[American Flatbow] Flatbow for target

Lozmaster

New member
Hello everyone.

Having done my beginner sessions, and shot at a local club for a couple of months, I think I know what sort of kit I prefer.

Ideally, I would like a 'proper' English Longbow, but my budget won't allow that just yet. So, having looked at a few I think an AFB is the answer.

I have my own ideas, which I'll keep to myself for now, but can anyone throw me suggestions for a good bow for a beginner shooting indoor and outdoor target.

Budget for the bow itself is about ?130.

Cheers all
 

Arturo

New member
Hi Lozmaster,

I was in a similar position to you. I bought an Internature viper DLX which I still enjoy shooting. I just wish that the AFB was recognised as a class in GNAS target archery as its a cheaoer and more user friendly introduction to traditional archery than the ELB!

The other alternative is buy a cheaper English Longbow, there are at least a couple of good quality reenactment type bows which are fine to get you started. Look at the Archery Centre and Steve Ralphs Albion Archery. Both sell simple self bows for less than ?100. I got one of the Archery centre's 40lb "get yourself started bows" and I found it ideal for indoors I even managed a 369 Portsmouth Round with it - a personal best.

Good luck and I'm glad you're choosing wood
 

alanesq

New member
A friend of mine would be able to make you a decent laminate English longbow in that sort of price range
Irondale Longbows

I have one of the ?100 self bows from Steve Ralphs (the first longbow I owned) - despite being drawn to 32" and lots of abuse it is still going strong
 

PZ123

New member
Hi Lozmaster,

I was in the same boat as you were when I started out. (Although I'm still starting out) I also looked at buying a AFB instead of an ELB due to cost. However, I went to an archery shop and tried both out and was totally hooked on an ELB. I then saved a couple of months extra and found a good bowyer who made me a cracking ELB for ?230-00 and have never looked back.
Now I try build bows for myself. I find it extremely satisfying, and much cheaper. Even though I don't match the quality of the pro's, I still love shooting my home made bows. I made a AFB for ?15-00 the other day, came out at 43@28. Shoots well, but has quite a few flaws. Hey I'm still learning. Give it a try, could be an option, check out the DIY pages on the webring.....

Thanks

Pete
 

Lozmaster

New member
Thanks very much everyone - I'll be checking some of these out this weekend. By the way, anyone got anything to say about the (very) cheap longbows at Centre Shot?
 

mikeb0551

New member
Check out the Hungarian bowyers on ebay as well. They make both longbows and flatbows.

Mike :beer: :cake2:
 

Lozmaster

New member
Well...after much belly-aching, went for a 35lb Samick Cheetah. Got some basic woodies with it, and went for a bit of a bash on Sunday. Took a while to figure out where I should be aiming, but was getting all 6 in the target by the 3rd or 4th end.
I'll use this until the end of the summer then upgrade to something else.

Ought to get some aluminium arrows now, but am totally confused with spines etc. Anybody help?


Cheers

Chris
 
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