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Brace height

2K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  Seattlepop 
#1 ·
What is the average/correct brace height for fita/olympic style recurve archery. I had my son shooting a 8" brace and just have moved him to a 9" brace. What do you use and why?
 
#3 ·
bow length?

Recommended brace height depends on the bow length - I use 8 3/4" on my 68" bow, but it would be proportionately more or less depending on bow length. Different riser and limbs may have different recommendations.
Bows often have two sweet spots for good brace height within the rocommended range. You have to do some testing to determine it.
The lower one should shoot a little faster arrow, the higher may be a bit more foregiving.
 
#4 ·
Recommended brace height depends on the bow length - I use 8 3/4" on my 68" bow, but it would be proportionately more or less depending on bow length. Different riser and limbs may have different recommendations.
Bows often have two sweet spots for good brace height within the rocommended range. You have to do some testing to determine it.
The lower one should shoot a little faster arrow, the higher may be a bit more foregiving.


Yep, what he said. Also sometimes I raise, or lower it to improve bareshaft tuning when other methods fail. d
 
#5 ·
Start from the lowest brace recommended from the manufacturer...and twist up and make a note of how the bow sounds.

Like these guys are saying you'll probably notice 2 spots (one on the lower brace and one on the higher brace) where the bow makes the least amount of noise.

What is happening is you are finding the spot where the nock comes off the string in the most direct line. It's not working as hard to get off the string.

Many people recommend trying to find the 2nd (higher) brace setting as it is usually quieter and less likely to have random "flyers."

Twist up about 4 turns or so at a time (maybe 1/8" intervals) and make some notes.

After the bow is fully tuned it's nice to try and alter the brace both up and down a little bit to see if you can sweeten it even further. Your final brace height is affected very much by how much you have offset the centershot and what your plunger is set at.

In my experience, you still have to fiddle with brace a little after getting everything else working.
 
#6 ·
For a very good discussion on Brace Height check our Joe Tapley's site.
There are several things to consider when making changes in brace height and Joe does a great job of defining them and there effect along with instructions to follow so you can see for yourself and document your results.

http--www.tap46home.plus.com-mechanics-
 
#7 ·
My son is shooting the Samick Aguilla Riser 25" and Samick Carbon Foam Athlete short limbs at 34# for a 66" bow. like I said we just moved his Brace to a FULL 9" and the bow did seem to be alot more forgiving.
 
#8 ·
WARNINGS:
This is an exhaustive process but will eventually find "the" spot given your specific riser/limb/string/arrow/etc. combination.
This needs to be done at a pretty long distance as these slight changes will quite likely NOT be noticeable form 20 Yards/18 Meters. (For the typical KnotHead, 40 yards should work.)
***Sight in and then weep your sight set the same***
Always concentrating on keeping your form as repeatable as possible.



Start at the lower end of the manufacturers recommendation.
Shoot a dozen arrows and note the vertical position of each arrow, as well as the average or mean of the group.
Raise your brace-height 1/16" and shoot your arrows. Be sure to check your nocking point, since raising and lowering your brace-height could have an effect on your nocking point.
Repeat process raising your brace-height in 1/16" increments until you are at the maximum end of the recommended range.

What you are looking for is the point of maximum efficiency given your shooting style and equipment.

When you start at the lower end, the arrows hit consistently somewhere. Raising the brace height will cause the arrows hit a bit higher, and if you continue raising the brace-height until you find the point where you start to shoot lower. It is at the zenith of this curve that is "the" spot, because the energy-transfer from bow to arrow is at its optimum. But don’t stop when you hit the first zenith if you have not reached the "max" setting as there is usually two "sweet spots" as others have stated.



Let me know if you need me to make up an new strings...
I'll be at the church tonight (hopefully) making strings while the kids are busy shooting.
 
#9 ·
... . Raising the brace height will cause the arrows hit a bit higher, and if you continue raising the brace-height until you find the point where you start to shoot lower. It is at the zenith of this curve that is "the" spot, because the energy-transfer from bow to arrow is at its optimum. But don’t stop when you hit the first zenith if you have not reached the "max" setting as there is usually two "sweet spots" as others have stated.
.

...
I can understand the arrows going higher because the limbs have been stressed further at brace height as you shorten the string but do they actually go lower as you twist more? I would have thought that'd stress the limbs even more than before and cause the arrows to go even higher?

ps. I haven't tried this before and the above is a genuine question.
 
#10 ·
Another factor to consider is that the higher brace height shortens the distance over which the energy can be transferred to the arrow. A low brace height lengthens the power pulse. As usual, there's a balance to be achieved, a sweet spot.

Too low a brace height makes the shot too critical (a little string oscillation close to the riser will push the shot to the side or make it unstable.)
 
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