[Archers] Period archery

[Groff, Garth (ggg9y)]

Noble Friends of the Bow,

Yesterday I concluded my first year of shooting period at SCA tournaments with Holiday Faire at Manassas, Virginia. Perhaps a summary of my experiences and observations would be of value to fellow archers.

Tournaments and Practices:

I was only able to shoot in three Atlantian tournaments plus Pennsic this year due to extreme distances, schedule conflicts, and cancellations or other problems with the tournaments themselves. I opened my season with Defending the Gate in March, followed by Stierbach's Baronial Birthday in June, the St. Sebastian's and Populace shoots at Pennsic (plus some practice time), and finally Holiday Faire. I had hoped to work in at least two other tournaments, but at one archery was delayed until after my departure time, and I blew off one other tournament for family/personal reasons. I also got in several practice shoots on an indoor 20-yard range in Richmond where I alternated between my period bow and a modern 40 lb. Tred Barta hunting longbow. I did not shoot the period bow at regular Shire practices, but continued Royal Rounds with the Barta bow to bolster my sagging averages. It has not been a great year for target time.

Equipment:

My period bow this year was a 3Rivers/Rudder Bows Hawkwood longbow, drawing about 37 lbs. at my 27" draw. I rate the bow as so-so. It does not seem to have the cast of other bows. One clue was arrow penetration depth. With my Barta bow at 20 yards, penetration is usually at least 3" on most targets. I noted at Holiday Faire with the Hawkwood that arrows only sunk about 1.5", barely the length of the point. My arrows generally flew very slowly, and were often erratic in flight, the latter probably a combination of shooting off the hand and my own inconsistency. I had already noted at Pennsic that the Hawkwood had a poor cast for its draw weight. Maximum effective target distance was 50 yards, and then only at the huge half-distance moat monster target on the clout range. Although fun to shoot, I feel that the Hawkwood is poorly designed, and possibly weak due to using hickory and oak composite construction. For anyone serious about period archery, I cannot recommend this bow and probably wouldn't buy another. I am considering unretiring my bowyer-made yew longbow, though I usually use this bow only as a teaching tool at demonstrations. I shattered my first yew bow on the 40th arrow, and have been very protective of its replacement. We'll see.

My arrows were hand-made, self-nocked, reinforced by a sliver of ivory, with the flights glued and also whipped in place, and mounting 125-grain steel bullet or Bearpaw brand "Modkin" points. The fletches were Truflite 5.5" shield backs, slightly shortened and trimmed to remove the slope at the nock end. I chose spruce for esthetic reasons (shafts were not sanded or stained, but sealed). Their diameter was 11/32" and spine weight was 40-45 lbs. New arrows were 29" length by the standard measurement. I also mixed in some similar older 28" arrows, suitably . . . uh . . . "spruced" up with 125 grain English generic "modbod" points . I was not completely pleased with the spruce shafts, and am building an otherwise identical 29" set from slightly heavier cedar to compare flight characteristics.

Tackle was the same as I shoot with the modern Barta bow, including a 3Rivers Duraglove. Next year I will experiment with a period finger tab. For the bow hand, I used a deerskin Carhart garden glove. I probably won't change this, since these gloves are relatively inexpensive and get cut up by the fletches over time.

Performance:

Well, measured by scores, my shooting stunk. It has never been great at tournaments, and I go for fun and friendship rather than an ego boost. Usually I don't even turn in my score cards. Overall, I enjoyed the shooting experience, learned a lot, and plan to continue period shooting.

The physics of shooting a period bow off the hand are completely different from a modern bow with an arrow shelf. I shoot point-of-aim, sighting off the arrow pyle. My 20-yard aim point shifted from 22-24" below the center at 6 o'clock with the Barta bow to 5 o'clock just beyond the lower right corner of a FITA 60 cm. target. This worked well when shooting at the indoor practice range, and I put up a mark on the target backing. Once I found the sweet spot I shot 25-27 points on 6 arrows ends, better than I was doing with the Barta bow. Of course, one can't put up marks at tournaments, and with the lack of the large backing plus varying distances, my aim point was floating out in space off to the right or even on the ground. Shooting became largely instinctive. At up to 20 yards, I was generally pleased with my performance.

At Pennsic, my point of aim for the moat monster was floating about 15 feet above the target. I hit within the scoring ring about three of six arrows per end once I found the aim point, but generally got only one of these arrows onto the target itself. I was hopeless at the castle window, a target at which I am generally very good. I shot left and low. Had I shot at this this earlier during free practice, I might have done better. Scores on the advancing man were perfect, but I only shot at the 15 yard target (I had already lost several arrows shooting at the further targets of that set during practice). Who can miss an elephant at 15 yards?

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir TA Marshal



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