# What makes a forgiving bow forgiving?



## bbjavelina (Jan 30, 2005)

I guess I need to follow this thread pretty closely. For me, it's that occasional shot that IS well executed. 

There was a time that I could shoot fairly well. I outgrew (or out aged) that. 

Best of luck to you.


----------



## pwyrick (Feb 13, 2011)

bbjavelina, you're being way too honest. Hopefully, we'll get some responses.


----------



## bbjavelina (Jan 30, 2005)

pwyrick said:


> bbjavelina, you're being way too honest. Hopefully, we'll get some responses.


I hope so as well. The honesty comes straight out of a bottle of really cheap Scotch.


----------



## pwyrick (Feb 13, 2011)

bbjavelina said:


> i hope so as well. The honesty comes straight out of a bottle of really cheap scotch.


x2!


----------



## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

OK I'll share what I've heard and why and I've adopted them because they make sense. But to be honest I'm not sure how you quantify "Forgiving" I'm not entirely certain it is a real thing.

*It's well believed that a longer bow is more forgiving.*
- I believe the reason for this is that if the string is deflected the angle that the string pulls on the limb tips or the the cams is more shallow with a longer bow so it tends not to affect the the overall position of the bow as much. The longer bow also acts as a stabilizer making it harder to rotate or get out of alignment while executing the shot. (which is easier to rotate a 6 inch pipe or a 6 foot pipe?)

*A longer Brace height is also more forgiving.* 
- The longer brace height is more forgiving because the arrow is typically in contact with the string for a shorter period of time so any grip toque has less of an opportunity to affect the arrow. Now with todays arrow speeds I'm not convinced this makes a real difference but that is the general thinking

*Arrow Weight, heavier arrows are more forgiving*
When you are doing everything in your power to maximize speed you are typically on the bleeding edge or limit of what the arrow can do. It seems to make some arrows fly more wild and unpredictable. I suspect this may also have to do with the how tight the arrow tolerances are. Cheap arrows more erratic and expensive well matched arrows more consistent. In general I have found heavier arrows to be more consistent particularly when finger shooting.

All of the above are things you typically find in older bows, so why have the manufacturers abandoned these design features? Because they all make the bow slower and a fast bow make your yardage estimation a lot more forgiving so I guess you need to pick your poison. Chase the speed or or go for the smooth slow "forgiving" bow.

Well there is my 2 cents on the matter.


Here is an interesting article where they tried to test it but they completely forgot about confirmation bias. You cannot test any product when humans are involved in any of the testing unless it is a double blind. Humans simply cannot be non-biased. A real famous study was done where control groups where given 2 identical pairs of jeans and they were asked to rate them. Invariably the groups came back with huge differences between the two and spectacular descriptions of what their determining factors were. That's what we do we find differences when none exist and we prop up these ideas with fictitious reasoning. It's actually fun to watch. So I don't believe these folks could have shot the bows without bias.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/2013/06/your-perfect-bow-part-1-does-brace-height-really-affect-forgiveness


----------



## gofor (Feb 4, 2013)

Just a novice here compared to most on this site, but for me, based on the three bows I have shot most, "forgiving" to me is the bow that fits me well or can be adjusted so. All three are different brands, ATAs, one a binary, one a dual cam, and one a hybrid. All three are around a 7" brace height, so can't comment on that.

1. I noticed one grip is a bit easier for me to shoot without torquing the bow.

2, One has adjustable limb stops, so is very easy for me to get the perfect (for me) let-off hold weight.

3, I can pull through the shot more consistently with the one with the most solid back wall.

As all three of these traits are in the same bow, I find I shoot it most accurately and without the random fliers, so I would call it the most forgiving for me. As I have seen numerous posts panning this model bow for its grip, cam design, etc, I would say that what works for me definitely is not what works for many others.

JMTCW

Go


----------



## TMan51 (Jan 25, 2004)

Optimal tuning has been my best friend, and short ATA bows, bows with a very low BH, and very fast bows all shoot well for me, when everything is tuned properly.

A fair amount of the engineering for bows is in the public domain, and the guys engineering bows in every company are on top of the innovation and information. The net result is almost any combination of features shoots better today than five, or ten+ years ago. My 30" Spyder is far easier to manage than my 12 year old Supertec. I shoot a fair score with either, but the Spyder is more forgiving.

The paradigm of longer ATA, higher BH, is as valid as ever. Slower shafts are easier to tune for than faster shafts. But most current designs are more forgiving even when all three are working against you.


----------



## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

A well tuned bow and "bow fit" as in draw weight, draw length, peep location.

Indoor events. Paper doesn't take a whole of killing, so I'd look at draw weight right off. No one really comes out and says it, but there a lot of bows on the Indoor line in the realm of 40 to 45 pounds.


----------



## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

SonnyThomas said:


> A well tuned bow and "bow fit" as in draw weight, draw length, peep location.
> 
> Indoor events. Paper doesn't take a whole of killing, so I'd look at draw weight right off. No one really comes out and says it, but there a lot of bows on the Indoor line in the realm of 40 to 45 pounds.


ya mine is 48


----------



## ia bhtr (May 22, 2002)

The first thing I set is DL , let your groups tell you where you need to be , you can fine tune everything else from there , but IMHO get your DL dead nuts and everything gets easier


----------

