Home › Forums › Bows and Equipment › Looking For a Longbow
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I have been hunting with a recurve for the last 10 years or so. I have been wanting to try my hand at shooting a longbow. I know this is going to get a wide range of opinions and that is what I’m looking for. I would like some recommendations on a reasonably priced off-the-shelf longbow that would give me a good idea as to if I’m going to like it enough to someday buy a custom bow. Looking for one that shoots fast and has low hand shock. Looking for a 50#-60# pull. Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.
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Phil — My first longbow, many years ago now, was a top-name custom straight “Hill style” stick, 64″. I couldn’t hit anything with it, and the length caused me endless clearance problems when hunting. So I sold it and returned to recurves for a few more years. Then hybrid longbows showed up, aka reflex-deflex (correctly, deflex-reflex) and all was changed. Basically this design spreads the advantages of recurved tips through the length of the limbs so you get most of the same advantages yet the looks and feel of a longbow and more slender riser and grip than on most recurves. My personal favorite is a 54″ Shrew Classic Hunter, but there are many good ones out there. So my first advice is to get a hybrid, not a Hill for starters, and the shorter you can shoot well, the better for hunting. Second bit of advice is to forget buying a cheap factory longbow for starters and look around, in our classifieds here, eBay and elsewhere, as there’s a constant abundance of great deals on great used custom bows. In that draw weight you should find plenty to choose from. Good luck, Dave
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It seems like this is a new Golden Age of bowyers. If you do a search you’ll find many and, it seems, many good ones. I have very little experience next to most of the guys on this site, but I’ll throw in my two cents. My bowyer is Leon Stewart, http://www.stewartsarchery.com. I can only speak for my bow, but I love it. It’s a Slammer Special, a reflex-deflex that is a joy to shoot. With not a lot to go on, Leon built a bow for me that really matched what I had in mind, aesthetically and shooting. As a person and businessman, I think you’d find Leon hard to beat.
You’ll have your new bow a long time, so enjoy the search!
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Leon Stewart is a good guy and a good bowyer. I have an LS Slammer that I purchased from the original owner. It shoots great and although it was not “made for me” I adjusted myself to it and love the bow. Someday, soon I hope, I am going to contact him again, make the short trip to his shop in Coatsville, PA and see if he can build me a custom longbow.
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Check out Bamabows, I own 4 of Nates longbows, 2 D-Style 50lbs 66inchers, a 60in Reflex/Deflex Expedition Hunter 40lb, my latest is a 62in Reflex/Deflex Expedition Royal takedown, his long bows are smooth, fast and quiet! he is very reasonably priced for what he builds and his turn around time is very fast for a custom built longbow! these are the D-styles
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I’m also a Shrew fan, I have a Super Shrew 50#@28″ the “brown phase” in curly etimoe limbs and brown action wood riser. If you want a really light weight bow in the hand the Shrew is it.
Also have a JD Berry 56# @28″, a little less forgiving but fun to shoot.
I may have to get a Great Northern Bush Bow some day. They seem like a very nice production bow for the money.
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I have a 64″ Dryad Oracle for sale. The bow is 55lbs, Reflex/deflex design. It has an Osage riser with bamboo cores under canary wood veneers. If you want to see pics let me know. They won’t upload to the classifieds for some reason.
Thanx,
Bully26
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