Equipment

Recurve

The type of bow most commonly shot today is the recurve (or Olympic) bow. Materials vary, but most are made of a metal handle with two composite limbs which either bolt or slot into the handle. Composite limbs vary in type but are usually based on layers of fibreglass or carbon fibre. It is also possible to buy wooden recurve bows, though these are not usually used for target archery. Bowstrings are made of dacron or a synthetic material called Fastflight - generally, Fastflight strings are lighter, faster, can take higher tension and are used on newer bows. Recurve bows also have a number of weird and wonderful extra bits all aimed to make the bow (or archer!) more stable and generally aid in accuracy. The sight and arrow-rest sound fairly obvious, but longbows dont have them! The button is a spring-loaded piece of plastic which rests against the arrow and steadies its flight as it leaves the bow. Modern recurve bows are designed so that the bottom limb holds more energy than the top whilst at full draw and so the bow tends to kick up on release unless fitted with a longrod. Short bars (or twins) can be fixed both above and below the longrod if further damping is required; a V-bar attaches to the longrod or back of the bow and is designed to stop the bow twisting on release. Arrows for recurve bows are either tubular aluminium or carbon fibre.

Compound

Compound bows are also used for target archery. The bows are designed in such a way that the string is constantly under high tension; when the bowstring is drawn, the bow itself does most of the work. Whereas a recurve bow might be between 30-40lbs at full draw, 50-60lb compound bows are not uncommon. However, the compound archer only has to draw around 20-30lb - making this an ideal choice for anyone who doesn't have the strength (perhaps due to injury) to shoot recurve. Compound bows tend to be much more accurate than recurve - hence why compound and recurve archers don't compete against each other except on handicap! Compound bows usually shoot with light carbon fibre arrows.

Longbow and Tradtional

The Longbow is probably the most famous type of bow, its design and manufacture have changed little for hundreds of years. Arguably the best longbows are made from yew wood layered and bonded. The strings are traditionally hemp and while the bow has a hand grip, it has neither sight nor arrow rest. Arrows are made of wood, with metal points - please note, traditional arrow heads (called broadheads) are illegal in archery in the 21st century!