CADAC

Colchester And District Archery Club

Basic Archery Terms

New to archery and confused by some of the terms used by other archers, well here are some common terms that you may come across. Each term has a short description that explains what it means.

• AFB

  American Flat Bow - aka American longbow. A long bow with a rectangular (flat) cross section and a narrow handle.

• Anchor

  Often referred to as "anchor point". It refers to the part of your face that your hand touches when at full draw.

• Arrow Rest

  A projecting device attached to the bow upon which the arrow is located. May be a very simple plastic hook device (as used on beginners recurve bows) through to some very complex arrangements (as used on compound bows).

• Back

  The side of the bow facing away from the archer when held in the shooting position.

• BareBow

  Class of shooting without sights or aids.

• Belly

  The side of the bow facing the archer when held in the shooting position.

• Boss

  The part of the target that stops the arrows. The target face is fixed to the boss

• Bouncer

  An arrow which fails to penetrate the target and bounces off.

• Bow arm/hand

  The arm and hand that you use to hold the bow.

• Bracer

  The arm guard worn by archers to protect the bow arm from being hit by the bow string.

• Bracing Height

  The distance between the bow and the string when at rest.

• Cock Feather

  The fletching which is at right angles to the string on most bow types. Compound bows may have the cock feather in line with the string depending on the type of arrow rest that is being used.

• Draw Hand

  Also referred to as the drawing hand. The hand that you use to pull (draw) the string.

• End

  An end is a set number of arrows that you shoot before scoring. Most ends in target shooting consist of six arrows but some rounds have 5 or 3 arrows per end.

• Fast

  Warning cry which means stop shooting.

• Fletching

  The fletchings are the shaped feather or plastic vanes attached to one end of the arrow. The fletchings job is to steady the arrows flight.

• Limb

  The top (upper) or bottom (lower) parts of the bow either side of the riser (handle).

• Longbow

  In the UK it generally refers to a bow over 5ft long with straight limbs and of a 'D' shaped cross section.

• Loose

  The action of releasing the string which launches the arrow.

• Nock (of bow)

  The groves at the limb tips where the bow string locates.

• Nock (of arrow)

  The grove in the end of the arrow where the string fits.

• Nocking point

  The place on the string where the arrow nock fits over.

• Pile

  A cylindrical arrowhead with no cutting edges.

• Quiver

  Container for your arrows.

• Recurve Bow

  The most common type of bow used by target archers. The tips of the limbs are curved away from the archer.

• Release

  Another term for loose.

• Riser

  The central handle section of the bow

• Serving

  Reinforcing thread wrapped tightly on to the string at a point of wear.

• Shaft

  The main body section of an arrow.

• Stringer

  A device used to aid stringing a bow and avoiding damage from twisting the limbs.

• Tab

  Device used to protect the fingers on your draw hand.