Short draws?

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Not sure if this topic belongs here or not.... but anyeay it seems my draw has gotten shorter slowly, i used to have a 26" draw and ive been shooting whole lot lately, and i re mesured my draw, and its now 24".... I'm 6 foot, should i make my draw longer?  Is there a downside to short draws? 

-Fox

Is your bow too heavy? Lots of guys collapse their shoulders and anchor if they are struggling to pull the weight. I agree with gutpile, you should be drawing at least 28" unless you have t-rex arms. I'm 5'-9" with fairly long arms and I draw 28". Try a lighter bow and the upright form as gutpile describes and see what your draw looks like.

Drawback to a short draw is less energy storage in the bow, which leads to lower performance. If you're target shooting informally that isn't much of an issue, but it can be if you are hunting and need enough oomph to put an animal down cleanly. You end up needing a significantly heavier draw weight to get the same performance as someone who draws farther.

Can you post pics so we can see what you're doing?


Mark

now i Read your comment after reading the flightbow dimensions there raised a question. You say that a shorter draw give less performance. But in the flightbow design threat they say a short static recurve with about 23 inch draw. How could that be a good design as It have a short draw? Couldnt It be better to have a slight longer bow and 28 draw?

[gumboman]

Looks like nice form and appears to be in the Howard Hill style. I too think your drawing elbow is high. It should in line or very close to inline with your drawing forearm. Looks like a fairly heavy bow too.

[DC]

now i Read your comment after reading the flightbow dimensions there raised a question. You say that a shorter draw give less performance. But in the flightbow design threat they say a short static recurve with about 23 inch draw. How could that be a good design as It have a short draw? Couldnt It be better to have a slight longer bow and 28 draw?

I think it's that flight wants light arrows. If you lighten a 28" arrow the spine drops to low. If you shorten it you get your spine back. It becomes a balance between spine and length. The best compromise seems to be 23" ish. Short arrows also have less air resistance.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

But unles the threat starter is purely concerned about hunting his shorter draw wont really be a problem  right? Because he can use shorter and lighter arrows to compensate or Am i wrong?

[bradsmith2010]

I am working on a short bow,, draw is 23 inches,,it is about 53 #@ 23 inches and will shoot a 417  grain arrow over 170 fps with fast flight
169 fps with b 55,,,
ok this is not amazing performance,, but it is deer killing performance,, I have read that the Siox average arrow was 23 inches,, I am assuming this was a good compromise in draw and performance,, and that they did not feel there was anything wrong with their form,,
a 23 inch dogwood shaft would be around 500 grains with tip,, or a hardwood shaft if you wanted more weight,, or if you wanted to shoot far,, you could go down in weight to a flight arrow,to impress your neighbor,, so I think they were on to something,,
   nothing wrong with shooting a longer draw  bow as well,, I think being able to shoot both and decide what you like best for the situation at hand,,different bows take different form,, no one form fits all,,

[mmattockx]

now i Read your comment after reading the flightbow dimensions there raised a question. You say that a shorter draw give less performance. But in the flightbow design threat they say a short static recurve with about 23 inch draw. How could that be a good design as It have a short draw? Couldnt It be better to have a slight longer bow and 28 draw?

I missed this yesterday...

Yes, shorter draws store less energy for any specific draw weight. It is just a function of how energy is stored as the bow is drawn. The longer stroke from brace to full draw has more length to do work in, which is what increases energy storage.

Traditional flight bows (not the broadhead category) are exclusively concerned with shooting extremely light arrows at very high speeds. The arrow details dominate much of the design and it is simply too difficult to make a light, stiff arrow very long. If you look at the broadhead category (which I understand shoots a more typical weight/length of arrow) then you see longer draws and longer bows setting the records. I think selfbowman set his broadhead record with something like a 67" pyramid design, which is very conventional by most standards.


Mark

[Fox]

I like bradwmiths comment... "no one form fits all" as i am mainly concerned with hunting situations, and i often practice shooting sitting down crossleged... i can sit that way on the ground in the woods for hours wich i feel would be a effective way to hunt sitting against a tree with a small natural blind in front of me... now my form is going to be tottaly different while sitting crossleged then it is standing, kneeling, and so forth. Now of course sometimes you have a stave thats too short for a 28" draw, and you want to make it into a bow for yourself so you make a bow with a 26" draw... now i would  imagine shifting  between draw langths and stances would effect acuracy slightly... but im not plaining to be a Olympic acher, so im not worried about it and am sticking with my 26- 27" draw..

-Fox