Istvan Toth Magyar Horse Bow

[Dave Markowitz]

Last week my 7 year old daughter expressed and interest in learning archery. To say that I'm very happy with this development is a bit of an understatement. I ordered her a youth set from Three Rivers Archery and it should get here in the next day or so.

I used to shoot a bow a lot but it's been probably 15 years or so. The only bow I owned up until today was a 55# Martin Howatt Hunter recurve. Naturally, if my daughter is going to shoot I want to as well, but upon stringing the Martin for the first time in several years I realized that I am way over bowed with it. So, I decided to pick up a new bow for myself. After doing a lot of reading online, I chose a Magyar Horse Bow made by Istvan Toth in Hungary, and sold in the US by Seven Meadows Archery.

It arrived today and I took a few quick cell phone pics after I got home from work. I included the Martin Howatt Hunter for comparison, since more folks will be familiar with that bow.





A closeup of the grip showing the ash strikeplate (there is one on each side of the bow, it's ambidextrous):



As you can probably see, there is no arrow rest or shelf. This bow is meant to be shot off your hand. I'll be wearing a leather glove.

A closeup of the upper siyah, or rigid limb tip, also made from ash:



The leather-covered limbs are made from fiberglass.

The label with the stock number and draw weight is the only identifier on the bow. Overall, workmanship seems nice, it came packed well in a muslin bow sock and with the tips bubble wrapped. The wood appears to be unfinished, or at most very lightly finished. I will probably give the wood and leather a coating of Sno-Seal to help keep them from drying out.

Along with the bow I also ordered a spare string and a leather thumbring. These bows were originally shot with a thumb release. I tried drawing it tonight with my thumb and I think I'm going to want to reinforce the thumbring with some nylon, because that hurts my non-callused thumb. The bow is comfortable to draw with a Mediterranean three-finger draw, however.

Interestingly, both the bowyer and the seller recommend the step-through method of stringing. With a 40# bow this isn't hard but you need to be careful. The stringer I use for the Martin won't fit the tips of the Toth bow, so I will probably make one that fits, as IMO it is safer to use a stringer.

Here is a video on YouTube of a similar Magyar bow being shot. The bow in the video draws 45#, a little heavier than mine.

My primary use for this bow with be informal target shooting but if I feel confident of my skill, I may take it hunting next fall. The minimum legal draw weight for deer hunting in PA is 35#, and I have a place where I should be able to get very close shots (private land owned by a friend).
I'm hoping to shoot it this weekend and will post an AAR.

 

[nmlongbow]

Congratulations on the new bow.

I've shot a few Magyars and thought they were a bit shocky with those huge siyah's. They're durable for that style of bow though. I have a few Saluki's and one has no shelf that I use a thumbring with. You can wrap the front of the feathers with some thread or sinew to shoot barehand but still have to be careful with your release.
I've cut my hand several times with the feather even with the quill wrapped.

You can buy or make a hard ring instead of a tab but it's really hard to get used to. The 40# weight will help though.

The Hunter is a great bow and one of my all time favorites.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

A very unusual and very cool choice for a new bow.
Congratulations. Horse bows are their own neato segment in archery history and well deserving of your precious time.

Very jealous of that bow, but happy you've decided to take up the hobby with your daughter and spend quality time with her.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Neat bow.

Back when I bowhunted, one of the bows I tried was from Texas Longbows. This was, IIRC, the Comanche horse bow and had siyahs and a serious deflex like this one.

Fine little bow, but sensitive to small changes in form. Did better with longbows and had fun with them until the rotator cuff rebelled.

Enjoy yours and your time with your daughter....

 

[wheelgunslinger]

Oh, and get yourself a program for maintenance of your rotator cuffs and upper body, if you don't already.
Shooting a bow after you haven't for a while can be very hard on the rotator cuffs.

Focus on form and enjoy.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Thanks guys.

Having one of my daughters express an interest in shooting has been something I've been hoping for. Who knows, but maybe archery will be a gateway to guns, too.

As for my own shooting, I plan to not overdo it. I'm in my mid-40s, and discovered awhile ago that body parts don't handle or recover from abuse the way they did when I was 18.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Well, I got to shoot the Magyar bow for the first time this morning. I kept it to 10 yards since it's probably been about 15 years since the last time I shot a bow. I was able to keep all my arrows on the target.

One problem I ran into was that I did a bad job of attaching the field points to my cedar arrows and most of them came off when I pulled them out of the target. I'm going to order more points, use a different glue, and bevel the back edge of the points so they don't catch on the target when I pull them out. In the meantime, I used my old Easton XX75 aluminum arrows which were matched to my Martin Hunter recurve. They shot ok in the new bow.



I'm happy with the bow and look forward to shooting it a lot more.

Also, my daughter got to shoot her bow for the first time. It's a little big for her but she had a really good time and with a little coaching, kept most of her arrows on target from ~5 yards.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

Nice work. Glad you are enjoying your new bow.

Consider using hay bales for their tendency to be less difficult in removing arrows.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Actually, it's very easy to remove the arrows from this target, as long as the points aren't any larger in diameter than the shaft. E.g., the field points on the XX75s are actually a hair smaller than the shafts, and can be removed with two fingers. When I get my next batch of cedars and points, I'll make sure to bevel the back edge of the points so they can be pulled out easily.