Anyone into Archery?

[Aussie Mike]

I recently took up archery. I was a long time full bore target rifle shooter. Longer range stuff 300 to 900 yards. These days with family and work commitments I don't get the time to drive out to the rifle range for a shot and its usually ends up a whole day affair.

The archery club is 20 minutes drive from my house and I can drive down for an afternoon and shoot. It's simulated field archery so you are walking through the forest to various station to shoot at either paper picture targets or sometimes 3D animal targets.

I find it very satisfying to shoot the bow. It combines a lot of what I like about the target rifle with some exercise in nice surroundings.

I'm using a PSE Bow Madness XS with a Truglo super slam sight and whisker biscuit rest.

What are y'all shooting?

[sllib]

Mike;
I did the same thing in reverse order: I shot a bow and then took up High Power Rifle. My archery club was 10 minutes from my house and had a 28 target field course, a large practice area and a number of tree stands for the hunters to practice with. The land belonged to the US Navy but we had leased it for ages. Then one day they took it back but left the target butts open to the public so the club disbanded. Just as well, as the field matches were being replaced by 3-D matches and I just couldn't get into that. I shot a PSE Magnum that had been converted into a target bow, but I have a 31" draw and the PSE was right at the limit for me so I bought a Hoyt Super Slam just in time to quit. In it's day the Hoyt was a high dollar bow but not any more. I still have all the stuff to make arrows and shoot, just don't really have a place
I started shooting on my ship's rifle team when I was in the Navy and went through a .308 M-1 Garand, Springfield M-1A, and I'm switching over to an AR-15.
Bill Stradtner

[Aussie Mike]

I shoot .308 cal as well and reload my own ammo. Got a couple of Omark M44 target rifles. One is fairly basic but the other has a nice stainless barrel and custom stock. http://www.tsengineering.com.au/m-44-target-rifle
I'll get back into it again one day but I'm really enjoying the archery at the moment.

A lot of the guys at our club are running Hoyt bows. They make some very nice bows and equipment, top notch.

I bought my bow on a recent business trip to the US. The guys at the shop set me up with a whole package that should keep me going for a while without needing to upgrade as I get better. I didn't know much about them at the time just a few reviews on the web of different bows. These guys reccomended the bow madness XS as it has a decent brace height and is a very smooth single cam setup so quite forgiving for a novice like me.

31" draw, you must have some long arms there!

Cheers

[charlandk]

I am primarily an archery hunter and I do a lot of 3D shoots. I generally shoot in the mid 280's to low 290's.
My bow of choice is my Darton Mag Ext. Very fast compact bow. Shooting at about 335 fps. with only a 62-63 lb draw. My only complaint is that it is a bit heavy for its size. I use the muzzy drop away rest. In my opinion it is the most accurate rest since it allows the arrow to shoot with no contact with the rest. The new Matthews line of bows are great. Recently shot the Z7 and loved it. 28" axle lenght and under 4 lbs. Some tweaking and arrow matching can really make it fast. Like them much better than Hoyt.
It is a great relaxing hoby. Love getting up early and taking a hike through my local 3D shoots. We have some great shoots here. Some even have phneumatic targets. Fun!

[sllib]

Mike;
My Hoyt bow was top-o-the-line in it's day, but that was before the compact bows got so popular. I never could get used to a release so I shot with a tab and 31" was true draw to the corner of my mouth. The PSE bow wouldn't go past 30" without changing or modifying the limbs to accomodate bigger pullies.( I plotted my draw length with a scale to determine the "valley" and 31" was perfect for me) I went through a barrel of rests and sights in my day but I always came back to a springy rest and a five pin sight w/ string-mounted peep. I guess the old ways are sometimes the best.
My rifles are the best I could buy or have built for the Service Rifle or DCM class. Here in the States that means it has to look like a US service rifle on the outside. I think I'm going to try building the AR-15 myself.
Bill Stradtner

[Aussie Mike]

I like walking through and shooting the field course on a weekend just on my own. Very quiet and relaxing.

My bow is backed off to about 50 pound till I build up a bit more strength. I can pull 60 pound OK, just get a bit sore doing it 100+ times in a shoot. At 60 pound it's supposed to do 316 fps but I don't know what it does with my setup and arrow weight, probably 270-280. I should get it over the chronograph and see.

It's pretty light @ 4.2 pounds.

Here's a link to the specs.

http://www.pse-archery.com/products/...4398.86165.0.0

Cheers

[trularin]

I shoot both, rifles and bows.

I use a Mathews bow with minimum attachments. Dang, you can get yardage meters, scopes and ten tons of other gadgets for your bow now days.

I like a leather glove and arm guard.

How are the laws there for bow?

[Aussie Mike]

Bows are OK down here however cross bows are illegal in most states. Personally I can't see the point in cross bows, you may as well use a rifle.

At the club there are guys that use all different kinds of bows. Makes it really interesting. In the group that went round the course with last time there was me with my compound with sights and a release aid, a guy shooting an old wooden compound bare bow with no sights and just finger tabs and a guy shooting an English long bow without even finger tabs. He was right into the traditional stuff, made his own arrows and everything. It was good fun.

Cheers

[Silverback51]

Hummmmmmmmmm. I may have to take up this sport.

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Hummmmmmmmmm. I may have to take up this sport.

Yep,I'd like to feel her quiver.