Improving accuracy

[snitkerb]

#5610

Hey all,

I began shooting traditional 4 years ago and never tried a compound as I really like my osage longbow. Generally I practice at 20 yards at least once a week. On good nights I can keep my grouping at about a foot and a half diameter. Ive tried adjusting shooting styles/variations of arrows but still fail to tighten my grouping. Does anyone have suggestions on ways to improve as so I can narrow it down. Oh and I have been shooting the same bow the past four years, 62# at 28″, so I am very familiar with my gear. Thanks

[snafu72]

#42845

adjust your brace height that will change the size of your groups most strings stretch so you have to check it from time to time

have you ever done any bare shaft tuning?

when i got back into shooting after more then 8 years off i didnt know anything about tuning i was always told theres no tuning a stickbow if you miss its you not the bow

but this time around i looked in to it more and started tuning my bow and then i looked into how to bare shaft tune my arrows and my groups got tighter then ever

just my 2 cents

[Stephen Graf]

#42895

I would read a few books on shooting. Byron Furgeson’s Become The Arrow comes to mind as a good one. 3Rivers has a good selection of books.

Step much closer than 20 yds till you start getting smaller groups. Maybe start at 5 yds.

Learn about tuning arrows as already suggested, and

Try to find some folks to shoot with. Archery is a social sport.

You have demonstrated a key necessity for good shooting, and that is commitment. If you have been shooting at least once a week for 4 years, that’s great! Once your shooting improves, you will probably want to start shooting even more…

[Northener]

#43009

Yes, Proper form—books and dvd’s

Bow weight—-do not over bow, it needs to comfortable

Tuning——–arrow to the bow.

Practice——Quality, not quantity.

Persistance—Keep at it, do not give up.

[Fallguy]

#43037

If you do not have someone to watch you while you shoot that knows what to look for in your form get a video camera. Pictures do not lie. There are a number of small things that add up to large groups. Also draw weight maybe an issue. I myself shoot 58 to 60 lbs all the time but at our club I am the exception not the rule. I am 5-9 and 180 there are several guys larger than me that shoot 50 to 55 lbs my son included. Good luck:D

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#43081

In addition to everything mentioned above, I would also recommend Brian Sorrell’s book, The Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Archery.

He lays out a good step-by-step practice progression for improving accuracy that is easy to follow.

[SteveMcD]

#43209

snitkerb wrote: Hey all,

I began shooting traditional 4 years ago and never tried a compound as I really like my osage longbow. Generally I practice at 20 yards at least once a week. On good nights I can keep my grouping at about a foot and a half diameter. Ive tried adjusting shooting styles/variations of arrows but still fail to tighten my grouping. Does anyone have suggestions on ways to improve as so I can narrow it down. Oh and I have been shooting the same bow the past four years, 62# at 28″, so I am very familiar with my gear. Thanks

Good points. 1) at a 18 inch grouping, there might very well be some tuning issues. But, 62# is a LOT of bow. I think the main concern is that you are over-bowed. I would recommend finding a much lighter weight bow for starters. Keep the beautiful bow you have, just find a 45# one on eBay or somewhere to work on your shooting first. 2) Having said that it is hard to say but there are two parts to shooting, the first being FORM, when the form is there then the focus should be on accuracy. Shooting once a week is not really enough practice, however, it is more important to have a lot of good practice with fewer shots, than a lot of shots and a lousy practice. An archer can only be as good as their practice. Flinging a lot of arrows is not good practice, and is really bad, as it only engrains bad form habits. Practice is focus and concentration. Archery is 95% Mental and 5% Physical. There are two components to practice and each is separate, first being Form and Second being accuracy. Have practice sessions for both. But the two are never combined.

I would also recommend – Masters of The Barebow DVD. Another great book is – Instinctive Archery Insights by Jay Kidwell; and also Al Henderson’s — Understanding Winning Archery.

[Brennan Herr]

#43559

So what is the standard for accuracy say at 20 yards? I know we all want our arrows touching but what is the average, typical grouping for average shooters? I know its is a hard one to answer but if you are willing to share it might help others that have no one to shoot with gauge their progress.

for me usually 8 inches but it ranges from 10 inches on bad days and 6 inches on those rare exceptional days.

[SteveMcD]

#43565

brennanherr wrote: So what is the standard for accuracy say at 20 yards? I know we all want our arrows touching but what is the average, typical grouping for average shooters? I know its is a hard one to answer but if you are willing to share it might help others that have no one to shoot with gauge their progress.

for me usually 8 inches but it ranges from 10 inches on bad days and 6 inches on those rare exceptional days.

Question is.. what is acceptable to you. Can you put a 2 inch dot on the target and hit consistently at 20 yards? 18 yards? 15 yards? What is your personal range of confidence that you can hit consistently and use as your limit for hunting. I don’t like groups because they lead to false impressions. Shoot one arrow at a a time and go get it.

If you ask any target archer, their focus is always the center of the center. In these terms for example, if they are on a 3D course, they are not focused on the ten or 12 ring, they are focused on the last hole inside the 10 or 12 ring. On an NFAA 20 yard 5 ring, your focus would not be on the 5 spot, but the X inside the 5 spot.

The 8 inch pie plate terminology as hunting acceptable maybe ok for many, you have to known where you are mostly hitting. But if you’re aiming for the vitals 8 to 10 inches could make all the difference, between a clean quick kill or a long tracking/recovery job.

[riddleofsteel]

#43593

As someone that is slowly building my traditional archery skill set; the advise given up to now has been good.

I find that when my groups open up at twenty yards I walk up to 5 yards and shoot a few tight groups, walk back to 10, 15, yards and shoot a few. By the time I am back out to 20 yards again the targeting section of my brain has somehow reset itself.

I think a big part of the “mental” aspect of traditional archery is the confidence factor. Nothing like a few shafts touching groups to build confidence.

[jmsmithy]

#43608

Hey Snit

I had similar problem when I started…after reading/chatting with the folks here though, things have vastly improved with regular groups 3-5″@ 20 yards and hope to get even better.

Listen to the guys…you’ll get there:!:

[stalkin4elk]

#43654

I’ll second BECOME THE ARROW and also recommend MASTERS OF THE BAREBOW dvd series wich covers the fine details very well. Both cover shooting as well as tuning.

[snitkerb]

#43735

Thanks for all the advice. I looked into a few of the books mentioned and plan on getting a few to read through. Hopefully this will either solve the problem or improve it dramatically.

[Stephen Graf]

#44041

snitkerb wrote: Thanks for all the advice. I looked into a few of the books mentioned and plan on getting a few to read through. Hopefully this will either solve the problem or improve it dramatically.

Grasshopper say: “Don’t think of it as a problem, this will cause frustration. Think of it as a challenge.”

[David Coulter]

#44169

For book selections, I’d like to throw in my two cents. I read a bunch trying to get my skills honed, as I’m in the early stages, too. I found the most helpful to be G. Fred Asbell’s Advanced Instinctive shooting. I don’t know what’s in the first two, but this one pulled things together for me. That said, I don’t think there was any that I would skip, as they all had their value.

If you can find someone to spend a little time with you as a coach, that would probably go along way, too.

Have fun, dwc

[skifrk]

#45910

What helped me as much as books and dvd was to find a local coach that is part of the JOAD longbow team for a local shop and he has helped improve my form in about 3 sessions more than I ever got out of reading. This was due to reading I could think things through and think I was doing but not until i had somebody look at my form and correct and then I could feel what correct rotational draw or proper back tension was. The plus to the proper technique I learned is I do not get tired after 2 hours of shooting.

[stalkin4elk]

#45996

I had to read and study because I did not know any GOOD trad archers locally. I have since met a few but they tend to hang out in the shadows. Beware of the guys who THINK they are trad coaches. Go watch a few trad shooters limbs vibrate silly and you will know they have not learned to tune brace height for example. STUDY the masters to learn quality fundamentals and what questions to ask.

[Bender]

#47790

This may get me a few BOO’S but that is not my intenet. The suggestions concerning tuning and proper form are absolutely correct. But let’s be realistic here. If after 4 years you’re getting 18″ groups at 20 yards, obviously something isn’t working.

Given you’re current level after after 4 years I suspect that you are pursuing “instinctive” shooting. Concentrate on the target and over time your body is supposed to learn what to do in order to hit where you look. Instinctive can work. But afetr 8 years of shooting and meeting over a hundred instinctive shooters, I have run into only 3 people that can actually hit anything. Sure these 3 guys are absolutely deadly. But 3 out of 100? It shows me that although it can work, it just isn’t for everybody. It is an exceptional person that is able to be truly accurate with instinctive shooting.

Want to improve your accuracy like starting tomorrow? Tune your bow and learn a structured aiming system such as Gap Shooting or Split Vision. Byron Ferguson is an advocate of Split Vision. As for Gap shooting you can ask about it on other archery discussion forums.

[doug krueger]

#20713

Rick welch accuracy factory vol 3 helped me tons. It is a great video he shoots three under but I dont think it matters. he goes through his shot routine, anchor points and release. i follow it closely and I shoot much better now. Check it out.

Dk

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