[Archers] Period archery

[Gordon Kinnie]

Lord Mungo, 

Well written and informative.

I applaud your efforts and any who shoot a period style bow.  

Your performance will get better.  

 

Godai

 

 

 

  _____  

From: archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Groff, Garth
(ggg9y)
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 5:19 AM
To: (archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org)
Subject: [Archers] Period archery

 

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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