Flung some arrows today

[Dave Markowitz]

I hadn't shot any of my traditional bows this year. We had some good weather today here in SE PA so I remedied that lapse with my 40# Istvan Toth Magyar horsebow in my backyard.





The arrows are 5/16" Port Orford Cedar shafts from 3Rivers Archery that I fletched using an Arizona EZ Fletch, tipped with 100 grain field points.

It's nice being able to shoot in my backyard even in suburbia.

 

[rodensouth]

I really love the looks of that bow! Very interesting design to me as I've never seen such. That is a cool way to make a recurve without actually recurving the limb.

Does the extra weight on the tips make it feel slow for a 40?

 

[Sunray]

Horsebows(horsebows.com) are gussied up, overpriced, plain, fibreglass, recurve bows. too. Mine cost me $350Cdn. several years ago. It'd need a very big horse for the length of it.
There is no extra weight on the ends. The ends are ash.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Here is a pic of the Toth Magyar bow unstrung, next to my Martin Damon Howatt Hunter recurve for comparison.



I don't have a chronograph but from results I've found online, the Toth bows shoot at about 150 - 160 FPS. So, not fast compared with a modern glass/wood laminate, but not super slow, either.

Sunray's correct in that it's a gussied up fiberglass bow. Of course, that's why I bought it. I wanted something different.

I also have this Chinese-made horse bow, which was sold as a Mongolian type. It's more of a late Mongol/Manchu-type bow. It has leather covered fiberglass limbs, with a wood riser and siyahs.



Unstrung, showing how the siyahs curve away from the belly of the bow:



This one is 50# @ 28" and shoots noticeably faster than the 40# Toth bow, with heavier arrows to boot. At 15 yards, arrows shot from this one will poke out of the back of a hay bale several inches. Chronograph results I've seen from similar Chinese made fiberglass bows show them shooting at about 165 to 170 FPS.

I bought the Chinese bow in 2012 and it's had at least 500 to 600 shots through it with no signs of wear, except where the arrow slides along the riser, and that's minimal.

IMO, the Chinese bows are a pretty good way to get into traditional Asian archery at modest cost.

 

[Gordon]

My son handmakes an all wood and sinew Horse bow for competetors , they like light pulls and get 150-160 FPS he made me a 50 pounder and it gets close to 195 FPS. His cost about $600 up and he sells all he makes.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Got any pictures of your son's bows, Gordon?

 

[mole]

I've done sinew backed before, but never tried a Asian style because of the cost of obtaining good horn. I'd also like to see a photo or two of your son's bows.

 

[Gordon]

Dave I'll take some

 

[zorro45]

Dave, Did you shoot that from horseback?
Nice looking tackle.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Dave, Did you shoot that from horseback?

Hah, no. The last time I was on a horse I rode a pony at summer camp, sometime in the early '70s.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Dave, are you using a Western-style three finger release/arrow on opposite side with that or an Asian-style thumb release with arrow on the same side?

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I shoot with a Western-style release with the arrow on the right side of the bow (I shoot lefty).

I have tried shooting with a thumb ring but I need a lighter weight bow to learn that, something in the 30# range.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

About 90% of my archery knowledge is book larnin' from reading about history. The rest is just shooting at stuff with various entry-level recurves and longbows as a kid. I've been interested in how Mongol/Hunnic archery compared to more traditional English styles.

I've done some plinking with target longbows in the 40# range using both methods and didn't have much luck with the thumb release - plus the riser blocks the target some. So when I saw you had some Asian bows I was curious about your experiences.