The sight picture tells all, after all that is the goal, a stable sight picture.
I have been struggling recently, but let me start at the beginning to bring all full circle.
Several months ago I did some experimenting with different shaft spines and bareshaft tuning with my bow. This lead to many pressings and turns of the cables and string. After my testing was complete I thought I had put everything back to the way it should be. I also started working on a new firing engine about this time with my HBX release.
My struggle was that I had an unstable sight picture. Very long, sweeping pin movement through, and out of, the ten ring. I have been fighting this for a few months now. Adjusting my stabilizer weights, my stance, my back tension trying everything, to no avail.
Well, last night I got a new press, and once it was set up I put my bow in it to check the press operation out. It also has a draw board built into the press so I tried this as well.
To my surprise my draw length was almost 1/2" long! I was flabbergasted!
So I quickly untwisted the cables a couple of turns each and got my draw length back to 28.75" like it should be. I immediately went and shot a 30 arrow round; what a difference! My sight picture held like a rock, my shots broke like glass and I was a happy shooter again!
Now, if any person would have come to me and asked how to settle the sight picture, and gave me the same symptoms I had been seeing, I would have told them straight away that they probably had too long of a draw length.
Why it never clicked in my brain for me I have no idea. I guess I just thought, mistakenly, that my bow was where it needed to be and the deviation was my form and learning a new firing engine.
The point is this: Our sight picture can tell us many things about our form and our equipment. I use the sight picture when coaching quite a bit of the time; this helps me to fine tune the equipment (draw length, stabilizer weights, and even holding weight, among other things) to each individual archer.
Learn to understand what the system is trying to tell us. In my case the system was trying to tell me I was over extended, but I wasn't listening, not fully anyway. I knew I had a problem, but I was looking in the wrong area to find the fix.
It's not always the Indian, sometimes it's the bow...
I have been struggling recently, but let me start at the beginning to bring all full circle.
Several months ago I did some experimenting with different shaft spines and bareshaft tuning with my bow. This lead to many pressings and turns of the cables and string. After my testing was complete I thought I had put everything back to the way it should be. I also started working on a new firing engine about this time with my HBX release.
My struggle was that I had an unstable sight picture. Very long, sweeping pin movement through, and out of, the ten ring. I have been fighting this for a few months now. Adjusting my stabilizer weights, my stance, my back tension trying everything, to no avail.
Well, last night I got a new press, and once it was set up I put my bow in it to check the press operation out. It also has a draw board built into the press so I tried this as well.
To my surprise my draw length was almost 1/2" long! I was flabbergasted!
So I quickly untwisted the cables a couple of turns each and got my draw length back to 28.75" like it should be. I immediately went and shot a 30 arrow round; what a difference! My sight picture held like a rock, my shots broke like glass and I was a happy shooter again!
Now, if any person would have come to me and asked how to settle the sight picture, and gave me the same symptoms I had been seeing, I would have told them straight away that they probably had too long of a draw length.
Why it never clicked in my brain for me I have no idea. I guess I just thought, mistakenly, that my bow was where it needed to be and the deviation was my form and learning a new firing engine.
The point is this: Our sight picture can tell us many things about our form and our equipment. I use the sight picture when coaching quite a bit of the time; this helps me to fine tune the equipment (draw length, stabilizer weights, and even holding weight, among other things) to each individual archer.
Learn to understand what the system is trying to tell us. In my case the system was trying to tell me I was over extended, but I wasn't listening, not fully anyway. I knew I had a problem, but I was looking in the wrong area to find the fix.
It's not always the Indian, sometimes it's the bow...
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