Do you treat your leather before you use it? You'd be surprised by how much quicker they break in and how much longer they last. I just use a leather glove from the hardware store with a velcro closure. But I scrub it w saddlesoap and treat it with a natural oil first. Mink oil has been the best for me but have others to try too.

thats brilliant

Good advice, thankyou

Is Toms name badge upside down as a Easter egg?? Is so what do I win? 🤣🤣

Yup happened to me with a sanlida emperor compound bow ,destroyed both of the cams. But these guys at merlin sorted me out quickly. Great guys great shop if you havent visited, get down there.

Falco Myth, Saga, or Spirit best ratio quality-price absolutely !

37 years shooting, no dry fire yet for me.

Luckily my only dry fire has been on my 22lb jelly bow

If you want a tough bow, one you don't have to worry about dry firing, get a Shrew. I was having a conversation with the owners of Shrew Bows, Henry Bodnik, and Tim Cosgrove, a few weeks ago in Germany. They told me they did a test on a bow in the factory that didn't turn out right so they couldn't sell it. They dry-fired it 150 times. Three strings were broken during the testing, but the bow had no ill effects. You can also leave these bows strung indefinitely and not worry about them. The only downside is that it takes about a year to get one.

I've seen dry fireing a good handfull of times. Either an adult, overestimating his strength while testing the draw strength if the bow without an arrow, or a playful child, mimicing the 'pros' or just by lack of knowledge. While the kids bows often survive due to low poundage, the first example is somtimes devastating 😬 Makes a funny video, though 😂

My gripper won’t slide at all. It’s off set like the video and it doesn’t move.

Had 2 dry fires, both exactly same way, nock on the arrow broke, bow was alright, luckily changed brand of nocks issue has not repeated itself. Worse thing was I had just checked the nocks for any splits/damage, I got religous about it after the first time

Probably worth noting it's normal to pluck a recurve string a few inches to settle tiller & brace. Has no negative effects & it lets you get a solid brace and tiller measure, which is rather important for consistency. It also centres the string should you be checking alignment. Quite often the string doesn't settle until it's plucked or fired, so measuring before can give false readings. Helps a lot with noise tuning too since you don't have to loose an arrow to find problems on the bow. It's the first thing you should do after stringing a recurve. Push it much further and you risk damage though, wouldn't take it past 2-3" at most. It should sound more like you're plucking the string of an instrument rather than slapping the limbs. Pointing this out because it's surprising how many people confuse plucking as dry firing and get their knickers in a twist over it. Plucking good, dry firing bad.

what jig were you using?

Thanks!

Just seen it properly and it is a beauty

I haven't been shooting very long, but when I was shopping for a bow, compounds were intimidating/confusing, not to mention expensive. I immediately realized the learning curve on the technical side would be higher. Sure, being any good with a bent stick is a lot of work, but that's what I signed up for, not to be an amateur bow mechanic.

Sorry, I missed something. You told us about the release and the different types regarding left or right sided, but you didn't explain why. You mentioned the different way the arrow bends, but not how or why it bends differently to the left or to the right. If the bow handle and arrow are uniform, won't the arrow bend the same regardless of which side it passes?

Had my first go with a new bow I got from you guys and have to say. Really enjoying the bow. Just want to shoot for fun (safely) and it did a big tick.

Right.... I want one!!!!!!

Why can’t we have informational videos without crappy music?

It's a funny old business. I'm 65 and have been shooting since 1987..I thought I shot well with all the bells and whistles .BUT .I shoot now with a not expensive bow ( trad take down ) and I shoot ( I think as good as I did with all the bits ) better .plus I enjoy the simplicity ...so the moral of my post is you will never know until you try different styles .don't be afraid to switch .!!

Great video! What model of peep sight do you recommend? Greetings from Denmark!

Couldn’t agree more, previous lead coaches at my club were in the “you must shoot recurve for at least 9 months” corner, that changed when I took over and now we have a wider spread of bow styles and happy archers and a growing club. The other analogy I can offer is to consider the American archers where the first bow they get in their hands is a compound bow, because of that they can field 5 or more top compound archers for every one from any other country. Great video Jim !

I like wood takedown hybrid longbows. What do you recommend for a 29 inch trad draw length? What length bow?

Imagine approaching agb as a beginner 😅 I know of a European champion field archer they made do a beginners course because she'd honed her exemptional 70+ metre skills on the dark side. I personally attended a flight shoot and was told who I wasn't allowed to speak to because they're soooo inclusive 😂😂😂

At our club, we have something like 70 members. We shoot apart from crossbows every other type of bows. In this day and age diversity is the game. Nice videos by the way. Keep up the good work.

Is that a real pigeon in the rafters at 2:45 or just a decorative decoy? Ps my GS hybrid arrived last week - absolutely perfect and so much quieter, thank you.

As I always say to beginners: imagine an archer. What do You see? Do You see an Olympic archer, or Robin Hood with a longbow, a Mongol in the steppe shooting a horsebow, an American Indian with a primitive bow...? Learn and do whatever are You dreaming of!

When I teach, explain about "finding the win" there is always a positive to be found, even if it's just about having a go.

Super simple explanation.

New subscriber and New to archery 👍🇬🇧

Normally I agree that it's just good natured ribbing... But one time I was alone at the range shooting my compound and this guy rocks up with his recurve. It's a full "Olympic" set up all the best bits most expensive bits and bobs spends probably 15 minutes setting it up. Then he has a massive go at me for cheating and telling how I'm not a proper archer. All the time he's standing there with a £2000 ($2800) bow with more carbon fibre than the space shuttle! I just waved at his bow and said "Then take all that "stuff" off your bow and we'll see if you can even hit the target!". the rest of the session we didn't talk. Some people are just silly, thankfully this is very much the exception and compound is a lot more popular in Europe than it used to be so it's more accepted now than when I started shooting. I shoot every bow category and have many MANY types of bow and I always love trying out new bows. They are all amazing as long as you are shooting a bow and having fun you are doing archery right!

I'd sooner it be a bad shot with trad bow than a bad shot with a compound ..at least I'd have an excuse for missing with a trad 😂

Weather compound or traditional you still have to shoot it. The bow is only as strong as it's weakest link.

I shoot compound simply because an injury makes shooting a decent draw weight recurve bow really quite painful these days. Its still a bow, I still shoot arrows and if you don't shoot them well it goes even more dramatically wrong than with my old recurve bows. The point is though that so long as you can still shoot who cares what you shoot. The ribbing just goes with the game and is half of what makes archery so much fun. At least if you shoot compound you're not shooting centuries old tech…keep up guys 😂

It' funny how archers all over the planet think the same about Compound 😂 For me, it has definitvly a certain atraction. But I will resist! 😉

Having recently started my Compound path, after been walking on the recurve, longbow and horsebow/ thumbarchery ways, it is just a different kind of archery which is triggering my techy side. A lot of ways to play around with Bow setup, releases, sights, rests and stuff. The ABT stuff.

Because its like shooting a crossbow. And money. So much new gadgets, tech, materials all just to make money. Its more about the kit and less about the skill.

I prefer a bow without training wheels

A compound just isn't a bow! Its a "compound", mechanical device. Archery, to be an Archer, you have to shoot a actual bow!

I have a riser with Cerakote finish. Scratches way easier then my anodized risers, even cheaper ones. After one season of shooting there was a spot on the grip area where bare metal was shining through. Manufacturer told me this is normal wear and tear. Not impressed at all with this stuff.

telescopic sights, and spirit levels and triggers and shoot through riser and cams .... oh my!

I started out with a compound bow - for the simple reason it was better suited for hunting deer in heavy bush. I currently shoot Korean hornbows because - well I've progressed to the level where it just plain provides an inner peace that I don't get with the carbon fibre bows. I don't have a dislike for any kind of bow; I do have a dislike for anyone who finds it necessary to belittle another archer's preferred bow.

In my opinion, compound bows shows the progression of archery technology, it's similar to muskets in the old days to modern rifles. Personally, if money weren't a factor, I'd love to be able to shoot as many forms of archery that I can. Currently, I'm training in Olympic recurve, but I've bought myself a flatbow for leisure shoots and I'm interested in trying a compound bow eventually. Not all, but some, it's just down to an elitist mentality.

Bare bow competitions are decided by yards. Recurve competitions are decided by inches. Compound competitions are decided by millimeters.

& on the other side ; the term "struggle stick'" for a recurve ? Or is that an obvious one ? 🤫

Mmmmm cookies, defected and embracing the dark side…….

Traditional/Barebow is the pure spirit of archery and is more about archers core skills🏹. High risk of failure, but also high reward or sense of achievement. Compound is mechanical, robotic almost and has no soul!!🤖 Compound archers have a heightened fear of failure, so rely on gizmo's to assist them to pseudo glory 😁. Notice how there are no compound bow icons 🤭But that's just what I think. All forms of archery however do the one thing that we all need in that it puts our minds in the present moment. It here and now's us completely 🏹🏹🏹

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, it's the lure of technology. Being drawn to the dark side means always looking for that new sight, new cam system, new technology to improve your abilities over raw, hard work and practice. Geez, I thought you were smart. 😂 ❤ love ya buddy!!