Basic Bow Guide - Recurve (takedown)

You can spot a recurve bow by the shape of its arms (limbs). They are curved at their end. Sometimes recurve bows are mixed with reflex bows, as both have similar shape, but reflex bows are curved by their entire length (I mix it up too). At the ends of recurve bow, in the small indentions, they hold the string.

The arms are attached to the core. The core is the central part, which the archer holds with one hand while they pull the string with the other. The small plastic part in the middle is where the arrow will be knocked, with different bows having different holders. Notice that this shape of core is for a right handed person, who holds the core with their left hand while their right one draws the string.

The limbs need to be correctly connected to the core, with one limb being the bottom one, while the other a top one. You may find markings on the back side of the arm to see which is which. They often also show the size of the arm and draw weight in lbs. (1lb is around 0.45 kg). The limb length is accustomed to the height of the archer, with taller archers using bows with longer limbs. This is due to force distribution, not each bow is for each person, and a tall person shooting from bow for short one can cause damage to the bow.

The 26lbs is on the lower scale of weights for adults using recurve bows. Regular archers often use around 30s lbs. War bows in middle ages had much higher draw weight, often more than 100lbs. Olympic archery for men uses 45-55 lbs. Please note the type of bow heavily influences how easily you draw draw-weights. 40lbs for recurve bow takes significantly more effort than for compound bows.

Bows are often quite massive. Pen in photo for comparison. This bow has around 1.75m. The bow is currently unstrung, which is a normal state once you finish your shooting session, as the bow may be damaged by being strung too long (days).

It takes a significant effort to string a bow. You normally start, at least with this type of bow, by stringing the string at the lower limb. Then you form a sort of V shape, with the bottom limb being at the middle bottom, in your one hand the top limb and in the other the other end of string. Leg positioning is important too. You carefully bring the tops together, careful the string is properly fitting on the limbs, as you can easily damage the bow limbs by stringing it wrong.

Finally, the arrow.

Congratulations, now you can start shooting. (bracer and glove optional. The glove is very much recommended.)