Bows - A basic guide to different types

[JD1]

Bows and Archery are a particular interest of mine and as there were no posts in this section I thought I would post some basics about the various types of Bow commonally available which may help anyone new to the subject who is looking at purchasing one from a prepping/survival point of view.

Before I get into the various types of Bow, just a note to remind anyone thinking of purchasing a Bow that hunting with any type of Bow or Crossbow is illegal in the UK. There is a strong tradition of Bow Hunting in places like the US and Australia though so if you did want to look into it further for research then forums based in those countries would be a good place to start.

In the event of a total breakdown, owning and knowing how to shoot a Bow could help in many ways from hunting to defence, with the added advantage that the ammunition (arrows) can be reclaimed or made from scratch with a little knowledge. Although an Air Rifle would be better for taking bunnies, for anything larger than a bunny a bow could be a lot more effective.

Bows have been in existence for thousands of years and range from the very basic "Self Bow" (a bow made from a single piece of wood) to the modern day Compound Bow. As there are so many different types of Bow around the world I will just describe 3 of the main types you will find in the UK, the Longbow, the Recurve Bow, and the Compound Bow.


The (English) Longbow

A quick bit of history. Originally developed by the Welsh it was soon adapted for use by the English and probably reached it's peak of military use in the late 1300's to early 1400's as an Artillery weapon. It could be a devastating weapon when used in the correct situation by trained archers but only in certain situations. Generally they were made from a single piece of Yew but even in those times we had used most of the good Yew in England and had to resort to importing staves from places like Spain and Italy. With the introduction of cannon to the battlefield the Longbow gradually fell out of favour. It the Victorian period people started to rediscover the Longbow as a hobby and development continued. The Victorian Longbow was often made of laminates (two or more pieces of wood glued together) and also had to conform to strict dimensions and build criteria which wasn't so much the case with the original Longbow used for war.

The advantage of a Longbow (or any Self Bow) from a survival point of view are their simplicity. One piece of wood, a string, and an arrow and you are good to go, very little to go wrong other than the bow itself cracking. It is not as accurate as a Recurve or Compound but can be made without access to modern tooling and materials.

A good wood for making a very simple "Self Bow" in an emergency is Ash, it wont last very long unless you are skilled at making a Bow but it will help in the short term in a survival situation. Making a decent, long lasting Longbow or Self-Bow however is a skilled art and there are still some very good Bowyers building them today


The Modern Take–Down Recurve Bow

A direct decendant of the American Flatbow (AFB), it is the type of Bow you will see in the Olympics. These days they can be made from various high tech materials but originally they were made from either wood or metal. The original AFB was developed in the early part of the twentieth century when investigations took place to examine why the Longbow was so effective. What they actually found was that a flatbow was a better profile for a bow than the "D" shaped Victorian Longbow so bow development went off in a new direction.

The advantage of a Recurve in a survival situation is its ease of use, power, accuracy (better than a longbow), and also the option of breaking it down into it's parts for easy storage and transport. You can also store spare limbs that can be attached to the riser in the event of a breakage so you don't have to throw the whole bow away if a limb breaks. Not as simple to make in a survival situation but still possible with the correct skills and knowledge but probably beyond the skills of a general lay person..


Compound Bow

The type of Bow you might see in some modern war films, generally shorter than a Longbow or Recurve with a complicated arrangement of string and cams. They are in the main more powerfull and accurate than both the Longbow and Recurve and seem to be favoured in the US and Australia by Bow Hunters (although all the other types of Bow are used as well)

As I mentioned earlier their advantage in a survival situation can be their power, accuracy, ease with which the arrow can be held in the drawn position (due to the eccentric cams), and their size. The downside of the cams and string arrangements is that there are more things to go wrong and a lot of things to adjust.

Without modern tooling and materials a Compound Bow would be extremely difficult to make in a post fall environment



From a purely personal perspective (and many people will have an equally valid but different opinion) I would favour having a Take-Down Recurve Bow which is a good compromise between power/accuracy and simplicity, a spare Riser (Handle) and a couple of spare Limbs. Also the knowledge to make a faily decent Self Bow would be very advantageous as you never know when you could be separated from your stores.

I don’t see Bows as a replacement for Air Rifles or other tools but more as a compliment to them. In some areas an Air Rifle is the best option, in others a Bow will be superior.

Just make sure you do some research on what sort of Bow suits you, what size, the draw weight etc and don’t just buy the meanest looking thing you see on the internet.