What is a compound bow

Compound bows vary a lot from traditional bows such as the long bow or recurve bow. They have a pulley and cable system which help to boost the speed of the arrow when it is released, along with the rigid frame.

One of the main benefits of compound bows is the let off. This is an odd term but it basically means that as you pull the pull the arrow and string back, the cable will tighten up and you will not have to apply significant force to keep it in place – this is vastly different to traditional bows. This gives you the chance to focus more on your aim and not the exertion applied to holding it.

The bow is capable of transferring anywhere from 65% to 80% of the stored energy in the tensed string directly to the arrow which gives much higher speeds over long bows. Typically, the released arrow will be able to reach up to and beyond 300 feet per second.

The cam on a compound bow plays an important part too. There are different types of cam which range from soft cam, dual cam, hybrid cam and binary cam. Of these, the hybrid cam and the binary cam are probably the most efficient but they are also more expensive to manufacture. Single cam bows however are considered faster than most but are more rigid and less adjustable so there is a trade off.

The upper and lower limbs of a compound bow are made of aluminium usually. They are capable of taking high forces without permanent bending or breaking. Some of them are actually forged which is a usually a manufacturing process reserved for aviation, high spec tools and top end racing cars.

Compound bows have more advantages that traditional bows. The most prominent is due to the let off and the accuracy you can achieve when shooting with a compound bow is much higher as you can focus on your shot. However, due to the relative light weight frames it can also lead to some inaccuracies in beginners. This is a trade off and is something that simply takes some practive to overcome.

Compound bows are used in both hunting and archery alike. Most manufacturers also have youth size bows available which are as feature rich as their adult counterparts but are smaller and slightly less powerful as a result.