Practical definitions, starting numbers, and the how-to that goes with them. Written for Olympic recurve, barebow, and compound. Numbers are starting points, not rules. Your bow, your arrow, and your shot get the last word.
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Happy Tuneing
Happy Shooting
Do this before you chase groups
First-time recurve setup order
String the bow with a stringer. Never step through a recurve.
Check limb alignment, then set tiller.
Set brace height with string twists.
Tie the nocking point.
Set the rest so the shaft crosses the center of the plunger.
Set center shot.
Bare-shaft or walk-back tune. Then touch the sight.
Change one thing at a time. Write the number down. A bow that was shooting and then “got weird” is usually a brace height that moved, a loose rest, or a nock that no longer fits the serving.
Form
Anchor
The anchor is the repeatable place the drawing hand meets the face. It is a reference, not a decoration. Same place, every arrow, or the group moves up and down even when the sight has not.
Olympic recurve usually anchors under the jaw, with the string touching the chin and the nose, and a kisser or nose button as a second check. Barebow often uses a higher face anchor, or a string walk, because there is no sight to move. Compound releases anchor against the face or jaw with the release hand, not the fingers.
If the anchor drifts, fix that before you retune the bow. Tuning a moving anchor just hides the problem until the next session.
Arrows
Arrow spine
Spine is how much the shaft bends. A weak arrow bends more. A stiff arrow bends less. Recurve arrows have to bend to get around the riser, so spine is a tuning tool, not just a safety spec.
Static spine is the lab number: how far a shaft deflects under a set weight on a set span. That is the number on the chart. Dynamic spine is what the arrow does on your bow. Draw length, point weight, poundage on the fingers, and a stiff plunger all change it. A heavier point weakens dynamic spine. A lighter point stiffens it.
If the bare shaft
Recurve, right-handed
Try
Lands left of fletched
Weak
Stiffer shaft, lighter point, or a touch more plunger spring
Lands right of fletched
Stiff
Weaker shaft, heavier point, or less plunger spring
Lands with the fletched
Close
Leave it and tune the sight
Left-handed is the mirror. Charts get you in the bin. Bare shafts tell you if you picked the right shaft out of that bin. Our arrow and vane notes live at arrows and vanes.
Fit
ATA standard draw length
ATA standard draw length is the industry way to label draw length so a thick riser and a thin riser do not lie about the number.
Measure draw length to the pivot point: the distance from the string at the nock, at full draw, to a vertical line through the throat of the grip. Add 1 3/4 inches. That extra 1 3/4 inches is the old average from the back of the bow to the pivot point. Manufacturers mark compound cams and talk about recurve draw length with this ATA number.
ATA draw length = distance to the pivot point + 1 3/4 inches.
Your arrow length is not your draw length. A clicker shooter often runs the clicker past the point, so the arrow can be longer than the ATA number. A compound shooter should set the cam to the ATA draw that puts the release anchor on the face without creeping or overdrawing.
Style
Barebow
Barebow, in World Archery target, is a recurve with no sight, no stabilizer, no clicker, and no draw check that marks the face. Weights in the riser are allowed inside the rules. The aiming reference is the arrow point, a gap, or the string picture, not a pin.
Distance changes are made with a crawl or a face walk, not by moving a sight. That is why barebow tune is picky about nocking-point height and why a very high crawl can need a different tiller or a higher nocking point than Olympic recurve.
Our collected barebow numbers are at barebow statistics. If that sheet is from 2020, label it with the year so a new archer does not treat it as this season’s results.
Setup
Brace height
Brace height is the distance from the pivot point of the grip to the string, bow strung, at rest. It is how far the string sits off the bow before you draw.
Adjust it by adding or removing twists in the string, with the bow unstrung. Add twists and brace height goes up. Remove twists and it goes down. Do this on a stringer. Do not twist a strung string and hope.
Measure from the throat of the grip to the string. A brace-height gauge is faster than a tape.
Bow
Typical starting window
Modern target recurve, 66–70 in
About 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 in. Many 68 in bows like the middle of that.
Shorter hunting recurve
Often lower. Read the limb label before you guess.
Compound
Set by the cams and cables. Do not “fix” it with random twists. Follow the spec.
Too low and the string slaps the arm and the bow gets loud. Too high and the bow can feel harsh and lose a little speed. Move in quarter-inch steps, shoot, and listen. On a Hoyt Formula XD with Axia limbs we have run about 9 inches, measured to the inside of the string, with the string built long enough that it only needs twists to come back to that number after it stretches.
Center shot is where the arrow sits left to right in the bow. On a recurve it is set with the plunger. The rest only holds the arrow up. The plunger decides the side position.
Starting point we use: nock an arrow, look down the string, and put the plunger in the center of the shaft. Move the rest up or down until the shaft crosses the middle of the button. Then set the button in or out until the shaft is on the center you want.
A parallel shaft can start on center. A barreled shaft, thicker in the middle, often starts slightly outside center so the nodes line up at full draw, not just at brace. That is a fine tune, not the first knob to grab. Get the button on the middle of the shaft first.
A clicker is a draw-length check. It is a blade on the sight window, or a magnetic clicker on the string, that snaps when the point passes it. The snap is the signal to finish the shot. It is not a training wheel and it is not required to shoot well.
Set it so it falls at full draw, with the shoulder down and the anchor locked, not an inch before you are finished expanding. If you have to creep to make it click, the clicker is too short or the arrow is too long. If you collapse to get through it, the draw weight is too high.
Style
Compound
A compound uses cams and cables so the peak weight is at mid-draw and the holding weight is lower. That let-off is why the wall and the valley matter. You do not hold peak weight the way a recurve shooter does.
Even tiller is the normal start. Brace height and draw length belong to the cam, the cables, and the module or the ATA mark, not to a handful of string twists. Twists change timing. If the cams are out of time, fix timing before you paper-tune.
A peep, a D-loop, and a release are part of the system. Finger-shooting a modern high-let-off compound is a different setup and a different risk. Do not dry-fire either kind.
Barebow
Crawl
A crawl is how far the tab sits below the nocking point. Deeper crawl points the arrow up and is the barebow way to shoot a longer distance without a sight. A face walk moves the anchor instead of the fingers.
Mark the tab. Guessing the crawl between ends is how a barebow group turns into two groups. A very deep crawl loads the string below the nock, which is one reason some barebow archers run a different nocking-point height than an Olympic recurve archer on the same bow.
Gear
Dampeners
A dampener is a weight or a rubber piece whose job is to eat vibration after the shot. It does not make a badly tuned bow accurate. It can make a loud bow quieter and a harsh bow easier to shoot for a long line.
Limb dampeners, a heavier long rod, and a damper on the string are different tools. Add one, shoot, and decide. Stacking three at once only tells you that something changed.
Our test sheet is at dampener data. Put a date and a one-line method above the embed: what bow, what was added, what you listened for.
Fit
Draw weight
Draw weight is the force at your draw length, not the number printed on the limb. A limb marked 34 pounds is 34 pounds at the standard draw, usually 28 inches ATA. Pull past that and the recurve keeps getting heavier. Stop short and it is lighter.
On ILF bows the limb bolts change weight, a few pounds across the safe range. Turn them evenly unless you are setting tiller. Do not back a bolt out past the maker’s mark. The limb can leave the pocket.
If the clicker will not come, the sight window is shaking, or you cannot hold the expand for a full end, the bow is too heavy. Drop weight. Form comes back faster than a shoulder does.
A dry fire is letting the string go with no arrow on it. The bow has nowhere to put the energy. Limbs, cams, and strings break. People get hit. Do not do it to “hear the bow” or to demonstrate let-off.
If a bow has been dry-fired, unstring it and have someone who works on bows look at the limbs and the riser before it is shot again. A cracked limb does not owe you a warning shot.
Arrows
FOC
FOC is front of center. It is how far the balance point of a finished arrow sits ahead of the shaft’s midpoint, as a percent of arrow length.
Balance the finished arrow, with point and nock on. Measure from the throat of the nock to the balance point, subtract half the arrow length, divide by the full arrow length, and multiply by 100. Target arrows often land around 7 to 15 percent. A heavier point raises FOC and weakens dynamic spine. That is the trade.
Gear
ILF and Formula
ILF is International Limb Fitting. The dovetail on the limb slips into a pocket on the riser and a bolt holds it. Most target brands share it, so limbs and risers mix. They do not all feel the same. Alignment, tiller range, and the actual poundage still have to be checked on the riser you shoot.
Formula is Hoyt’s own fit. Formula limbs do not go in an ILF pocket, and ILF limbs do not go on a Formula riser. Same idea, different hardware.
Limb alignment is whether the limbs sit in the same plane as the riser. A limb tipped left or right sends the string off center and fights the plunger.
String the bow. Look down the string from the limb tip. The string should run down the center of the limb and the center of the riser bolts. Adjust the pocket shims or the alignment screws the maker gave you. Do this before center shot. A plunger cannot fix a crooked limb.
The nocking point is the stop on the serving that sets the arrow’s height on the string. Tie it on. A brass ring works. A tied serving ring works. Tape does not, once the string starts to move.
Start with a bow square. A common Olympic recurve start is the bottom of the top nock about 3/16 to 1/2 inch above square, then a second tie under the nock so the arrow cannot slide. Bare shafts that hit high mean the nocking point is too low. Bare shafts that hit low mean it is too high. Move it a little.
People spell it nocking, not knocking. The nock is the plastic on the arrow. The nocking point is on the string.
The nock has to snap on the serving and come off clean. Too loose and the arrow can fall off the string, or leave early. Too tight and it can lift off the rest or tear the serving.
Test: hang the arrow on the string. It should stay. Tap the string. It should leave. If you changed serving size, recheck every set of nocks. A nock that fit last season’s string may not fit this one.
Olympic recurve, or World Archery recurve, is a recurve shot with a sight, a stabilizer, a clicker, and a finger tab. One anchor, one crawl of zero, distance changes made on the sight scale.
The setup order on this page is the Olympic order. Barebow skips the sight, the clicker, and the long rod, and adds a crawl. The bow underneath can be the same riser.
Setup
Plunger
The plunger, or button, is the spring-loaded pin in the sight window. It does two jobs. Position sets center shot. Spring tension decides how hard the arrow can push sideways as it bends past the riser.
Start with a middle spring. Stiffen it if a bare shaft shows weak and you do not want to change the point. Soften it if the bare shaft shows stiff. Do not use the plunger to fix a nocking point. High and low tears are usually the nocking point. Left and right are the button, the spine, or the release.
Point weight is a tuning weight. Heavier point, weaker dynamic spine, more FOC. Break-off points let you change grain without a new shaft. On our 4mm points, one break-off is a step down in grain. Match the point size to the outside diameter of the shaft. If you are between sizes, use the larger point so the point covers the shaft wall, not the other way around.
Install with hot melt on a clean shaft. Heat the melt, not the carbon, for more than a few seconds. Seat the point with a twist, stand the arrow on the point, and let it cool. Do not quench it. The full method is on the 4mm point page.
Risers
Reflex and deflex
Reflex and deflex describe the geometry of the riser, not a feeling.
Draw a line between the pivot points of the two limb pockets. Look at the throat of the grip.
Throat in front of that line, toward the target: deflex. Brace height tends to be higher. The bow is usually more forgiving.
Throat behind that line, toward the string: reflex. Brace height tends to be shorter. The bow is usually quicker.
Green is in front of the pocket line. Brass is behind it. “Usually” is doing a lot of work. Geometry is not a promise.
A deflex riser is not automatically easier, and a reflex riser is not automatically faster once the arrow, the brace height, and the shooter are in the mix. Use the geometry to compare risers. Use the target to pick one.
Setup
Rest
On a finger-shot recurve the rest is a shelf for the arrow, not the thing that aims it. A simple wire or a plastic launcher is enough. Set its height so the shaft crosses the center of the plunger. If the rest is too high, the arrow rides above the button and the plunger never does its job.
Compound rests are a different part: a launcher that drops, or a blade. Time those to the bow. Do not put a drop-away manual on a recurve and expect the plunger tune to survive.
String
Serving
Serving is the wrapped thread on the center of the string, and at the loops. The center serving is what the tab and the nock touch. Its diameter is the nock fit. Change serving size and you change every nock in the quiver.
Replace a serving that is cut, glazed, or separating. A nock that suddenly fits loose is often a serving that has crushed, not a bad batch of nocks.
Olympic recurve
Sight
The sight is a reference in space. Windage is left and right. Elevation is up and down. Move the aperture the way the arrow missed: arrow left, move the aperture left, for a target sight. Then leave it alone until the bow is tuned.
A sight will not fix a nocking point. If you are chasing elevation every end, check the anchor and the clicker before you blame the sight block.
Gear
Stabilizer
A stabilizer is a weight on a rod. The long rod adds inertia so the bow jumps less on the shot and holds steadier in the wind. Side rods, or a V-bar, balance the sight and the long rod so the bow does not cant in the hand.
Start with the long rod alone. Add side weight only after the bow wants to twist. More weight is not more accuracy. It is more to hold up for 72 arrows.
String
String
A recurve string is a set of strands with loops, built to a brace height, then twisted to fine-tune that height. More twists, higher brace, up to the point the string gets fat and lazy. A new string stretches. Build it so the stretch lands on the brace height you want, then add twists to come back. We often end around 30 twists because the string was made long enough to need only that.
Strand count follows the material and the poundage. Too few strands and the nock fit gets odd and the string wears. Too many and the bow slows down. Match the maker’s chart for that material.
Compound strings are a system with the cables. Replacing one without checking cam timing is how a compound goes out of tune in an afternoon.
Safety
Stringer
Use a bow stringer. A step-through or a push-pull against the leg is how limb tips get twisted and how people get a string in the face. An adjustable stringer with a limb-tip pocket is the right tool for most recurves, including shorter bows and archers who cannot muscle a fixed stringer.
Our adjustable stringer fits most bows from about 40 to 74 inches. The XL fits about 45 to 86 inches. Leather pocket, back-stitched. That is the one we make because the cheap cord version walks off the tip.
Setup
Tiller
Tiller is the difference between the top limb-to-string gap and the bottom limb-to-string gap. Measure at the base of each limb, where the limb meets the riser, at a right angle to the string. On a single-cam compound, measure from a line through the axles, not by eye.
Positive tiller means the top gap is larger. The bottom limb is slightly closer to the string.
The job of tiller is to make the bow hold on aim through the draw and the release. It is not a group-size knob.
Bow
Start
Finger recurve
Positive 1/8 to 1/4 in. Bottom gap shorter than the top, because three fingers sit mostly under the arrow.
Compound
Even. Top gap equals bottom gap.
Barebow with a deep crawl
Often less positive than Olympic, sometimes even. Test it.
Adjust with the limb bolts. Too much tiller on the bottom: take weight off the top limb, or add weight on the bottom. Most makers want you to start even, then add the positive you need. We have shot 1/8 inch positive on a Formula XD, top at 7 2/8 and bottom at 7 even, measured to the inside of the string.
Fletching steers the back of the arrow once the point has started the shaft moving. Feathers are lighter and forgive a rest contact. Plastic vanes are tougher in rain and last longer on a target bale.
Three fletch is the normal target setup. A little offset or helical helps a barebow arrow clear a crawl. More helical is not more accurate if the vane hits the rest. If you are tearing vanes, fix the rest height or the nock rotation before you buy a stiffer vane.
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Shop data
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