Having recently tried out a friend?s 25lb Mongolian horsebow, I?ve decided I?d like to buy one for myself. I currently own a 30lb recurve bow and want to add some variety to my bow styles in the realm of traditional archery. I?m not interested in Longbows, nor am I interested in Flatbows. My interest in Asian history is what draws me to Mongolian horsebows in particular.
I know there are Chinese retailers on ebay that sell horsebows for affordable pricing (read that as not starting at a few hundred ???s, but double digit figures instead), and I?ve narrowed down the colours of the bow that I like alongside the poundages available for those. To that effect, I have a number of questions I?d like to ask before I proceed any further:
1) Which material is better, pigskin or cow leather? Is there any advantage of one over the other? I don?t like the aesthetics of the snakeskin coverings, so those are out.
2) The bows come with one of two string types, nylon or tendon. Which is better? Where might I be able to get replacement strings in the future?
3) Arrows ? I assume I will be needing to use different arrows to the ones I use for my recurve? They are #. The fletchings themselves are plastic, and given that I need my pressure button on to prevent them scraping against my riser, it doesn?t seem like a good idea to use them with a horsebow. I won?t buy them off ebay after reading one of the reviews on this site about the quality of the arrows that come in the special bundles.
4) Thumb rings/shooting style ? is it absolutely necessary to use a thumb ring? I am used to shooting with my recurve using the standard style with three fingers, but this probably won?t work so well with a horsebow. Can I get away with two fingers? As for holding the bow, well?when I tried my friend?s bow out, I was holding it like I hold my recurve, completely vertical ? this helped with the kick horsebows have and the strain on my wrist due to no wrist sling, but am I correct in assuming they shouldn?t be held in this style for maximum performance?
5) This leads to my next question ? wrist support, and what kind?
6) Finally, how durable are these bows in general? How long would it last if I used it regularly, every few weeks or even couple of weeks?
As far as hand protection goes, I know about proper gloves for the hand I use as an arrow rest. I didn?t find it out the hard way either, I asked immediately about it before shooting even one arrow (yes, I?m a wuss!).
Hopefully I can actually decide which of the ones I've shortlisted I will purchase soon. Thank you for any help here.
I know there are Chinese retailers on ebay that sell horsebows for affordable pricing (read that as not starting at a few hundred ???s, but double digit figures instead), and I?ve narrowed down the colours of the bow that I like alongside the poundages available for those. To that effect, I have a number of questions I?d like to ask before I proceed any further:
1) Which material is better, pigskin or cow leather? Is there any advantage of one over the other? I don?t like the aesthetics of the snakeskin coverings, so those are out.
2) The bows come with one of two string types, nylon or tendon. Which is better? Where might I be able to get replacement strings in the future?
3) Arrows ? I assume I will be needing to use different arrows to the ones I use for my recurve? They are #. The fletchings themselves are plastic, and given that I need my pressure button on to prevent them scraping against my riser, it doesn?t seem like a good idea to use them with a horsebow. I won?t buy them off ebay after reading one of the reviews on this site about the quality of the arrows that come in the special bundles.
4) Thumb rings/shooting style ? is it absolutely necessary to use a thumb ring? I am used to shooting with my recurve using the standard style with three fingers, but this probably won?t work so well with a horsebow. Can I get away with two fingers? As for holding the bow, well?when I tried my friend?s bow out, I was holding it like I hold my recurve, completely vertical ? this helped with the kick horsebows have and the strain on my wrist due to no wrist sling, but am I correct in assuming they shouldn?t be held in this style for maximum performance?
5) This leads to my next question ? wrist support, and what kind?
6) Finally, how durable are these bows in general? How long would it last if I used it regularly, every few weeks or even couple of weeks?
As far as hand protection goes, I know about proper gloves for the hand I use as an arrow rest. I didn?t find it out the hard way either, I asked immediately about it before shooting even one arrow (yes, I?m a wuss!).
Hopefully I can actually decide which of the ones I've shortlisted I will purchase soon. Thank you for any help here.