Wrist Slap , Not ARM Slap With a Longbow

[Coach]

OK ,, I have recently been shooting a Martin "The Stick" Longbow .
First shot , I nearly cried ! The bloody string hit me on the wrist right at the base of my hand . I thought maybe I was holding it wrong , so changed my grip a little , then , BANG , I hit my wrist again It got to the point I was gunna throw the longbow .
With my Recurve , if I get any string slap , it is on the mid forearm .
So is this a common thing with longbows ? I can shoot it well , if I locate my armguard on my wrist .
I have set the brace to 7" , where as the maximum is supposed to be 6 3/4 "

[matt_d]

Sounds like you're just thinking way too much about it Jeff.. shoot the damn thing!

[Coach]

HEHEHE ,, funny bugger aye I wasn't thinking about it till it bit me ,, then I thought about how much it was going to hurt every shot I still hit where I was aiming

[Stickbow Hunter]

I always say if your shooting a longbow with a straight grip correctly you will get string slap. With that bow I think it is normal and is the reason you should wear an armguard that covers the inside of your wrist. IMO an even lower brace height of around 6" would better suit that bow as well.

Jeff

[tracker]

OK ,, I have recently been shooting a Martin "The Stick" Longbow .

Falls on the ground in shock.

First shot , I nearly cried !

Hahahahhaaa.... got a photo matey

The bloody string hit me on the wrist right at the base of my hand . I thought maybe I was holding it wrong , so changed my grip a little , then , BANG , I hit my wrist again It got to the point I was gunna throw the longbow .

Great... I can finally "coach" you... lol. Man up, get strong and learn to hold it with a bent wrist! And like Jeff says.... stop being a girlyboy and lower the brace height like a man... you've finally got a WEAPON in your hands... it's dangerous.. to you and whatever you point it at...

Yeeeeehaaah... coach is learning to shoot a bow.... hahahahhaaaaa.....

I AM coming up to mudgee in the next couple of weeks to see this btw matey...

Mick.

[pommy chris]

never had a problem with string slap shooting either elb, flatbow or recurve.
had a problem with my new ospray when i got it last year braced a 6 inches.but just altered that to 7 inches which sorted it and made it quiet and no hand shock at all. even though the brace hieght kg recomended was 6 inches.? and i was getting the slap right at the base of the wrist.no matter how i tried to alter my grip or arm position
maybe you just got fat wrists.

[ichiban]

damn 7" brace, the poor thing would look half drawn, get a bracer a thick sexy 1 and put ur name right on there to stop people stealing it cause it sounds like u need it

[Nephew]

I sometimes get this with my longbow, too. I just lower my armguard. You can get them with a little extra protrusion where you wrist is likely to get slapped. Of course, you could just be stoic, keep it to yourself and stop your squealing!!

[stringnstik]

Well this is funny, I had a slight problem with this when I first started, every now and then and was too embarrassed to say anything. Figured it was form and Id figure it out as I learnt and got stronger... I designed my own armguard which had this silly little dicky
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... t=armguardon it to stop the injuries...didnt care that everyone else I saw had "normal ones" .Now I find out its a common problem ...


nothing is new under the sun.

[Stephen Georgiou]

Welcome to longbows.
The Stick would be particularly bad because it has no shape in the grip at all. The arm-guard is the answer. I shoot with a slightly bent elbow to give some clearance but I still get hit. It doesn't bother the arrow flight as the arrow is long gone before the contact.
Or the other alternative is to toughen up a bit.

[Coach]

OK , OK ,, I have taken my teaspoon of cement Now that I know it is normal , I will just use the armguard lower .
Tracker ,, I'll see you when you come up . If ya really lucky ,, I might show you how to hunt as well

[looseplucker]

no pain, no gain.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

I'll second what Jeff said.

[longbow steve]

Dacron makes this issue worse. I wear a guard although may only need it one in every 10 shots. Steve
P.S NOTE THAT MY REPLY WAS NICE NOT LIKE YOUR OTHER MATES

[Coach]

P.S NOTE THAT MY REPLY WAS NICE NOT LIKE YOUR OTHER MATES

Ah , it's all good ,, I can handle it They have all been waiting for along time to have that dig at me ,, poor buggers
What I am wondering though is , why do you buggers handicap yourselves so much by shooting a longbow ? It's no wonder Tracker wussed out and went to Rifles

[Gringa Bows]

no handicap Jeff,we just know how to shoot longbows ...............Rod

[Coach]

no handicap Jeff,we just know how to shoot longbows ...............Rod

Smartarse ,, I can shoot them .. just dont like the pain in doing so I suppose thats why they made Recurves ,, some evolved and moved forward , while others just got left behind

Brings back some memories actually ,,, when ever I was at a shoot with ABA ,, there used to be a couple of calls, of LONGBOW shouted out ,, this was usually done when someone hit a Target There wasnt many of them

[kimall]

Mate get a longbow with a proper handle and you will see the true path.
Cheers KIM

[Coach]

Mate get a longbow with a proper handle and you will see the true path.
Cheers KIM

I am waiting on one

[longbow steve]

Yeah I'm with Kimall .
The compound shooters like following me around as there is a nice big black hole is the X for them to aim at .
Kevin signs his shots that hit the X . Steve

[Coach]

Yeah I'm with Kimall .
The compound shooters like following me around as there is a nice big black hole is the X for them to aim at .
Kevin signs his shots that hit the X . Steve

Dont know who Kevin is ,, but I am glad the compounders have someone to follow around

[kimall]

Yes mate it is on the way but I need it this w/end and the next and it will be on the way to you for testing.
It is not blooded yet and I hope to change that very soon.
Cheers KIM

[stringnstik]

magic handle on that just love it

[pdccr]

SIMPLY STUNNING! Kim, how did you get that inlay sort of work on the handle, i spent a few minutes trying to figure it out but i couldnt, the only way i could think of was cut them out and glue but the joins are so seamless i thought second about it.

[ed]

fat lot of good you buggers are eh. Man has a simple question and you all just say "suck it up"!!

I learnt a good trick from a coach in Adelaide - partly because I was shooting real heavy bows and wrist slap though not regular was real nasty when it happened. He showed me that the way of gripping a bow and elbow alignment for longbow had to be more exagerated to avoid wrist slap and had the added advantage of stopping people from strangling the bow.

Only hold the bow loosely with your index and middle fingers, the other two tuck up like in a fist and use them to keep your palm rotated at an angle to the bow, i.e. the back of the last knuckles actually rest on the palm side of the handle. Keep a relatively straight wrist (what you all have hands like girls or something?) as bending the wrist brings it back into line with the string. Balance the force of the bow just inside of the first knuckle of your thumb - just on the flesh of the thumb muscle. Your wrist does not need to bend much at all to put the force on the thimb muscle, so try and keep the force high in the hand (which is closer to the shelf anyway). Then rotate your elbow away from the line of shot to give a little extra clearance.

It works so give it a go. Since I learnt it I have shot loads of bows with no arm guard this way, some over 100# and I am sure they would rip flesh if they did hit.

I don't know how disimilar this is from recurve or compound as I have only ever shot such bows once each.

[Coach]

Cheers Ed , I tried your method and it seems to work , although it does feel weird to me . I have also given the bow a 6 inch brace height .

[Stickbow Hunter]

fat lot of good you buggers are eh. Man has a simple question and you all just say "suck it up"!!

Not everyone Ed.

Jeff

[ichiban]

bah proper handle indeed, spose you will all want rests next then what! nah it can be a very sucky problem, especialy when u see ppl new to longbows who get themselfs in the inside of the elbow and have a bruse for a month (funny but sucky) not like it hapend to me or anything hehe

[kimall]

So THAT was what you ment Coach yer what Ed said you should have been more clear on your question.
There are many laminations in that grip at differant angles never really know how it will look until you start to shape it.Just got lucky this time I quess.
Cheers KIM

[pdccr]

Looks awesome kim, must have taken along time for the shaping and gluing i bet.