Materiaal

The meaning of this page is to give some handholds for the purchase of archery equipment. It is particularly ment for new members, but older members, who do not have their own material yet, can also use this list for help in their search for equipment. The information on this page is mainly focussed towards the recurve discipline, since that is the primary discipline at Sagittarius. One should be informed that we do not shoot with compound bows at Sagittarius. This page is not a complete guide, so if you have any questions left after going through this page, feel free to ask a member who already has their own equipment for more information about their bow. Or you can always consult the website of the Royal Dutch Archery Sport (KHSN) (in Dutch).

Why your own equipment?

Why would you buy your own archery equipment when the assocation can provide you with all the basic equipment you need to do archery?

Equipment is definitely in archery highly personal and will ideally be made to fit you, your body and your technique. At first this is all not that important as your technique will improve first. Things like your draw length, draw weigth aren’t stable yet and that makes it hard to make a choice yet for your own bow.

Other accessories like an anchor tab, arm protection, finger sling and chest protection are barely dependant on your technique, so these are suitable to purchase independently of a bow. It is nice to be able to use the same protection every time, on top of that you won’t have to compete with other members for the protection.
(A experience every member has had before is that someone else was just faster in getting “that nice arm protection” before you…)

Another advantage is that with your own material you will get more quickly involved in the sport.

What do you need and why?

Bow

A bow is the base part of your equipment. It is also the largest expense, so think wisely about what you want: which distances are you planning on shooting, and together with that, what draw weigth do you want. A bow with a draw weight of 30 lbs is about the minimum needed for shooting 70 meters. For 90 meters you would need at least 34 till 36 lbs. The length of the bow must also suit the draw length. The longer the draw length, the longer your bow must be. If you are planning on buying a bow always try out the bow: the data provided with the bow often aren’t 100% true. The bow also has the fit your hand nicely and it has to “suit” you.

Arrows

The arrows need to suit your draw length and draw weigth in terms of stiffness (“spine”). Therefore we do not recommend buying arrows when you are still fluctuating in your draw lenght and draw weigth. To get the right arrows with your bow there are spacial tables (we have one in our materials cart) with all the data to help you find the correct arrow. If you still need some help, you can always ask another member to help you. You can shorten your own arrows, in contrast to the arrows of the assocation. If you shorten your won arrows, you can use a clicker, but only do so when you are shooting consistently.

Quiver

Een pijlenkoker die je aan je broekriem kunt hangen is erg handig. Je hoeft dan niet iedere keer die koker op een andere baan te zetten, hij staat niet in de weg, en wordt niet per ongeluk omgeschopt. Bovendien is het eigenlijk essentieel op een wedstrijd buiten de vereniging, omdat je dan die grote staande koker niet goed kunt plaatsen. Een pijlenkoker kun je gemakkelijk zelf maken van bijvoorbeeld een stuk buis met een verstevigde bodem en een haak of een touwtje eraan. Er hangen er ook een aantal in het hok, je kunt vragen of er nog een te leen is, maar het is natuurlijk leuker om er een voor jezelf te hebben.

Stabilisation

Stabilisation is the antenna-like construction on the front of your bow. The lons stick is the mono-stabiliser, often shortened to “mono”. Further yu have the side stabilisation, which is attached to the V-bar, which is often attached to an extender. Try looking at the bow of an older member. In addition to the sticks, the stabilisers also often have shock absorbers to absorb the vibrations from the stabilisation and the prevent them from going into the bow.

You may have noticed that your bow has a tendency to move, while you think that you have your hand steady. Every muscle twitch gets transfered to your bow and gets strengthened. If you put a stabiliser on your bow, the energy from these movements gets absorbed and the bow gets calmer. The bow aslo won’t jump around so much when firing your arrow. The reproducability of your shots will also increase because the drop to the same side every time.
It isn’t neccesary to buy a complete stabilisation set immediatly, just a mono is good enough for a beginner, but it will help a lot during shooting.

Protectional clothing

Own protection material has a number of advantages. Je can buy material that fits you better and is of better quality than that of the association. The urgency of protection equipment is for the most of us quite clear, especially the use of arm protection and an anchor tab. A chest protector is of course ment to protect your chest against the force of the string, but it can also prevent the string from getting stuck on some part of your clothing.

Finger sling

A finger(sling) is neccesary because with good technique the bow will drop from your hand after firing your arrow. To prevent the bow from falling to the ground you need something to catch it. Just like an anchor tab, a finger sling will fit your hand after a while. It is very usefull to have your own sling so you always have one of the same length, this way the bow will always drop the same way.

Sight

Everybody knows what a sight is used for. The association bows are generally equiped with low end sights. These are sometines hard to adjust if you want to shoot at different distances, and will sometimes loosen due to vibrations. Besides quelity, a side is often a personal choice (distance from the bow and shape). Sights are often made to bring to antoher bow if you decide to buy a new bow are to buy different limbs.

Bow case or bag

A bow case is not essential if you keep your bow within the association but as soon as you want to shoot external matches you need something to transport your bow in (it is not convenient to transport your bow in one complete piece). A case also protects your bow during transportation.

Others

Here you need to think about tools for maintenance of your bow. Also spare parts (vanes, strings, tabs, etc.) and other tools (pen, glue, tape, etc.) fall in this category. These parts seem like details but are an essential part of your archery equipment. At the association we have al this equipment available, but if you want to shoot at matches, or shoot outside, it is convenient to always have these things available.