I got a little something from Korea

[Grantmac]

I think with a LOT of practice it will be very accurate. For now though it's a really steep learning curve.
It is quiet, has little handshock and is VERY fast. Of course it's also sensitive as hell!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/grantmac017/DSCN3535.jpg


Expect to see it at the next 3D if I'm there. I'll probably stick to competing with the longbow though.
-Grant

[thunderheart]

hmm and i thought the little something from korea may have been a mail order bride lol

[T300WSM]

looks like the draw lenght is to long for you...better let me try it.....

[Grantmac]

hmm and i thought the little something from korea may have been a mail order bride lol

Came in the same box :P


looks like the draw lenght is to long for you...better let me try it.....

Your welcome to give it a try. You supply the arrows and I'm not responsible for any missing thumbs.

-Grant

[Bow Walker]

I hope that you don't shoot like that. Your shoulder (left one) is hunched up way too much. Drop it back down into its normal relaxed position, and bend the elbow just a tad.

Or is the photo just to show the "horse" bow?

[Chuck]

[QUOTE=Bow Walker;624646] just a tad.

When the cops pulled me over last night and asked me how much I'd had to drink, that's what I replied too. Geez, have you ever seen a pi$$ed off cop before? Lol!

[Grantmac]

I hope that you don't shoot like that. Your shoulder (left one) is hunched up way too much. Drop it back down into its normal relaxed position, and bend the elbow just a tad.

Or is the photo just to show the "horse" bow?

I don't shoot hyper-extended. But I'm still getting used to this little beast.

I'm finally hitting minute of barn and stopped trying to remove my thumb. Not bad for just a could of days shooting, maybe 200 shots so far.

I'm going to need to make a smaller thumbring though, the ones that came with it are slightly too big.

-Grant

[Bow Walker]

Too big? That's funny, considering that most things from the Orient are generally too small.

[Grantmac]

Thats what I would have thought too:mrgreen:

Maybe Korea is a nation of huge thumbs?

Either way I measured my thumb and it seems what they sent is slightly too big.I can use it but it can slip, and well that doesn't give too much confidence.

Consciously telling myself to relax that shoulder is working well. You really can't be tense shooting this thing, everything has to be fluid and instinctive. You take a moment to really think and something bad happens.
Its an example of think less concentrate more I suppose. Good focus training for any traditional bow.

-Grant

[Bow Walker]

I agree on the not thinking about the shot - but do it fluidly and instinctively.

But. The basics of good form and follow-through do have to be mastered one step at a time before a shooter can just go ahead and not think about anything.

Plus, the thumb ring has to be a bee-itch to get used to.

[greybark]

:-D Hey Grant , Quite a while ago a friend had one and I launched several arrows from it . Very fast and unforgiving . But wow the speed seemed effortless .
Have fun
Cheers

[.303]

What do you figure the draw weight is?

[Jagermeister]

hmm and i thought the little something from korea may have been a mail order bride lol
Funny, that's what entered my mind as well.:mrgreen:

[Bow Walker]

I shot one that a friend had loaned me. It too had a fair bit of "unforgiveness" to it, as well as a lot of felt hand shock. Cool to look at and to shoot though.

[Grantmac]

It's supposed to be #50@32" and it feels about that.

Not forgiving, but they are built to launch light arrows and this one has virtually no handshock. I think finding a light enough arrow will be the challenge. I'd like to shoot around 5gr/lb, but I'm not sure thats going to be possible.
It would be great to find some .500 spine shafts 32" long. So far little luck besides PSE X-weaves which I'm not really pleased with.

I'm slowly getting the hang with the bow. I haven't really found the perfect anchor spot but otherwise it's taught me a few things about how it likes to be shot. It requires a little bit of consistent torque and in my case to be shot vertically.
After adjusting the ring it's much more comfortable. I think I will be making a few rings to try shapes and sizes, maybe settle on something a little more Turkish.

-Grant

[Bowzone_Mikey]

It's supposed to be #50@32" and it feels about that.

Not forgiving, but they are built to launch light arrows and this one has virtually no handshock. I think finding a light enough arrow will be the challenge. I'd like to shoot around 5gr/lb, but I'm not sure thats going to be possible.
It would be great to find some .500 spine shafts 32" long. So far little luck besides PSE X-weaves which I'm not really pleased with.

I'm slowly getting the hang with the bow. I haven't really found the perfect anchor spot but otherwise it's taught me a few things about how it likes to be shot. It requires a little bit of consistent torque and in my case to be shot vertically.
After adjusting the ring it's much more comfortable. I think I will be making a few rings to try shapes and sizes, maybe settle on something a little more Turkish.

-Grant

32" raw shafts are everywhere ... dont go to wallys world and get them

stock lenth of 500 spine easton Lightspeeds are 32 3/4" (6.4 GPI) however you will be hard pressed to make an arrow at 5 Grain per pound if its a 50 pound peak for you at that lenth (a 32" 500 spine lightspeed raw shaft is 204 grains ... add nock ...feathers/vanes at best your looking at 220 grains ... Now you have point weight ... 70 -125 grains for the point plus insert if ya wanna use em for hunting ... the lightest I suspect you would get them is around 300 grains .........

Sweet bow btw ...

[Grantmac]

It seems like most 500s are only 30.5 or 31", those lightspeeds are the first I've seen that long. Way to precise for my needs though, I don't need incredibly precise shafts for any of my trad bows; just tough and light ones.
Arguably I'm not getting 32" out of it yet anyway.

More practice tonight, I'm slowly getting better. Certainly at my short side-yard range things are improving, but I'm finding it hard to shoot unknown distances with. Small changes in form yield large velocity changes.

-Grant

[Bowzone_Mikey]

you will have a hard time finding tough and light .... ... it really depends on how light you want .... and how light you will settle for .... you might have to get into some expensive arrows like the ACC 3-28

[Grantmac]

Well I'm running Axis 400s right now and they seem to be working well. Unfortunately they are not a light arrow and I'm not sold on the insert. If I were to remake them it would be with a glue-in target point.

Next time I'm thinking something like a GT 5575 Hunter or CX Preditor II 4560 would be my choice. Nothing terribly precise or expensive. Then I would be running 60gr glue-ins.

-Grant

[Bowzone_Mikey]

I get ya now ... If you are not getting 32 draw out of it .... maybe look at some GT ultralight 600s .... good a nd light ...fairly tough for what they are ... if your drawing 29 " for example the spine would work out pretty well

[Grantmac]

I'm drawing about 31" right now, hoping to find a comfortable place back around 32" as you can really feel the speed build in the bow back there.

Actually I just went by Bucky's (where I buy my shafts) and he made me an offer on some discontinued shafts that I just couldn't pass up, a doz GT Ultralight series 22s. I can afford to munch 2 a day and still pay less then if I smack an Axis.

-Grant

[The Hermit]

Grant. Where do you anchor your shot? Typically, the standard anchor is to have your index finger (on the draw hand) touching the corner of your mouth, not where it is in the picture. That is where you will want to measure your draw length from and cut your arrows accordingly.

You are welcome to come over some time and fling a few at my home range.

[Grantmac]

The Koreans shoot from an anchor much further back then even the turkish. I'm finding somewhere between the two, like behind my jawbone where I anchor a compound seems to work best.

The only real advantage to one of these little bows is being able to use a longer draw length and the greater speed it gives:
http://www.koreanarchery.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=76

-Grant

[Bow Walker]

Typically the Korean anchor is behind the ear (somewhere) and it is a floating anchor - in that it is not static against your head/jaw/ear.

Also note that the arrow is on the "wrong" side of the riser. This means that you have to support/cradle the arrow with your thumb, which is why many "horse bow" archers always use a glove when shooting.

A very difficult technique to learn, let alone master.

[Grantmac]

I've actually found that your bow hand thumb does little to hold the arrow once you start the draw. It's held lightly against the bow with the draw hand index finger, too much pressure will cause some funny arrow flight though.

This is really going to take years to master. Which is both fun and frustrating.

I don't think I'll be taking around the bag course until I get really consistent on my anchor, small draw length changes have a much larger effect on velocity/trajectory.

Oddly enough it sometimes puts and arrow exactly where I want it. Much more precisely then my longbow, but doing to same thing (or what feels like the same thing) again doesn't have the same effect. I also seem to be able to stack arrows in a different spot than I'm aiming.
So it's sometimes precise and sometimes accurate, but so far not both.

I've had some thumb pain so I'm leaving it alone for a little while and also making a better fitting ring.

-Grant

[Bow Walker]

Grant, have you tried shooting without the thumb ring? Oops, when I go back and look at the pic (is that you, btw) I can see that the short A2A will not let you shoot with the traditional finger style.

Maybe a release? There's certainly enough tension on the string, and the serving looks like it'll take an "off-the-string" style of release aid.

Do you hold the arrow on the right or left side of the riser?

[Grantmac]

A release or fingers would sort of be besides the point.

Arrow goes on the right when using the ring, most of the time anyway. The paradox is opposite to using fingers so it only really works that way.

-Grant

[triggr31]

Your draw looks to be 3 to 4 inches too long

[Bow Walker]

Your draw looks to be 3 to 4 inches too long
That's the way those bows are meant to be shot.

[Phreddy]

Friend of mine got something from Korea too. Said it itched like hell for about 3 weeks then it fell off.

[Grantmac]

Suppose I should update this.

The "floating" Korean anchor is actually pretty consistent. You just draw until you physically cannot draw any further. It seems like your body just hits a wall and stays there. For me thats right around 31" for now.

Slowly I'm making progress on my accuracy and consistency. Some days this bow feels just perfect and others I can't hit the broad side of my target.

It's going to be some time before I even take it out on the bag course. Of course it is so tiny that I could just tuck it into my quiver and use it for the chip shots ;)

-Grant

[M@B]

You can shoot tabs/gloves with that lil'bow, just the arrow would have to be on the left side of the riser. And with the bow being so short you may have to go with a two finger release to aviod finger pinch.
The reason (I guess normal isn't the right word...) European archers had the arrow on the left side of the riser(thinking right handed here) was when you draw with fingers, the bow the string rolls into you, pressing the arrow into the riser. when a thumb ring is used the string rolls away from you which would cause the arrow to flop off the shelf/hand during your draw. so they(Korean's, Turk's ect...) put the arrow on the other side to push the arrow into the riser.
I've never used a thumb ring but from what I hear they are the cats @ss once you get used to it.
I've seen guys use them with long bows aswell. They just used a big d-loop(big enough to get your thumb through) to eliminate the string roll.
then you can use a ring and have the arrow on the "proper" side of the riser.
Cool bow Grant!

Regards, Matt

[M@B]

I forgot to ask, it isn't a horn bow is it Grant? I can really tell from the picture.

[Grantmac]

It's not a horn bow, but it is about as close as you can get.

It make with carbon fiber, bamboo and a black pulp product which is used on the belly but doesn't seem to be available outside Korea.

I'm actually getting used to the funny "sight picture" with the arrow on the right. Its nowhere near as accurate as my other recurves, but then again I don't shoot them off the bare hand and they are a lot longer.

One thing is sure: it would make an great stand or blind bow!

-Grant

[Monashee]

Are you shooting the Kaya bow or the Hwarang model ?

[Grantmac]

It's a Hwarang. But I got it from the boyer so its not marked Hwarang anywhere.

-Grant

[Monashee]

Did you pick it up yourself in Korea ?

Is it important to use arrows of the correct spine ?

Thanks

[Bow Walker]

Monashee - it is always important to use arrows of the correct spine. The arrows need to match the weight of the bow that you're shooting or they just won't perform optimally.

[Monashee]

Monashee - it is always important to use arrows of the correct spine. The arrows need to match the weight of the bow that you're shooting or they just won't perform optimally.

With centershot bows you can use arrows that are spined heavier and they will shoot ok as there is no " archers paradox " to contend with.

The Hwarang is a traditonal Korean bow , it has a narrow handle and is short so I am guessing it does need correctly spined arrows , so hopefully Grantmac
will chime in and let us know what arrows fly best for him.

[Bow Walker]

I beg to differ - any bow (compound or stick 'n string variety) will impart some sort/degree of archer's paradox to the arrow when the string is released.

The impetus or force of the string trying to overcome the inertia of the arrow will induce some degree of deflection/paradox as the arrow begins to accelerate. Even very stiff shafts will deflect to some degree.

[Grantmac]

The Koreans do not spine their arrows.

The style of release severely reduces paradox to the point where other factors become much more important.

Thats said I feel like the 400s I'm shooting full length are a little stiff for the job but finding 32" 500s for a reasonable price is not terribly easy.

-Grant