Risers, Limbs and buttons

Hi all,

It had been an interesting few months, if a tad expensive, as I have already mentioned my Revolution decided to fail earlier in the year and as it happened I was thinking about getting a barebow version and so it just hurried me up. Then a few weeks ago one of my Uukha limbs failed, not a common thing for what are just about the most popular and talked about limbs on the planet at the moment.
I was shooting a Windsor round (nine dozen arrows in total with three dozen shot at 60,50 and 40 yards on a 122 cm face), all was going well until the last two dozen when my bow started making a bit more noise than normal, I was getting a buzzy rattle and my groups started to open up. I finished the round and scored 773 only 27 off the Essex county record (but it was just practice and so would not have counted so sort of glad I missed it) and I was a bit put out that at 50 yards I had scored  262 but at 40 yards only six more points 268, as I said my groups were not as tight as they should have been.

I had check my bow several times while shooting at 40 yards trying to find the source of the noise and reason for my scores being low but it was not until I was about to unstring my bow that I noticed on either side right near the tip of my lower limb small cracks about 10 mm running along the limb.
They are four years old and I have shot them quite a lot, but I did not think they should start to come apart. I contacted Uukha and they asked me to go through the shop I got them from so I did, so far all Uukha have said is, that due to the high quality of their product and low failure rate the most likely reason is that the limb has been damaged. Well I do not know of any time that they have had any kind of trauma that could cause this and as they failed mid-way through a round I find it unlikely but we shall see.

The upshot of it is that I bought a shiny new pair of Uukha EX1 Evo2 limbs and I hate to say it because I loved shooting the old EX1s, I think they have improved on perfection.

So new riser, new limbs, I fitted a new Spigarelli secure button and new limbs meant new strings, so the only part of my bow that is the same as this time last year is the arrow rest which is new, but as the Revo' comes with a ZT rest as standard exactly the same as my old one. But then I could say I am still shooting a Spigarelli Revolution with Uukha EX1 limbs and a ZT rest just with a new button, a bit like Triggers Broom!

So what is this bare bow thing all about?

Hi all

So as it says "What is bare bow thing all about?"

Well for those of you who are not aware it is shooting a bow with little or no aids on it, by aids I am referring to anything that helps the archer have a consistent and stable shot cycle, including stabilisers (long/short rods),weights, clickers, arrow rests, sights and plunger/buttons, yes even the rest and plunger are aids as they assist in a clean launch of the arrow from the bow helping to avoid the shaft contacting the riser.

But why would you give up all these wonderful little gadgets that help you put all your arrows in the ten ring I hear you ask?

The answer will vary from one archery to another, for me it is the absences of all those aids that makes bare bow attractive, because then it is all down to me to make the shot. The more aids on a bow the more I feel like I am operating a machine. I don't mean to take anything away from freestyle archers, even with all aids on a bow that you can use the shot still comes down to you and you are the only variable, you may have a bow that is rock steady with a one hundred percent consistent draw length, but you can still have a bad release, snatch the bow or drop your bow arm and the more stable and consistent your equipment the more those little mistakes hurt your score. So in part I think it is the fact that bare bow is a bit more forgiving and as I shoot primarily for relaxation that is a big plus.

I have been shooting freestyle for the last six years and wanting more than anything to shoot bare bow, the reason I have not is that just as I was about to put away my sight I was asked to be the caption of our clubs Summer Albion League team and I said yes. I then had to concentrate on shooting freestyle as my scores were needed for the team as we were struggling to put a team together for each match, now were have an excess of people wanting to shoot on the team (and most of them can out shoot me by a margin), last season we won our division and were promoted and in our first season the B division we came second. So I am not really needed to shoot on the team (I didn't make the cut for out last match) and we have a new captain taking over the team for next season (good luck Sharon). So now at last I am hanging up my sight.

First class unstableised

Yes folks I did it, yesterday I managed to shoot a 706 albion without the long rod, and I still have one and a half weeks to go before I put it back on, so I might even equal my PB of 752. I am still really feeling like it is hard work for my bow arm by the end of the round which is another thing to keep an eye on when I put the long rod back on. This is also effecting my score at 50 yards, the last round I had 267 at 60 but only 256 at 50 and with the long rod on I almost always beat my 60yrd score at 50.
I started the round thinking that I would really pay attention to my release after it had been pointed out how inconsistent it had become, but as I shot things went from bad to worse. The more I tried to keep my release clean the bigger my groups got. By the last end I had given up and just shot normally and of course everything came right back. I carried on for the rest of the round and you know how it ended.

What can I say I just love shooting this bow naked....err... the bow not me....hmm

An unstable day.........

Well I was thinking to myself that as I had shot quite well without a long rod last week, I went to the club yesterday  with the intention of shooting an albion with no stabalisation.
So off I went to the club and got setup and things started pretty well at 80 yards I scored 202 with three dozen arrows which is not too bad with my best end pictured below.

(Oh and I think I had forgotten just how nice my Revo' feels when it is bare.....)

At 60 yards I scored 244 and at 50 yards 250, for a total of 696 (only 4 points off a first class score). The only distance I was a bit disappointed with was the 50 yards , as I know I can shoot close to 280 even without a long rod at that distance. 

The only thing that stands out is that by the time I got down to 50 yards my bow arm was really starting to feel tired. Now this is not a problem I normally have shooing even long rounds, so all I can think is that I was  feeling the extra work I was having to do to keep the bow still with no long rod. If that is the case then one of my reasons for shooting with no stabs' (to strengthen the muscles that give fine control) would seem to be working.

My theory is that although it is fairly easy to build strength into the  big muscle groups that do all the hard work such as lifting the bow and drawing the string, it is much harder to build strength into the smaller muscle groups that control the fine movements. But if you take yours stabs' off and shoot with a sighted bare bow you will have to use these very muscles to hold the bow steady, then when you put your stabs back on you should notice a difference.....in theory. 

The other interesting thing was I scored 10 golds in total at 80 yards compared with 9 when I shot a PB on Sunday in the league match. Now this is a one off so far but I am going to shoot for the next three weeks with no stabs and see how my scores go and then put my long rod back on and see how it effects things.