From the Lions' Den - A freestylers' journey.

LionOfNarnia

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So, I managed to score 11 A/C/E's for under £90, posted :D

eBay have some voucher thing running until midnite where you get 10% off the buying price.

Been stressing & chain-smoking all afternoon that the bid would shoot above my max, but - for the first time ever - no-one bid against me so I got them for my opening bid 👅

Thanks to the saving under my budget, a hybrid bow-stand is now do-able this month too :)
 

KidCurry

Well-known member
AIUK Saviour
470 @ 28 3/4" I think it might be worth trying, for £90 anyway. I shoot 30" 520 100gr points at 40# OTF and they are in the middle of the button range. If they come up to stiff I doubt you will loose money on them at that price.
Out of interest what draw weight do you currently shoot as 48/50# is quite a pull?
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
...what draw weight do you currently shoot...
Right now, I'm guessing around 46/47# but I haven't had a chance to scale it yet. Reckon I can get close to 50 with these limbs cranked all the way in but I'm budgeting for some heavier ones shortly after the new year anyway.

I can hold 44# at full draw for over a minute so I'm not exactly struggling atm. Remember I'm a 6'1" 300lb monster & former English & British -capped gridiron player (FB/TE/MLB) ;)

- As we're indoors now I'm using 36# limbs & X-Busters (600 spine), no point in overbowing at 20yds it just makes the arrows harder to pull.
 

LionOfNarnia

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Well economically speaking anyway, grabbing those 470's was the right move - the 'plan B' set (520's) would have cost me at least £142 to win.
 

LionOfNarnia

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There was no records officer at Newburn today, so I completed the Portsmouth from Friday "just for m'sel" - Didn't shoot as well, upset to end with a 488, even though that is a new PB by 19 points. I KNOW I can do better! 500 is the target.

- I'd swapped from my 0.019 green 'Sjef' to the old Infitec with a phat red flo-pin. Even harder to see in a poorly-lit sports hall :( Will be swapping back until I find the right solution for indoors.

After that I decided to start 'clicker part 2' training. It takes some getting used to, seems sometimes you're through it before you want & sometimes it's a real effort to click. Getting there, slowly, though ;)
 

Emmadragon

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My best Portsmouth is 478, and I haven't been able to get near it since. :( I'm also looking for 500, but just can't seem to be able to repeat it. Of course, the pressure I'm putting on myself to it probably isn't helping. Fingers crossed for the new indoor season, and I've just changed clubs, too; the new one's a bit more relaxed and less formal, so I'm hoping that might help.
I also benefited from the ebay 10% discount - got a Smartriser MX1 plus for well less than half the price new, although I still almost fainted when I saw the total on paypal. I was looking for a quality new riser, but was finding it almost impossible to get one that weighed under a kilo. (Wimpy laydee arms, what can I say...). That fit the bill, and when I had a bit of a research around it, it seemed kind of like a no-brainer. Of course, now my limbs aren't anywhere near the quality of the riser, so best get back to saving again...
I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the clicker. I know it's an apparently controversial topic. I've been thinking about one for a while, but just can't make my mind up.
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
Glad someone else managed to make use of that 10% too :)

Yes, a relaxed club atmosphere makes a huge difference!

Hey, now you have a perfect reason/excuse to go limb-shopping for chrimbo - gotta be better than all the commercial crop that'll be peddled in the high street between now & then, innit? ;)
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
Of course, now my limbs aren't anywhere near the quality of the riser, so best get back to saving again....
I was about to say "Don't worry about expensive limbs. You won't see the benefit yet. Fifty quid jobbies will be fine". Then I looked up the Smartriser MX 1. Then I looked up the Smartriser XM1. Knock yourself out. 🧐😁😁
 

Emmadragon

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Well, I usually get Christmas money, so I'm thinking that'll be a good start, and then maybe the January sales...and yes, I did mean the xm1 not mx1. 🤣
 

Emmadragon

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Ooh, good question...I'm going to say yes, cos I like to think positive. I'm never going to reach Olympic level, but I'm pretty good at the distances I shoot at. Am I perfect...? Heck no, my form can be a bit shaky, especially when I'm tired, and I don't train enough outside of actual archery, but yeah, I'm pretty good. I'm certainly not bad at it. And you?
 

LionOfNarnia

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It was on a t-shirt on Amazon, I find it HILARIOUS 😹

Wouldn't it be kewl if the X was moveable? (We all have on-days & off-days, don't we?)
 

Emmadragon

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Oh, I get it. D'oh! for me for not seeing it earlier. I'm calling that the end of a long day at work...I thought you were asking a serious question. :rolleyes:
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
A longer-than-usual gap between postings, true, but not without reason....

I didn't shoot on Friday due to disgusting liquids coming out of both ends of m'pup at high velocity. He was fine by Sunday, serves him right for scoffing every single piece of discarded 'food' he comes across. If I had my time over again I think I'd have called him 'Dyson' - 'coz he doesn't miss a f*****g crumb!

My package from Merlin arrived this morning, so the day has been spent wrapping & fletching the A/C/Es - pics to come in daylight but don't expect surprises, y'all should know my colour scheme by now ;)

The weekend was, as usual, mostly spent watching sports - starting with England v Argentina at 9am on Saturday & running through to Colts v Chiefs in the early hours of Monday (Yes, I was still asleep when Mr Postie came a-knocking at 10.30am).

I did however managed to tear myself away from the box for long enough to put in a good club session on Sunday afternoon. I really need to get some 'official' scores recorded, even using the clicker I was shooting well enough to push my Portsmouth PB way beyond 500 - and proved to myself that the 'Sjef' sight gives ~ 10% better scores than the Infitec flo-pin one, indoors under not-great lighting (typical sports-hall) at least.

- That's maybe one for the 'does kit matter' thread but I'm not a fan of double-posting.

Does the fact that the Sjef sight costs 5x what the Infitec does make the gains 'value for money'? I'd argue 'yes' to that - especially compared with say spending £600 on 'premium' limbs for little to no gain in scoring. I'd hazard a guess that any decent shooter given the chance would happily spend £5 per 1% score increase. Take your hand off for it, even.

More on the morrow, fading fast now.
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
As promised, a couple of pix of the 'new' A/C/E's...

DSC_0001.JPG
(2 unfletched for shafting bears ;) )

The only frustration is that I won't get to shoot with them until we go outdoors again as the bow is fully set up for the X-Busters & 36# limbs. They would be hideously over-spine for 36# limbs & using 44# indoors - into straw at 20 yds - would just be asking for problems.

DSC_0002.JPG

However, the part of the package I was most looking forward to was this W&W 'TY' hybrid bow stand, as a replacement for my 3 y.o. Cartel. I chose the W&W after having a good look at all the hybrids that Merlin offer, on my 'emergency X-Buster' trip a few weeks ago. The main reason for the choice was that the W&W comfortably accepts my Blade longrod without modification, whereas the other 2 would only accept a 'normal' round rod.

DSC_0003.JPG

As should be obvious by now, my 'thang' is to identify issues which diminish my pleasure on the range & find the most cost-effective solution to them. The old Cartel has long since been identified as such an issue on 2 counts:-

1) The 'magnetic' legs keep falling out at the most inopportune moments &
2) A 'horizontal' rest makes it much more difficult to grasp & lift a fully-rodded bow, especially as I get intense pain with any bending motions.

(Outdoors I assemble the bow from the boot of the car, indoors I take my camping chair & assemble from that.)
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
Continuing with the 'solving problems' theme....

Indoors the usual sports-hall lighting isn't anywhere near good enough to give a really good glow to flo-type sight pins. The Sjef is much better than the Infitec, yes, but even cranked all the way up it isn't as bright as I'd like. I also spoke to a club-mate using a Spigerelli flo-pin sight who has exactly the same issues.

A bit of 'tube research revealed this nice little mod suggestion...


So, he suggests using a Shibuya replacement fibre, but being a true value seeker I did a bit more digging & found this on eBay which is eight times longer for a quarter of the price. Should be here by Saturday ;)

As ArcheryBlog was using the Decut Tawant pin I also had a dig around for best prices on that. Again, eBay was a vastly better-value option taking P&P into consideration compared with the 'big 6' shops. (The best I saw from a shop was £9.99 plus £3.99 P&P, dearest was £12 plus £3.39 P&P)

So, I ordered from this seller for £8.72 delivered. Saved at least a fiver :D

- Yes, the specialist shops will always be my go-to for anything costing more than about £20 but for single-item orders, well, I'm sure they won't miss a couple of quid this time.

Plan A is to start with a very long piece of F.O.C. & cut it down bit-by-bit to find a good compromise between brightness & convenience, then find a good mounting method, prolly (eventually) involving a wee blob of Milliput but prolly starting with insulating tape for easy testing. If it works I'll share any unused FOC with interested club members.

- Of course this wee project will be fully documented, with pix. Watch this space!

Other news is that I'm gonna do my first two indoor tourneys in November - Deffo the Killingworth Open (Portsmouth & Worcester) on 3rd & prolly the Ivernia Open on 24th (WA18)
 

Timid Toad

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Ironman
Better check the length of the pin you are allowed to compete with. I don't bother with one so I'm not up with the rules but iirc recurves have a limit. And it's rather shorter than what's in your clip.
 

Finch

Member
Better check the length of the pin you are allowed to compete with. I don't bother with one so I'm not up with the rules but iirc recurves have a limit. And it's rather shorter than what's in your clip.
The guy in an Archery Blog video mentioned that the maximum the FOC is allowed to be sticking out the front of the pin is 2cm.
 

Emmadragon

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
The Archery GB rules state:
(i) The overall length of the sighting circle or point (tunnel, tube, sighting pin or other corresponding extended component) shall not exceed 2cm in the line of vision of the athlete...
c. The sight point may be a fibre optic sight pin. The total length of the fibre optic pin may exceed 2cm, provided that one end is attached outside the athlete’s line of vision at full draw, while the part within the athlete’s line of vision does not exceed 2cm in a straight line before bending. It can only provide one illuminated aiming spot at full draw. The fibre optic pin is measured independently of the tunnel.
So I guess you'd better get measuring...;)
I'm planning on giving the Smartriser a go on Saturday morning. I found some rather more appropriate limbs for it, half price on ebay thanks to a stock clearance (I mentioned it elsewhere in another post): KG Archery X-Tech carbons, 26#. With the riser adjustment bolts wound right out, and my shorter draw length, I think they'll be about 23# otf, which suits me just fine while I'm working through this tennis elbow. I'll let you know if it was worth the money!
Nice new arrows, btw Aslan, I like the flaming socks. Very retro handsome. :)
 
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