[Archers] Arrow/Bow Problem at Ruby

Garth Groff sarahsan at embarqmail.com
Fri Jun 10 01:24:06 PDT 2016


M'Lady Artemisa,

I am not familiar with the Sportflight bows, but they sound interesting. 
I have once seen a larger Barnett bow based on the same riser as the 
Little Sioux. I think it was just over 20 lbs. I had the same 
non-tapering limbs, just longer. I got my first look at a PSE snake at 
Ruby Joust, and I was not impressed. That said, they are usually rated 
for 22 lbs, and almost nothing else is available new in the 25 lb range, 
the perfect size for teens and petite ladies.

Martin Archery has a new line of very attractive youth bows, but only up 
to 20 lbs when I last looked.

Making 1/4" arrows is not that difficult. I issue 1/4" arrows only for 9 
lb bows like the Bear First Shot, as the shafts I've been using are 
carefully selected hardware store dowels, and I have no way to check 
their spine weight. Points and nocks are available from 3Rivers, and you 
can get 3" feathers from FS Discount Archery, or cut your own with a 
Little Chopper. 1/4" arrows are available ready-made from Black Rhino in 
23" lengths, or Elk Ridge at 21" (sold at Pennsic). I recently saw 1/4" 
30 lb shafting available from Kustom King Archery on close-out for less 
than $5.

We all need to pay more attention to children's gear, especially 
stocking good quality stuff in a variety of sizes.

Yours Aye,


Mungo



On 6/9/16 9:06 PM, Zemi wrote:
>
> Greetings all,
>
> I would like to point out that the Barnett Sportflight bows have much 
> less of this problem and are a standard 60" so they allow for full 
> draw length for most archers. They are also usually only $40, making 
> them a reasonable purchase for loaner gear, and can be disassembled 
> into riser and limbs for transportation. The latter fact makes them 
> more desirable to me than the PSE Snake (by example) for loaner gear 
> because I can pack them in a quiver unto themselves and need no more 
> room than I would for more arrows.
>
> Arrows, of course, are a situation unto themselves.
>
> As a new Marshal, I want to say "Thank you" for pointing out the 
> nature of the Little Sioux bows as I hadn't had experience with them 
> yet personally.
>
> In Service,
> Artemisia
>
> On Jun 9, 2016 8:30 PM, <jaynardone at comcast.net 
> <mailto:jaynardone at comcast.net>> wrote:
>
>     Lord Mungo, thanks for the synopsis, while I did not rule during
>     my time DEM about the bows themselves, I did state that I did not
>     want those strings used for anyone older than 8 years old and
>     frankly I thought there were better alternatives just like you
>     explained. So unless Lord Seamus changes my ruling, it should
>     still stand. The arrow problem is a bit more problematic but in
>     Brighthills we just let the kids shoot our same loaner arrows that
>     the adults do. Not optimal but we don't have those issues. Think
>     what you witnessed was one of those things and we all should be
>     aware of it.
>
>     In Service,
>
>     Janyn
>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From: *"Garth Groff" <sarahsan at embarqmail.com
>     <mailto:sarahsan at embarqmail.com>>
>     *To: *archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
>     <mailto:archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
>     *Sent: *Wednesday, June 8, 2016 6:17:43 PM
>     *Subject: *[Archers] Arrow/Bow Problem at Ruby
>
>     Noble Friends of the Bow, Greetings.
>
>     I want to talk about a potentially serious safety hazard I
>     observed at
>     Ruby Joust, partly my fault for not being more vigilant.
>
>     Three youngsters from a family were shooting, with their parents
>     helping
>     them. Both parents were archers. The oldest child, six years-old, was
>     using one of those cursed Barnett Little Sioux bows, and children's
>     glass fiber arrows with plastic vanes and rather blunt crimp-on field
>     points. He was shooting at targets set at about 7 yards, and was
>     able to
>     pull the bow back not quite to his chest. Many of his shots were not
>     penetrating the target face, which was archery foam. Suddenly one
>     of his
>     arrows bounced back, and began turning cartwheels before landing
>     about
>     8' from the shooting line. His father and I agreed that he was to
>     only
>     shoot at the 10-yard target from that point on. Before they left the
>     range, I asked the lad to try drawing one of my 12-18 lb Bear
>     Crusaders.
>     He drew this bow effortlessly, actually a bit too far without any
>     problem. I wanted to discuss the youngsters' needs with their father,
>     but he was not really open to advice, or maybe I came on too strong.
>
>     The problem lies first with that Barnett bow. This bow is supposedly
>     rated for 15 lbs, but most youngsters can't pull it to an anchor
>     point.
>     Why? The limbs don't taper, either in thickness or from side to side,
>     thus the bow stacks very badly and there is no "let off" gained from
>     tapered limbs as the draw finishes. The bow usually can't be drawn
>     to 15
>     lbs, and this lad was probably struggling to get about 7 lbs from
>     it. I
>     had two of these turkeys in the Shire's loaner kit, and nearly every
>     youngster who ever used one hated those bows soundly. One
>     youngster was
>     in tears, and begged me for another bow. I gave him an old 17 lb
>     Indian,
>     and he had no problem shooting it. About two years ago I worked a
>     deal
>     to trade the Shire two of my own nearly-new Bear Crusaders for the
>     Barnetts. I disassembled one, stripping off the limb tips for my
>     parts
>     stock, and pulling out limbs, making sure they went into a different
>     trash cans so nobody could put the bow back in service and frustrate
>     other children. The second Barnett remains in my teaching kit. Sadly,
>     these things are much more common than Bears and PSEs since they are
>     featured at Dicks and Gander Mountain, and many kids turn up on SCA
>     ranges with them.
>
>     The second problem was the arrows. You all know, as I also know,
>     these
>     things don't belong on our ranges because of the plastic vanes and
>     fiber
>     shafts. I have gotten lax, and allowed very young children to use
>     them
>     when no scores are involved. And yes, a lot of you do this too, I'm
>     sure. Normally these arrows can penetrate archery foam fairly
>     well, but
>     in this case the lad's bow didn't have enough fling. Those very blunt
>     tips were the second reason he couldn't get penetration. I suggested
>     inexpensive children's arrows from Elk Ridge or Black Rhino, but
>     his dad
>     wasn't interested. My mistake was compounded, because I brought
>     six sets
>     of 1/4" children's arrows with PDP field points and could easily have
>     equipped all three children. In the future I will insist that
>     children
>     bringing these arrows use my loaner gear instead (which means I
>     should
>     make some more arrow sets before WoW). To the rest of you, I
>     recommend
>     we all be more diligent about keeping these fiber arrows off our
>     ranges.
>
>     Yours Aye,
>
>
>     Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir TA MIC
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