# What is the deal with the long stabilizers?



## Robert Ogden (Aug 13, 2005)

*long stab*

yes, it will make u shoot better i have a v-bars and a 30 inch super stix on a supertec and we all know that not a good target bow but i can do as good and some time better than a protec but i think it take a little time to see the diff it did me


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## SLash (Apr 2, 2005)

Stabilizers are very shooter preference orientated. In other words what is perfect for one person just doesn't appeal or work for someone else. I've shot long ones and short ones each have their place depending on your specific need. I used to shoot professionally years ago and I shot both Freestyle with a 30" long Hoyt tapered aluminum stabilizer with a small weight on the end as well as shooting in the NFAA professional bowhunter freestyle class where I used a Toxonics recoiling stabilizer. The short stabilizer I used is no longer made but seemed to me gave me the same stabilization as the longer rod. The advantage to the short stabilizer over the long one was the amount of movement transfered to the bow by outside forces. The short one was by far easier to aim with in windy conditions. If I was a bit shakey the long rod seemed to transfer movement to the bow which in turn made it more difficult to hold steady. The last three years I shot as a pro I gave up using the long stabilizer and shot only the short stabilizer in both classes no matter if I was indoors or outside. I retired from shooting in 1989 and only returned to the sport in 2002. Since my return I don't shoot pin sights much any more but do seem to be able to see the target better with my Black Eagle scope. My choice of stabilizers now is slightly different. Since most of my shooting is done in the Seniors Freestyle Class, I use a 20" Carbon Vibracheck stabilizer out front and a 4" Carbon Vibracheck on their adjustable mount as a counter weight. I keep the counter weight in close to the bow and angled back to give me a slow roll forward of the bow as the arrow is fired. The few times I have shot pins I just use the 4" Vibracheck out front and leave the 20"er in the bow case. I have no change in sight settings on my bow regardless of which stabilizer set up I use.

My 2 pet peves about stabilizers are as follows.

#1. If a long stabilizer has too much flexability and too heavy a weight on the end it can and will transfer movement to your bowhand thereby causing aiming problems. This may not occur early in a shoot but it will late in the shoot as you become more fatigued. Also if the wind kicks up the long flexibile stabilizer will be sure to let you know it.

#2. No matter how flexible or stiff a long stabilizer is if you have too much weight on the end it will cause you problems. I've seen many shooters struggle to hold steady with a heavy weighted stabilizer. I often give them a chance to shoot my 20" Vibracheck with only a single weight on the end and every shooter has said they felt as if they were holding much steadier and easier as a result of the change.

But once again remember stabilizers are a personal thing. What works well for one may not for another. Stop by the range or pro shop and ask to try a few on your bow. Don't be afraid to ask shooters you meet if you could try their stabilizer on your bow for a few shots. You'll be suprised how many shooters will let you try their favorite stabilizer out. This will save you a bundle of money on trying to find the right stabilizer for you and you'll make some new friends in the process.

Good shooting to you.

SLash


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## A Mess (May 21, 2005)

My version of a short answer would be that long stabilizers tend to help you hold much more steady. My point of impact has never changed with stabilizer length, just my group size. I always shot smaller groups with the longer stabilizer.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

*Stabilizers balance a bow and help hide small form problems*



A Mess said:


> My version of a short answer would be that long stabilizers tend to help you hold much more steady. My point of impact has never changed with stabilizer length, just my group size. I always shot smaller groups with the longer stabilizer.


GRIV says that he likes to balance his bows front to rear. Some bows, with out any weights or stabilizers, will roll backward towards the archer after release. Clearly at least some weight in the rear stabilizer hole will help these bows get to at least a neutral balance (zero roll forward or backward).

Many of the long distance FITA archers are using Beiter stabilizers (multiple carbon rods with plastic doo-hickies to hold the rods together) that are 36-inches or even up to 41-inches. These bows will roll forwards rather rapidly.

You can control the rate of roll by adding more backweight.

The idea behind a long stabilizer and 1 to 3 ounces of weight at the end, is to help hide small torque problems.

If you take a 12-inch stick with a 1-ounce weight on the end, and grab the other end of the stick, you can shake it back and forth, left to right, rather easily.

Take that same 1-ounce weight, and glue it to a 10-foot long stick. Hold that other end of the 10-foot long stick, and you will have serious trouble trying to wag that stick left and right.

A long stabilizer is a very long lever arm. If your place your bow hand on the grip slightly off, which would normally cause your bow to torque slightly left or right, the long stabilizer with that 1-2 ounce weight will keep your bow on target.

That's why you will see most Olympic target shooters with really long stabilizers. The principle also works for compound target shooters as well.


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## mdewitt71 (Jul 20, 2005)

*Thanks for the info...........*

Thanks...I will keep this in mind.
I also see the longer stabs are on the pricey side too.


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## Jabwa (Dec 10, 2004)

I have heard it all and from my experience, I shoot slightly better with a long stabilizer. The reason, I believe, is simply that I can rest my bow arm between shots by resting the bow on the stabilizer (I have a rubber limbsaver thingy on the end of my Beiter 30"). When you only have 30 seconds between shots, your muscles need to relax to the max!


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## 2thepoint (Jul 30, 2004)

here's a short but decent article on stabilizers...it's from Spot Hogg's website;

http://www.spot-hogg.com/newsletter20.shtml


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

*Great articles on Spot Hoggs website.*



2thepoint said:


> here's a short but decent article on stabilizers...it's from Spot Hogg's website;
> 
> http://www.spot-hogg.com/newsletter20.shtml


I fabricated my own version of the "Beestinger". I took a 11-inch Vibracheck stabilizer and added a 1lb-lead weight from McMaster-Carr.

It really does work, but man is that thing heavy.


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## XP35 (Oct 11, 2005)

I've been experimenting with stabilizers for a while and the longer ones d help tighten my groups. Just for laughs I tried touching my finger to the side of my grip without it and the bow torqued. I could see it plain as day. My arrow and rest looked like they were the pivot point. I put a longer (not heavier) one I made on my bow and it didn't hardly torque at all when I touched the grip. Enough of a difference for me. Try a longer one. If one isn't available try making one. I have not got any place to get one nearby so I made mine. A camo one even for my hunting bow. Been practicing with it and it helps. I'll contine to tinker with it and add weight if I have to. Looking for the "perfect setup", but aren't we all?


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## mdewitt71 (Jul 20, 2005)

2thepoint said:


> here's a short but decent article on stabilizers...it's from Spot Hogg's website;
> 
> http://www.spot-hogg.com/newsletter20.shtml



GREAT Article.....I am in the midst of looking at longer (10-12 inch) stabs now......


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## IdontGIVEaBUCK (Jan 24, 2006)

i have a 5 ft long stabilizer made of bones from the many many deers I have killed


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## Supershark (Dec 14, 2004)

Robert Ogden said:


> yes, it will make u shoot better i have a v-bars and a 30 inch super stix on a supertec and we all know that not a good target bow but i can do as good and some time better than a protec but i think it take a little time to see the diff it did me


What poundage are you shooting and what arrow/weight?


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## ronw (Nov 20, 2003)

one thing that hasn't been mentioned is the evolution and resulting difference in function between hunting length and target length stabilizers. as mentioned it's all about leverage and weight, but hunting stabilizers have become more vibration dampening and noise eliminators than stabilizers these days.in order to actually do some stabilizing the shorter stab of hunting length would have to be fairly heavy. being so short, they have very little mechanical advantage over movement, so the only way to dampen movement is by adding wieght, lots of it, as compared to the longer target stabs. no one wants to carry around a bow with enough weight to actually do any stabilizing on thier hunting bow, so manufacturers have converted the short stabs job to soaking up energy and quieting the bow down for hunting stealth. the target guys don't really care about noise and the length of the target stabs allows considersbly less weight to calm things down.


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## FS560 (May 22, 2002)

Prior to the introduction of the 36" tapered aluminum stabilizer by Jennings about 1970, everyone shot stabilizers in the 12 to 18 inch range.

The 36" stabilizer was built specially for use with compound bows in order to rest the bowarm between shots. Recurve target shooters can rest the bottom limb tip on the toe of their shoe. Not so with a compound. Well maybe Spectre can, but others cannot.

A stabilizer can only perform a very few functions.

1. Affect the vertical plane balance of the bow in the hand. This affects aiming.

2. Minimize horizontal plane rotation due to torque on the system or at the grip. This more affects tuning of arrow flight and tuning out badly executed shots.

3. Reduce vibration in the system after the shot. This affects shooter comfort and confidence and is really quite important.

4. Rest your arm between shots or while waiting to shoot or whatever.


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## ursonvs (Sep 19, 2003)

you know you could come to league on tuesday and thrusday night and play with the boys at flint hills. we got all the long, shiny, fancy stuff you can play with until your hearts content. there is always at least 20 or so releases , all sorts of stabs, hell we even trade arrows once in awhile.

tell ole gunny you gotta do some other form of target practice, tell the wife the truth though(LoL) or even bring her along. start at 7:30 pm. we starting warming up between 6:30 and 7:30.


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## bownutty (Feb 8, 2004)

I was reading this post last night and was intruiged. I read the Spott-Hog article and had to go to the shop today and do a little test. I put a 30 incher on my bow after shooting a bunch of shots with my hunting 6" NAP 1000. I definately could tell a big difference in how my bow held on target and my groups did shrink. I now will be using this longer stab for indoor spots for sure. I will be looking for a 10 to 12 inch stabilizer, solidly conected like the Spott-Hog article suggested, for a hunting stabilizer. Any recomendations here? Also, I could not percive a sound difference between the two stabilizers, so I don't believe the shot sound will be an issue with my bow.


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## mdewitt71 (Jul 20, 2005)

ursonvs said:


> you know you could come to league on tuesday and thrusday night and play with the boys at flint hills. we got all the long, shiny, fancy stuff you can play with until your hearts content. there is always at least 20 or so releases , all sorts of stabs, hell we even trade arrows once in awhile.
> 
> tell ole gunny you gotta do some other form of target practice, tell the wife the truth though(LoL) or even bring her along. start at 7:30 pm. we starting warming up between 6:30 and 7:30.


Thanks for the invite, I am taking my wife and daughters to KCI today, they are going on vacation for 45 days, so I am sure I will swing by to check you guys out in the future.


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## Keith Thompson (Jul 17, 2005)

*long stabilizers*

I set my bow up with a 30 stabilizer last night. So as of yet I don't have much experiance. I have tested a few at the range and they seemed to steady me up. That's why I went out and bought one. I did notice yesterday while shooting close up in the house that IF I DID SHAKE, it was hard to get steady again using the long stabilizer. I almost had to let down and start over. I also noticed that it will take some time to get used to the added weight. (Although in theory, more weight should make for a steadier hold.)


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

*Add a rear weight to balance front and rear*



Keith Thompson said:


> I set my bow up with a 30 stabilizer last night. So as of yet I don't have much experiance. I have tested a few at the range and they seemed to steady me up. That's why I went out and bought one. I did notice yesterday while shooting close up in the house that IF I DID SHAKE, it was hard to get steady again using the long stabilizer. I almost had to let down and start over. I also noticed that it will take some time to get used to the added weight. (Although in theory, more weight should make for a steadier hold.)


Keith:

Even 1-2 ounces at the end of a 30-inch stabilizer can put a lot of strain on your bow arm/wrist. If you screw in a rear weight, say 8 ounces, it will balance out the weight on the end of your stabilizer.

I use a stack fender washers on a bolt to make custom front and rear weights for my stabilizers. If you add a piece of leather or a common rubber plumbing washer, it will cut down on noise if the bolt gets a little loose

GRIV likes to balance his bow front to rear. He holds the bow up by a fingertip under the front stabilizer mount and adds enough rear weight so the bow and front stabilizer balance out like a triangle; stabilizer is a 45 degrees and the riser is at 45 degrees.

If your bow has enough rear weight, your arm wont be so tired from fighting that little weight on the end of that really long stabilizer. You will hold incredibly steady with a long stabilizer. The back weight will make you feel less tired.


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