[ColoradoNick]

How many people here have been fitted by a coach/shop for proper draw length vs. arm span divided 2.5 and just rolling with it? Were you shorter or longer? My proper draw length is exactly an inch shorter than my arm span divided by 2.5

I'm new to archery and found that to be odd based on reading about finding your correct draw length. I do have pretty narrow shoulders though. Wondering where I fit in vs everyone else.

 

[rockyw]

My arm span is 67.5" so thats 27". I shoot 28" with every bow I ever owned for 3D. Maybe for hunting only I might want my arm bent more but for 3D 28" is perfect.

 

[nele22]

Mine is 70" which is 28. I went with 27". It is just more comfortable and I shoot the best that way.

 

[djm029]

The arm span method is tough due to the fact that it takes into account finger length. For this reason it may be inaccurate for many. I like measuring from wrist to opposite chest pocket to get an idea

 

[ArcherXXX300]

I come out to 28.25" I'm shooting 28 5/8" AMO DL right now. I'm still not sure on DL even though that is where Larry Wise put me at in coaching.

The divide by 2.5 is just a starting point, when you get into serious shooting/target you tweak DL within an 1/8" minimum, whatever nets the best hold/form/scores/grouping etc.

 

[Dale_B1]

Measuring arm span does only one thing------it gets you into the "ballpark" for draw length. That does not mean that is the length the bow will be adjusted to according to the bow company. Bottom line is you adjust the bow to the person not some number you come up with in wing span.
You can have three different bows like I do and the draw length according to each company is different but they all feel exactly the same.

 

[big cypress]

span of 75 , draw of 29

 

[ron w]

it's incredible, how many times we have to go through this.
the wingspan method is based on "anthropometric proportion". a set of rules based on the condition that the "average" human body has specific measurements of balanced proportion. one of those balanced proportions, is that your wing span is the same as your height. if you happen to fall with this proportion, the wingspan method will be very close to your ideal draw length. if you don't, it will be close, either short or long, by the same percentage that your wingspan is either short or long, compared to your height. very few people fall into this category of equal proportion. that is why the wingspan method is considered only a "starting point" , or a "ball park measurement".
I am one of those who do fall into this category of equal proportion and my wingspan measurement /2.5 is 27.26"....my perfect draw length happens to be 27-5/16, or 27.3125".... very close to the same measurement.
if you've seen the drawing of a human body, spread eagle inside a circle, that drawing is the symbol of anthropometric proportion, established by Leonardo Da Vince, a long time ago. it's content is still used today, to design anything that has to do with the human body, fitting a design.

 

[Dale_B1]

it's incredible, how many times we have to go through this.
the wingspan method is based on "anthropometric proportion". a set of rules based on the condition that the "average" human body has specific measurements of balanced proportion. one of those balanced proportions, is that your wing span is the same as your height. if you happen to fall with this proportion, the wingspan method will be very close to your ideal draw length. if you don't, it will be close, either short or long, by the same percentage that your wingspan is either short or long, compared to your height. very few people fall into this category of equal proportion. that is why the wingspan method is considered only a "starting point" , or a "ball park measurement".
I am one of those who do fall into this category of equal proportion and my wingspan measurement /2.5 is 27.26"....my perfect draw length happens to be 27-5/16, or 27.3125".... very close to the same measurement.
if you've seen the drawing of a human body, spread eagle inside a circle, that drawing is the symbol of anthropometric proportion, established by Leonardo Da Vince, a long time ago. it's content is still used today, to design anything that has to do with the human body, fitting a design.

There is another very important part of this that people tend to forget when setting a draw length on a bow. All bows are NOT designed equally. Thus the thing I said you end up setting a bow physically to the person not some number.

 

[ArcherXXX300]

it's incredible, how many times we have to go through this.
the wingspan method is based on "anthropometric proportion". a set of rules based on the condition that the "average" human body has specific measurements of balanced proportion. one of those balanced proportions, is that your wing span is the same as your height. if you happen to fall with this proportion, the wingspan method will be very close to your ideal draw length. if you don't, it will be close, either short or long, by the same percentage that your wingspan is either short or long, compared to your height. very few people fall into this category of equal proportion. that is why the wingspan method is considered only a "starting point" , or a "ball park measurement".
I am one of those who do fall into this category of equal proportion and my wingspan measurement /2.5 is 27.26"....my perfect draw length happens to be 27-5/16, or 27.3125".... very close to the same measurement.
if you've seen the drawing of a human body, spread eagle inside a circle, that drawing is the symbol of anthropometric proportion, established by Leonardo Da Vince, a long time ago. it's content is still used today, to design anything that has to do with the human body, fitting a design.

Very interesting....I'm 5' 11" and my wing span is 5.885Ft or 70.625"...yet Larry Wise put me at 28 5/8" AMO DL. Very true about different bows fitting differently. I'm still not 100% on DL yet.

 

[ron w]

3/8 isn't all that much difference , when you consider that the wing span/2.5 method is only a starting point to get your bow in the ball park. so many factors come into play for the final fit, that it's impossible to use it for anything but a rough idea. if that 28-5/8 has your anchor in a good position and you're not stretched out tight or leaning back, then g with it. you may find that you need to make a few small changes either way after you shoot for a while.
the main factor in deciding when are where you should be, is how well developed your release execution is. the better it is developed, the more critical the correct draw length will be in respect to how well the draw length lets your release execution run. people with very well developed and ingrained release executions, will be sensitive to as little as a twist or two, of the bow string.

 

[bfisher]

3/8 isn't all that much difference , when you consider that the wing span/2.5 method is only a starting point to get your bow in the ball park. so many factors come into play for the final fit, that it's impossible to use it for anything but a rough idea. if that 28-5/8 has your anchor in a good position and you're not stretched out tight or leaning back, then g with it. you may find that you need to make a few small changes either way after you shoot for a while.
the main factor in deciding when are where you should be, is how well developed your release execution is. the better it is developed, the more critical the correct draw length will be in respect to how well the draw length lets your release execution run. people with very well developed and ingrained release executions, will be sensitive to as little as a twist or two, of the bow string.

I must be one of those individuals. I've shortened my draw about 1 1/2" over the last 40 years and take the time to tweak the heck out of my draw. It does change a little from bow to bow but not much. I had two Martin Nemisis set up exactly the same---almost. One was 26 3/4" and one was 26 13/16". There may be other factors involved, but my shooting showed that 26 3/4 is almost perfect for me. The one with 26 13/16", although I can't feel a difference, just doesn't shoot with the same consistency. Not much different, but enough that it shows up down range.

 

[SonnyThomas]

Well, Dale and ron have pretty much nailed it down. Change your release and draw length can be effected. Formulas are ball park like noted, give a number start with. Some people can feel a 1/8" too long or too shorter. One person noted he could feel .040" off.

 

[rockyw]

One person noted he could feel .040" off.

No way can someone feel that little of a difference. Given a blind test it would be "hope I guess the right one". Anyone that says that I'm sure can shoot 4" groups at 100 yards and uses the same pin for zero to 40 yards with no drop. It's an old tune when you been around archery for a long time.

 

[bfisher]

No way can someone feel that little of a difference. Given a blind test it would be "hope I guess the right one". Anyone that says that I'm sure can shoot 4" groups at 100 yards and uses the same pin for zero to 40 yards with no drop. It's an old tune when you been around archery for a long time.

Hope you weren't referring to me when saying .040. I said 1/16 which is .0625 and I didn't say I could feel or detect it. Just that I could tell the difference down range---how my arrows grouped.

 

[rockyw]

I was referring to the post above, just sounded ridicules. Didnt mean to offend.

Well, Dale and ron have pretty much nailed it down. Change your release and draw length can be effected. Formulas are ball park like noted, give a number start with. Some people can feel a 1/8" too long or too shorter. One person noted he could feel .040" off.

 

[Dale_B1]

I must be one of those individuals. I've shortened my draw about 1 1/2" over the last 40 years and take the time to tweak the heck out of my draw. It does change a little from bow to bow but not much. I had two Martin Nemisis set up exactly the same---almost. One was 26 3/4" and one was 26 13/16". There may be other factors involved, but my shooting showed that 26 3/4 is almost perfect for me. The one with 26 13/16", although I can't feel a difference, just doesn't shoot with the same consistency. Not much different, but enough that it shows up down range.

I'm betting it was the difference in the bows more than that very slight difference in draw length. Even having the same bows and same acc. they are different and can be enough they will set up differently in length. I've seen that happen more than once. But I will have to say that the "average" shooter will rarely know or see a difference at less than a 1/2" draw difference------, so on the short side than the long side.

 

[stehawk]

No way can someone feel that little of a difference. Given a blind test it would be "hope I guess the right one". Anyone that says that I'm sure can shoot 4" groups at 100 yards and uses the same pin for zero to 40 yards with no drop. It's an old tune when you been around archery for a long time.

I didn't think so either until I ran into a guy named "%$#^". After a new set of strings "%$#^" said his draw felt short. He wanted to untwist the shooting string and make it longer. I took 3 twist outa his shooting string. He said it was perfect. Me---I woulnd't have known the difference but now I wonder about his ability to feel his draw length.:wink:

 

[ron w]

No way can someone feel that little of a difference. Given a blind test it would be "hope I guess the right one". Anyone that says that I'm sure can shoot 4" groups at 100 yards and uses the same pin for zero to 40 yards with no drop. It's an old tune when you been around archery for a long time.

when I was shooting competitively and on top of my game, I could notice one twist's difference, in my draw length, by how my release execution ran. granted my execution was very well developed after almost 30 years of shooting a hinge, at that time, bit I could notice that small a difference. one twist,..... how much does that change the length of a string ?....not much.
what you don't realize is that your body is extremely exact in it's control through subconscious process, in respect to "the feel", of the activity being controlled, when you do things like that on a repeated basis.
I spent 35 years working in the papermills doing millwright work, mostly precision shaft alignment. I got to the point that I could grab a piece of shim stock and feel if it was .003, or .005 as soon as I grabbed it. I regularly proved it, to guys when they'd call me on it. I could grab just about any piece of shimstock and tell them what thickness it was by feel and when they checked it with a mic',.... I wasn't wrong very often..
some people are just built that way and have that natural ability. it's almost like they are "more aware" of what they are doing, than others are. in my own wood shop, when working on the table saw, i'll slide the fence over to where I think it should be for a particular cut, lock it down and the check the measurement, and it's usually so close that I have to look real closely to see of it is "right on", or not. ive been able to all that sort of thing all my life, I can't even say that I remember just when I started being able to do it simply from experience....I was just able to do it, as far back as I can remember putzing around, as kid, in my dad's, shop as well..
in 3d, I regularly helped setting up the courses and i would simply take a quick glance at the shot, from one of the stakes and declare a yardage, then they'd take a rangefinder shot from the same stake . I was usually always within a yard or so, for a whole 28 station course, when I would estimate to the 1/2 yard. it got to be sort of a game, they would ask me to come along as a "beer challenge", to see of I was just lucky, or whether I could actually do it consistently. very seldom, did I buy them a beer when we got back to the clubhouse.

 

[SonnyThomas]

Well, Dale and ron have pretty much nailed it down. Change your release and draw length can be effected. Formulas are ball park like noted, give a number start with. Some people can feel a 1/8" too long or too shorter. One person noted he could feel .040" off.

No way can someone feel that little of a difference. Given a blind test it would be "hope I guess the right one". Anyone that says that I'm sure can shoot 4" groups at 100 yards and uses the same pin for zero to 40 yards with no drop. It's an old tune when you been around archery for a long time.

I noted the .040" just because of the person saying so and he is quite a good shot. I can't detect .040", but can 1/8" too long or too short and not that I couldn't live with either, just that it feels different, wrong, after having it "right" for so long. I've had bows that were set exacting to 28 1/4", but one felt right and the other short. The one that felt right had a ata of 41 1/2". The one that feels short has a ata of 40 1/4".