Oh well I went and did it I put a clicker on my bow and my what a hateful beastie it is. But having been asked to be part of the league team I thought I better do all I can to improve my scores.
I have seen lots of people struggling to get through the clicker but never appreciated just how bad it can be, well hello.
I got my clicker setup with some help from another member at our club, never having used one before I needed a few tips. He then got me shooting with it and the first half dozen or so were fine and I was thinking 'what is all the fuss about', well yeah you can guess what happened next. I found out just how inconsistent my draw is, first I pulled one through the clicker then the next three or so I stopped short and just stood there straining to get though the clicker just like all those people I have watched in the pasted and thought 'what's all the fuss about'.
So that was yesterday and today I have an aching shoulder and a stiff back from only shooting about five dozen arrows......oh the joys I have to come.
But in the long run I am sure it will improve my archery and as they say "what ever does not kill you makes you stronger"...to which my son always responds "what about farts dad?".
Hi, I don't know if my comments are getting
ReplyDeleteback,as I've posted before, but as you say, what doesn't kill you....drives you mad!(sic)
Anyway, I had been using a clicker on my current setup, and was advised to persevere, and also to watch the clicker once sighted on the predraw, and just as the clicker is about to go, check sight and loose, as I had been holding on the draw way too long in anticipation...or..once the clicker had gone, sometimes still holding the draw thereby obviating it altogether!
However, along with another...who seems to shoot very well; after several weeks, I took it off, and my groups tightened, and tended to be in the gold....hmmm
Lets see what happens when I get the Revolution and new limbs......
Hi, I've had this riser for a while and recently managed to break the clicker that came with it. Do you know what the clicker thread size is? I've read that it uses M4 online, but I bought M4/6x32 sizes and there's no way either of them are fitting in that hole.
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't know off the top of my head, is it just the clicker itself that has broken?
ReplyDeleteYes, and the replacement is one of those ones with the cog-like attachment over the screw which lets you tighten it by hand. The old screw won't fit in it.
ReplyDeleteI would just take the original to a hardware store and find a nut that it fits and the get the matching screw.
DeletePerhaps my earlier reply recently on my trying again the clicker, should have been posted in here?
ReplyDeleteAnyway am persevering and have just shot 259 on a Bray 11...a PB for me; but it has changed a quiet bow into a noisy one for the standard spig clicker that comes with the bow, is metal to a metal striker.......
Always nice to get a PB, I don't currently use the clicker to shoot with I found it was spoiling my enjoyment too much. However I do put it on now and then to do reversals (coming up to full draw and holding it for about ten seconds and the coming back down again) just to reinforce my draw.
ReplyDeleteChicken! Why should I suffer on my own????
ReplyDeleteErr.. because you chose to put the hateful thing on there so you can suffer, or you can just learn to have a constant anchor point and do away with it. Or as Grace Jones put it you'll be a "Slave to the clicker......!"
DeleteBeen shooting a bit on bare boss with eyes closed as I've been advised that it will help with clicker usage; the idea being that one doesn't get wrapped up in aiming or other fripperies.......Also, I've found out that I had slipped into the very bad ( I thought it would be good...) habit of trying to hold the string on the very ends (crown of print?) of my fingers. My thinking was that it would minimise interference with the string on release......No. What it does, is exhaust you as you are holding full load on the tips, which then tenses the whole hand,(hence is very tiring) as well as hurt quite quickly: and yup, suddenly the bow loosed prematurely, the arrow hit the edge of the boss, and the clicker sliced the fletching off. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteHaving been re-educated to draw with a flat hand and the string in the first joint of the fingers, it is easier to hold the draw, and impart a lot more speed to the arrow. So much so that I've had to raise my sights significantly. And the bow is yet still quieter?
Today I shot an indoor league shoot of 36 arrows, the first 24 were on "target" for a PB, but the last 12 arrows went to rats....but I had been swimming/gyming earlier, which included butterfly relays and boxing. (The latter, not in the water! )The draw arm was knackered!
So......there is some promise......... How are the Uuhka limbs coming on?
It's one of those funny things, most people are taught right from the off to hold the string on the first joint of the fingers but there are always some that want to just use the tips. It can work well and you are correct in that it will (if done well) give a cleaner loose. But you have to have a lot more strength and stamina to hold it, I used a finger tip draw back when I was just starting with light limbs but now use the first joint because of the higher weight.
ReplyDeleteThe Uuhkas are still very cool getting used to the extra weight and tomorrow will shoot them in the frostbite.
Clicker saga persists....but leaving that alone for a post or two; it has been bought to my attention that my fingers releasing the bowstring had gone to pot and that I was releasing on my finger tips. This is all true enough and tiring to boot. I thought I was doing it for the right reasons (there aren't any!), and having corrected it (holding in the 1st joint, flat hand, follow through keeping the elbow level, et al) I thought I'd just say how much extra speed it imparts to the arrow, and I'm gobsmacked at how much I have had to elevate my sights....
ReplyDeleteOf course, everyone knows all this anyway....but just in case, there it is.
And of course some others are not suffering the bane that is a clicker, either........
Missed your post above, sorry...
ReplyDeleteAre you finding the Uuhkas fast and smooth?
As usual the only "right" reason to do anything in this mad sport is because it works if it doesn't then stop it. It sounds like along with your finger tip draw you had developed a bit of a dead release where you just let the string come off the fingers without getting that last half an inch or so that comes from rolling the shoulder back and pulling the fingers off the string, that can have a big impact on
ReplyDeletearrow speed.
The EX-1s are fab!
I like them more each time I shoot them, they feel very fast and my sight marks are much higher (lower numbers) but then I am holding an extra eight pounds on my finger ( yes they are only six pounds heavier than my old limbs but the bow scales don't lie.....I hope) so it could be that. The extra stiffness does make a difference, if I pluck the string (pull it slightly to the right as I release) the arrow tends to still be a 6/7 instead of a 4/5. I have worked up to shooting 10 dozen arrow (two five dozen rounds) over about 3 hours, but it is still going to be a while until the last end feels easy and the summer league starts in May so plenty to work on there. I did find myself getting into a bad habit with my release as I was getting tired I was using a dead release and didn't notice until it was mention and I said I wasn't so they filmed me on their phone and showed it to me.......I was.
I think re your first paragraph, you are absolutely right, and having worked on that and one or two other basics, that monkey on my back is slowly finding it a less comfy perch!!
ReplyDeleteThings are improving slowly re clicker usage, and I have just put in a PB by a proper margin. I know it can be done......
I also shot my longbow prior to the Spig..gosh that's weird...forgot about clickers and tabs with shelves and anchor points when I went to the Spig: 1st 6 arrows were chaos!! And how much smoother, lighter and FASTER is the Spig.!!!
All good fun!
Glad to hear the EX1s are performing as hoped...envy more like: mind you, I still can't imagine shooting that many arrows in 3 hours!!
Aaah ...Clickers....a bit like aah....Bisto! Not...
ReplyDeleteOne could do a "War and Peace" on clickers, or perhaps a "Clickers Anon" support group.
I accept all the reasons for using one.......no problem. Have used it all through the last 12 months plus, following my previous on/off years experience....and indeed things very slowly improved, especially on the few occasions out doors.
I also freely admit that I have not shot enough of late, by a wide margin. In the next 3 or 4 months that is going to get worse.....
Anyway, today I went up to the range, a no. of friends around, started shooting a 30 arrow round (locally the "Andy Harris"), and it varied from inconsistent to....inconsistent......... I got so frustrated and was really struggling to get through the clicker..... so I stopped using the clicker which I knew was a mistake, but I was close to packing up altogether....archery that is!
Anyway, with the support of some at the range, I put it back and just shot at the blank boss. And will continue to do so for the time being.......now have a small one for the garden. No excuse. Well..... less of one.
Keep going out there!