Target Archery FAQ

Last-modified: December 12, 1997
Written by: Stephan Melin <Stephan.Melin@neuss.netsurf.de>

With some helpful comments and infos from:

• Angus Duggan <angus@harlequin.co.uk>
  (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/ajcd/archery/contents.html)
• Coralyn Clark <educc@lure.latrobe.edu.au>
• Maggie Woolf
• Jon <jmm@festival.ed.ac.uk>

Contents

• Target Archery Equipment
• Competition Forms
• Books about Target Archery
• Contact Addresses of Organisations

In this section I will deal mainly with the type of equipment one would use for a FITA tournament.

• Bow: Unlike the "classical" english longbow which is D shaped when strung, the ends of the limbs of a recurve bend forward again. The reason for this shape is mainly increased efficiency of the bow. Basically there are still three different kinds of recurve bows on the market:
• the one-piece wood fibreglass laminated bows
• take downs (i.e. when unstrung one can disassemble the limbs from the riser section) with wooden risers
• take downs with metal risers (either cast or machined), the material used is for example a magnesium alloy for the cast ones and an aluminum alloy for the machined ones
• ... there have been rumors about experimental risers made out of carbon or a carbon composite, but there is already at least one on the market which is a wood/carbon fibre laminated riser with a carbon fibre wrapping called "Paragon" by KG Archery

The limbs are usually:

• laminated wood and fibreglass (all manufacturers)
• laminated wood and fibreglass and some carbon fibre layers (many manufacturers)
• carbon fibres and a core made out of some hard foam (e.g. "Syntactic Foam" in the "Carbon Plus" limbs from Hoyt) or ceramics (e.g. in the "Ceramics Carbon" limbs by Yamaha)
  For competitions a metal riser with either of the three types of limbs is the most common setup. For women the average draw weight at full draw ranges from about 28 lbs to about 36 lbs, for men from about 35 to 45 lbs. The draw weight printed on the limbs is the draw weight at a drawlenght of 26.25" to the pivot point (i.e. the deepest point in the grip) or the draw weight at a length of 28" to the back of the riser. These two ways of measuring the draw weight of the bow give approximately the same numbers. To determine ones actual draw weight add or subtract 2 lbs for each inch more or less respectively (for more than 40 lbs add or subtract 3 lbs).
• Compound bows: Hopefully they will be described in much more detail in the hunting section. For FITA tournaments there are only three restrictions:
• peak weight should not exceed 60 lbs (BTW. at the indoor W.C. the usual weight was in the 40 - 45 lbs range)
• the distance between arrow rest and pivot point should not exceed 6 cm (approx. 2.36 "), so there are no huge overdraws...
• electric or electronic equipment is not allowed...
• Arrows: Until the mid eighties the most commonly used arrows were made out of aluminum tubes (mainly "XX75" and "X7" by Easton). In order to get flatter trajectories (i.e. to speed up the arrows) there have been two new types of shaft material: either a full carbon arrow (e.g. "Diva" by Beman or "Exacta" by AFC) or an aluminum carbon compound (e.g. "ACE" and "ACC/ACH" by Easton), with a very thin Al-tube inside and some layers of carbon fibres on the outside. These carbon arrows and especially the aluminum carbon arrows are extremely light so that shooting these arrows is almost like dry-firing the bow. There are also some aluminum ultralights, which are large diameter Al arrows with very thin walls (in the bicycle speak this would be called on oversized tube ;-), nice for indoors as they get more linecutters... Still these ultralights are a bit heavier than the carbons.
  Since the stress on the bow will be so high it is not recommended shooting (aluminum-)carbons with bows where the riser section is made out of wood. Even older recurves with metal risers could develop cracks in the riser section, therefore some manufacturers reinforced their risers or changed their production line by introducing new models. However the main reason for breaking are the new string materials (see also below).
  Still all these types of arrows (Al, C, Al-C) are widely in use. The advantage of Al arrows is that even if one misses and hits something else (e.g. a stone) they just bend, it is relatively easy to straighten them again. Ultralight Al arrows can also be straightend, but unfortunately they are very prone to denting due to their very thin wall (in comparison to their diameter). For (Al-)C arrows however only two states are known: perfect or broken (Ok, for some carbon arrows there is a state inbetween, where one can twist the arrow along the main axis, but will have difficulties hitting the target with this arrow, which will last only for a few shots more until it breaks anyway).
  Nowadays the (Al-)C arrows are the most common used for outdoor shooting. Indoors it's rather a matter of taste: large diameter Al arrows give more linecutters, small diameter (Al-)C arrows don't fill up the ten ;-).
  (BTW. at the 1993 FITA indoor world championships one of the contestants in the compound class shot Al-C arrows for the qualification (three arrows on the same target face at a time) and Al arrows for the finals (one arrow per target face centre (they shot on the so called Vegas face) at a time)).

Selecting the correct arrow and tuning ==> look into the arrow selection and tuning FAQ (http://www.student.utwente.nl/~sagi/artikel/faq/tuning.shtml).

• Fletching and nocks For fletching there are two options: either plastic vanes or real feathers. I would not recommend using real feathers outside, since they suffer very much from moisture. For lightweight arrows ((Al-)C) it is generally recommended to use very light and small vanes. Their angle of attack should be very small (0.5 to 2 degrees) just to ensure that the air flow comes to the same side on each vane.
  There are two different ways of attaching nocks to the arrow: either one puts the nock onto the cone at the end of the arrow (most Al and with a special adaptor also for the "Divas") or one uses insert type nocks ("ACE", "ACC/ACH", Al with either "Uni-Bushing" or the cone cut off, for the "Exacta" and the "Divas" the shaft is inserted into the nock...).

NEVER TRY TO SHOOT AN ARROW WITH A DAMAGED NOCK

Now to the controversial subject of glueing nocks: insert type nocks (like the Easton ACE nocks or the Beiter nocks) could be shot without glueing them to the arrow, one might like to use a little glue to prevent them from rotating within the arrow tube. The other type of nocks (like the "Bjorn nocks" for example) are usually glued to the arrow. Some people only push them very hard onto the cone and twist them - if one has glued a nock onto the cone before this method will not work since the rough structure of the cone is now filled with the remains of the glue.
Personally I feel a little uneasy (to say at least) about this technique and recommend that (at least the not so experienced) archers should glue the nocks. But glueing should also be done very carefully: one should only use glue with non-aggressive solvent. The solvent of many glues causes structural damage to the nocks (for non opaque nocks one can see this with a magnifying glass, if the structure is damaged one will see many tiny little lines (fractures!)).

• Strings: There are three different string materials available:
• Dacron: has more stretch than the other two materials, is recommended for bows with wooden risers and older bows, since the other materials might put too much stress on the bow (see also below). The disadvantage of Dacron strings is that the fibres don't like too much rubbing on each other, so that one should not drill the string too much (around 10 turns). These strings last very long and are still in common use on compound bows (with (steel-)cables).
• Aramid fibres (Kevlar): this has been the top choice for archers until the early eighties. It has very little stretch thus giving the arrow a flatter trajectory. Their disadvantage is that these fibres cannot take much shear so that these strings could break after a few arrows (usually they break just below the nocking point, where one nocks the arrow), some peolpe claim that this might be an advantage since then you are forced to replace an old string... ;-) Also aramid fibres are very suceptible to moisture, so these strings have to waxed carefully.
• Polyethylene fibres (Fastflight, Dyneema): this has been the latest addition to the selection of materials. Strings last at least as long as the ones made out of Dacron, moisture isn't a problem and one can drill the string as much as one likes. Also this material is very light and has even less stretch than Kevlar. Fastflight and Dyneema have slightly different characteristics, thus giving the archer a broader choice for tuning. There is at least one cable/string system for compounds which is made out of Fastflight.

One note about string materials:
Due to the low stretch of Fastflight, Dyneema and Kevlar most manufacturers do not recommend shooting these strings with bows with wooden risers, they could just break. If the bow is not tuned properly, shot with carbons and these string materials even new (high quality) limbs can be damaged after a short time - so if one wants to use these new string materials, check whether the bow is up to this stuff or stay with Dacron. As a rule of thumb: any bow currently in production, which does not have a wooden riser could be shot with these materials, bows from the pre-carbon and Fastflight era should be shot with dacron (or maybe Kevlar, if they are up to it).

• Stabilizers: Stabilizers should steady the bow when shooting. They are made out of the same materials as arrows. A popular setup would be: long rod, v-bar, two short rods and a v-bar extender, sometimes there will be an additional short rod on the upper part of the riser section. View from above:

                      /short rod
                     /
     long rod       |  ###
     ===============|==### riser     and between v-bar and riser the
                    |  ###           v-bar extender
               v-bar \
                      \

Some newer stabilizing systems do not require the use of Torque Flight Compensators (TFCs) for the short rods. And it is questionable whether one needs TFCs at all, except for adding weight...

• Miscellanous: There are sights (but no peep sights), cushion plungers (to fine tune the proper arrow to ones personal setup), clickers (or mirrors) to control ones draw length, arrow rests (flipper type most common), tabs (to protect your fingers), arm guards (to protect you bow arm).
  >>>>> Maybe I'll elaborate on this stuff in the next version <<<<<<
• Beginners equipment: From time to time someone asks about the equipment one should buy as a beginner. There is a very short answer: NOTHING If one really wants to start with archery the most sensible thing is to join a local archery club. If they are any good then they should have some beginners equipment for the first few lessons. Then they will assist you in either lending a beginners bow or buying an used one. Since you won't be able to handle the drawing weights an experienced archer will use. A beginner should start with about 20 to 25 lbs (mileage may vary).

Competitions:

Target:

The target face consists of ten rings made out of five different colours The scoring is 10,9 (gold), 8,7 (red), 6,5 (blue), 4,3 (black), 2,1 (white) from inner to outer. The rings all have the same thickness (except for the compound competitions where the ten is made smaller). Some rounds also use the so called 5 zone scoring which counts all of the gold as 9, the red as 7, the blue as 5, the black as 3 and the white as 1. The FITA awards so called stars if an archer reaches or exceeds a certain score at an official FITA tournament for the first time; they are:

1000 (only a star - should be possible if one is really serious about archery)
1100 (star on black badge - also possible with lots of practise...)
1200 (star on blue badge - that's what most FITA archers (including me) are
      dreaming about ;-)
1300 (star on red badge - worldclass)
1400 (Congratulations! Either you have made some mistake in your score, or
      you have set a new world record! Maybe the ladies might be able
      to shoot more than 1400 by the end of the millenium...)

Rounds

(as taken from the GNAS 1986 handicap and classification tables, and from my memory)
Tables give number of arrows on each distance

Outdoor - metric rounds (10 zone scoring)

                                122cm face               80cm face
                          90m 70m 60m 50m 40m 30m | 50m 40m 30m 20m 10m
FITA (Gentlemen)        | 36  36                  | 36      36
FITA (Ladies)           |     36  36              | 36      36
Metric 1                |     36  36              | 36      36
Metric 2                |         36  36          |     36  36
Metric 3                |             36  36      |         36  36
Metric 4                |                 36  36  |             36  36
Long Metric (Gentlemen) | 36  36                  |
Long Metric (Ladies)    |     36  36              |
Short Metric            |                         | 36      36
Long Metric 1           |     36  36              |
Long Metric 2           |         36  36          |
Long Metric 3           |             36  36      |
Long Metric 4           |                 36  36  |
Short Metric 1          |                         | 36      36
Short Metric 2          |                         |     36  36
Short Metric 3          |                         |         36  36
Short Metric 4          |                         |             36  36
FITA 900                |         30  30  30      |

Indoor (10 zone scoring)

FITA 18m       60 at 18m, 40cm face
FITA 25m       60 at 25m, 60cm face
Combined FITA  60 at 25m, 60cm face and 60 at 18m, 40cm face
Bray 1         30 at 18m, 40cm face
Bray 2         30 at 25m, 60cm face
Portsmouth     60 at 20yd, 60cm face
Stafford       72 at 30m, 80cm face
?????          30 at 25m, 60cm face and 30 at 18, 40cm face

Outdoor - GNAS rounds (5 zone scoring)

only on 122cm face

                       100yd 80yd 60yd 50yd 40yd 30yd 20yd
York                  | 72   48   24
Hereford              |      72   48   24
Bristol 1             |      72   48   24
Bristol 2             |           72   48   24
Bristol 3             |                72   48   24
Bristol 4             |                     72   48   24
St. George            | 36   36   36
Albion                |      36   36   36
Windsor               |           36   36   36
Short Windsor         |                36   36   36
Junior Windsor        |                     36   36   36
New Western           | 48   48
Long Western          |      48   48
Western               |           48   48
Short Western         |                48   48
Junior Western        |                     48   48
Short Junior Western  |                          48   48
American              |           30   30   30
St. Nicholas          |                     48   36
New National          | 48   24
Long National         |      48   24
National              |           48   24
Short National        |                48   24
Junior National       |                     48   24
Short Junior National |                          48   24

Indoor rounds - specials

Worcester 60 at 20yd, 16in special face scoring 5,4,3,2,1 from inner white

Vegas     60 at 18m, special face scoring 10,9,8,7,6 (actually this is the
          40cm face with the 5 inner rings, three of these are on one target
          face, on each of those the archer shoots only one arrow per run)

Field:

Here I only have the FITA arrowhead round (I just started practising for field archery...)
The target face is a five zone face. The scoring from inner to outer is: 5 (white), 4 (black), 3 (grey), 2 (black), 1 (grey). The thickness of the rings is different for each one the relative sizes are: 2:3:4:5:6 (from inner to outer).
An arrowhead round consists of 36 arrows on unknown distances and 36 arrows on known distances. There are also awards from the FITA, the so called arrowheads. The get one, one has to add the scores of two complete arrowhead rounds shot in a certain timespan (a few weeks I think). The score one has to get, can be changed from year to year, currently the scores for the lowest (green arrowhead) are 340 (ladies) or 390 (gentlemen). On each target one shoots 3 arrows, for each face size there are three targets. Freestyle means the usual FITA target recurve bow.

Distance ranges (unknown distances)

       barebow     freestyle   compound
20cm |  5m - 10m | 10m - 15m | 15m - 20m 
40cm | 10m - 20m | 15m - 25m | 20m - 30m 
60cm | 15m - 30m | 20m - 35m | 25m - 40m 
80cm | 30m - 45m | 35m - 55m | 40m - 60m 

totalling 36 arrows

Distances (known distances)

       barebow           freestyle         compound
20cm |  5m & 10m & 15m | 10m & 15m & 20m | 15m & 20m & 25m 
40cm | 15m & 20m & 25m | 20m & 25m & 30m | 25m & 30m & 35m 
60cm | 30m & 35m & 40m | 35m & 40m & 45m | 40m & 45m & 50m
80cm | 45m & 50m & 55m | 50m & 55m & 60m | 55m & 60m & 65m 

totalling 36 arrows

Angus Duggan, Harlequin Ltd., Barrington Hall,  | INET: angus@harlequin.co.uk
Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5RG, U.K.             | PHONE: +44(0)1223 873838

Outdoor

- American metric rounds (10 zone scoring)

                                 122cm face               80cm face
                           90m 70m 60m 50m 40m 30m 20m | 50m 40m 30m 20m 10m
 FITA 900                |         30  30  30          |
 Junior Metric 900       |             30  30  30      |
 Cadet Metric 900        |                 30  30  30  |
 Metric Easton 600       |         20  20  20          |
 Metric Collegiate 600   |             20  20  20      |
 Boys Modified Collegiate|             20  20          |         20
 Girls Mod. Collegiate   |                 20  20      |             20
 Boys Collegiate         |             20  20          |         20
 "720" Collegiate        |                             | 24  24  24

Also:

                                 122cm face               80cm face
                         |               45m 35m       |           25m 15m
 Cadet Metric            |               36  36        |           36  36

Indoor (10 zone scoring)

  FITA 18m       60 at 18m, 40cm face
  FITA 25m       60 at 25m, 60cm face

Outdoor

- American rounds (5 zone scoring, only on 122cm face)

                        100yd 80yd 60yd 50yd 40yd 30yd 20yd
 Junior American       |                30   30   30
 Cadet American        |                     30   30   30
 Columbia              |                24   24   24
 Junior Columbia       |                     24   24   24

Indoor

- American rounds

 NAA 300 Indoor        50 at 20yd, 16in face scoring 5,4,3,2,1
 Chigaco Indoor        96 at 20yd, 16in face scoring 9,7,5,3,1

Suggested reading:

• Al Henderson "Understanding Winning Archery" published by Target Communications Corporation

This book is very good for the experienced archer, teaches you how to think about your shooting and how to find the parts of your shooting style which prevent you from shooting better.

• "The NAA Instructors Manual" (latest edition >= 2nd)

Although intended for an instructor for a beginners class, it is very useful for intermediate and advanced archers. It covers the basic things to learn for archery and if one has severe problems one should have a look at the basic shooting technique first.

Addresses

(everything in alphabetical order):

FITA members:

• Australia
  Archery Australia
  Executive Director, Donald McLeish
  7 Cherry Street
  Glen Waverley Vic 3150
  Australia
  
  Voice: +61 3 802 5442
  Fax: +61 3 887 8229

• Germany: Deutscher Schuetzenbund
  Bundesleistungszentrum Sportschiessen
  Lahnstrasse 120
  65195 Wiesbaden-Klarenthal
  
  Voice: +49 (06121) 461057
  Fax: +49 (06121) 462340

• United Kingdom:
  GNAS (Grand National Archery Society)
  7th Street,
  National Agricultural Centre,
  Stoneleigh,
  Kenilworth,
  Warwickshire CV8 2LG
  
  Voice: +44 (0203) 696631
  Fax: +44 (0203) 419662
  
  Hmm, I also found this one: +44 (0203) 23907

• United States of America:
  NAA (National Archery Association)
  1750 East Boulder Street
  Colorado Springs, CO 80909
  
  Voice: (719) 578-4576
  Fax: (719) 632-4733

Anyone got the international access code for the US????
The international access code for the US is 1.

>>>> PLEASE SEND IN THE ADDRESSES OF YOUR NATIONAL BRANCH OF THE FITA <<<<
There are a lot more countries in the world..........

Others (ripped off from an Easton catalogue):

• AMO (Archery Manufacturing Organization)
  200 Castlewood Drive
  North Palm Beach, FL 33408
  U.S.A
  
  Voice: (407) 842-4100
  Fax: (407) 863-8984

• IBO (International Bowhunting Organization of the U.S.)
  Dave Woodward
  2S 668 Raddant Road
  Batavia, IL 60510
  U.S.A.
  
  Voice: (800) 772-4426

• IFAA (International Field Archery Organization)
  Carl DeWilde
  31 Dengate Circle
  London, Ontario N5W IV7
  Canada
  
  Voice: (519) 453-1103

Anyone got the international access code for Canada????

• NFAA (National Field Archery Association)
  NFAA Pro Division
  31407 Outer Highway 10
  Redlands, CA 92373
  U.S.A.
  
  Voice: (714) 794-2133
  Fax: (714) 794-8512

• PAA (Professional Archers Association)
  Cynthia Rhode
  26 Lakeview Drive
  Standsbury Park, UT 84074
  U.S.A.
  
  Voice: (801) 882-3817
  Fax: (801) 537-1470

There are a lot more on the back of this catalogue, but I'm fed up with typing...
So I apologize if I have forgotten to list your society/organization/ association. Everyone who has got more addresses (but not of individual clubs of course) should send me Email (Stephan.Melin@neuss.netsurf.de), I will include them. Also please check the addresses and numbers I have listed (typos, outdated, etc.).

This is a section of the FAQ for alt.archery. It is maintained by Nobody right now. Comments, flames, etc. on the FAQ are welcome and should be directed to The newsgroup rec.sport.archery. Comments on the specifics of the section should go to the person responsible for this section. If you wish to see this section cross-posted to another group, please do that as you please.

(The FAQ is orphaned, so if you want to take charge of it, e-mail Simon Oosthoek