Been watching a lot of videos of IBO shoots and the like. Curious on what weights the top shooters are pulling?

40-55 it seems is the most common from what I see and hear. Anything over 50 is the exception and not the rule though.

Rick Welch won the Worlds shooting 40lbs while nursing a shoulder injury. He shoots 60lbs regularly however.

Most are under 50 except for a LB guy or two I know who have won a couple times that shoots 50#. Most all other classes range from 38 to 48. Foam animals don't care what weight you shoot.

Rube Powell won the 1953 Nationals shooting a Drake bow that pulled 48# at 30", according to one of Drake's ads in Archery Magazine that year. In the process, he set three world's records, including a 980 score in the broadhead round.

Don't need a lot of draw weight to shoot well and in fact seems like the best shooters had low draw weight bows compared to those hunting weights most folks shoot now. Oh, and great form and smoooooth releases.

Best shooter I knew, was my Instructor's wife who shot 37# at 26 inches. The bow was a black painted Wilson Brother's 1960 Black Widow. A two time National NFAA Instinctive Division (no sights) Champion, she would ahoot into the holes of 45 RPM records for TV Demonstrations. Pull out your wife's Elvis records and try that sometime then see if you get to come home that night. She shot Easton 24srt aluminums with nibs.

I'm only asking because watching these guys and gals shoot, it seems, or they make it seem so dang easy!

"Been watching a lot of videos of IBO shoots and the like. Curious on what weights the top shooters are pulling?"

Most of them are shooting between 40 and 50 pounds.

Having shot the IBO championship for the last five years, I would say 35-45 pounds.

No magic weight number, just the top shooters have good Form, strong mental game and know/trust their equipment.

Most could shoot higher but use a lighter weight range because it reduces the risk Form errors under pressure, if they introduced a new rule where everybody had to shoot min 50# I would bet the same people would still be in the top running the following year.

In the late 90's in the UK certain people kept proposing new rules in an attempt to reduce the odds of the current top shooters winning, every rule change it made no difference to the outcome because top shooters we're winning because of the above reasons.

It got so stupid that in the end the committee put a rule in saying any new proposal would be rejected if it wasn't backed up by a good reason as to how it would improve safety or the enjoyment of the sport for everybody.

Thanks to all for your replies! To those who have some titles under their belts; What weight bows are you shooting? Also, what type of practice, and style of aiming do you find most productive for competition?

Longbows were between 45#-49# with 450g woodies, I shoot ILF Recurves now and they're 42# with 315g light Carbons.

I'm on the other side of the pond so don't shoot IBO but know most of the top World Archery and IFAA shooters in both divs.

Top IFAA Longbow shoots 37# and has no problems hitting 70/80y field shots, he's won the last 3 worlds in a row and will likely win again this year as I see no serious competition to challenge him at this moment.

Sorry didn't answer all questions, I used to Gap as I shoot a lot of marked Field distances, I now shoot Barebow div so Stringwalk out to 60y and then need to gap 65y 70y and 80y.

I have my own Indoor, Field and 3D course so do a lot of scored rounds but my favorite practice is walkback, start at 10y and take a shot every 5 yards till I get to 80y, keeps me grooved into my distances and also trains my physical stamina and mental focus pretty well.

Summer I shoot at least every other day, average around 200 arrows per session, winter not quite as often 2 times a week. Leading up to a big tourney about a week before I will shoot everyday but if my Form/confidence is good I will only shoot 30-40 arrows a day just to maintain the feel of the shot. No need to do anything else as it should have been done already.

Thanks Steve, I saw your vids on YouTube, I noticed a lot of shooters in the European tourneys shoot split fingers, is that required in longbow class?

IFAA Longbow you have to shoot split finger, which is ok for the longer shots anyway, Jarrko the top Longbow at the moment figured out a good facewalking system (it's allowed), nobody can touch him ,not even me on my best days.

World Archery 3D has recently been changed so that you can choose to do either but not mix between split and 3 under. When I shot Longbow as with most IFAA shooters they normally stay with split finger otherwise it just gets confusing.

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