Advice for foreign beginner - first bow

[RafaPolit]

Hello all!

I would appreciate some advice about the purchase of a new bow. I know this has been asked before, but my circumstances are a bit different.

I would like to buy my first (beginner) recurve bow because I have been shooting a bit with my uncle's 20+ years Fred Bear. I love the sport, and I am getting better at it, managing to get several 10's and 9's from 18 meters. I do not plan to hunt or do anything but target indoor and outdoor shooting, with the hope of some day give a try at the 90 meter range.

My problem is that I live in Quito, Ecuador in South America and there are no archery shops to try out, test or even look at the equipment. Furthermore, the equipment has to be imported so chances of future upgrades are very difficult (like increasing draw weight); even worse, if something is not of the right size or weight, returns are impossible. So here are my doubts and questions:

First doubt: I have read that the hand you use depends on your dominant eye, which I have found to be my left eye (no brainer here, I am a lefty). The thing is that I've been shooting a RH bow for quite a while now. So, should I change my shooting style based on eye dominance or continue as a RH???

Bow and Limb decision: As I have mentioned, chances of upgrading in the near future are very small, so I should not overgrow my bow in the next 5 years or so, but I do not want to have such a difficult machine to control as to get frustrated by it. So, what would be a good compromise for bow choice? I am almost certain that I want a take-down bow and I would like it to be in the $300 US with no chance of going beyond $500.

I have found some charts, but none are very conclusive: I am 28 years old, 5

[slick]

What poundage is the bow you are presently shooting? Are you wanting to shoot sighted recurve? Yes given right eye and right hand dominance you should shoot right handed. I assume from your build dimensions that you would be shooting 27-28

[Liam]

Also do you need accesories and arrows and all the good stuff? Because if so, 500usd seems fairly undoable..

[RafaPolit]

Thanks for the replies,

slick, I am not sure what poundage I was ussing, but from what I found in the internet about body dimensions, my draw is about 26.5". Yes, I have shot sighted recurve, is this not a very common combination? Most recurves are unsighted? My uncles set has a sight, a rest, a clicker, stabilizers in Y formation.

Liam, yes... actually arrows, sights, rests, quivers, taps, arm protection, etc. should fit that budget :( , you really believe it undoable?, even if the non critical elements are of cheap build?

Any thoughts on bow model? limb options?

Thanks again,
Rafa.

[Liam]

http://urbanarchery.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=61&products_id=463

Maybe you could try and find a package deal like that, that's from an australian shop, but converted it's well under 500usd, you could probably find it even cheaper from somewhere in the us.

The thing is, it's not nesecarily something you're going to want to shoot if you get any good. But it should do just fine at the moment.

(Someone else might like to say something here, I know NOTHING about recurves...)

[Leighton]

Wow, ok, 500usd. Let me go to work.

Riser: Hoyt Gold Medalist $170 OR KAP Evolution II Riser $100
Limbs: KAP Evolution II $100 OR KAP Challenger Carbon $200
Sight: Shibuya Dual Click Standard $150
Rest: Hoyt Super Rest $2.50 or W&W magnetic rest $9.00
Plunger: Cavalier LOK plunger $20
String: Fast Flite $12.50
Clicker: W&W Clicker $9.00

Ok, how'd I do? $464. Within budget and enough breathing room to add shipping charges. Prices taken from Lancaster archery. Of course, to stay within budget, you'd need to choose the evolution II riser with the Challenger Craft/Challenger Carbon limbs or the GM with the Evolution II limbs.

As for limb poundage, I would go for 36lbs. Heavy enough to reach 70 meters easily, but light enough to pull back easily within a couple of months of working at it. Personally, I would go lighter, but since you say a few years before you can get anything else...



EDIT:
Just realized that the $500 usd doesn't give you any arrows. :P Well, I did my best. I suppose you could go Evolution II bow with AIM Medalist Sight and save a couple hundred dollars to get some arrows.

[Quackor]

for $220 you can get Hoyt's Eclipse riser (more modern design that the Gold medalist). Stick some $100 limbs on it, string, carbon arrows for $40 a dozen... sight... you're OK with something in around $70 for now. Arrowrest+clicker+plunger from Cavalier will be like $65 So that adds up to $500 already :/

You still need a finger tab and a string... I dunno, maybe start saving up and increase your budget in time? Because I think that if you're really into the sport you will become frustrated with inferior equipment soon...

[primal]

I dunno, maybe start saving up and increase your budget in time? Because I think that if you're really into the sport you will become frustrated with inferior equipment soon...

good advice and very true. if you plan on getting serious with the sport. its better to have goodas opposed to average equipment.

[RafaPolit]

Liam, yes, exactly what I had in mind, but I think that those premade kits suffer in the secondary pieces and some of them shouldnt be neglected, though the Evolution II combo for Riser and Limbs surely sounds very appealing to the newcomer, as it has Internation Fitting Limbs, so you can first upgrade the limbs to better ones, and later on upgrade the riser. Great info, thanks.

Leighton,

Thanks very much... pretty close to what I had in mind after several readings and with a huge amount of help form an amzing guy from another forum. I had only two major differences: I never would have thought that the sight would be more expensive than the riser (almost as expensive as riser+limbs! :( ). That was quite a surprise. The other major diference is the string, let me quote this amazing fellow I talked about earlier:
I would not purchase the B-50 dacron string.
I would instead go to www.hnlarchery.com, and
contact Leighton. He can make a custom recurve string for you.

Ask for Angel Dyneema ASB string material,
in 18 strands, using Halo 0.019" center serving with BCY 3D end loop serving.
So you should recomend your own string! ;) your are very well thought off and very respected in that other forum I speak off.

Quakor and Primal: I agree 100% with your advice and I thank you, but I also believe that there are limits as to what one expects and can spend for a hobby. Some would say that if you want serious home entertainment, you need a 70" plasma, but a not so die-hard fan could be well served by a 32" tube TV. Not the same, but enough for more modest needs and budgets. So if I could pull $300 more, I would probably buy a digital camera, or upgrade my violin! :)

That doesnt mean that I am not drulling over the Eclipse, and it was my first choice when I was browsing internet sites that had no prices! :) (though I have not find a single online store in the US that carries the Eclipse, all are based in the UK).

So I have to make numbers and make my choices, because arrows trully need to be included in the purchase! :p otherwise I am really going to get frustrated :cool:

I would like to thank all of you for such a warm welcome to this fantastic forum. I'll sure let you know of my final choice and before I make up my mind I will surely come up with more questions, but I wanted to trully thank all the selfless advice and phantastic info.

Rafa.

[Leighton]

good advice and very true. if you plan on getting serious with the sport. its better to have goodas opposed to average equipment.


I used to think that way, until I learned what was and is still done with "average" equipment. World records have been shot with Gold Medalists and world cups have been won with home made sights.

That said, obviously its the quality of the shooter that makes all the difference. However, arrows are extremely important and while you can shoot great scores with untuned $40 shafts, imagine what you can do with a tuned setup. Limbs are also important, but not crucially so as arrows are. A sight is just a sight and as long as it stays put, it does its job. The problem with cartel sights is that they are known to rattle loose, so I recommend shibuya which has a long history. Clicker, plunger, rest, again as long as they do their job, doesn't much matter. A super rest does much the same job as a $50 ARE rest. As for the string, I make fast flite strings, but yes, an 8125 or angel dyneema is faster. But IMO its the quality of the workmanship that makes a string. The material just adds speed and stability in some cases.

[RafaPolit]

I would like to thank everyone that posted here... I have returned to this site after the AT server shutdown this weekend :oops: and before everyone jumps to my throat :cool: let me explain a bit: I was, very generously, offered a "lent" PSE Zone by an awsome member of that forum and I was able to stay pretty much in budget buying Evo II limbs, a Cartel Sight, Shibuya plunger, and Platinum Plus arrows.

I'd like to say that for a beginner with no experience, I humbly think its a good setup. For 30 and 20 meters (the first requirements of local clubs and competitions) they work great. 50mts is still ok... for longer shots it gets a bit tougher. But I managed to hit 90mts with all arrows inside the target (dont ask where, but inside :) :D).

I followed Leighton's advice (sorry for not giving feedback, I see its poor form now) and went with 30#s to start, but I didnt computed the fact that they are meant for a 23" riser, so I realy have 28#. I now realize that the idea of not upgrading soon was a bit nieve... as of now I have some new Challenger Carbon limbs at 34# (havent tried them yet) and as a result, my arrows will be too weak, and I have pre-ordered some redlines, and have bought a Cartel Front Rod.

So I believe one starts to get into a spending wheel pretty soon.:o

As a side note, Im very proud to anounce that I won two gold medals in the Rookie categorie in the national championship last october. Since archery is somewhat new here and with few shooters, special (non-official) categories are opened to allow newcomers. I shot a 144 round over a two day period at 30mts and 20mts, 72 arrows at each distance, and the third day consists of an olympic braketing elimination system at 30mts. So Im happy as how things are truning out.

Thanks again for the input.

Rafa.

[New Tricks]

Good on you mate. Asking questions and actually listening will put you in a good position all the time. Congrats on the Golds. Do Ecuador send an Archery team to the Olympics?

[RafaPolit]

Thanks New Tricks... I am known to be a stubborn fellow, but when Im new to something I have nothing to cling to in order to be stubborn! :), so I listen.

Im pretty sure we have never had an Olympic Archery Team, but I might be mistaken. We had a so-so participation on the Pans at Brazil, but the youths got good results. We are building up an archery force, as of now, no more than 90 or so archers nationwide!!!:o ... so no elf army yet!!! :)

Maybe some day. One can only hope. Thanks again.

Rafa.