Brace Height Bear Kodiak Hunter

[Augustinus]

#7570

Here is the newbie again, asking for assistance! I just finished reading Fred Asbell’s “Instinctive Shooting” and watched his video at least four times. I’ve made great strides in the last few weeks. Thanks to many of the members of this forum replying to my requests.

I’m at the point where I’m fine tuning my Bear Kodiak Hunter 40#, 28.5 inch draw. I just received my “T-square” yesterday and noted that my brace height was 6 9/16. I searched the Internet and found that the height should be 8″ min, probably closer to 8.5″ would be ideal. When adjusting for brace height I twist the string to create greater tension therefore bringing the tips toward one another and thereby increasing brace height, yes? I’ll wait for a response before I timker any further. Thanks I’m advance.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#63403

Augustinus –

Congrats on a classic bow, and embarking on the life-long trad journey! You’ve come to a great place with a ton of good info and great folks.

As to your question – yes, to increase the brace height you want to twist the string in the direction that it is wound, which will shorten the overall string length.

In finding the ideal brace height for your particular bow once you are within the optimum range, it’s good to start at one end of the range and gradually work your way up or down until you reach that point where things noticeably smooth out and get quiet. I like to start at the top end of the recommended brace height and work down, but you can do it either way.

[raghorn]

#63412

Where are you measuring the brace height at? Should be at deep part of grip throat 90deg to string. If that is where you are measuring then that string appears too long,you are going to have to come up 1 1/2 -2″

[Augustinus]

#63434

I’m using a T-square and measuring to the deepest part of the grip. I’m at 8″ right now. Shot about 60 arrows. Will an improper brace height affect the behavior of the arrow? I’m using 2018s. Or is the adjustment solely to quiet the bow, or both?

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#63447

Augustinus wrote: Will an improper brace height affect the behavior of the arrow? ….Or is the adjustment solely to quiet the bow, or both?

An improper brace height will definitely affect the behavior of the arrow (and the bow), and the farther you are from the ideal brace height, the more noticeable the effects will be. Brace height is one of the most important factors in proper tuning, and it’s worth spending the time to “dial it in” properly, as the benefits will be obvious. It will also help eliminate a lot of frustration with other aspects of tuning, and with accuracy.

If you’re currently at 8″ from the deepest part of the grip, you’re getting close already, and I would imagine you’re already seeing quite different behavior from both your arrow and your bow. Now it’s going to be a matter of more subtlety, until you find that ‘sweet spot.’

Do you currently have silencers on the bow? If so, I find that they can hinder initial tuning. You want to find that ideal brace height without any other factors playing a role in quieting the bow, if possible. Then, once your brace height is good, you can think about adding the silencers again. Keep in mind however, that there are additional things to consider when putting the silencers on as well, but you can get to that later, and if you do a search on here, you will find some good threads on that subject.

Believe it or not, this stuff really isn’t all that complicated, although it might seem that way at the beginning! But once you start playing around with it, and figure it out, proper tuning really ony comes down to a few factors to play around with, and much of it will just start to seem like ‘common sense’ after a while.

[Augustinus]

#63511

Smithhammer, thanks for the reply and words of encouragement. To answer your question I do not have silencers or a bow quiver. As in the aforementioned, I shot about 60 arrows and noted that the arrows were a bit off to the left. There’s a myriad of reasons for this I suppose. I’m going to increase the nrace height to 8.25″. Should I be making the adjustments in greater increments, say 0.25″?

[Author]

Posts