Which bow to buy when you start, and when to buy it

If you are starting now, do not buy anything big for the first few months: many clubs lend a bow for the whole beginners' course, and it is enough until your draw length, technique and draw weight have settled. When the time comes, the sensible first purchase for most people is a take-down recurve: a riser you will keep for a long time, light limbs you will replace, and a dozen arrows cut to your draw length. A full stabiliser set, a clicker and top-end limbs can wait.

No brands or shops here: the rules on divisions and categories come from the four federations' rulebooks listed at the end, the figures on beginners from the registry.

Why it pays to wait a few months

Three things that decide which bow to buy change in the first months. The first is draw length: until your anchor is stable, the point you reach at full draw moves, and so does the right arrow length. The second is draw weight, which rises in the first weeks, so the first limbs do not last long. The third is the type of bow, and with it the world you will compete in: many people start on the course recurve and then choose barebow, compound or a traditional bow, and the same equipment falls into different categories in FITARCO and in FIARC.

Shooting a club bow costs you little, although the data come from experienced archers. In one small study, eight archers given a standard bow in place of their own lost no significant precision, and a second study, which compared archers shooting different bows, points the same way: the claim that giving an experienced archer a bow other than their own does not change their precision is reported, on few shots. In the same study, though, the weakest archer grouped worse with the heavier imposed bow, so a club bow is fine as long as its draw weight suits you. What a beginner needs more is someone watching the shot, as I explain in the articles on the coach and on common beginner mistakes.

Your first competitions do not necessarily need a bow of your own either. In FIARC, archers holding the green FIARC Pass, the one issued to those who have not yet completed their training with the instructor, compete in the Training Class: at regional championship and friendly competitions, if the host club allows it, they shoot alongside a federation instructor entered in the event, even with teaching equipment outside the rules, and they are not ranked. How you reach your first competitions in the two federations is covered in the guide on how to start archery.

Which type of bow

Divisions are defined by the rulebooks, and knowing them saves you from buying a bow that does not fit the competition you have in mind. Each world has its own: FITARCO follows the World Archery divisions, FIARC has eight categories of its own, and IFAA international events are shot in the IFAA styles. In the World Archery rules for target archery, Book 3, there are three divisions.

• Recurve

  A riser with a grip and two limbs, drawn and released with the fingers. A sight, stabilisers and a draw check such as the clicker are allowed, provided none of them is electric or electronic, and the rules set no maximum draw weight. In Italy it was long known as the Olympic bow (arco olimpico), and recent FITARCO rulebooks call it the recurve, sometimes with "olimpico" in brackets.

• Barebow

  The same kind of bow with no sight, no stabilisers and no draw check, and a bow window free of marks that could aid aiming; face walking and string walking are permitted. Weights, dampers and other attachments may be fitted, provided they do not aid aiming and the bow, with everything on it, passes through a ring 12.2 cm in diameter.

• Compound

  The draw is varied mechanically by a system of pulleys or cams, a release aid may be used and the sight may have magnifying lenses. Peak draw weight must not exceed 60 lb.

Field and 3D archery have more divisions. World Archery's Book 4, in the same version of 15 August 2026, adds Traditional, with a riser of wood or wood-based laminates, and Longbow, which must be at least 150 cm long when strung. In Italy, the FITARCO rulebook in force from 1 January 2026 also recognises the longbow in field events and, on a trial basis, a traditional (instinctive) division whose riser must be laminated or made from a single piece of wood: a metal riser does not qualify there.

FIARC has eight categories, plus an unranked guest category for archers who fit their bow with an accessory the rules provide for but that category forbids. For a buyer the difference that matters most is the sight: in FIARC's Sports Regulation every category that allows one is a compound category, so in FIARC a recurve with a sight has no category of its own and competes as a guest, unranked.

• Historical bow and longbow

  The historical bow has a historical form, original or reproduction, or else is made from materials like those of its period or from natural materials only; either way it has no synthetic component apart from glue, and its arrows are made of natural materials. The longbow shows a single curve along its limbs when strung and shoots arrows with wooden shafts and natural feathers. Both are shot with both eyes open and with no aiming marks.

• Recurve

  A recurve with no sight and no stabilisers, no longer than 64 inches, measured unstrung along the back of the limbs. An arrow rest and a side spacer without adjustable cushioning are allowed; the nock is held between the index and middle fingers, the hook cannot change during a competition, and you shoot with both eyes open.

• Barebow

  A recurve, here with no 64 inch limit, with an arrow rest, a pressure button, a bow sling and a single stabiliser no longer than 12 inches, with no side rods or counterweights; weights and dampers are allowed within set limits on how they are mounted and how thick they are. The hook and release point may be moved vertically during a competition, and closing one eye to aim is allowed.

• Compound

  There are four categories. Compound is shot with the fingers and no sight; Stile Libero adds a hunting sight with no more than five fixed pins and no lenses; Stile Libero Illimitato also allows a release aid; Freestyle allows, with a release aid, every aiming system and every accessory that is neither electric nor electronic.

At IFAA international events archers shoot in the IFAA styles, and here the recurve with a sight has a place: in Freestyle Limited, recurve or compound, a sight is allowed and a release aid is not, while Freestyle Unlimited allows any bow, sight and release aid recognised by the IFAA. The unsighted styles are Barebow, recurve or compound, where stabilisers are permitted, and an IFAA clarification of 1 June 2026 confirms that in Barebow Recurve any stabilisation system is acceptable; Bowhunter, which allows one straight stabiliser up to 12 inches long and one anchor point, with the index finger touching the nock; and three traditional styles. Longbow is a bow whose limbs show one continuous curve when strung; Historical Bow follows designs in use before 1900, with no modern materials such as carbon or glass fibre; Traditional Recurve has a riser made mainly of wood and limbs with a wooden core, and is shot with no arrow rest and with natural feather fletching.

Bowhunter also comes in two versions with a sight of four or five fixed pins, Bowhunter Limited and Bowhunter Unlimited, the second of which allows a release aid. In every style the arrow may not leave the bow faster than 300 feet per second, and FIARC sets the same limit, with a 3% tolerance that puts the highest permitted reading at 309.

To start with, the take-down recurve remains the most versatile choice. It is the bow of beginners' courses and the most common among young competitive archers: at the European Youth Championships 72.5% of 200 archers shot recurve, and the claim that among young competitive archers the recurve is the most common bow and the compound remains a minority is reported. And it is versatile in both worlds: with a sight it is World Archery's recurve and IFAA's Freestyle Limited; without a sight, the same riser can serve for barebow in World Archery, Barebow in IFAA and barebow in FIARC, if it meets each set of rules. For FIARC's recurve category it is length that counts: a 66 to 70 inch bow, like those in the figure below, is over the 64 inch limit. If the longbow or the traditional recurve draws you, the material matters too in both worlds: World Archery's Traditional division and FITARCO's instinctive bow require a riser of wood or of laminates that include wood, IFAA's Traditional Recurve a riser made mainly of wood, and a bow like this is worth trying at the club before you buy one. You can choose the compound from the start, but its draw length is set on the cams, and an instructor should set it.

Riser, limbs and bow length

A take-down recurve has three pieces: the riser, the central section with the grip, and two limbs that slot into its ends. The advantage is that you buy the riser once and replace the limbs as your draw weight goes up. For that swap to be simple, the riser should have the standard limb fitting, known as ILF, which takes limbs from different makers. A one-piece bow has a single draw weight, and once you outgrow it the whole bow goes.

Scroll the figure→

Bow length is measured unstrung, from one string groove to the other along the limbs, and it comes from the combination of pieces: in makers' charts a 25 inch riser with short, medium or long limbs gives a 66, 68 or 70 inch bow. As a rule of thumb, the longer your draw, the longer the bow, because a bow that is short for your draw stacks, getting sharply heavier over the last part of the draw, and closes the string angle on your fingers. Choose the exact combination with your instructor, measuring your draw with a bow in hand.

Then there is the side. A right-handed bow is held in the left hand and drawn with the right, and the side is better chosen by your dominant eye than by your writing hand: for a beginner, shooting on the dominant eye's side is the simplest option, as I explain in the article on the dominant eye. The test takes thirty seconds. What risers and limbs are made of, wood, aluminium or carbon, is covered in a separate article.

Draw weight for your first limbs

Draw weight is the force needed to reach full draw, and with your first limbs not overdoing it matters more than hitting the exact figure. The criterion is the one in the guide on choosing draw weight: the right draw weight is the one you control with the same technique up to the last arrow. The experienced archers measured in studies shoot well below their maximal strength, 37% and 44% on average in two small groups, and the claim that elite archers shoot a draw weight far below their maximal drawing strength is reported.

Nor does the feeling of comfort follow strength. In a university course, after twenty-four lessons, the archers who had gained the most strength were not the ones whose comfortable draw weight had risen most, and the claim that when an archer gains strength, the draw weight that feels comfortable does not change accordingly is reported, from a single study. So go up in pounds by watching the shot, with your instructor, not by the strength you feel.

The figure printed on the limbs holds at a reference draw length, usually 28 inches under the industry standard: if your draw is shorter you pull less than that figure, if it is longer you pull more. In the registry the claim that the draw weight marked on the bow differs from what the archer actually pulls at their own draw length is contested, because the two studies that measured it give different results depending on how far the archers' draw lengths were from the reference. In practice, first limbs are chosen light, knowing they will last a few months, and the weight you pull is measured with a bow scale at your draw length; many clubs have one.

The rules set few maximum draw weights. In target archery World Archery caps only the compound, at 60 lb peak. FIARC caps younger archers: 25 lb for Cuccioli, up to the year they turn 13, and 40 lb for Scouts, up to the year they turn 18, measured at actual draw length on traditional bows and at peak on compounds; adults have no limit. The IFAA rules set no maximum draw weight, not even for the youngest archers: their limit is on arrow speed, 300 feet per second.

Draw length and arrows

Arrows depend on two numbers that change in the first months. Length comes from draw length: the arrow should be one to two inches longer than your draw, never shorter, and the draw and arrow length calculator gives you an estimate from your arm span, to be confirmed with your instructor, bow in hand. The stiffness of the shaft, the spine, has to match the draw weight you pull and the arrow length: the rule holds in every model that has studied it, and the claim that arrow spine has to be matched to draw weight and arrow length is reported. The physics behind it is in the article on the archer's paradox.

So if you buy arrows while your draw weight is still rising, after a few months they may no longer be matched. Choose your first arrows sturdy and inexpensive, and leave top-end shafts until draw weight and draw length are stable.

In the traditional categories the arrow is part of the rules. World Archery's Longbow division allows only wooden arrows with natural feathers; in IFAA, Longbow and Historical Bow require wooden arrows with natural feathers, and Traditional Recurve natural feathers on shafts of any material; in FIARC the longbow requires a wooden shaft and natural feather fletching, and the historical bow arrows made of natural materials. FIARC also requires all of an archer's arrows to be identical, except in Freestyle, and each one to carry the archer's membership number near the fletching, and in the IFAA styles that call for matching arrows, a clarification of 1 June 2026 rules out changing sets between targets, between rounds or between days of competition: so buy your first competition arrows in a large enough number, with a few identical spares.

What to buy first and what to leave for later

The order I suggest is simple: first the cheap personal items, then the pieces that stay, and last those that refine a shot that must already be there.

New or second-hand, and how much to spend

I give no prices: they change with the market and the country, clubs set their own fees, and the cost of membership, FITARCO's or the FIARC Pass, which is valid for the current year, is available from the club or on the federation's website. In interviews with young archers the cost of equipment emerges as an obstacle, and the claim that for young archers the biggest obstacle is the cost of equipment is reported as a pointer, not a measurement; a single qualitative study also reports that equipment spending grows as the archer moves up in level. One more reason to buy one piece at a time.

Second-hand is fine, especially for the riser, if an instructor looks at it first: limbs are checked for twist and delamination, risers for cracks and worn threads. How much bow quality counts towards your score is covered in does better equipment add points?

@misc{campagna2026_chearcocomprareperiniziare,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Which bow to buy when you start, and when to buy it},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/articoli/which-bow-to-buy-when-you-start-archery},
  note = {accessed 2026-10-16}
}