Stickbow Target Archery Forums

John, during a long practice session or when I'm tired, I find myself loosely wrapping my fingers around the riser as you do -- must be a because it is more relaxed. And I have to admit, I don't seem to shoot any poorer as a result. Maybe I should do it all the time.

Jack - I'm no expert or coach, but it seems to make sense to me and others who have a much better understanding of target shooting have told me the same thing in the past.

Hope it helps.

ArcCaster, et al -n
I can only speak from experience, the technique for shooting a recurve and longbow are the same, the implementation is slightly different, due to the physical attributes of the bow. The handshock while greater in longbows is generally (but not always) due to the lower mass weight, and you actually get "adapted" to it fairly quickly.
I use a relaxed grip on both, but obviouly with different hand positions. The draw/back tension is the same, as is the degree of cant.
BTW - with the right tuning, (usually shaft selection, with the longbow) the point of impact is usually close enough so I don't need to recalibrate the "internal sight".

Viper out.

I shoot both Longbow and recurve with a loose grip. The Longbow I hold just tightly enough to stop the bow slipping out of my hand, and the recurve with the very loose grip that John uses. Both work fine for me.

My two longbows are: O.L. Adcock and Hummingbird, and I don't notice the handshock people refer to. My recurves to compare them to are: Black Widow MA VI and Zipper. On the Black Widow I do grip lightly with mostly two fingers and high grip. On the others, anything seems to work.

Arc, Guess I am different than most here but I found I had to alter my grip, cant, and my method of release greatly to shoot a longbow well compared to my recurve shooting.

I think the lightness of the longbow compared to the curve, the difference in grips and the fact the longbow isn't center shot has much to do with the changes I had to develop to shoot longbows. Some of the changes I would of considered as poor form with curves or compounds but the longbow makes them necessary......at least for me and those who convinced me to change from a proper form to the one I use to shoot longbows.