[English Longbow] Travel (again) and length restrictions

Thambarskelfir

New member
After dabbling a bit, I am looking at taking the plunge and buying my first longbow. The plan is to bring it back home to Norway from the U.K. as checked luggage.

From discussions here and elsewhere I gather that a water pipe, rod case or similar hard case should offer some protection against rampaging baggage handlers.

The major remaining challenge has to do with size restrictions. BA has a length limit of 190cm/75in (which tells me that they probably don't regularly handle cross country skis).

So, please enlighten me; What is the unstrung length of a typical longbow?

I believe am probably looking at something reasonably priced (?250-400) in the 40#-50# range.

(This is probably not unlike asking "How big is a fish?" or "How loud is a whisper?"...)
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Unfortunately like you have guessed, they come in a range of lengths regardless of weight. About 6ft Is probably about average, but they can be taller.
 

Thambarskelfir

New member
Thanks. I suppose I will just have to watch lengths carefully, and hope this will not limit selection too much.

To allow for the added length from the case, the bow should probably not be a full 75".

Some of you travel with longbows, right? Is this an issue for you, or are you simply not hauling the longest of longbows?
 

Timid Toad

Moderator
Staff member
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
The starting point will be your drawlength, that's what governs the bowlength.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
I have a Gary Evans Artisan 50# @ 28" which is 75" long and my brother-in-law has the same bowyer shooting 50# @ 30" which is an inch or so shorter.

Both bows were ?360 earlier this year from Wales Archery and are exquisite, we are both shooting Bowman plus scores pretty much every week on them.





Karl
 

Corax67

Well-known member
I highly recommend it, we spent over 3 hours there although we decided on buying the bows within the first 5 minutes of shooting them.




Karl
 

Thambarskelfir

New member
The deed is done. I got a bow, and managed, with some effort, to bring it back home.

I visited Wales Archery and with some difficulty and hesitation picked a Gary Evans Artisan over a very nice Bickerstaffe Super Deluxe. I am sure it will serve me well, and I will probably stop wondering whether I made the "right" choice once I get to spend some quality time with the bow.

So, WA packed the bow for me in a thick cardboard tube. The challenge: BA max luggage length is 190 cm by 75 cm, the tube was 195. After some geometry efforts on a napkin, I concluded that the tube would fit in a 190x75 box. Tried to get a straight answer from BA on whether they would prefer a 195x11 tube or a 190x75 box, but mostly just got a reiteration of "195 is too long and will be denied" along with an almost suspicious skepticism towards this newfangled concept of triangular geometry.

Not one to back down from being Right, this is what I ended up doing, with raw materials donated from a Curry's, some tape and a 30 cm ruler:
IMG_5687.jpg
IMG_5688.jpg

Finally added some extra bits for structure.
IMG_5702.jpg

(Sorry about orientation, posting from phone.)

At the end of the day, the 190x75 box went through unchallenged, without a tape measure or ruler in sight. I could probably have checked in the tube without any problems, but the BA customer care team didn't have that memo. I choose to think that I beat the system, with a little help from Pythagoras.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Excellent - mathematics defeats red tape !!!!!!!

You will not regret choosing the Gary Evans over the Bickerstaffe - Gary's after sales service is legendary & the bows are amazing.




Karl
 
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