Who makes a real good longbow??

[GF.]

I used to post on leatherwall some... Probably ought to get back over there a bit... and probably ought to spend a lot less time posting than I do

I had been thinking about a used bow for exactly the reason mentioned - higher draw weights were The Thing, 15-20 years ago - maybe less - and now that lighter bows are fashionable again, there might just be a screamin' deal out there...

I did come across an ad (on LW, I believe) for a 'big name' 60# @ 26" which has (apparently) been on the market for 3-4 months and gettin' no love. It's a very low-wrist design, though, and I was kinda thinking about an R/D with more of a recurve style grip - call it a bastard if you want, but if I can get the brace height down pretty close to a proper fistmele and keep my high, locked wrist, that should get me a little extra poop behind that arrow.

But that's only a deal if I can still hit with the damn thing.

[My buddy]

Honestly, I'm not sure why you are seeking the bow traits you are.

Seems like you are attempting to get a find a way to turn a traditional bow into a high speed performer. High draw weight, low brace height and attempts to maximize draw length.

Your thoughts on the bow seem like the opposite traits to gain "shootability", which tends to be gained with lower weights, a brace height set to "tune" and a draw length that is determined by a shooting style that you find comfortable and accurate.

IMO a bow that can be shot comfortably and accurately is much more important (and deadly) than one that is fast or powerful.

I guess I just don't understand your reasoning behind your wants.

[GF.]

Elk.








But seriously - are you reading the same thread here that I am

I think I've said about 3-4 times that I'm not obsessed with speed and that shootability is the key, but then again, there's no need to shoot a bow that's a real dog just to get it to hit where you're lookin'....

My most comfortable and most accurate style of shooting just happens to be high-wrist. YMMV, but point your finger at a spot on the wall and tell me that you do it low-wrist....

High draw weight is only high if you can't shoot it well. I just happen to be geared for drawing a bow - always have been. And it's not like I'm trying to be Howard Hill or anything. I don;t need to draw my own body-weight to feel manly, but half of it doesn't strike me as totally unreasonable.

A lower brace height is somewhat less forgiving, but the longer the arrow stays on the string, the more push you get out of the bow - and the heavier the arrow, the more critical that becomes. Longbows are generally designed for a lower brace height - which makes proper tuning at that brace a whole lot easier - so that seems a natural enough choice; and pairing it with a relatively high-performance limb is a bad idea because....


And what's so evil about a centershot riser? Easier to tune and more forgiving, no?

Get down to it, and what I'm looking for is something that will blow a hole through an Elk's boiler room at 25 yards, not spit a grouse at 40. So yeah, there are trade-offs, as there always have been and always will be. The trick is to know which ones you're making and why.

[My buddy]

I guess to each his own, but there are plenty of people that are blowing through that boiler room with 45#'s.

Either way, good luck with it.

[GF.]

Maybe things have changed in the past 10 years, but I've never heard of anybody using a #45 on Elk - not seriously, anyway. Maybe if there are physical limitations, OK, but....

Are you living out in Elk country? Your profile doesn't specify, but maybe you have a whole bunch of Elk-hunting buddies to compare notes with... The guys I was in camp with last month were shooting #55s almost apologetically, and using 2-blades to improve their hopes of a pass-through....

I suppose a heavy enough arrow will do the trick with a 2-blade if you get a short shot on a good broadside, but JMO, that's sort of like taking a .243

Granted, I was using a chisel-point head, but I found that my old #55 Hunter was just adequate for deer, throwing a 550-grain shaft at a plenty respectable speed... I think I clocked it one time at about 185 fps, but I can't swear to the accuracy of that chrono. Honestly, I don't think the Bighorn is a fast as the Hunter, despite the Bighorn being set up with a fast-flight string and the Martin being built only for dacron; but the 'horn is a lot more shooter-friendly; draws easier, points better, hits tighter. So no, maybe it's not as fast, but it's clearly the better bow of the two....

Anyway, Elk are tough enough that I'm more comfortable with the idea of a 4-blade than a 2, and I want a by-damn exit, thanks. Last year, my brother zipped a 2-blade clean through the lungs of a cow Elk - hitting high, unfortunately, but with real good blood on the arrow - and she tottered of after a lengthy stare-down, never to be seen again

Adding a bleeder would have done (theoretically) twice the damage internally (so let's say 50% ) and would have provided a much bigger exit wound for that all-important leaking to occur. Hide & (especially) muscle can easily close a slit type of wound, but once you cut into it with 3rd or 4th blade, the natural elasticity of the hide and the contraction of the muscle fibers can't help but open things up in one direction or another.

And of course you stand a far greater chance of getting the lungs to collapse when air can get in through the wounds (which clearly never happened on the animal in question and is much less likely to occur without an exit). That doesn't guarantee recovery, but it's not going to hurt anything, either, so I'm really of the 'shoot the heaviest bow that you can shoot well' mindset.

[GF.]

Funny thing.... I was just browsing the classifieds on LW, and I didn't see but one 75-pounder that anyone was looking to unload... Lots of lighter bows, though, so maybe the fashion has turned to lighter bows than my little tiny 'crowd' has turned onto yet.....

Didja ever get that feeling, though, that people are always happy to brag up their equipment when everything goes exactly according to plan, and they just conveniently shut the hell up when they have bad news that they could be reporting instead? There's a whole thread devoted to kills with bows that you might call 40-somethings... but they're all deer, and not real big-looking ones, as a rule....

One bruiser in there, but you never really know when you're looking at a blind hog, do ya?

[Otter]

GF - Here's a link to a place that has a list of many longbow/tradbow makers/suppliers. Can't vouch for any of them personally, but have heard of many of them (in other words "I ain't got a dog in this hunt") -
http://home.att.net/~sajackson/archery.html
Scroll down at the first screen and start looking.

I have 2 longbows and a half-dozen recurves. One of the longbows is a "Lofton" and the other was made by my son. The recurves are Shakespeare, Ben Pearson and Herter's.