Bow tuning faq's
What is bow tuning?
"Bow tuning is adjusting the bow to the archer's style of shooting to achieve the best performance and achieve the best arrow flight. Tuning the bow and arrow setup go hand in hand with the archer's shooting style. To get the most from bow tuning the archer's shooting style must be consistent."
I've just bought my first bow, should I be worried about tuning it?
The simple answer is "no". Provided you have purchased a new bow from a reputable and knowledgeable shop or dealer and they have set it up for you, at this stage of your archery you should not be worried about fine tuning it. Just rig your bow and shoot it. You will know - or be told - when you are ready for tuning, hopefully by your coach or a knowledgeable experienced archer. At this early stage of your archery development, your time is best spent in archery practice rather than tinkering with your bow. When your groupings are very tight (red/gold = 50+/60) at more challenging distances, then you may be ready to further explore the dark arts of bow tuning.
When should I tune my bow?
As a simple guide, for recurve shooters, when you are consistently shooting 3rd class scores in the high 30s or low 40s, then that is as good a time as any to start seeking assistance with bow tuning. You should be shooting consistently tight groupings at 40M, 50M and have started shooting 60M and be looking at improving your rating to high 3rd class and aspiring to 2nd class ratings. At this stage you will be shooting 50M - 60M and looking to shoot 70M soon - this is as good a stage as any to look into fine tuning your bow to tighten your groupings more consistently - and to iron out your windage - so you don't need to adjust it when you increase or decrease your distance, a common complaint of improving archers and a sure sign of a recurve archer who needs assistance with bow tuning. If you do not understand this, then it is probably too early for you to worry about your tuning. As Yoda might say, "Bow tuning? You will know when you are ready. If you have to ask, you are not ready."
"Bow tuning is adjusting the bow to the archer's style of shooting to achieve the best performance and achieve the best arrow flight. Tuning the bow and arrow setup go hand in hand with the archer's shooting style. To get the most from bow tuning the archer's shooting style must be consistent."
I've just bought my first bow, should I be worried about tuning it?
The simple answer is "no". Provided you have purchased a new bow from a reputable and knowledgeable shop or dealer and they have set it up for you, at this stage of your archery you should not be worried about fine tuning it. Just rig your bow and shoot it. You will know - or be told - when you are ready for tuning, hopefully by your coach or a knowledgeable experienced archer. At this early stage of your archery development, your time is best spent in archery practice rather than tinkering with your bow. When your groupings are very tight (red/gold = 50+/60) at more challenging distances, then you may be ready to further explore the dark arts of bow tuning.
When should I tune my bow?
As a simple guide, for recurve shooters, when you are consistently shooting 3rd class scores in the high 30s or low 40s, then that is as good a time as any to start seeking assistance with bow tuning. You should be shooting consistently tight groupings at 40M, 50M and have started shooting 60M and be looking at improving your rating to high 3rd class and aspiring to 2nd class ratings. At this stage you will be shooting 50M - 60M and looking to shoot 70M soon - this is as good a stage as any to look into fine tuning your bow to tighten your groupings more consistently - and to iron out your windage - so you don't need to adjust it when you increase or decrease your distance, a common complaint of improving archers and a sure sign of a recurve archer who needs assistance with bow tuning. If you do not understand this, then it is probably too early for you to worry about your tuning. As Yoda might say, "Bow tuning? You will know when you are ready. If you have to ask, you are not ready."
Tuning a recurve bowWAC currently has a Level 1 coach who have been trained in bow tuning: Neil Nickless. As a first port of call catch up with Neil at the club for some advice. The club also has some of more experienced archers and shooters who are happy for you to approach them for advice on tuning.
There are some excellent resources freely available online explaining bow tuning, including: Tuning for Tens by Rick Stonebreaker at Texas Archery Advanced Bow Tuning, on Centenary Archers website Bow Tuning Tests, by Steve Ellison "Mastering Bow Tuning by James Parks is Australia's current Olympic archery coach, has produced the excellent Accurate Sights software and has produced several excellent research papers on archery. |
Tuning a compound bowMore useful info |