Oh crap. Please help if you can…

[wildschwein]

#3844

Long story short is that I have injured the fingers on both my hands. It was this that forced me to switch to a lefty bow, and even then a low poundage one. I have been shooting lefty for two years now, but in the last few weeks I had been experiencing pain in my left hand. And today when I tried to shoot after a week long shooting break, I couldn’t even put five pounds pressure on the string. Because of this I will now have to shoot with a release aid.
Now before I made the leap to lefty I tried shoot a right handed bow with a release. However the results were horrible. Arrow flight was horrendous and couldn’t be controlled. I managed to locate a couple of other fellows on another forum who shared my situation and they said that using a release altered the flex of an arrow which would require me to shoot using an elevated rest. They said that once they made the leap to a bow with a “plunger” that allowed for tuning of an elevated rest, their arrow flight issues were solved. But I switched to shooting lefty instead of going this route.
Now I have very little idea what a “plunger” is or how its used in conjuction with an elevated rest. Nor do I have much knowledge when it comes to bows that are able to use a “plunger”. So I was wondering if you folks could maybe fill in the blanks for me? Has anyone here had any experience with such equipment as I have described?
Any suggestions and such would be greatly appreciated. I really don’t want to go the wheelie bow route if I don’t have to.

[Troy Breeding]

#24276

Well, to start with we will need to know what type and make bow you have. Not all bows are set up to use one.

Setting up one, if your bow is made for it isn’t a problem. My target FETA bow is made for one and I use one on it.

Troy

[wildschwein]

#24341

I use a laminate wood longbow with a very shallow shelf, but I havea backup recurve (Samick Volcano) which might be better suited?

[Troy Breeding]

#24760

I’d pretty well say the longbow is out.

As for the Samick, if it has the plunger hole then that would be the one to use.

Does the Samick had a hole in the riser sight window just above the shelf? If so it should have a brass threaded bushing in the hole.

Troy

[Troy Breeding]

#24768

Just looked at the Samick site and checked out the Vulcan. From the pic it doesn’t have the plunger hole. It’s not to say your doesn’t, you will have to tell us.

If it doesn’t then you will have to get one installed in it or purchase a bow that does.

Troy

[wildschwein]

#24844

Nope the Samick has no plunger hole.

[Troy Breeding]

#24962

The flipper rest with plunger is the best way to go if your bow will handle one.

However, there are several nice stick-on rest you can try.

I’d suggest trying a stick-on rest before messing with have the bow fitted with a plunger insert or spending money on a new bow.

Troy

[wildschwein]

#25001

Thanks Troy, I’ll give it a whirl.

[William Warren]

#25294

Wild,

Sorry to hear about your predicament. I also have a Volcano, great shooting little bow. I have used mine with a stick on weather rest and it shoots great. You will need to move your knocking point. (probably already knew that):D

As for your injury, I was wondering if a full shooting glove would give you some support and maybe dropping your draw weight, but I don’t know what your shooting. Anyway good luck with it.

Duncan

[wildschwein]

#28180

Thanks for the info Duncan.
Unfortunately a new glove wouldn’t help as my fingers can’t take more than a few pounds of pressure. I was only shooting a 43# bow this season but it turns out that even that was too heavy.

[Ed Ashby]

#29020

Wildschwein, there is hope. I have a friend who shoots a release with his hybrid longbow and he shoots it off the shelf, with very good results. He’s using a EFOC arrow setup that he tuned using the release. His bow is also in the low 40’s and he’s taken three elk in the last three years, with 2 of the shots being pass-through hits (however, none of those hit any of the heavier bones).

Ed

[wildschwein]

#29415

Thanks for the reply Dr Ashby. So far my personal results have been far from encouraging.
First off I tried shooting off the shelf with my longbow and center shot recurve. When that didn’t work out I tried shooting off an elevated rest that I installed on my recurve. I have tried adjusting the nocking point, multiple shaft selections, every point wieght imaginable, building out the shelf, and nothing seems to work. It seems when I use the release that my arrows keep bouncing off whatever rest I’m shooting them off of. Why this is, I don’t know.
Yesterday I went to the local archery shop and decided to try out a compound with a drop away rest and was getting great arrow flight. I don’t want to loose the simplicity and feel of a trad bow, but I dont want to quit bow hunting even more.

[Stephen Graf]

#30072

I think the biggest problem is not the bow, it’s the release. I have had two bouts with tensor tendonitis in my string hand. It’s a b*tch.

I haven’t been able to find a release that lets me get the string close enough to my face to allow a decent shot picture including the arrow.

So I take vitamin I (ibuprofen), use cold packs during the day, and a hot pack at night. And I am taking glucosamine 3 times a day help the tendon heal.

And I limit my shots to just 1 a day. And it hurts real good at that.

Last time it took about 6 months to pass. This time I figured out what caused the flair up, so hopefully it won’t happen again…

So again I say, it is the release that is the trick, not the bow.

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