If your draw is under 28” go with a 60-62 inch recurve. If it’s over 28” go with a 64-66inch recurve. Keep your weight under 40 pounds until you learn form. I would personally buy a bow that you can also buy limbs for so that you can work your draw weight up. So ILF is a great option for that. The samick sage is also the most recommended starter bow, and you can buy new limbs for that as well. That’s my opinion anyway.

 

Black Hunter, (Mandarin Duck). There is no better bang for buck, I believe. Many long time archers like myself cherish them.

Get it at 30lb, no matter how strong you think you are. On this bow develop good form, and grab 35lb limbs for it once you have that form. You will need to be able to pull and hold the bow that you shoot, no shakes, for at least 30seconds, with ease, no stress. If you cannot you are overbowed, and so need to strength train with it (no arrows) until you can. No shortcuts on that one, I'm afraid!

I've seen an 80lb compound shooter straining at just 5 seconds with my 50lb bow. They would barely hold 40lb stable at 30s. Trad kit requires a different kind of strength - endurance and muscle stability. It's closer to weight lifting than with compound, which is more short burst explosive (like hoisting something up onto a platform).

IMO as your first trad bow, you might find out that you do not even like trad. For this reason you might invest in a decent ILF later, or go full single piece wood bow, once you know what you want and like.

Many ways to the same place of course. Bow aside, the golden rule is to start light and develop good form. This will accelerate your progress, saving you bad habits very difficult to undo later.

 

Listen to this! I did it backwards and shot 45 and 50lb bows until I finally decided I wanted to shoot properly with good form. I just recently got a 30lb black hunter for $100 new. I wish I had got the 25lb to be honest, you can't learn proper form if you are straining and can't hold at full draw for a long time.

 

I know shorter bows are convenient but you can’t beat the smoothness and performance of a long 64-66” bow. That being said my draw is nearly 32”.

 

What Remote SAID
I know I've not many posts here but I've shot trad for 40 plus years, shown many how to shoot instinctive and seen many "fail" and it was ALWAYS due to TOO HEAVY a bow coupled with being IN A HURRY.

You can't be a great basketball shot in a week and won't be a good trad shot in a week either......but you will be if you just concentrate and trust your body and you concentrate on "ONE SPOT" on the target. Nothing else.
It WILL happen.

You CAN learn to "walk the string" and lots do......but I am BEGGING HERE to at least TRY......NOT LOOKING at the arrow.
Yes......you will "see it". It's in front of your face but IGNORE IT.......look at ONE TINY SPOT.
Start at 10 yards. Stay there till you think you can "light a match" (figurately speaking, lol). Then back up to 15.
There is no rush.

Not on subject but while not shooting trad anymore, due to health and age (dang it all) I still shoot barebow.....still the same form, still the same anchor........with a compound.
Yes I'm deadly....(brag, brag, brag......lol. Sue me. LOL)

Once you learn to let it happen it will STAY WITH YOU and/ or come back with little effort and time your entire life.

The Black Hunter (MINE was the longbow version) is the bow I WOULD STILL be shooting if I was till able to shoot trad....but I am not. I just sold two of them and hated it but hated seeing them sit more.
Limbs are available and cheap.
Take your time. You will love it.
Experiment. Try things. Your way will be your best way.

God Bless you and yours.
Even those that are "poo-pooing" my thoughts"

OH......one more thing? IF YOU ARE SERIOUS. Start after season if you are a hunter.......and put the wheel bow DOWN. Do not pick it up again. One mind set will be the fastest. It can be done switching back and forth, but it's tough. Very tough. You could do it......I could not. 2 cents

SORRY FOR THE RANT.

 

If I had to start at the begaining. I think I would have started with an ilf riser. Probably a Das 17(personal preference) .. it would have allowed me to try different grips, different limbs, different weights, limb styles, lengths, regular vs super curve..almost endless possibilities and I probably would have started at a lighter weight and worked on developing good shooting habits from The start….

 

Everyone says to not start with too heavy of a bow, and I agree. I started with a 55# bow and went down to 35# because I knew I needed lighter to be able to learn to shoot better.

Though I personally think that’s somewhat overstated. We even have someone here (mg1) who started with somewhere around a 65# recurve and he’s responsive to everyone’s suggestions here regarding his form and has shown good improvement.

And I went directly from my 35# to a 50#. I can’t easily hold it for 30 seconds like everyone says but I feel comfortable enough shooting it and can work on form issues when I want. And if I’m needing to check something with ease I can just use my 35# or my daughter’s 22#.

I’m not meaning to correct anyone here who knows more than I do. I’m far from a pro. I enjoy shooting traditional and appreciate the core, arm, and shoulder exercise. I’m simply meaning to say that you can make progress and improve and enjoy yourself without careful attention to a regimen. But if you like the regimen then go for it

 

I agree with the starting with a cheaper bow because you don't know if you will like it, or exactly what you want.

I would say start with 30-35 lbs, then go to 45 , and then maybe 50-55. A lower weight bow will help with form , I started with a 50 lb and it was a little tough at first, but not As bad as some make it out to be. But, I am strictly a 20 and in hunter and have zero interest in shooting an animal at 21, so my form doesn't handicap me as bad as it would if I needed more range. I am almost 2 years in and still have a lot to learn. It is not easy by any means but it is also completely worth it.

 

This is only my opinion. My opinion is contrary to most. My opinion is not naive though. I have 56 years of archery experience. I have shot longbows, recurves, compound bows, and crossbows. My opinion is not valid for those with the ultimate goal of extreme accuracy and repeatable perfect rigid statue-like form for archery game competitions. My opinion will work fine for many who just want to have easy laidback archery fun shooting non-competitively at outdoor ranges, shooting in the back yard, roving/stump shooting, bowhunting, and bowfishing with adequate enough shooting form and accuracy. I would suggest that you pick out a 64 inch long (nock-to-nock) 45-pound draw weight single-piece wood/fiberglass longbow or recurve mainly based on aesthetics (the bow which most excites and turns you on visually). Then marry that bow. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and shoot some more while having fun doing it. You will surprisingly quickly build up your strength to handle that weight unless you are unusually weak or old. You might not have perfect form. But wasting a lot of less fun time perfecting your form is not at all necessary. For many perfecting forms has become an unnecessary archery game within itself. That will be a good enough bow for the rest of your life. If bowhunting is your main objective, then there are benefits to later upgrading to a 50 to 55 lb. bow. There seem to be diminishing returns for increasing draw weight much above 55 lb. and particularly relatively few benefits to exceeding a 60 to 65 lb. draw weight bow. Otherwise, the only reason to change will be for fun. Most of us do change and own many bows just for fun. I currently own 13 bows. In my opinion a 45-pound one-piece bow would be an excellent starting bow. Again, just my opinion.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I want to go the ILF route just based on the modularity of the system, plus I like to tinker. I also like the looks of them.
what brands should I look at and what riser length and why?

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I want to go the ILF route just based on the modularity of the system, plus I like to tinker. I also like the looks of them.
what brands should I look at and what riser length and why?

After shooting mine for a while, I can recommend the Farmington Atlas riser and Black Max 2.0 limbs. It's a budget set up that shoots extremely well. I use a springy rest from Safari Tuff with this one.

The riser I picked up open box from eBay, limbs were used. Even full priced it's still a good buy.

 

Outlaw - I'm going to give you an honest answer: If you don't know the difference between an ILF bow and a "normal" recurve, you're not even close to be able to tune a bow. At the top of the Traditional archery forum banner you'll see "So you want to get into archery?". It is a good first step. Regardless of your ultimate goal in archery, good advice is to go long and go light. Eventually, you can find a bow more specific to your needs/ style.

 

i should have stated very knowledgeable with tuning A compound. I know what a weak and stiff tear is and all the different steps to clean that up.
appreciate the feed back. Just watched some videos on the different riser/attachment methods. Didn’t even know there was a DAS system. Like I said I’m new to the TRAD world looking from the outside in. Just not new to tuning/compound world.

 

Outlaw - okay on compound. Some things might carry over from your experience with compound bows. I have very little experience with compounds, so I can't say for sure. We can't be too specific here, because we don't know much about you or your goals, but a healthy adult male, learning to shoot a recurve (ILF or more "traditional") should think about 26-30# draw weight and a 66 or 68 inch bow. Keep in mind actual draw length (on a recurve) can really change the equation.

 

Compound experience only counts if you were using fingers not a release. Don't bother trying to paper tune.

 

Black Hunter longbow period. If you spend more it's your ego talking.