Recurve bow length is a determining factor of Archer’s performance. It is an art of understanding archery because recurve bow length affects archers’ life during their practice sessions, training days, and on the day of competition. So, how to measure a recurve bow length is an utmost concern and it should be addressed on time.
If you are not measuring recurve bow length, it means you are exhausting your physical and mental health. Moreover, How to measure a recurve bow length is a step-by-step guide that helps you find your recurve bow length for better performance and health as an archer.
To choose the right recurve bow you must know how to measure a recurve bow length and the benefits behind it.
How does recurve bow length matter?
Archery and hunting is an art and you can easily master this art by understanding the recurve bow. The difference in length, shape, and design decides how far an archer goes to achieve their target. With that, you must know that archery is a complex game, and it gets affected by several factors, and bow length is one of them.
There are multiple things attached to bow length, like shooting style, archers height, archers arm length, draw length, and much more. All these factors can disturb an archer or hunter’s performance if they fail to choose a perfect bow length for their regular activities, warm-ups, or competition days.
The length of the recurve bow always matters, because no matter what the purpose is, nobody is willing to hurt him or herself with an objectionable recurve bow. If you are using a recurve bow with too short or too long a draw length, the overall performance gets affected.
It is a common observation that if you use a recurve bow with a small draw length, it demands more physical strength and power to operate. And in case of too long bow length, it gets tough to focus on the target. In short, there are different issues for different draw lengths, and it is preferable to get a recurve bow with perfect length.
The ideal way to get a perfect bow length is to know how to measure recurve bow length.
A step-by-step guide to measuring a recurve bow length
A recurve bow is a curved bow, and it comes in different lengths. Now what is the perfect length, or how it matters is something that raises concerns among archers. A proper recurve bow with suitable measurements improves functional performance but is also a good option in terms of safety.
All recurve bows like, longbows, compound bows, and crossbows are for different functional purposes. If you use any of them, measure their length before functional use. It helps you decide whether they are suitable or require measurement adjustment.
Here is a simple guide that helps you measure recurve bow length in 3 easy steps
Using a measuring tape:
It is a manual approach to measuring a bow length using a measuring tape. It is one of the most simple and uncomplicated ways of finding recurve bow length. You can apply this manual technique in the comfort of your home to measure the bow length.
The ideal way of applying this manual technique is to hold a measuring tape in hand and calculate the bow length from one end to another. Fix the measuring tape at both ends and keep it straight to get a more accurate bow length. Once you get the final measurement, subtract the 3-inch length from it, now what you get is the accurate bow length. It is not a perfect way to measure but is still authentic if you remove a 3-inch error from the actual measurement.
It is a simple and one of the cost-effective measuring techniques used by archers and hunters to calculate recurve bow length. Manual measurements come with faulty readings, and correcting these faulty measurements remove errors from them.
Using AMO technique:
Archery Manufacturers Organization length is the standard length provided by the archery organization or the manufacturing team. It is the length of different parts of the recurve bow. Stamp all the lengths on the recurve bow, and add all the values to get a final measurement.
The manufacturing team writes AMO length on some parts of recurve bow to help archers and hunters avoid manual measuring. It is the responsibility of archers to find this length and subtract it from 3 inches to get an error-free reading.
The AMO technique of measuring a recurve bow length is time-saving. The only effort is to find the AMO measurement and subtract it from 3 inches. If you are a smart hunter or archer, you can find this reading in seconds. Otherwise, it can take a few minutes to go through a bowstring and search for AMO length on a bowstring.
It is very much similar to manual measuring but is more simple and time-saving. It comes with zero cost because the manufacturing department is cool with providing free AMO length.
Measure using draw length
It is a little complicated process but is still manageable. Draw length gives you bow length, and is more accurate than manual and AMMO measuring techniques. So, if you can calculate the draw length, it becomes a piece of cake to measure the bow length.
To get the draw length, ask the archer to stand straight with both hands raised to shoulder level. Once the archer or hunter lifts their hand to shoulder level, use the measuring tape to calculate the distance between one middle finger to the other across the shoulder. Measure from the tip of your middle fingers to avoid any miscalculation.
After calculating the distance between the tips of two middle fingers across the shoulder divide the final reading by 2.5. It is a standard way to get an accurate and precise draw length. Measure the distance in inches because the appropriate measurement technique is to use inches as a standard.
Now, just how you measure the draw length uses the same technique to compute bow length for your recurve bow.
Conclusion
Measuring a recurve bow length is something archers and hunters consider. It is essential because it affects both functional performance and archers’ health. If they use incorrect bow lengths, they tend to get tired or irritated with poor performance.
To avoid any inconvenience it is preferable to measure bow length for a comfortable and beautiful archery experience. Several factors affect archery performance, and bow length is a prominent one. They are standard calculation ways archers can use to choose a perfect bow length for their recurve bows.
