Sometimes, it is the bow.

Over the last few weeks as the weather has turned wintry I have started shooting indoors and I have had a problem. While shooting outdoors my arrows have been tending to drift to the right (but still hitting gold when I should ), which I have put down to switching from freestyle  to barebow and the changes to my form, anchor and release that has led to.

But coming indoors I found that I could not get in the gold without aiming off and that is not right, if I didn't aim off I was shooing a nice line from 2 o'clock red to 5 o'clock red, so I have been really working on keeping my form and release tight but it didn't help and I have adjusted my centre shot and button every which way but to no avail. A couple of times arrow spine has come up in conversation, but these are the same arrows I was shooting freestyle and I had 40lb limbs then as I do now.......but when I got these arrows I was using my old Uukha EX1s and now I have the EVO2s , which have the same draw weight but defiantly "feel" faster, then I though if my arrows are tending right that would indicate a slightly weak spine. So  last weekend I started of buy letting off both my limb bots by 2 turns (which should be about 1.5-2lbs), then setup my bow and shot a Portsmouth. Well so far I had only managed a 433 and straight off I shot a 504 and then after a short break I managed a 532!

So a lesson f'or me, I usually start looking at the archer is there is a problem and then the bow. in this case I was so sure of my equipment that I did not think to question it.

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!

Wait? No bare bow weight .......no

Well got the bare bow weight fitted, it shot with it, hated it nuf' said .....well not really so watch this space for a longer explanation.......ha! I bet that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Grip results,

On Saturday evening I sat down and took the grip off my Riser to see how the Sugru had set and if the fix worked and I must say I was pretty impressed with the results.

The grip came off nicely thanks to the cling film and that peeled easily off the Sugru, leaving a perfect impression of the underside of the grip. I refitted the grip and it felt nice and firm with possibly just a little bit of give but none of the movement it had before. The Sugru sets just like a layer of rubber and should give a nice seating for the grip.

I got up to the club yesterday (Sunday) and shot a Portsmouth and everything felt really nice with the grip no longer rocking and I managed a respectable (for me) 516. I am starting to feel more comfortable with the extra weight from the new limbs so soon it will be time to start winding them up a bit ...MORE POWER!!! (If you used to watch Home Improvements you'll get it).   

Feed back

OK guys been doing this blog for a while now and I know people out there are reading it but I am not getting much feed back. So either I am covering everything and getting it all right first time or I am really failing. I will publish all comments as long as they are suitable for my son to read and not blatant commercial adverts. So come on lets have some input, even if it just to say "your blog stinks I hate it". 

OK lets sort out this grip (Part One)

So let's see if this works, the first thing I did was remove the grip by undoing the single screw that holds it on, I then cleaned the area of the risers under the grip to remove any grease. I then applied a layer of Sugru about 2mm think over the area.

Next I covered the area with a layer of cling film to stop the handle sticking to the Sugru (it is fairly easy to get of non porous material but can be a real pain on wood the like) so that I can still remove it when I want. Next I put the grip back on and pressed in down firmly to form the layer of Sugru and line up the fixing screw, which I then put back in.

So in theory that's it job done, the Sugru will normally take about twenty four hours to cure (2 mm thickness if it was thicker it would take longer) and will then be like a layer of rubber firmly fixed to the riser. Well I did that last night so tonight when I get in from work I can have a look and see how it is doing, I am expecting it to take a bit longer to cure because it is tucked away under the clingfilm and the grip but we will see and I will report back. 

That ********** grip!

Ok so as the title says I am going to have a look at the grip on my Revo', it is one of the things that bugs a lot of owners as they always seem to have quite a bit of movement. Well I have been thinking about it for a while and have now decided to do something about it and my solution is Sugru. If you have not heard of it, it is a bit like silicon but comes in small sachets and can be used for lots of thing. What I will do is take off my grip apply a layer of sugru then put some cling film over it and refit the grip. The idea is that when the grip goes back on it will form the sugru to the correct shape to take up the gaps and stop the grip moving but as it stays flexible it should act as a cushion, the cling film is to stop the grip sticking on and will be removed once it has cured. I will post some images as I do it and report back on how well it works.