# Can you mix recurve and compound and still shoot well with both.



## c365 (May 15, 2013)

In my experience, and I guess it depends on your individual make up but for me no. It's a debatable issue lots of if's. First it takes away from recurve practice time, the more you shoot compound, even more. The feel is completely different, the muscles used are a little different. The accuracy difference can be discouraging to you. Distances like 80-90 meters can be difficult with recurve, a breeze with compound. You send mixed messages to the brain. There are many more negatives and positives with shooting both. My thoughts are if your still developing recurve and serious about it, stay with recurve exclusively......again IMO.


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## montigre (Oct 13, 2008)

In short, generally no.


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## chrstphr (Nov 23, 2005)

The draw curve is the exact opposite. 

Compound is hard and harder then hits the cam and is easy

Recurve is easy and gets progressively harder the further you pull

Your muscles get use to one draw curve, doing the other throws your muscles off.

Shooting is developing muscle memory. Giving it the opposite is detrimental if you back and forth.


This is if you want to be very good and or compete nationally etc. If you just want to fling arrows and have fun, ten yes most certainly. You can mix any bow. 


Chris


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## Chris1ny (Oct 23, 2006)

I shoot both traditional and compound. Initially the shooting did not improve with switching between the two different styles. However after a few weeks, everything becomes automatic, and all the sudden the shooting started to improve with both shooting styles.


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## c365 (May 15, 2013)

chrstphr said:


> This is if you want to be very good and or compete nationally etc. If you just want to fling arrows and have fun, ten yes most certainly. You can mix any bow.
> Chris


About sums it up.


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## Stash (Jun 1, 2002)

I'm going to say yes.

Back longer than I care to remember, I was a competitive recurve archer. As a change of pace I would shoot compound during the indoor season. One year I won the compound division for our indoor national (Canadian) championship. I got flak for shooting compound from our national coaching staff people, so the following year I shot the indoor nationals with a recurve and won that.

As I recall, it took only a couple of weeks to get back into a recurve routine every springtime after a few months of compound shooting.

I think it would be difficult for a top compound shooter to pick up the recurve and get really good at it, but it wouldn't be hard for a top recurve shooter to take up a compound and get really good really quickly.


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

about 14-15 years ago, AT MSU-indoor nationals Lansing Michigan, One Richard "Butch" Johnson shot both recurve and compound. He broke the national record in Recurve shooting (IIRC) an 1192/1200. He also shot the Compound, and while he didn't win, he shot a world class indoor score. He also used to be competitive at Vegas with Both bows and may have been the best FSL archer in US history.

Mike Gerard was another guy who has been on the top target the last day at Vegas -with both bows at various times. And From what I remember Vittorio telling me, his world champion recurve (every world championship-indoor, outdoor and field) son was shooting top world class compound scores. 

Ashley Kamuf, Michele Ragsdale and Aya LaBrie each shot both bows at national target at least once. IIRC Michelle-Oxford 1999 (when the women all shot together) shot A line Recurve and B line compound, placing both


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## MIshooter (Sep 19, 2014)

I shoot recurve competitively but I'll shoot my hunting bow every now and then and do a little 3d with it plus hunting and I don't think either has ever caused me to become less skilled with the other.


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## arc2x4 (Jun 4, 2007)

I alternated between my matthews apex 8. And my spigarelli vision bare now at the range today. Of course I am only an Arrow Flinger not a world class archery pro....


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

Frangilli does it all the time.

He says the compound helps his recurve shooting. I believe it. The feeling you get when you execute a shot with a hinge release is the same feeling you want when the clicker drops.


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## 2413gary (Apr 10, 2008)

I shoot both nonsighted and its no big deal. Actually they Complement each other and help me shoot them both better.
So yes it's no problem.


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## Corene1 (Apr 27, 2014)

I have to agree with Gary. I shoot both my recurve and compound non sighted and with fingers. Point on is the same for both and I typically shoot the compound like the recurve by shooting off the back of the stops with back tension . The compound is more sensitive to a clean release which in turn improves my release with the recurve. So I guess it would depend on the style and class you shoot with the different bows.


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## Warbow (Apr 18, 2006)

Corene1 said:


> . The compound is more sensitive to a clean release which in turn improves my release with the recurve.


Is that because of the let off, acute string angle?


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## adamstephens (Mar 5, 2012)

I think practising with a compound occasionally helps with shooting barebow recurve. It reinforces that there are benefits in waiting for your aim to settle, the importance of minimising bow hand torque and how a surprise release is meant to feel (with a back tension release).

Adam


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## julle (Mar 1, 2009)

Only downside I can see is the training time you are missing out with your regular bow.


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## Arron (Nov 18, 2012)

From a backyard plonker and local shooter I would say it has helped in both my shooting.


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## Corene1 (Apr 27, 2014)

Warbow said:


> Is that because of the let off, acute string angle?


 I think the let off has a lot to do with it. I am holding 34 pounds with the recurve and only about 15 with the compound so any tweak or jerk in the release seems to be magnified in the compound . String angle doesn't seem to be a problem at 27 1/2 inches and a 46 inch axel to axel length the fingers are pretty comfortable.


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

limbwalker said:


> Frangilli does it all the time.
> 
> He says the compound helps his recurve shooting. I believe it. The feeling you get when you execute a shot with a hinge release is the same feeling you want when the clicker drops.



Tim strickland used to have his recurve students shoot their recurves with a release (usually a trigger he'd activate) for that reason. I do this with some of my students now as well.


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## Dave V (Aug 13, 2008)

I routinely rotate between two bare longbows, sighted target recurve, and sighted compound. I enjoy all three types.

Having said that, I can transition fairly quickly between the three bow types, but my scores never have anything to write home about. I hold my own, but I won't be on a podium any time soon.


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## rat4go (Apr 14, 2011)

I switched back and forth for the last 2 indoor seasons (I've only been shooting recurve for 2 indoor seasons and compound for lots of years). I'm FAR from world class at either, but I will say that my compound shooting got a BIG boost when I started shooting recurve as some of the things I learned to focus on with the recurve were apparently areas that I needed to focus on with the compound, too. 

The one thing that stands out to me that requires MORE focus is that my recurve has a high wrist grip and my compound is closer to a low wrist. If I am not paying attention, it's easy for me to have my grip messed up on one bow or the other and my scores show it if I don't catch it soon enough. I'm toying with the idea of trying to modify the grip for one to match the other to prevent this.

I'm sure that focusing all my archery energy on one discipline would be best, but I shoot compound with my son (and dad) and recurve with my daughter. I refuse to give up shooting with either kid...even if it costs me a few points.


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## grantmac (May 31, 2007)

In my experience shooting compound helped the mental side of my barebow recurve game and possibly bow-arm as well, but there are definitely form aspects which become less automatic if one is taking practice time away from the other.

-Grant


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## c365 (May 15, 2013)

grantmac said:


> In my experience shooting compound helped the mental side of my barebow recurve game and possibly bow-arm as well, but there are definitely form aspects which become less automatic if one is taking practice time away from the other.
> 
> -Grant


Just about what I've found. About ten months into recurve I thought I'd try one of my old compounds for two weeks. Seems like it took two weeks get the recurve feel back again. I assumed the OP was asking about someone seriously training for recurve on a high level. I can't imagine that person would switch between recurve and compound for any length of time in their training. Of course someone already in a elite world class level can and maybe should shoot the compound but since they've already reached the top of their careers, it shouldn't hurt them at all.


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## atjurhs (Oct 19, 2011)

I enjoy shooting both and a mix 

I'll never be a known name is archery, but I enjoy shooting (not flinging arrows) both my OLY/FITA recurve, and my Mathews Heli, and my Oneida Black Eagle.

One piece of equipment that helps me link between the two styles is the Stan Element release. To me it simulates (at some degree) the back tension release sequence of shooting my recurve.


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## TheLongbowShoot (Mar 23, 2012)

Yes, you can. 
I shot target compound and Oly Recurve. 
I shot 299 36x as my highest score with a target compound and a 295 22x as my highest score with an Olympic Recurve.
Not the best, but there is no reason why you cannot shoot both.


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## R&B (Oct 4, 2006)

*Stick Tossing!!!!*

Stick tossing is stick tossing. It shouldn't matter what you use to toss the sticks with as long as you understand how to toss the sticks. I shoot both (FSL recurve and FS compound). In fact I shot both in Vegas in 2014. I think I had the highest commutative score of any archer at Vegas that year (LOL). They frown on shooting 2 classes at Vegas now a days. I wasn't able to compete on the last day with my FS Recurve because both of my flights took place at the same time. I asked if I could shoot one of my scores later in the day and they said no. Oh well.......... it was still a blast!

The main thing is to enjoy archery no matter what path you take. The best archers I know and follow have one very important characteristic in common. They enjoy tossing sticks with a bow......... any bow.


-Cheers
-R&B


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