Buying Archery Equipment

The most common question we hear from new archers is about buying archery equipment and this is a very dangerous area. I’ve seen this a lot on social media groups – someone signs up for a beginners course and wants to buy equipment for it but this is totally the WRONG thing to do. Let me explain.

Firstly, your beginners course (and this is definitely something that should be done before ANYONE shoots an arrow) will be held at an insured site and run by Archery GB qualified coaches. You will be instructed in archery safety, taught how to hold the bow correctly and more importantly, how to shoot safely. The course will usually run over several sessions and will (should) total at least 9 hours and best of all, you will be given equipment to use for the course.

Next, once you have passed the course, there is usually an option to either borrow equipment from the club or rent it. This is a good idea. During the beginners course, you would have been using a low poundage bow (possibly around 16-18lbs for adult male) and your post-beginners bow will likely be around 20-22lbs. The danger is that you go to a show (or go online) and buy a bow that is far too heavy poundage for you. The result: you’ll pull/damage muscles; it’s what we call being “over-bowed”. Bow poundage is increased over a period of time and set by the bows limbs.

Let’s expand on that slightly – you go shopping, buy limbs costing around £150 – £200 (unless you have money to burn) and find out they’re 35lb limbs and you can’t draw them. You can’t return them to the shop so you have to buy another set, maybe go down to 28lbs which you may be able to pull, slightly. But you’ll be over-bowed and possibly do muscle damage.

Hopefully you can see where I’m going with this?

There will come a time when it’s right to buy your own equipment and your first port of call will be the club – there usually is always someone upgrading and this is your chance to get some 2nd hand equipment at a lower price and you will do the same thing in a few months time; sell it on to another beginner when you upgrade.

The other question to ask is are you going to get the use out of it? In my experience, there are lots of eager archers starting out but after a few weeks, the eagerness diminishes and eventually the kit sits in the corner (or in the garage) and goes to waste. Buying equipment can be expensive and it should only be done when you’re 100% sure that it is the sport for you.