At North Downs Archery Club we have members who shoot Recurve, Barebow, traditional (including Longbow and Horse bows) and Compound bows. The bows that we use in our Beginners’ Courses are recurve takedown bows since these are the easiest to train with, and we can match a bow length and weight to the training archer.

Once you have completed the beginners course you are welcome to use club equipment until they are needed again for the next course, which will give you time to get comfortable with archery equipment, and to decide what sort of bow you would like to buy for yourself.

Buying a suitable bow for you is something best done at a specialist archery shop, where they can assess your needs and capabilities, as well as explain what sorts of equipment are available. They can let you try out a variety of different pieces of equipment, and when you have decided what you want, they can help set the bow up for you (see our Bow Set Up page for more information about what needs to be done). A full set of good quality recurve equipment will cost anything from about £200 upwards.

Some links to “local” archery stores can be found in the footer of this website. Unfortunately specialist archery stores are becoming few and far between, and it is often quite a trek to get to one. Buying equipment online is becoming the default option nowadays, but do bear in mind that you then run the risk of buying unsuitable equipment, or not knowing how to set up your equipment properly, so if this is your chosen, or only, option, please do your research beforehand to avoid an expensive mistake!

The minimum of equipment you will need, for any style of shooting, is a bow and some arrows. You should also invest in an arm guard and a finger tab or glove for most styles of shooting. Other pieces of equipment can be purchased later, though there may be some useful discounts if buying everything together.

The Bow

A traditional bow is the most basic style of bow you can buy, and these come in many, many different forms – the longbow, horse bow, flat bow, asiatic bow etc. These are often the more difficult to master bow style as they have no supporting aids such as sights, stabilisers etc, and usually come in a single package (though some traditional bows can come as a separate “riser” and “limbs”).

A recurve bow is the style that they use in the Olympics, and is the most commonly used for target archery. Most recurve bows are sold as separate “riser” (which is the central part of the bow that you hold on to) and “limbs” (which are the upper and lower parts that attach to the riser). The limbs are matched (you buy them in pairs – an upper and a lower limb) and it is these that defines the “draw weight” (how much force you need to draw the bow). Being able to buy a riser and limbs separately means you can use different limbs on the same riser to give different draw weights. A higher draw weight is harder to draw, but the arrow will go further and be more accurate over longer distances. Beginner archers will typically start with a low draw weight and potentially increase their draw weight by using different limbs, as their form and strength improves. However, a higher draw weight will not overcome bad form!

Risers and limbs come in different lengths (generally small, medium and long) and combining the different lengths will give you a bow that feels the right length for you.

A recurve bow will also need an arrow rest to be added to the bow, and usually a “button” which is used to correctly position the arrow on the rest and to enable the arrow to fly accurately to the target after it leaves the bow.

A recurve bow can be shot without weights or sights and is generally then classed as Barebow shooting, or you can add a sight, and potentially balancing weights to the bow, which would then be classed as Recurve shooting.

A compound bow is the most modern of bows, and the most expensive, and comprises a shorter bow length, but higher draw weight than a recurve. The compound bow uses a system of pulleys to maximise the actual draw weight of the bow whilst not transferring all that weight to the archer. Compound bows also have magnifying sights.

All of this means that compound bows usually shoot faster arrows, and more accurately, than recurves or traditional bows. For this reason they are often handicapped in some way during competitive shoots – either requiring them to score higher than other bow styles, or having them shoot at a smaller target face, or a face that does not include the outer rings. Compound bows should also not be shot at close targets, as their power often means the arrow passes straight through the target boss!

Arrows

Most of our archery rounds are shot with 6-arrow ends. This means the archer needs to have 6 arrows to hand in order to shoot a complete end, before arrows are collected. Often archers will have 7 or 8 arrows in their quiver, in case an arrow is broken during the shoot (there are also occasions on competitive shoots where an additional arrow is shot in an end if, for example, an arrow bounces out of a target, though this is rare).

Arrows can be either metal (usually aluminium), pure carbon, a carbon/aluminium composite, or wooden. Since North Downs Archery Club shoots on a shared field where other sports may be played at other times, it is essential that we find any lost arrows. For this reason Archery GB bans the use of carbon-only arrows on shared-use ranges, as arrows cannot easily be found using a metal detector.

An archer pulls back the string on their bow to a specific “anchor” point each time. The length that they draw back is known as their draw length, and this is different for different archers. The draw length determines the length of the arrows that you use, so when arrows are purchased you need to know what arrow length you want (a shop will generally cut arrows to length for you).

Carbon and metal arrows have a particular “stiffness” known as the arrow spine. The correct spine required is based on the arrow length and the draw weight. Using an arrow with the incorrect spine for the length and draw weight will reduce the accuracy of the arrow. Thus, when you purchase arrows, in addition to the arrow length, you will also need to know your draw weight, which allows the correct spine to be calculated.

The arrows then have a “point” (the sharp tip) added to the front – usually glued into the shaft. For target archery these are generally of a bullet shape, as these are the easiest to extract from the target. Other points are available, primarily for hunting archery.

At the other end, a “nock” is added to the arrow, which is where the arrow clips onto the string (confusingly, the word “nock” is used to mean this part of the arrow; the point where the arrow clips into the string; and the action of actually clipping the arrow to the string!), and vanes are added. These vanes can be plastic or feathers. Often traditional archers will use wooden arrows and feather vanes, whilst recurve and compound archers will use metal/carbon arrows and plastic vanes. Vanes come in different sizes and styles and you may have 3, 4, or occasionally even 6, vanes per arrow.

String

You bow will need a string. Many traditional bows come with a string of the correct length for the bow, and compound bows come with strings already attached. Recurve archers, because the bow length is changeable, buy their own string based on the length of their bow. The length can be adjusted slightly (see Bow Set Up) as part of fine tuning.

Along with a string, a bow stringer is also generally useful to have as it makes putting the string on your bow much easier! Leaving the string on your bow when it is not being used is not a good idea, as the bow is under constant tension, so it is recommended that you put the string on your bow at the start of a session and take it off again at the end. A simple, low-cost bow stringer makes this task simple and quick to do and is the safest option (there are methods for stringing a bow without a bow stringer, but getting these methods wrong can be painful, so a cheap bow stringer is well worth the investment!)

Arm Guards, Finger Tabs & Gloves

Whilst not essential, it is highly recommended to get an arm guard and some form of finger protection. These are all provided as part of our Beginners’ Courses.

An arm guard is used on your bow arm (the one holding the bow) to protect against the string when it (inevitably) hits your arm accidentally upon release. The string shouldn’t hit your arm, if you have done everything correctly, but given that Olympic archers all wear arm guards, it shows that it can, and will, happen occasionally. Chest guards can also be useful for some people, and are easily purchased and fitted.

Finger protection is used to protect the nerves in the fingers that are pulling back on the string. Whilst an arrow can be shot without this, it can be painful and over time could damage the nerves in your fingers, where it is squeezed by the bow string. Finger protection can be as simple as a piece of leather that you slip over your fingers, to a more complicated version that has adjustable settings for resting the tab under your chin, hooking your little finger out of the way etc, etc. Alternatively an archer’s glove can be used – these generally have only three fingers covered, as you usually only pull back the string using three fingers. Whether a tab or a glove is used is personal preference.

Other Equipment

At some point you are likely to want to also get some (or all!) of the following

Sight – Used in recurve or compound archery for accuracy. Attaches to the bow and can be adjusted based on distance to the target and prevailing wind conditions. Compound archers can use magnifying sights. Barebow and traditional archery does not use a sight

Bowstring Wax – Over time your bow string will wear. Keeping the string waxed will prolong its life. A tube of bowstring wax is cheap and easy to apply after every few sessions to keep your string in good condition

Arrow Lube – Sometimes arrows can be difficult to remove from a target boss. Coating the points of your arrows with an arrow lube before each session’s shooting will make this much easier, and the club’s equipment officer will thank you for reducing the damage done to the target bosses!

Quiver – Whilst the club has a number of “ground quivers” that you put in the ground on the shooting line to hold your arrows whilst you shoot, it will not be long before you want your own quiver to hold not only your arrows, but also your finger tab, arrow lube, arrow puller etc, and of course to display your earned badges!

Arrow Puller – Extracting arrows from a target boss is a lot easier, especially on damp days, when you have an arrow puller to better grip the arrow shafts!

Bow Stand – Leaving your expensive bow on the damp grass while you collect your arrows is something that archers quickly think is a bad idea – a bow stand will keep your bow and its string off of the ground when not in use

Finger Sling – Used in recurve archery to allow the bow itself to be attached to your hand. The ideal grip on a recurve bow is not to hold on to it tightly, which means after arrow release the bow will naturally fall forward out of your hand. A finger sling will stop it falling to the ground! Not essential for beginners, but high level target archers will all use finger slings. Can be purchased cheaply, but are also simply made from an old shoelace.

Brace Height Gauge – Used for Bow Set Up and tuning to measure your brace height and tiller

Bow Stabilisers and Weights – Used in recurve archery for tuning your bow, allowing you to hold the bow steady at full draw, improving the weight balance and reducing the vibrations in the bow upon release. This sort of customisation is not very useful at a beginner level, but is essential for improving your shooting at higher levels

Clicker – Used mainly by more experienced archers shooting recurve bows, this is a device that fits on to your bow and produces an audible click when the arrow reaches a specific position. It is used to ensure the arrow is always drawn back to exactly the same position before release on every shot

Archery Bag – Used to hold all of your stuff in one place! Note that at North Downs Archery Club we have a car park next to our shooting range and people often set up their equipment next to their car and just carry their bows and arrows to the range – in this instance a bag, whilst useful, is not essential. If entering competitions or shooting in other places, an archery bag is more useful for easily and securely carrying all your equipment to the range

Phone Apps

There are a number of apps available for both Apple and Android that can be useful for using in archery. Most will allow you to record your scores at each shoot, many allow you to enter useful information such as your sight marks at different distances, and some can even allow you to record the exact positions of every arrow shot so you can analyse your groupings for fine tuning your bow. If you are interested in using one of these, ask around at the club to see which one is used and liked by other club members.