# Raised rest vs off the shelf?



## centershot (Sep 13, 2002)

Rests and plungers make it quicker and easier to tune - that's about it. Properly set up both are accurate and durable. I'd guess the 95% has much to do with being shooting off the shelf is perceived as 'more trad' than a rest.........


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## MGF (Oct 27, 2012)

I prefer to shoot off the shelf only because it's mechanically "simple".

I used to use a stick on rest on a recurve because I had a bunch of arrows with plastic vanes. That worked fine. I understand that plungers (or whatever) provide tuning options but that's not really what my shooting needs. LOL I can make an arrow fly either stiff or weak just by the way I screw up the shot.


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## fallhunt (Aug 2, 2013)

Most of my archery experience has been with various elevated rests, particularly Bear weather rests.

I started shooting off the shelf 50 years ago. I have two recent years of shooting off the shelf experience.

I have less than an entire year’s worth of experience shooting off the hand (a few months here and there).

For a lacksaidazical casual recreational archer the different systems do not seem to make much difference at 20 yards or less. They are all equally accurate to the degree of accuracy necessary for fun at 20 yards or less. They are all reliable/durable plus fairly foolproof. I did wear off the ends of a couple of weather rests. I had one or two become unglued.

Surprisingly to me, the off the shelf seems to be the simplest and easiest. Off the hand took a little more time and effort for hand and arrow placement. Off the hand required yet another accessory item. I needed bow hand protection against the occasional fletching scratch. Yes it is option, but the scratches occurred just a little too often for my tolerance level.

Overall I enjoy the off the shelf rest best while all are good for me.

Off the shelf requires a flexible stick with nock groves and shelf, shelf padding (optional), a string with nock set, a tab, armguard (optional), arrows, a quiver (optional), and a target.


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## cim (Sep 18, 2016)

MGF said:


> I prefer to shoot off the shelf only because it's mechanically "simple".


I agree.


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## Thin Man (Feb 18, 2012)

R, 

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4600761
My take on this topic is in Post #2 on this recent thread. 

I'll add here that any bow with a shelf can be certainly be shot off the shelf - as the author stated in the article that you read. However, depending upon the nature of the shelf and results desired at the mark, the archer may decide to manipulate their shaft's launching point to suit their needs. 

A bow with long, flat shelf and side areas (like a 90 degree floor and wall) often beckons for an elevated rest situation by design (and often intent). 

Shooting either shelf or elevated is simply a judgement call by the archer to obtain the results they desire from a particular bow. Neither tactic is a "phenom thing", but rather a "different strokes" approach to one's preferred setup.


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## Sauk Mountain (Aug 3, 2015)

MGF said:


> I prefer to shoot off the shelf only because it's mechanically "simple".





cim said:


> I agree.


Unless you're shooting the bow without any type of shelf material, it's not anymore mechanically simple. The same glue that you use to glue on rug rests and strike plates can be used to attach elevated rests to the riser.


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## fallhunt (Aug 2, 2013)

Sauk Mountain said:


> Unless you're shooting the bow without any type of shelf material, it's not anymore mechanically simple. The same glue that you use to glue on rug rests and strike plates can be used to attach elevated rests to the riser.


I agree and that is a very GOOD point, except when the shelf padding and striker plate padding are very thin just to protect the bow wood from scratching and to make things a tad bit quieter. 

That is, the added very thin padding has not been used for tuning purposes.

It is difficult to accurately shoot a bow after the Bear weather rest has fallen off. In that sense, I think (i.e., my opinion) that shooting off the shelf is simpler and more reliable.


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## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

I'd shoot whatever the bow is built for, with my bows that is off the shelf. There are definitely advantages to an elevated rest, but I'd want one with an adjustable plunger. I have zero interest in sticking a plastic rest on one of my bows that has a nicely designed and shaped shelf that is intended to be shot off the shelf.


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## Sauk Mountain (Aug 3, 2015)

fallhunt said:


> I agree and that is a very GOOD point, except when the shelf padding and striker plate padding are very thin just to protect the bow wood from scratching and to make things a tad bit quieter.
> 
> That is, the added very thin padding has not been used for tuning purposes.
> 
> It is difficult to accurately shoot a bow after the Bear weather rest has fallen off. In that sense, I think (i.e., my opinion) that shooting off the shelf is simpler and more reliable.


There's absolutely nothing wrong with shooting off the shelf, but how about we leave the far fetched worst case scenario fear mongering to the folks at CNN. A rest isn't just going to fall off all of a sudden without prior warning if a proper glue was used.


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## MGF (Oct 27, 2012)

When I mentioned the shelf being mechanically simple I was really contrasting it to a plunger type rest that has some adjustment and/or moving parts. A stick-on elevated rest is pretty simple.


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## rattus58 (Jul 9, 2007)

rembrandt said:


> I just bought the new "American Frontiersman" and the last article in that mag is "Stick Picking" and the author says that out of the bows he sells from his store 95 out of 100 shoot off the shelf.......I have always preferred the raised rest but this article is quite contradictory to my preference.....Is off the shelf better than the raised rest or is this a phenom thing?


Most of us who shoot off the shelf, usually also lay a pin, a radius of sorts to eliminate arrow shelf contact yet keeping the arrow as close to the bow hand as possible... :grin:


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## rembrandt (Jan 17, 2004)

Say you go from an off the shelf to a raised rest or vice versa or add a little piece of leather to the rest for less arrow contact.......doesn't that require an adjustment to the nock? I know the answer but some of these newbies may not.......


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## 4 Fletch (Jan 25, 2014)

MGF said:


> I can make an arrow fly either stiff or weak just by the way I screw up the shot.


Great sig line.


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## jthandcraft (Nov 9, 2016)

I just began long bow shooting and maybe I got luck but I didn't really have any tuning issue shooting off the shelf with by new Montana.


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## rembrandt (Jan 17, 2004)

jthandcraft said:


> I just began long bow shooting and maybe I got luck but I didn't really have any tuning issue shooting off the shelf with by new Montana.


Welcome to AT....THE PLACE for the very best info on Trad bows and how to shoot one.......


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## camperjim (Oct 22, 2016)

You will never see an Olympic recurve being shot off the shelf, not once, ever in the past 50 years. The reason is simple: accuracy. Typically flip away magnetic rests and plungers are used. The plunger can help fine tune arrow flight, but the main purpose is to compensate for inconsistencies due to finger release. The flip away rest helps prevent the fletching from hitting the rest and affecting arrow flight. 

So why are magnetic rests and plungers not typically used by trad archers? One reason is they are not "durable" and are likely to snag or break in the woods. Plungers are actually very durable and there are stubby plungers that barely extend from the side of the bow. Rests are somewhat fragile, but are protected in the window of the bow. Anyone who is that careless in the woods is more likely to damage the string. Many hunters do indeed carry an extra string. A rest could be replaced quicker since the attachment is just double sided tape.

I also have heard that a rest is not "traditional". Nonsense and strange. We don't seem to have the same issues with fiberglass laminations, plastic nocks, carbon arrows, or risers made from fancy, endangered, rainforest hardwoods. I got my first bow in the '60s. It came with a brush rest. I buy virtually identical brush rests from 3Rivers and use them on most of my recurves. They last forever and I have yet to have one fall off the bow. I mimic the effect of a plunger by attaching the rest with a dense foam, double sided tape. Another simple rest is the $2.50 Hoyt super rest. That rest is good enough that it has been used by many champion archers. Even a handful of the archers in the Rio Olympics used them. I don't use one mainly because they wear out and need to be replaced periodically.

I would avoid any sort of rest for a longbow. But I also would want to shoot wooden arrows. To me a longbow is a more old fashion bow. It is not a modern reflex-deflex flatbow with a fast flight string, rainforest hardwoods and a pistol grip.

To each his own. For recurve shooting, I want the accuracy of an elevated rest.


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## cubefx (May 8, 2012)

I shoot both off the shelf and from arrow rests (depending on the bow). Never happened to me, but have seen few times at the shoots when arrow rest get unglued or spring arm broke off, rendering bow useless till the end of the shoot. Never seen Velcro/Arrow rug come off. That is why I use NAP Centerest.


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## rembrandt (Jan 17, 2004)

cubefx said:


> I shoot both off the shelf and from arrow rests (depending on the bow). Never happened to me, but have seen few times at the shoots when arrow rest get unglued or spring arm broke off, rendering bow useless till the end of the shoot. Never seen Velcro/Arrow rug come off. That is why I use NAP Centerest.


I've had that very thing happen to me but not at a shoot, thank goodness, but in the back yard.....it still is a pain however........Say, where have you been? I'm looking forward to some of your leather work......Love to see good stuff from you.......

Dave


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## m60gunner (Mar 15, 2003)

I am with camperjim, been using a "brush" rest on my recurves since 1972. I wanted to shoot vanes for hunting, got fed up with all those " dry feather" tricks and powders. I even used one on my wheel bow when I had one. Raised rests make my life easier tuning the bow. Can I tune off the shelf? Yes, in fact I have a new 1962 Kodiak replica that I tuned to shoot off the shelf. But I have a reprint of that years Bear catalog that shows a feather rest. So I got me one to put on the bow. 
I do not shoot my LB with a raised rest. But I have learned how to shoot vanes from it.


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## fallhunt (Aug 2, 2013)

cubefx said:


> I shoot both off the shelf and from arrow rests (depending on the bow). Never happened to me, but have seen few times at the shoots when arrow rest get unglued or spring arm broke off, rendering bow useless till the end of the shoot. Never seen Velcro/Arrow rug come off. That is why I use NAP Centerest.


I had an old very well worn Bear weather rest become unglued and fall off in the middle of a 3D shoot. 

I was just casually shooting the course for fun with several friends, so it really was not a disaster. But the rest falling off did end my shooting for the day because I did not carry a spare. It was a quick simple fix. I did carry a spare after that experience (But it never happened again).


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## jkm97 (Jul 8, 2004)

I prefer elevated. Just seems more forgiving to me.


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## 30coupe (Jan 20, 2009)

I think it's more a matter of personal preference than anything else. I mostly shoot off the shelf because I like the looks of leather on the shelf and side plate, but I have a new recurve coming that I may set up with an elevated rest just so I can shoot it with vanes if I choose. It will be ugly, but it will work, which is the main idea. If you plan to shoot strictly feathers, the shelf will work great. If you want the option of vanes, you're going to need a rest.


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