Hello, I have been shooting recurve so for many years. Have tried quite a few longbows but always end up selling them because I shoot recurve so better. Well I recently picked up a used PLX. Love the bow but am not as consistent with it as with recurves.  I have discovered that this bow shoots very good for me if I move my bow hand farther around ( toward the center) of the grip. Question is is this common with longbows?
With practice I can get comfortable with gripping it farther around.
Thanks.

I hold my longbow differently from my recurve, but my hand stays pretty much in the same spot. The only difference for me is that with a recurve, I have my hand rolled out a bit more, and hold the bow with mainly my thumb and forefinger, while with the longbow, I roll  my hand down and grip the bow with all of my fingers. If any thing, I think I rotate my wrist out just a bit. It's a pretty small difference though.

It's amazing the difference in consistancy I get by moving my hand farther into the grip.  Night and day difference.

The longbow grip and recurve pistol grip are definitely two different animals.

I grip my longbow as you said, with my hand at the center of the grip.

I shoot recurve's the same way though and don't like the whole wrist angled 45 degrees all fingers off the grip style a lot of recurve archers use as it's very unnatural and uncomfortable.

If you yield to the longbow low grip and place your palm at the center of it as you have been doing and apply plenty of heel pressure your accuracy should be just fine.

I personally shoot a longbow much better than a recurve, it's more natural in the hand and the low grip promotes a stronger and more stable draw.

Have fun shooting.

QuoteOriginally posted by forestdweller:
it's more natural in the hand and the low grip promotes a stronger and more stable draw.
[/QB]

Its funny that you mention that. I was shooting the other day and noticed that when I hold my 62 pound longbow at full draw, I shake less than holding y 40 pound recurve. I couldn't figure out why, but maybe this is the reason.

QuoteOriginally posted by Trenton G.:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by forestdweller:
it's more natural in the hand and the low grip promotes a stronger and more stable draw.
[/b]

Its funny that you mention that. I was shooting the other day and noticed that when I hold my 62 pound longbow at full draw, I shake less than holding y 40 pound recurve. I couldn't figure out why, but maybe this is the reason. [/QB]

Yup, not to mention after shooting a recurve for a bit I noticed it started to get very uncomfortable having all of that pressure at the gap between the thumb and forefinger.

It take's a while to get used to the longbow grip but once you get used to it even slightly there's no going back, at least in my experience.

Don't be afraid to grip the longbow. Put your hand around it hold it. you may see an improvement.

Tundra

Get your hold hand as close to the arrow as you can I mean close, I had the same gig. It works

I guess I was lucky in that making the switch from recurve to longbow was not particularly difficult. Perhaps my natural inclination is toward a low grip. However, I believe that if you shoot regularly, the longbow style grip will feel more natural. Both accuracy and confidence will develop.

Thanks for the replies, I haven't been shooting the longbow any lately as I don't want to be messing with my form during deer season. After first of the year going to see if I can't get this long bow shooting figured out.

I've come to prefer a low wrist grip, so I move toward longbows myself. I can feel bone-on-bone support best with these. I highly recommend Arne Moe's videos on YouTube, especially if you want to improve on your shooting of the longbow.

The low wrist grip of the long bows requires a firmer grip in my case.    Ken

I need to preface this by saying I am not a good shot. I am an "improving" shot    

Having said that, I have found since I quit "gripping" my bows, I can shoot a straight-grip longbow,  a slight "index-grip", or a deep high wrist recurve grip the same way. I let the bow settle in against the base of my thumb, in the V of the thumb and forefinger regardless of what type of grip it is. If I try to "Heel" the straight grip, or grab the grip on a high-wrist grip, I invariably torque the bow. If I let my fingers just lie lightly on the back of the grip without "gripping" the bow my results are far more consistent.