Shooting Selfbows

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Shooting Selfbows
Every person is unique: physique, muscles, posture, flexibility, eyes, depth
perception, mental attitude . . . We have to find a shooting style that best
suits our disposition.
Maybe you already thought of it when you read the headline, that your
40# selfbow needs a new set of arrows that is even better tuned and
the spine of the shafts is not 35# this time but 36#, because the arrows
have been hitting a little too far to the right. You are already on the right
track and have your bow under control, but there are basic adjustment
screws you need to consider that prevent constant and never-ending
tuning of the arrows and the bow right from the beginning.
It’s no fun if you are constantly questioning your arrows and your bow:
shortening arrows, increasing tip weight, extending
arrows again with foreshafts, then again reducing
tip weight, changing the brace height of the bow,
moving the nock point, changing the anchor point,
changing arm position, adjusting the pressure point
on the bow, changing the pressure point in your hand . . .
Above all, the consideration of the most
important basics should protect you
from dead-tuning your motivation.

There is no tuning and shooting technique panacea, however
the foundation always remains the same. The listed tuning tips
and shooting techniques show the most important aspects that
helped me to shoot more consistently.
and
There are many books written about this topic.
No matter what sources you use, always pay
attention to only change one factor of
your shooting style, your bow or your
arrows at one time and gauge the results.

Instinctive / Intuitive
Paul Comstock searched for the inventor of ‘Instinctive Archery’ and was
able to date this term at around 1934.
With this shooting technique, no aiming aids like the arrow tip or
pins are used on the bow; only the view with both eyes on
the smallest possible target point is applied.
It should be noted that one pin set at hunting distance is not
heretical, but appropriate for a clean kill.
It makes a big difference if you only shoot for fun at
targets or 3D animals, or if the bow and arrow are
actually used as lethal hunting weapons:
The animal has to be killed quickly!

There are no rules for aiming aids on selfbows; everything is allowed to
increase the accuracy of the shot. The arrowhead can be used
to facilitate horizontal aiming or a pin mounted on the handle
can be utilized to mark the exact impact of the arrow at a
certain hunting distance.
Aiming guides provide security. Some people feel
most comfortable in fixed structures and achieve unmatched
performance here. Others need to stay dynamic
and need the possibility to adapt flexibly to new
circumstances to be able to react accordingly.
All aiming aids, the best intuition and the sharpest,
most rigid look at the target are worthless if the
draw is not constant and you shoot with poorly
matched and tuned arrows.

Paul Comstock:
“Sometime around 1934 the term, ‘instinctive‘ was created not because
it appeared in print at that time, but because that marked the very beginning
of the National Field Archery Association, which grew bigger
and bigger in the following years and promoted ‘Instinctive Shooting’
heavily -- at least until fiberglass bows appeared.
One-time NFAA secretary John L. Yount in 1974 wrote a history of
the group’s origins, which I found online. A goal, Yount wrote, “was to
promote a shooting style, ‘Instinctive’ that would greatly increase the
number of archers.”
If we think a minute about what he wrote, he is literally saying the ‘Instinctive
Archery’ concept would ATTRACT lots of new archers. He did
not say ‘Instinctive Shooting’ would make the new archers accurate
shots. ‘Instinctive’ seems to promise accurate shooting without having
to do a lot of thinking.
The creation of the term was absolutely a reaction to and an attack on
the methods used by the National Archery Association, whose members
included very accurate and deadly bowhunters such as Pat Chambers
and Cassius Styles.
The methods of the NAA would have been confusing for novices for
several reasons. For example, no one could become proficient at NAA
methods without directly interacting with NAA members, including those
who were archery coaches. Not everyone
could do that.
Also, there were competing schools of thought in the NAA, such as ‘relaxed’
vs. ‘nonrelaxed’ which were competing ideas in the 1930s. Even
those terms are confusing, because ‘relaxed‘ in reality referred only to
a bent elbow of the bow arm, and ‘nonrelaxed‘ referred only to the bow
arm extended and locked at the elbow.
Unless archers were directly exposed to the NAA, trying to figure out
NAA methods was a mess, a real headache . . . a pain in ass! Yount
and others wanted to start over with something new, and ‘Instinctive’
was the best thing they could think of.

The Pillars of Selfbow Tuning
1 - Long Bows
Man-sized or longer bows store more energy than short bows due to
the lower string angle. The long limbs act like stabilizers and make
constant shooting easier. Even with a slightly shorter draw, the stored
energy and trajectory change only minimally. Short bows are more nervous
and more difficult to control. Due to the disproportionate increase
of the draw weight towards the end, even a small change in the draw
length has a strong impact on the vertical hit accuracy.

2 - Light-Weight Tips
The ends of the bow must be made as narrow and light as possible to
keep the limb vibration and hand shock low. At the same time, lightweight
tips increase the arrow speed enormously and thereby improve
the vertical hit pattern over long distances.

3 - Light-Weight Bow Strings
The lower the mass of a bowstring, the faster the arrow will be. Too
thick, heavy and tightly twisted strings slow down the arrow speed and
it is more difficult to hit at greater distance.
Does your bow have severe handshock when using thin strings? It
shows you that the tips are too heavy or the main bend of the limbs is
too close to the handle; the outer limb areas do not participate enough
in the overall bend and must be accelerated as dead weight. The energy
required for this is no longer available to the arrow.
The tips, which have too much mass and
the bowstring, which is too tightly twisted
and heavy, slow down the arrow speed
and worsen the shooting comfort.

4 - Brace Height
For selfbows, a brace height of 6 inches measured from the back of the
bow provides a good compromise between accuracy and arrow speed.
If the brace height is too low, the arrow must wind itself more around
the handle when shot. This makes it more difficult to match your set of
arrows and worsens the horizontal hit pattern. The arrow speed only
starts to drop below a brace height of 4 inches. If you design your bow
long and wide enough, you can use a brace height of 8 inches without
overstressing the limbs and causing stringfollow. The arrows are then
slightly slower, but are released more cleanly from the bow.

Arrows
As already mentioned in the foreword, you shouldn’t get lost in the fine
adjustment of the spine value without first taking other fundamental
aspects into account.

Cylindrical, Tapered, Barrelled
The cheapest and easiest to organize shafts are of conventional cylindrical
shape. Tapered shafts whose diameter decreases towards the
end of the nock are released more cleanly from the bow when shot. Barreled
shafts have the largest diameter in the middle or in the front half
of the shaft; these shafts also stabilize faster than cylindrical ones.
In the latter two, however, it is important to pay close attention to the
end at which the shaft is shortened, otherwise they have different mass
distribution and spine.
Why do I only use cylindrical shafts? I have hundreds of 5/16 and 11/32
nocks in stock, but tapered and barreled shafts are 1/4 or 9/32 inches
in diameter at the back end.
Plastic nocks are really cheap and not a valid reason for preferring to
use cylindrical shafts. When selecting my shafts, I don’t want to have
to commit to only one manufacturer, on whom the quality of my arrow
flight solely depends. I always try to use standardized products with my
arrows to ensure reproducibility for myself and my readers.

Arrow Length
Why talk about the length now when the arrows are not even finished?
If you shorten your arrows exactly to your draw length, the spine value
and the tip weight have to be meticulously adjusted to achieve a constant
hit pattern. The shorter the arrow, the higher the bending stiffness,
i.e. the spine value.
So it may be that you need arrows with a spine of 36# for your 40# selfbow,
so that they can wind themselves cleanly around the handle when
shot. Short shafts with a spine of 40# would be too stiff and would hit a
target to the left of a right-handed shooter or hit hard on the side of the
bow’s handle area.

If you leave your arrows 4 inches longer than your draw length, then a
large part of the shaft is in front of the bow’s back right from the start of
the shot: this part of the arrow is already aimed at the target and stabilizes
the flight.
The longer the shaft, the lower the bending stiffness, the spine. So you
could use 32” shafts with a spine of 40# on your 40#@28” selfbow and
the arrows hit exactly in the middle of the target.

Tip Weight
The higher the mass of the arrow tip, the more flexible the shaft becomes:
the spine value is therefore reduced. If the arrows hit too far
to the left (right-handed shooters), increasing the tip weight can move
them to the center.
If the shafts are too flexible and the arrows always move to the right,
the reduction of the tip weight increases the bending stiffness, the spine
value and moves the hit pattern to the left.

So before you start shortening long shafts because they have too little
spine for the draw weight of your bow, reduce the tip weight from
100grain to 70grain and check the arrow flight again.

Feathers/Fletches
The longer or higher the feathers are, the faster the arrow stabilizes in
flight, but the faster it loses speed.
The fletches can be glued slightly twisted onto the shafts to increase
rotation and stabilization. However, the fletches must be glued absolutely
evenly, otherwise the hit pattern deteriorates again. I never use
twisted feathers on my arrows because the shafts must fit the bow well
from the start and have to be matched to each other so that every one
of them flies straight even without fletches.
Long fletches also require an increase of the bow’s brace height, otherwise
they would always rub against the handle when you nock them.
Very high feathers are thin and sensitive. High fletching can also create
a whistling sound which will scare off wild animals; 3D foam animals
are unimpressed by that sound.

The stabilization windings under the nock look nice, but they are poisonous
for the arrow flight. The narrow turns of the glue soaked thread
have a high mass and shift the center of gravity further backwards.
Even without windings, I have never broken a selfnock.

In the case of self-cut feathers with long ends, care should be taken to
ensure a greater distance to the nock of the arrow, otherwise they will
rub against the fingers.
After years of testing, I realized that for my shooting style and the shafts
I used, straight glued-on 4” shield fletches represent the best compromise
between accuracy and arrow speed.

Colors
The brighter and more visible the fletches, nocks and shafts are, the
better. This is the only way your brain can quickly grasp the arrow flight
and make fine adjustments for the next shot.

Nock Point
If the arrow is exactly horizontal or at right angles to the bowstring at
brace height, then it will hit the back of your hand or the arrow rest hard
when being shot.
Move the nock point up a little and the problem is solved. This also
eliminates “riding”, the up-and-down movement of the arrow in flight.

Shooting Sequence

After stringing a selfbow it MUST be
warmed up carefully. Slowly, the bowstring
is pulled in several moves until
you reach the full draw length. A selfbow
should never be brought to full draw immediately,
or be pulled wildly and hastily
to be warmed up.

With thumb and forefinger,
an arrow is pulled
out of the quiver held
by the nock and . . .

. . . then the arrow’s tip is
guided forward UNDER
the bowstring along the
back of the hand or the
arrow rest.

As the nock approaches the
bowstring, move it between
your index and middle finger
and you can instantly nock
the arrow: you are ready for
the shot immediately.

With your thumb you now
close the index and middle
finger and thus form the
snap link grip.
The string rests exactly
in the first finger joint.

Are you skeptical that you cannot
release the string properly with this
type of grip?
Since the thumb forms the lock and
the string lies in the first finger joint,
the index and middle finger are
loose and under minimal tension.
As soon as you relax your thumb,
the string will snap over your loose
fingers and the release can no longer
be disturbed by a cramp.
With this method you achieve
a more constant release and a
smoother arrow flight.

The snap link grip allows you to relax your wrist and ensures that you do
not kink the string or pull it away sideways from the bow.
Tab or glove?
I have been using the
thickest shooting glove I
could get since 2007. Thin
strings do not cut deep
into the leather and glide
faster over the smooth
surface.

The pressure point in the hand
should be close to the root of
the thumb; this prevents you
from twisting the bow and the
limbs are evenly stressed.
Also make sure your elbow
is facing outwards. There will
be a little bend in your elbow,
but always try to keep it at the
same degree.

Here the handle of the bow
rests in the entire palm and
the wrist is bent upwards. If
your bow is too strong, this
might be the only posture for
you to shoot it. Nevertheless,
try to shift the pressure point
to the root of the thumb.
The elbow is pointing down; it
is locked in and the bowstring
grazes the forearm with every
shot. Try to let the elbow face
outwards.

When the bow is brought upwards,
it is pulled to half its
draw length.
Your eyes and the arrow are
facing at the target . . .

. . . Now the bow is drawn to the anchor
point, with the last inches of the draw performed
very slowly.

To ensure a constant draw
length, it helps to determine
the anchor point of
the string directly above
the eye.
Of course you can also
choose your cheek as
an anchor point.

Visualize how your back tension builds up in one line with the arrow
and the target as you draw.
As soon as you reach
your anchor point, the
string is released. The
draw hand is pulled
back to the ear and you
remain in this position
until the arrow hits.