Hooked?

Des

Supporter
Supporter
Starting with last Thursday, the weather was nice in the morning so shot a Long Metric. Took my time, 6 arrow ends. Had a couple of ends of sighters to bed in a new string.

Been shooting off the shelf Nitro strings since March. I say strings plural as i?m already on my fourth, they don?t last very long. No idea what serving the end loops are done with but it?s not too great. I am liking the 8190 material though, seems nice and quiet.

Shot quite well at 90, just 1 or two bad ones each end. 70 went ok too, just a couple of blues.

Next morning the weather was much the same so thought i?d shoot a Short Metric to get a FITA over the two days. No sighters, 50 went quite well, some decent groups. 30 felt a bit more difficult, had a few wanting to go to the right.



Felt pretty good going into last Sunday?s (18th May) Ivy keating county match against Bedfordshire. The weather was nice a sunny most of the day but also quite windy. On a target with James Mason again, Shahram Montasser and Peter Jupp from Beds. Shahram has been shooting well, scoring 1190 at the Caswell a few weeks back.

Started sighters on the wrong sight mark, first arrow under the boss and the second into the wooden number board pinned to the ground. 90 was tricky, quite gusty wind from right to left. First arrow went in the 9, followed by an 8 then two 3?s. A better second end of 42 for a 76 first doz. Slight Improvement next doz with 38/45 83. Had a silly miss the next end, should have come down. 33/40 73 for 232. A little frustrating but the weather was awkward making it hard to settle. Shahram managed a decent 259, John Inkley around the same as me I think in the 230?s.

70 felt a bit better, more down the middle. Only one blue and a weird 3 in the last doz for 94/101/93 288.

50 started ok but a few frustrating 5?s and a 2 towards the end for 99/88/89 276.

30 was a bit of a disaster. Couldn?t settle on the middle, timing was all over the shop, and three 6?s in the last doz all hitting high right for some reason, gave me just 314.

A bit gutted that I didn?t shoot very well, really not sure why I had so many weird shots towards the end but hey ho.



Talking with John Inkley after the shoot, I mentioned that my fingers were again a little sore especially the middle one. He suggested I try a shallower hook. Been shooting with a slightly deeper hook for probably 6-7 years, so I guess it?s become natural and I haven?t really questioned it before.

Gave myself a rest on the Monday morning. On the Tuesday I tried the shallower hook just shooting at 40y for about 70 arrows, which definitely felt more comfortable.

Wednesday morning was really nice weather, no wind. Shot a 720 which went really well.



This honestly felt like the best i?ve ever shot. All the nicely timed shots were grouping in the gold slightly left of the middle. Got a bit over excited at times especially after the third 111 doz. Not sure if it was the shallower hook making the difference or if I was just generally getting things back to where I was, but it felt great. It wasn?t perfect, shot a few silly ones including a 5 and a few 7?s towards the end, but it's nice knowing what the good shots were.

Can?t remember why I didn?t shoot on Thursday morning, but on Friday I shot a 50m 720. Not quite as good as a couple of days before but still pretty happy. Just a couple of bad ends but strong towards the end.



Didn?t shoot over the bank holiday because the crappy weather. Didn?t shoot this morning either, too wet. And it doesn?t look great for the next few days.

Thinking quite a lot about my arrows and tuning. My 500?s do seem that little bit stiffer than they used too. Not sure if that?s because i?ve gone to a 70in bow or because i?ve taken a couple of cm?s off the length, probably both! At 40y the bareshaft is good 2ft to the left, and there?s a noticeable kick to the fletched arrows. If I am now hopefully starting the shoot better, I?ve got to get the tuning right so that I know it?s not an issue. And fingers crossed it woill tighten things up a bit especially at distance. Admittedly i?ve always been a lazy tuner, never spending too much time just getting things quite close and leaving alone. Realising that really I need to go a spine down, i?ve order a set of 550?s. Cut a bit longer I?m hoping these will be spot on.
 
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