The Armour Archive

I am looking for a fairly inexpensive longbow for my 7 year old son. I do not know much about archery but he is nuts about it. My son is a lefty if that matters. The bow can be old and it does not have to be completely authentic but I thought I would look for something that is not a recurve. I would also be interested in one for me so we can learn ot shoot together.

My first concern is price. I am not looking at dropping a bundle on this. Anyone out there have an old bow from their cub scout days or one they found at a garage sale they would be willing to let go cheaply?

as i recall, most long bows are pretty symmetrical, so you can just turn it upside down to shoot lefty.

There's a really big traditional archery show in Kalamazoo, Michigan in a couple of weeks. Lots of bowyers, fletchers, leatherworkers, etc are there selling their wares. Even if you don't buy one there, it is worth going.

http://www.gnbco.com/ & click on the Kalamazoo Expo link at the bottom.

Get No-Glov, a set of rubber inserts to put on the string, one above and one below where the arrow goes. That will get him used to putting his fingers in the right place. Also, using No-Glov means the kid isn't fooling around with a finger tab or glove on the hand drawing the string.

Also, I suggest getting a bow with an arrow rest so he's not shooting off his hand. Kids heal so quickly they can'tbuildup the callouses necessary to shoot off their hand comfortably. If he does shoot off of his hand, get him a leather glove to wear.

Talbot, you are not answering my e-mails.

I had a black plastic cub scout bow that I gave to my cousin. It pulls like 10# and had a grip on the handle that doubled as an arrow rest. I would check with your local cub scout troop and see if they know where to get them. I know for me, learning off of a really weak longbow messed with my form and it took going to a weak recurve to correct it and made me focus back on my form (or I missed the target from 10 yrds). Now I shoot a lot better after that. Just an idea.

I don;t know if this is what you are looking for or not, but I have a bow that belonged to my kids when they were little. The only problem is that it's bright yellow plastic (heavy plastic, nylon maybe?) You can have it if you want to cover shipping. It's a 'Lil Scout or something like that and I can post pics if you like.

Lemme know,
Cat

When I wanted a cheap bow, I ended up buying a couple on ebay. Look at fiberglass bows. They're cheap and easy to store. I have a 30# and a 40#. Your son may want something a bit lighter, like 20-25 (anyone with kids have advice on draw weight?). Just check them over for cracks. You'll spend more money on arrows. Anyone know of a good cheap arrow supplier? Or rather, a cheap, good arrow supplier?

Anyway, it's a starting point and I know you use ebay. I just left you feedback for an instruction book auction.

Jacob Selmer

Vitus von Atzinger wrote:Talbot, you are not answering my e-mails.

I did not get any from you. Perhaps my antivirus software is eating them. Are you using my current email or my old email. My current one is doug-strong@comcast.net. I'm not at AOL anymore. Try sending it again and CCing my work email dstrong@glenbrook.k12.il.us.

Sorry about not responding.