The theory and practice of archery

by Horace A. Ford; W. Butt

As regards the length of the arrow no arbitrary rule can be laid down. The arrow most generally in use is twenty-eight inches in length from the point of the pile to the bottom of the groove of the nock. This arrow may be easily drawn up by any man of average height—the twenty-seven inches, or the clothyard length of the old English archer, leaving the inch of pile undrawn. A taller man may venture to draw the pile. An arrow of twenty-nine inches may be adopted by those who have very long arms or are unusually tall. Those who are short of stature or short in limb may adopt the shorter arrow of twenty-seven inches. Shorter arrows than this will be found to fly unsteadily, and the longer arrows, if thoroughly drawn up, are very trying to the bows. The shorter arrows of twenty-seven inches in length have been in much more frequent use since about 1862, when the late T. L. Coulson adopted them, and advocated that it was better to draw up a shorter arrow than to leave a longer one undrawn. The fault of drawing not far enough is so much more frequent than that of overdrawing, that archers are strongly recommended to avoid shortening their arrow unadvisedly, and rather to draw the longer ones as far as they reasonably can. The fault of overdrawing is so dangerous to the archer, his tackle, and others, that, though an unfrequent fault, a caution against it must not be omitted. Whatever be the length of the arrow, it should always be drawn up to exactly the same point.

The weight of the arrow must to a certain extent be regulated by its length and by the strength of the bow with which it is to be used; for if an arrow be a long one it must have bulk sufficient to ensure its stiffness, and stiffness also in proportion to the strength of the bow. 4s. for the lowest, and 5s. 6d. for the highest weight, are the two extremes within which every length of arrow and strength of bow may be properly fitted, so far as gentlemen are concerned. For ladies, 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d. should be about the limits. It should be borne in mind that light arrows, unless dictated by physical weakness, are a mistake in target-shooting. For flight-shooting very light-chested arrows may be procured stiff enough for any strength of bow; but in this style of shooting distance to be covered is of more importance than accuracy of aim. It would be much better if the arrow-makers, instead of selling their arrows in sets, progressing by three silver pennyweights, would sell them also weighed to the intermediate pennyweights. As the matter stands now, supposing the archer's favourite weight to be 4s. 9d., he may have at one time a set weighing rather less than 4s. 8d., and at another time rather more than 4s. 10d. As all the intermediate weights of arrows are manufactured, there can be no sufficient reason why the lighter set should not be marked and sold as 4s. 8d., and the heavier as 4s. 10d. A careful archer should attend also to the balance of his arrows. By this is meant that the same centre of gravity should pervade the whole set. Longer or shorter, lighter or heavier footing will vary this balancing-point, as also any variation in the weight of the piles.

As the variation of elevation, or distance to be shot, should not be managed by a change of weight in arrows, it is decidedly advisable to keep arrows all of the same weight, &c. Indeed it is a great mistake to change any part of the tackle, bow or arrow, during the shooting, except in unavoidable cases. The scoring will seldom be bettered by such means.

Formerly only two arrows were shot at each end, and three were carried, and called an 'archer's pair,' including the spare one. Now it is the almost universal custom to shoot three arrows at each end. Some spare ones should, of course, be at hand in case of accidents. It must be remembered that if the slightest variation in shape or weight occurs amongst those in use, the line or elevation is sure to be affected, to the serious detriment of accurate hitting; therefore too much care cannot be taken in their choice.

Whether it be for store or for daily use, the arrow should be kept in a quiver or case made on such a plan that each shall have its separate cell, and they should be kept upright when possible, and so be insured from warping, or from having their feathers crushed. It is too much the custom to squeeze a quantity of arrows into a small quiver. Let not any archer who values his tackle be guilty of this folly. An arrow that has had one of its feathers crumpled from this cause will, maybe, wobble and stagger all the rest of its life, though in all other respects it be in perfect repair. Arrows will be found to wear out quite speedily enough without being subjected to ill-usage or neglect to hurry them through their short lives.

It appears to be well authenticated that if a light-chested flight-arrow be feathered at each end, with the feathers trimmed lower at the nock than at the pile end, when shot against the wind it will return back again like a boomerang. And if the same-shaped arrow be feathered in the middle only, it will in its flight make a right angle, and no power of bow can send it any considerable distance.

Mr. R. Hely-Hutchinson, already mentioned as having made experiments in modern times with steel bows, had another peculiarity. On the back of his bow he had a flat piece of hard wood or metal fixed at right angles to the length of his bow. An upright piece of the same material was fitted into a groove in this, whose outside distance was about an inch from the place where the arrow usually touches the bow above the handle. He used always to shoot with his arrow resting, not on the bow, or on his hand, but in the outside angle between this projection and the upright piece of it. He aimed as other archers do, and has been seen to make excellent hitting at the distance of one hundred yards, even when far advanced in years. In this case the axis of the arrow, or the line of aim, was distant from the plane through the string and the axis of the bow an inch in addition to the usual half-width of the arrow and half-width of the bow. Yet the arrow appeared to fly quite steadily and truly. It is not known why he adopted this peculiarity, and it is unnecessary to inquire; but it will serve as a useful peg whereon to hang a further consideration of the difficulties an arrow has to contend with in getting straight to the point of aim, and its determined resolution to overcome these difficulties. In addition to the forces already discussed as acting upon the arrow, there is also the force of gravity, the resistance of the air, and the interference of the wind; but these forces affect in the same way all arrows, however shot. The same may be said of all the other forces implicated, until there is an artificially increased impediment interposed in addition to the natural one of the half-bow and half-arrow. Now, supposing the distance of the nock from the centre of the bow be such when the arrow is drawn that a perpendicular let fall from the centre of the bow to the line of aim will mark off twenty-seven inches of draw, the resolution of the force acting in the line from the nock to the centre of the bow will be correctly represented by twenty-seven in the direction of the point of aim and three-eighths at right angles to that direction; or the relation between the straight part of the whole force and its remainder will be as 216 to 5.

But when Mr. Hutchinson's peculiar method of shooting is compared with this natural way, it will appear that the relation between these same resolved forces will be as 216 to 13; showing that the obstruction in this latter case has been considerably more than doubled—the keenness of flight will be diminished, and increased friction will be shown between the arrow and its resting-place at the instant of the loose.

Besides the spin given to the string at the loose, there is also a push, at right angles to the direction delivered, by the more or less unavoidable obstruction of the fingers as they liberate the string; but this push, occurring before the liberation of the string, is the final difficulty of the aim and loose.

Immediately the string is loosed the arrow has, as it were, the nocking-place between its teeth in the nock, and contributes to the direction of its course to the point of rest; and it is highly probable that the path of the nocking-place from the loose to rest is not confined to the plane of the string and axis of the bow.