Ask The Experts
As usual, we always welcome your questions. Send them in to the editor
Firstly, take a pause and decide why you want to change your grip. What is it about your current grip that you feel is wrong?
The grip is an integral part of the geometry of your bow and any uninformed changes can do more damage than good. The main reason that most archers look to change their grip is to rectify the feel of the grip in the hand or to reduce rubbing and sore marks. In many cases this is down to poor hand positioning and these should be addressed first.
If you look at the grips used by most top archers you will see some level of modification, this is down to the fact that we are all different and one size or shape does not fit everyone. But the modifications are usually done by their coaches so they complement their shooting form.
Before venturing on the path of modification some manufacturers do offer different grip shapes, in particular to address the desire for archers to shoot with a low, medium or a high pressure point; they might still not be perfect, but they may reduce the amount of modification required.
When modifying your grip it is important to not to modify or change the throat of the grip, this is an important balance point and changing it can create many problems, especially stability and the reaction of the shot, in most cases resulting in bigger groups.
By far the most popular material used to modify a grip is Milliput (two part epoxy putty); however this is a permanent solution. Sugru is another alternative. For temporary solutions it will depend on what you are trying to achieve. Rubberised tennis grip tape is great to stop slippage of the hand on the grip, although if you experience this then first you should check your hand position. In the past top archers used to check the torque they were creating on the riser by making the grip more slippery, by coating the grip in washing-up liquid and then shooting, whilst checking the positioning of the hand so it did not slip.
In the context of this question we will solely look at how we change the angle of the hand and wrist, so we are only concerned with the contact of the fleshy part below the thumb. My preferred temporary solution involves tennis grip tape and aluminium foil – the type of aluminium foil used to cover the Christmas turkey – as this can be easily folded, layered up and positioned exactly on the grip and fixed in place with a strip of insulation tape and finished off with the grip tape. Flattened foil does not move or depress, so it gives you a solid base to evaluate your hand position. Changing it is easy, just unwrap the tape and add or remove foil strips. I prefer foil strips (or folded strips to speed up the process) but other materials can be used, making sure that the material chosen does not move or compress under pressure.
Once you have established the best position you could secure the tape to make it more permanent, or take the plunge and replicate it with Milliput or similar.
Generally speaking a long axle compound bow, one which is 40 plus inches in length, has always been considered perfect for target archery; it is stable and holds well on the target, making it the ideal choice for serious tournament archers. Shorter compound bows, those that are less than 35 inches in length have usually been aimed more at the hunting market as they are lighter and more maneuverable. Several years ago much of the axle to axle length was made up by the limbs, with the riser being comparatively short, but compound bows have evolved a lot over the last ten or fifteen years; limbs have got shorter and risers have grown in length. This has allowed bow designers to go to new extremes when it comes to axle length, meaning you can now get the same stability from a much shorter bow. As limbs evolved further they became more parallel, some sitting almost at 90 degrees to the riser, this made compound bows quieter and reduced the amount of hand shock the archer felt on release. It also further reduced the axle to axle length, now you can have a very long, stable riser but still achieve a relatively short axle length, something previously unheard of.
The axle to axle length of a bow affects more than just its stability; it also dictates your string angle at full draw. A longer axle bow will have a shallower string angle than a shorter one, which can make it easier to find a comfortable anchor point at full draw, although this is very dependent on draw length. If you have a very long draw length you may find it difficult to comfortably shoot a short axle bow due to the steep string angle, just as an archer with a short draw length may struggle with a long axle to axle length. A lot of how a bow feels to shoot is down to personal preference and length plays a key part in this, finding a comfortable string angle for your draw length is important when selecting a bow, possibly more so than trying to stick to a set idea of what a perfect axle to axle length is for your particular discipline. Other factors such as cam size and limb profile will also affect the string angle and therefore the overall comfort of the bow, so you need to look at the whole picture not just the length of the bow.
Fashions in archery come and go and as technologies and manufacturing techniques
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES A BOW’S AXLE-TO-AXLE LENGTH REALLY MAKE? CAN SOMEONE USE A 35 INCH AXLE TO AXLE BOW TO SHOOT 50M TARGET WITH THE TECHNOLOGY THEY ARE PUTTING INTO THE LATEST BOWS, OR IS IT STILL BETTER TO BE 37 INCHES AND LONGER –
OR IS IT PERSONAL PREFERENCE?
move on so will the design of compound bows. The constant search for more accuracy or an easier to tune bow will continue to drive the industry and the current design of compounds will evolve accordingly, so find a design that suits you, not previous ideals or current trends.