# Indoor tournament



## Stash (Jun 1, 2002)

Get some coaching and keep practising, and don’t just go buy “better” equipment and expect your scores to skyrocket. There’s a lot more to going from 265 to 300 than fatter arrows.


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## huteson2us2 (Jun 22, 2005)

Indoor archery is quite different from indoor archery. I use to belong to an indoor range and every year in the fall, I would start indoors with a low score. After a 6 week league, we would have our first tournament. Then every month we would have another tournament with another 6 week league. So that when Vegas time came, we would be at our peak in scoring.

From the first day of practice until Vegas, My score would increase by several points. It takes a lot of shooting to make the change to indoors. Then in the spring when I went outdoors again, anything over 20 yards look like a mile until I again got use to the longer distances.

So practice indoors more and shoot another tournament. Your score will increase. Half the fun was seeing how you improve over time. I do shoot Fatboys outdoors and indoors because I hate to retune between NFAA and USAA tournaments. I also like the 23 size for outdoors tournaments. but for you, I see nothing wrong with your Gold tips right now. When you start shooting 295 or higher, a fat arrow might get you a couple extra points. 

In my case, I always found that the fat arrows (I did shoot the 27s once) were always just out when looked at closely instead of way out with the skinnier arrows. They were never just in.


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## Stash (Jun 1, 2002)

huteson2us2 said:


> Indoor archery is quite different from indoor archery.


My experience has been that the two are quite similar. 😄


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## dparker83 (Apr 27, 2015)

Stash said:


> Get some coaching and keep practising, and don’t just go buy “better” equipment and expect your scores to skyrocket. There’s a lot more to going from 265 to 300 than fatter arrows.


I’m tight with my money so I don’t want to throw money away. Just looking for some tips on how to improve. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Stash (Jun 1, 2002)

The problems with getting “tips” on the internet are, first, that the person offering them has not seen you shoot and doesn’t know what your issues are and therefore doesn’t know how to help you with them, and second, you have no idea if the tips you are getting are from someone who has any idea what he’s talking about. Their advice might be worse than useless.

A “coach” doesn’t need to be a paid coach - just someone who knows more than you do, and more importantly, knows how to pass along that information. 

If you’re looking for specific help on a specific topic, sure, post here. Include any and all relevant information. 

But if you want general help, the best advice would be to get involved with a club or at least people you have met at the indoor events, and ask for advice _*in person. *_Most archers are glad to help.


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## jfin4480 (May 4, 2015)

dparker83 said:


> I’m tight with my money so I don’t want to throw money away. Just looking for some tips on how to improve.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I by no means am a great indoor shooter, the closest league to where I live is 2.5 hrs, however my work gets slow in the winter, so I setup an official 20 yd range and shoot hundreds of arrows per day all winter long and have got my scores from 270’s to most of the time, I shoot upper 280’s and have shot a 295 before. Anyway the theme is just shoot a bunch and have fun with it, is what has got me a lot better


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## MJAndrews (Sep 2, 2012)

Stash said:


> Get some coaching and keep practising, and don’t just go buy “better” equipment and expect your scores to skyrocket. There’s a lot more to going from 265 to 300 than fatter arrows.


Agreed, I've got a new TRX38 on order and have been trying to decide what arrows to set it up with since I want to shoot spots and 3D. I talked to a buddy of mine yesterday that's a high level shooter as well as a level 2 instructor. His take was shoot whatever you have until you're consistently around the 290 point then make the change to fat arrows. Unless you're in that upper range the handful of points that you'll gain in a round won't make a hill of difference in your finish. I know this for a fact as I shot 27's for two years and never broke 275 so I'm going the skinny arrow route for now.


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## Bow Rider (Jan 16, 2015)

Vegas at 20 yards, coming from bow hunting, 265 is a decent starting point. Accurate enough to hit deer vitals at 20 yards, no doubt. Not impressive to target archers, but for bow hunters with no target experience, that's a typical score. Don't beat yourself up over it. 
I guess the main question I would ask: Did you start to lose more points later in the round? Hunting and 3D isn't a lot of shooting. Shooting spot rounds, endurance is a factor. 

Shooting a 4cm ten ring 60 times in a row is very different from hitting kill zones with one shot. As a target archer who gets to hunt only a few days each season, I have respect for successful hunters. Kinda like the successful hunter who only shoots a few spot rounds each year. Different games, different skills needed.


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## dparker83 (Apr 27, 2015)

Bow Rider said:


> Vegas at 20 yards, coming from bow hunting, 265 is a decent starting point. Accurate enough to hit deer vitals at 20 yards, no doubt. Not impressive to target archers, but for bow hunters with no target experience, that's a typical score. Don't beat yourself up over it.
> I guess the main question I would ask: Did you start to lose more points later in the round? Hunting and 3D isn't a lot of shooting. Shooting spot rounds, endurance is a factor.
> 
> Shooting a 4cm ten ring 60 times in a row is very different from hitting kill zones with one shot. As a target archer who gets to hunt only a few days each season, I have respect for successful hunters. Kinda like the successful hunter who only shoots a few spot rounds each year. Different games, different skills needed.


I did start loosing points later in the rounds. It was odd we shot rounds consecutively instead of a break in between each round. I shot 10-15 practice rounds prior to the competition. I think I wore myself out. I had fun none the less and will be shooting another tournament next weekend. I’ve been practicing everyday after work and can tell my conditioning has improved. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## 953281 (Sep 27, 2020)

Bow Rider said:


> Vegas at 20 yards, coming from bow hunting, 265 is a decent starting point. Accurate enough to hit deer vitals at 20 yards, no doubt. Not impressive to target archers, but for bow hunters with no target experience, that's a typical score. Don't beat yourself up over it.
> I guess the main question I would ask: Did you start to lose more points later in the round? Hunting and 3D isn't a lot of shooting. Shooting spot rounds, endurance is a factor.
> 
> Shooting a 4cm ten ring 60 times in a row is very different from hitting kill zones with one shot. As a target archer who gets to hunt only a few days each season, I have respect for successful hunters. Kinda like the successful hunter who only shoots a few spot rounds each year. Different games, different skills needed.


Interesting post. It seems there is a bit of a "fudge factor" between hitting a 4 cm ring and the vitals of a deer. Hitting the vitals of a deer can be off a bit and still result in a deer on the ground. Shooting as a NASP coach at 10 and 15 meters is different. Precision and repeatability are the factors of hitting the 10 circle. Again, interesting post and replies.


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## ar1220 (May 18, 2014)

Make sure bow is set up to fit you and practice and practice and practice. Not just slinging arrows spraying and praying for a 300. But learn to break your shot down and work on specific aspects of the shot process and build a process that you can repeat each and every time the same way. It takes some work and effort to get there and will help your mental game a bunch


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## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

Stash said:


> My experience has been that the two are quite similar. 😄


Good catch


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## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

dparker83 said:


> I’m tight with my money so I don’t want to throw money away. Just looking for some tips on how to improve.
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Buying bigger diameter arrows won't improve anything until you're up to it. Many 300s have been shoot with hunting diameter arrows - .290" or thereof.

The Vegas face is challenging. Hated shooting it and worse was our IAA had it a 60 shot event. If I shot a 575 I was happy. I've shot better, but still didn't like the target. Actually, I quit shooting sanctioned spots around 2006. Shot Leagues up to around 2010 as a sub.

Best I ever shot was during a test of a shooting glove, the Slick Shot. 2 bows, one with glove and one without glove, alternating bows every 2 shots. Dead of winter outside. See date. Hand was near froze.

Arrows were .355" in diameter. 398/400. 1 out at 12:00 and 1 out at 4:00


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## kballer1 (Aug 31, 2010)

Usually the thing about 27's is you just miss farther with them. Shoot them in the middle & you can use skinny arrows.


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## Flyinhawaiian (Nov 2, 2018)

Arrows can only gain you a limited number of extra points. Work on your form, and specifically start with your hands. More points are won or lost in the hands than anywhere else.


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## cbrunson (Oct 25, 2010)

There is a difference between shooting good and competing good. I shot my first 300 Vegas practice round the first year I decided to take it serious. It took about three years to shoot my first 300 at a tournament. Five years to clean the weekend and win. The mental game is real. 

The thing I love about target archery, is that no amount of money can give you an advantage. You can not buy Xs.

Regarding arrow size, I’ve cleaned Vegas 450s with outdoor micros, and one day just fooling around, shot a 29x 300 with some old cheap 9/32” hunting arrows.


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## Hornhunter160 (Feb 21, 2019)

There are a lot of great recommendations on this post. I agree fatter arrows won’t greatly improve you score. A coach/observer can help you greatly as there is a lot of mental aspects to the indoor game. Just relax and stare at the middle.


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