Stickbow Target Archery Forums

Hi All
I'm a mediocre shooter who's been trying to improve. Like most people who work for a living and have families, practice time is limited
I live in an apartment and manage to get to the range on weekends and during the week I can usually get to an indoor club 3x a month. Not as much practice as I'd like but probably more than a lot of people can get
Anyway, I got a formaster a while back to help with back tension and smooth out my release. I manage to sneak into the fire exit of my building's laundry room 1 - 2x a week and hang an old target from some waterpipes. I don't want to actually shoot for fear of damaging something and/or eviction, but the formaster allows me to practice "blank bale" shooting with no problems
This is because it allows the bowstring to got only 1 - 2 inches
I have tightened my groups considerably and although my scores are still "fair to middlin", they are better than they were before
I know it's not for everyone, but I'd recommendn that other stickbow shooters, especially those who's range access is pretty much limited to weekends.

Steve

Steve, I have seen pictures of the Formaster in use and read a few posts about it. Where can I get one? Does the manufacturer have a web site or something? Does it come with instuctions on its proper set up and use? The idea looks pretty straight forward but I would hate to get one and start doing something stupid with it.

Bender
Lancaster Archery sells them for about $40
You want the RIGID formaster. It comes with an instruction book.

n
n

Cool. Thank you Steve.

You're welcome!n
I just came back from the laundry room
1/2 hour about 15 shots with my eyes closed
I actually got a few shots where the arrow moved about 3" and fell to the ground!n
I think Todd Hathaway uses 1 for form practice also.

Steve, I noticed that you mentioned that you put a target for use with your Formaster. Why do you do that? To maintain concentration? To work on your aiming system?
I occaisionally do blind bale practice. It is good for you. Once I get an arrow into the target though I can't help but to start to gap off of it. To do practice where form takes precedence over aiming I have to stand close enough where I can get away with wearing a blind fold. I find that doing that is best for back tension, release and follow through.

Work sure gets in the way of doing the important stuff doesn't it? Anyway, now that I have looked at the links you posted Steve, I do have one important question. It seems to me that when using the Formaster, since the bowstring virtually goes nowhere and your arm is effectively tied to it, doesn't this lead to a static release with no follow through? I thought that the static release was generally, (but not universally) frowned upon
That's just how it looks. Is it possible to still get follow through with the Formaster?

Sorry, I haven't been around for a few days.

"Steve, I noticed that you mentioned that you put a target for use with your Formaster. Why do you do that?"n
I live in a 5 family apartment building and I shoot in a fire exit hall by the laundry room. Just in case the arrow gets some speed, I want it to hit my target. The landlord might get miffed if he see's holes in the door!n
"It seems to me that when using the Formaster, since the bowstring virtually goes nowhere and your arm is effectively tied to it, doesn't this lead to a static release with no follow through?"n
I can't speak for certain on that. I'm no expert on the types of releases. However, I have to keep the back tension when I release the string otherwise the formaster will pull my arm forward.
When I go to the range and actually shoot, I find my string hand winds up behind my ear after I release. I guess because my back muscles are pulling when I release. That's just speculation.
Since I started practicing with the formaster I have much tighter horizontal groups.
Compared to a lot of other shooters, my shooting sucks, but I have made significant progress. Maybe it's nothing more than with it I can put in up to 5 days practice as opposed to without it the most I can do is 3 without getting divorced!n

Yeah, I use one too every so often. For a long time whenever I would go back to using it, I would find that I could not hold my elbow back against the sudden tension of it. Even knowing it was coming. Of course the next few shots were much better.

The last time I went to use it, I easily kept my elbow back against the force, so I hope that means my back tension is just that much better.

And yes, Bender, your drawing hand might stay in one place depending on your bow weight, but that is great if it does because that force won't be there on a real shot and you will definitely have a dynamic release right after using a formaster.

After careful scrutiny of the photos, followed by even more careful scrutiny of the purchase price, I have made my own Formaster. I'll spend some time with it and we'll see how it goes.

Not so sure I like the Formaster. Depending upon what sort of tournament I'm in, I shoot either index finger at corner of mouth, or middle finger at corner of mouth. Either way the cord from my home made Formaster snaps against my cheek in an irritating and rather painful way upon release. It would seem that the Formaster was developed for FITA/OLympic style shooters. Or, am I like seriously doing something wrong?

Put another nock a few inches below your normal one and attach the cord around that one. It should be low enough to miss your chin on release.
The pivot point will feel a little weird this way, but you still get the benefit of training your muscle reaction.