Stickbow Target Archery Forums

I purchased a Sure-Loc sight and Beiter apertures for my recurve. I haven't used sights for more years than I care to let you know. I use to be able to get a crisp focus on the sights and switch back and forth between the sights and target but now the sights are just a fuzzy haze. Scopes are't legal in recurve classes as far as I know. Is there any reason to continue attempting to use sights or should I stick to barebow? I wear glasses for reading but can see pretty well at distance.

Russ, if it ain't fun I try not to do it! Barebow and freestyle are, IMO, radically different shooting/aiming styles and each can surely offer lotsa archery satisfaction. I'm farsighted, too, but have no real problem lining up a string, bowsight aperture and bull'seye, with or without glasses (mine are graduated trifocals). Though I must admit to not shooting any kinda freestyle in well over a year ... barebow's too much of challenging "fun" for me. :thumbsup:

Russ, the way I see it most target recurve archers can chose to either focus on the sight ring and let the target blur, or focus on the target and let the sight blur. I do the latter, and when I'm shooting well (not for a while now, but hopefully it won't be too much longer) it works fine.

Personally I prefer shooting with an open sight ring, and most recurve archers I know seem to as well. Try using your Beiter sight tunnel without any inserts. I used one of these sight rings for a while, but found that the "ring" was too thick and my eye was drawn to focus on it rather than the target. You might find a slightly larger but thinner sight ring is easier.

I agree with John. Most Olympic recurve archers use an aperature sight (empty hole) and concentrate and focus on the target. One's subconscious mind will put the ring where it should be. We have a group of young people using the 12mm Beiter tunnel with no insert for all distances (560-580 indoors and senior
FITAs 1250-1290). Works well. Julia and I also use this sight although our scores are lower.

It is an "old wives tale" that you must aim hard and keep your sight pin on the middle of the target. Compound people are also coming to this "no aim" state.

I use an Arten Olympic sight on my R/c. I use an "Open cross" from my insert collection (They came with the sight), I have found that I can "Ring the gold" & centre the sight on the X ring. I still miss though

Thanks for the tips. Not sure why I'm trying to use sights as I prefer barebow. I'd like to think I could shoot either way, I guess.

For me, the thing about sights is the instant gratification of much better grouping at the long marks. I like my barebow aiming system to about 35 yards - after that, it kinda falls apart quickly. It's fun to haul back on a recurve, line up the string and aperture, and know you can at least group around the 80 yard bale, and once in awhile hit even the dot.

There's a dot on the 80 yard target you're supposed to hit?!