Is it more common for recurve limbs to have more failures than longbows? Just seems like if someone has a failure it’s usually on a recurve. I could be wrong but just something that seems more common. Anyone else notice this?

Well how many folks shoot recurves versus longbows. My guess is it's likely two to one or maybe more, and without that information it's all just a guess.

I’ve had two bows break in over 50 years of shooting. One recurve and one longbow.

I've had 4 break, all were recurves and some were more exciting than others.

I had a Bear Grizzly break on me while stringing it on a freezing cold day,it was my fault though as I was stringing it with the step through method,I was a lot younger and didn't know any better. The wide thin limbs of a recurve are more prone to twist than most bows especially from improper stringing. Narrow thicker limbs like those on Hill style bows seem to be the toughest of them all.

I’ve never thought about it ‘til you mentioned it. I’ve never seen a laminated longbow break before, only recurves.

recurves typically have way less working limb than longbows- -asking more from less material but the fact is bows DO break--both kinds! ---good luck!!

After numerous people tell me that they leave there bows strung all the time and it will cause no harm, I came home yesterday to find my strung bear grizzly limb snapped at the fade. Odd, not sure what happened.

3 delaminations 2 rc, 1 lb ....all new bows...ron

Since I got into archery and bowhunting I had one bow break and that was a Browning Explorer I...60#'er when I was shooting it. Looked like there was a slight air pocket under one of the quiver adapters on the limb. That was it, and I have shot a whole bunch of bows in 54 years. I think worrying about bow breakage is a waste of valuable time. It is rare in the grand scheme of things.

I've never had one fail.

I usually shoot old Bears, too.

3 recurves, one longbow.

The recurve I had break failed at the riser where it came apart along a curved lamination. The longbow failed on the back of the bow where the carbon backing separated at the top fadeout.

I had custom delaminate 2-3 days after I got it.

I actually just had my favorite recurve bow come "unstrung" while at full draw twice. not really sure what happened it just made a loud noise and crap went flying everywhere and my arm has a massive bruise. When I picked it up the string was still on it like it was unstrung. The bow is still intact but I did notice some horizontal cracks across limbs. Not sure if it is the finish or of it got into the glass. I now have a flinch

We have a tendency to push bows farther than they should be. The effects of the damage may not show for years. Just because 58" long bow "A" will let you yank it back to 30" doesn't mean it likes it.

Two Shakespere Kaibab,s ,and numerous selfbows while learning to make them.Most were pulled to 27 inches ,and 50 lb bows.Hurt two times with self bows.

I just had a recurve break the other day. So sad for such a young bow to go. She was a 60" Golden Sovereign Knight and only 52 years old. Plus she was shot 30 of those years at 32" draw. I've had 2 other recurves break but they were close to 50 years old also. I've had one longbow break. It was a little over 1 year old and the tip broke off.

I had a longbow and a compound bow fail while shooting. Luckily everything was thrust forward and away from me and did not come back and slap me in the face when parts got to the end of their strings that tethered them to the bows. xxIt happened! If you want to minimize the chances of it happening, inspect your bow before or after each outing. Inspect your arrows and nocks before you shoot. Change your strings seasonally as you do batteries in your smoke alarms whether or not they look like they need it. Strings are low-cost especially if you make your own. Both my failures were limb or parts failures instead of string failures. But I have witnessed way more string failures and arrow failures than limb failures while shooting with others over the years. Some of the arrow failures caused dry fires which resulted in bow damage that could have been avoided. Others resulted in arrow parts that injured the shooter.

DT1963 wrote-

"When I picked it up the string was still on it like it was unstrung."

Did your accident happen at full draw or release? if it was at the release it sounds like your bowstring went past the recurves instead of tracking onto the limbs. That used to happen to me shooting one of my favorite Kodiaks- a 1955 with VERY narrow outer limbs, narrower than my longbows. String would slap past, off to one side of the limb, and whack the hell out of my bow hand wrist. Bow was still strung, but unbraced itself! (Luckily no damage that I can detect).

This would only happen about once out of 5 or so shots, possibly small flaws (plucking?) in my release, or bow hand pressure a little off, or slight unintended torque. Solved the problem with small string bridges at the recurves such as are used on some Asiatic style recurves with narrow Siyahs and long loop strings. Ironically none of my actual Asiatic recurves have or need bridges!

I have had actual failures from mostly recurves, Stotler Elite Medallist (Favorite bow back then) pulled apart at the lower fade before even getting to full draw, Bowdoc confirmed glue starved joint. One old Kodiak Special folded up like a lawn chair at full draw, but it was a very abused looking bow years before I got it. One Howard Hill bow delamed at upper tip from dry rot, termites, who knows what! Bamboo lams dried out, crumbly. Great bow, too.

the failures I have had have mostly been selfbows. Glass gives them a better survival rate recurve or longbow.

I have broken two longbows, rocks were involved both times. Clipped a rock while shooting at a buck outside of New Albion, Iowa. Stepped on an icy outcrop and my feet went flying, my Schulz Hunter broke my fall. I have had two Bear Metal riser takedowns blow at the latches. I have had recurves crack in the risers. I have never had a any bow blow a limb from normal shooting.

Only ones I had fail were ones I did to damage and nothing that bow did itself.

Well, I am running 3 to 2 longbow failures vs. recurve. All the longbows let go during or at full draw. No one hurt luckily. The recurve was an old Bear Grizzly that let go while hanging in the bow rack. That distinct sound is not one I enjoy hearing. Also had one takedown recurve snap right in half at full draw just above the arrow shelf. This was not a limb failure, just the handle wood. The limb failed when it flew up over my head and hit the fence behind me so hard that it took a big chip out of the edge of the limb. I am sure glad no one was standing behind me that day. That one was the scariest of the bunch by far. Quite a few dollars down the drain over the years. Hope everyone else has better luck but the longer you shoot, the more likely it can happen to you some day. Having a draw length over 31 inches didn't help either. Now I am old and pulling much less weight at shorter draw lengths. Maybe my luck will be better.

Broke 7 bows over the years, 4 in just the last two months. Two were Hill longbows one in warranty one out of warranty Craig made good on both of them. The others were all fiberglass/wood laminated horse bows. One was 2 1/2 years old, another lasted just 20 shots (bowyer made good on that as well). All of my “regular” recurves have held up so far.

Guys -

Assuming laminated bows: Personal anecdotes aside, providing no structural defects or obvious abuse existed, bow failures are usually due to bad glue joints, adhesive failure, dry joints, and even adhesive/substrate incompatibilities.

In those regards, neither longbows or recurves are immune.

Viper out.

Recurves have less working limb and more stress points so i would think they would be more prone to failure. Also way more recurves out there. However i think if u put either one in a hot car strung or unstrung its coming your way just a matter of time. Also seen more twisted bottom limbs on longbows than any other bow type. Not sure what dudes are doin to em but i wish people would disclose these things when selling.

Only ones i ever knew of blowing up was a bodnick slick stick that had been spray painted and was in a hot car a lot, and a red oak board bow i built on the 6th pull :).

It's more than glue joints. I mean, yeah glue joints fail, but that doesn't necessarily mean they themselves were the root cause.

Glass can fail from fatigue while the glue joints remain intact. I've seen it in bows(all recurves btw) brought to me to fix or 'refinish'... cuz, you know, "those lines are just in the finish".

All limbs see stress, but the more it's concentrated in a smaller area due to things like design and construction methods, degree and orientation of lam tapering, quality of craftsmanship, especially in riser fadeouts, wedges, and fadeout lams, etc, and even the bow's tiller, then the more strain there is on isolated areas of the limb, i.e. the glass and glue joints. Because of this, sometimes the glass fails in tension, which is pretty obvious, but more often I think the aftereffect(real or perceived delam) of too much and/or isolated strain lead us to believe the glue joint failed because it was 'bad', when in reality the bowyer simply demanded too much of the limb in a particular area and something HAD to give.

Recurves are generally more highly stressed than longbows to begin with so...

One R/D longbow blew up on me. The riser snapped in half. Almost knocked myself out.

2 recurves and one longbow...one old bear and one brand new bear...and a pse sequoia that im sure was damaged by a friend stringing it backwards prior to asking me for help with it.....

I made a d/r longbow for a friend and he managed, after several tries, to string it backwards one day. Boy, that sure gives them an odd profile, doesn't it? As soon as he rounded the corner of the barn 60 yards away I knew something was wrong. I unstrung that thing like I was diffusing a bomb.

I've only had one bow break on me in almost 50 years of shooting recurves and longbows. It was a 65# Dick Robertson Montana Falcon recurve. It was a beautiful bow. Bocote riser with accent stripe, bocote limb veeners, diamondback rattlesnake skin on the limbs, elk antler limb tips, antler rosette limb bolts. The upper limb broke in half at full draw. Lucky the upper limb didn't hit me. I called Dick Robertson and told him what happened and he said to mail him the limbs. Dick Robertson called me back and said he would be sending me a new set of limbs at no charge, he didn't even charge me shipping.

One bow that has a reputation for failing is the Kodiak Deluxe. My friends and I shoot them all the time.

DDave

I have had 2 Lemon wood long bows break while shooting. And one recurve broke on the bow rack while strung.

In 54 yrs I've had one Black Widow, 1 mag Bear handle break and one set of RER limbs break and 3 longbows break, 1 Zebra, 1 Bighorn and 1 made by a friend from Iowa. All went while at full draw.

I've had two recurves break in 27 years. First one was an old Damon Howatt Hunter and the other was an Ancient Spirits Thunderhawk that broke when I was in the treestand almost causing me to fall out. The second set of limbs on the Thunderhawk cracked too and I still haven't been able to find anyone willing to build new limbs. I have a beautiful riser that I can't use.

I have actually only seen one bow break, ever. An old recurve from probably the 60's not sure. Sounded like someone fired a .38 nearby.

I’ve had every bow I’ve had break. Each time I miss it must be broken?? All the bows I’ve seen come apart were recurves or compounds

I had a longbow break on me just as I hit full draw. It was made by a very well known and respected bowyer. It happens and I'm willing to accept it. He did right by me. It was the beginning of my snap shooting problem however lol. It took a long time to reprogram my brain to hit a solid anchor point. Apparently my subconscious wasn't buying into the fact that if I hit full draw the bow wasn't going to break.

Never had a Damon/Howatt break or a Howard Hill, that really doesn't mean anything, it's what you subject the bow to that does them in in most instances.

Oscar you aint kidding...when those bows blew on me it messed up my shooting bigtime...and I couldn't just claim old bows bc one was a brand new bear!! so anything I shot for awhile I struggled to reach full draw...the old zebrawood grizz that blew almost scooped my eye out of my head...1/2in and id be blind in one eye for sure

Had 3 recurves limbs blow and 1 longbow, usually happen within the first 100 shots and were a lamination glue problem. Not fun when it happens in full draw.

The only bow I saw break while drawing was a Ben Pearson Mercury Hunter recurve. It snapped right at the fadeout. That model had a really abrupt transition from stiff riser to full working limb, for what that's worth.

I'm so unhappy that I read this thread... I didn't even know bows breaking was a thing. I think I'll go watch Jaws and then have an evening open water swim.

I left a home made laminated recurve in my car on a hot summer day when I was young and didn't know any better. You can guess the end result. Sad part was I got it from the father of a good friend after my friend was killed in a motorcycle accident. My friend, Brad, made several of them. I never told his dad about it because I was afraid it would have broken his heart. It sure broke mine.

I'm not afraid of a bow breaking on me.... driving a carbon arrow into my hand? THAT scares me.... hence my irrational affinity for aluminum.

so good so far! Knock on wood.

slick stick recurve failed on me after 3 mon. got a replacement it lasted 3 mon. and broke then opted for a refund.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here