an release, grip too closed and the string/ring dig into your thumb and hurt and you'll likely release, lol. Either type ring when you have the string pulled and the grip is balanced the forces are the same.