Bow Stabilizers

I was asked over the weekend how a guy determines what stabilizer to put on their bow. I couldn’t offer a real good answer because I didn’t ask enough questions when the guy put my Switchback together.

So I’ll pose the question to the guys who know better than I.

How do you know what stabilizer to put on a bow?

Thanks in advance.

I don’t use one. I shoot better without. I suggest trying with one and without one.

Boy I never gave this much thought…..

I use one but it came on the bow. Maybe Lip will have a better answer.

I think it all remains around a comfort thing. As long as it feels good and arrows are going where they need to be stick with it.

I use a very scientific approach to choose a stabilizer

What ever one looks the “coolest” is what I go with.

I put on a short stabilizer for hunting. If you are shooting at the range only, you would probably want to go with a longer stabilizer as they will provide more stabilization, but they are not practical for hunting. I bought a 4″ stabilizer for my bow, more for the noise suppression than stabilization, but I think it does help to stabilize the bow for me.

I think like a lot of stuff, the brand you use is more personal preference (FORD vs Chevy debate)and what feels good on your bow, to you and makes it balance. I use a Limbsavers stabilizer for a few reasons. One is, I hunt in some windy conditons and believe it or not, it helps me to steady (stabilize) my shots. Secondly I use it to absorb shock, vibration and sound. I use one that is about 6 inches long. Thirdly this is what I practice with, so it comes along with me in the field on the hunt.

Robs got it pretty much covered in his post. That’s basically what I was told when I got my new bow this year also. Fleck how do you like your Mathew’s? I’m shooting the same one and love it! Can’t wait until I’m confident enough to take a deer with it. Probably could have this year, definately can next!

Lip is right on. Stabalizers are meant to do three things. Help with vibration control, reduce noise and help distribute weight. The best way to choose a stabalizer is to shoot all of them with your bow at a archery shop and decide which one you like best while keeping these three things in mind.

When I bought my Darton bow I got hop when I shot, in other words the bow comes up after the arrow clears the bow. I put on a stableizer that I could add weight too if I needed it. The stableizer was a 3/8ths shaft 12″ long and the weight on the front had a hole drilled and tapped to receive more weight if the shooter wanted more. After shooting with the weight that came with it I was still getting hop and put on another 3 oz.s and that cured it. The bow I had was a top of the line darton and it was a nice, fast bow and when I added the stableizer and extra weight it solved the problem. On the 20 yrd course I was shooting on it pulled my arrows together more consistantly. Once in awhile when your shooting targets you’ll occasionally (drop and arrow) slightly and the stableizer helped alot solveing this problem. Dropping an arrow was when you shoot 5 arrows and 4 hit well, the other one dropped out of the center ring around the bullseye.

When your shooting more then 75 arrows in a 3 hour shoot and really trying to hone where you want an arrow to hit your arm gets fatigued and your shooting falls off, useing a stableizer really helps this and you can also decide which way to reset your sights if you have too. It calmed my patterns down and I then was able to decide what my arrows were doing. If I dropped an arrow I knew why and what I was doing wrong then I could adjust my grip, stop torqueing the riser or just plain telling myself to concentrate more, calm down and let my breath out. Shooting targets with a bow is a science just like shooting targets with a rifle. With a stableizer you can really pull your groups together, without one and its just shooting into the wind, thats why archers that shoot targets in competition always use a stableizer. When you finially get your bow tuned in too your way of shooting you can drive nails with them.