How to Adjust a Recurve Bow for Arrow Flight

Tuning your bow is the single most important skill in competitive archery. Properly adjusting your bow to maximize arrow flight improves your archery skills in distance, precision and set-up times. Standard tuning methods vary based on the style of bow being used; tuning procedures for a compound bow do not work on a recurve bow, and vice versa.

Instructions

    • 1

      Adjust the string height from the body of the bow. The body is often referred to as the "Riser," and the ideal string length is 7-to-9 inches from the center of the riser to the grip. String your bow using various lengths. Fire test shots to get an idea of the effect string length will have on your firing.

    • 2

      Examine your grip. Most recurve bows feature a natural weight imbalance between the upper and lower limbs of the riser. The purpose of this imbalance is to help the arrow fly up and away from the body of the riser when shot. Test various grips, even changing up the number of fingers used to hold the bow. Fire test shots with different grips to gain an understanding of the manner in which grip affects arrow flight.

    • 3

      Compare multiple arrow shafts and heads. A new archer's problem frequently lies not with his bow or grip, but with his choice of arrows. Some arrows are meant to be used specifically with compound bows, and exhibit a poor cast when shot out of a recurve bow. Purchase a variety of differently weighted arrow heads. Swap them for your usual ones to determine the difference that arrow weight and stock have on your shooting.