Couldn't get a decent distance out of the flight bow, an then I had two arrows explode. Can't be sure why, but they both broke about the same distance from the nock. I don't think I over drew and shot into the belly of the bow. Maybe the arrows were flexing hard and snapped off against the shoot through window?I've added some extra feather as an arrow rest/guide and I'm making a bamboo arrow which is much stiffer. Some organisations don't allow bamboo arrows for distance... but they are not the ones getting whacked on the arm. Some of these silly rules and regulations irritate me, which is why I tend to shoot for my own pleasure and shun competition. All I want is a PB now and then.
I'll get the arrow finished and try again. Another alternative is to open up the shoot through hole, or cut away the left edge and make it a shelf, that's a bit drastic, but I could always add wood on that side to reinforce it and make it effectively a shelf but with some bracing bulging out to the side.
I stiffened my sinews and summoned up the blood to shoot once more into the field.
I was a bit more confident as the bamboo arrow is much stiffer, it's also about 100gn heavier (approx 300 vs 200. The improved feather arrow rest and guide seemed like a good thing too, I'd also tied a nocking point on the string to give good alignment, taken a bit more weight off the levers and test drawn it.
What could possibly go wrong?
All my previous shots have pulled left by about 1/4 the width of the field, and there is a road along the left edge (behind a hedge and verge)... so I aimed at the right edge, along the river.
I took it to a comfortable draw and didn't go mad trying for a slash loose or getting it right on the edge of the window. It went away with a much smoother loose, not the jarring bang of the other arrows. I didn't see it at first, but spotted it on the way up and away.
Damn!
It hadn't pulled left at all and was heading straight for the river where it meanders and is heavily overgrown (this isn't the main river, it's the old river course, which is more like an overflow from the canalised river.)
No chance of finding it, but I had a look anyway. I don't think it had made 300 yards, but it reassured me that the problem with the other arrows was lack of stiffness, and they certainly shouldn't be any lighter than those first ones. maybe about 200-250 grains is right, but on a good stiff shaft.
It's tempting to draw the bow further to get more distance, but I suspect it would start to break down and I'd suffer the law of diminishing returns, and get no further.
Anyhow the confidence is back up and I may try to make some more suitable arrows.
This flight lark is all a bit masochistic!
Update on the Yew longbow:-
It's slowly coming back, 60# at 21.5" (with a low brace about 3") It's starting to have a decent bend on it now. There's a bit of deflex in the upper limb, but I probably will leave it as the knots on the edge of the bow make heat bending it a bit risky. I can string it now without risking pulling a muscle.
Out of interest I did a "back of an envelope" estimate of the G force on the arrow... it works out at about 300G !
ouch!
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