New Target - The Block Black

Hi everybody!

My layered foam garden target has been out in the elements for 6 years and has taken an absolute beating in that time. I must have put 20-30k shots into it over that time and it has been rebanded and ratcheted down more times than i can count.

Its finally given up the ghost though, and even with the softer boss I was given by a friend behind it I am burying arrows in it up the nocks or getting pass-throughs quite often. The time has come to get a new target! Enter the Block Black...

 

The Block Black is made by Field Logic in the USA and comes in a variety of sizes. I went for a middle sized one at 18" and it is bigger than I expected in the flesh. It cost £92 so it is a bit pricey, but if it performs up to its claims and the reviews I have read all over the net it will be worth the investment.

The  BB target is essentially a cube of a high density self healing foam, with a central core similar to a layered target but under high compression and fused together with Field Logic's patented 'Poly-Fusion' process. It has an inset solid carry handle at the top and is fairly light for its size so it is very portable to move around or take with you if you want to go mobile!

Regular faces can be pinned to it, but it already has high contrast targets stencilled onto the 4 shootable sides. 4 of them are multi-dot patterns and one side has an animal target showing the vitals as this is from the US market, and is aimed primarily at bow hunters.

A nice feature is that all of the  multi dots are offset from the ones on the opposite sides. This means once a side is completely shot out and you turn it, the new dots are over fresh foam so you can shoot out 4 targets in one.

So - stopping power...

I was a little short on time and didn't have chance to set up my full Unlimited rig, so I grabbed my Bow Hunter gear to test it. This is a Bowtech Guardian shooting ACC's, 56lb at about 280fps. I popped the target halfway up my garden steps so it was being shot very close, from about 5-6 yards and I was impressed with its performance.

The arrows don't thump or whack into it, they seem to be slowed down gently and still had plenty of material behind them. If it can stop them that well, at that speed from that close then I have lots of confidence with it. This was in the thinnest orientation as well, if you shoot the other sides you get another few inches of target behind them for extra stopping power.

Arrow extraction was as easy as they claim, the arrows slide out nice and easy.  I only had time to shoot about 2 dozen arrows into it so it got 4-5 arrows in each spot and they were all stopped well. In a training session I normally shoot 5-6 dozen so that will only be about 12 arrows per spot per session. At that rate I should get a lot of use out of each spot before they start getting soft, and then I will just change sides. Once all 4 sides are eventually shot out, I will stencil new spots onto it in the unused areas. I can see this lasting a long time!

Before I put it away, I couldn't resist having a pop at the animal target on it - especially considering I was holding a Bowhunter style bow...

Got him!




So only a quick session to try it out, but so far I am impressed with the quality, finish and stopping power of this Block Black target. The various surfaces and offset spots should offer a long target life and value for money. I will post a follow up to this review in a couple of weeks once I have shot several training sessions on the target, and report in on how it is holding up.

Thanks for looking!

UKIFAC - The UK & Ireland Field Archery Championships 2013

Hi everybody!

The weekend of 3/4^th of August was the UK & Ireland Field Archery Championships, hosted by Forest Spirit Archers in Kirkcaldy, Fife.... the big one!

The WFAA fielded a large team this year, and I was part of the group that travelled up together on the minibus to the event. We all met up early on Friday morning, loaded up and hit the road! It’s a good thing that we left early, the traffic in the midlands was atrocious and it took 11 and half hours to reach the hotel! We got booked in, gear stowed and went out for dinner and a few drinks to wind down after such a long trip.

 

In the morning, we all met up and went to the course in the minibus and met up with the rest of the Welsh team who had travelled down by themselves. Once we had registered and got our welcome packs and scorecards, I went to the practice butts to check everything over. I’m glad I did this as I identified that my shots were all going low, good groups but mostly 4's instead of the spot for any given distance. I ran out of practice time before I could sort it properly and we went into our groups and out onto the course for the first round.

one of the wood carvings out on the course

 

On the first day, I was shooting a Hunter round on the East course. I started off with a 19 but they were all still low, skirting the bottom edge of the spot. In the few targets that followed I shot 2 x 17’s before I identified what had happened. At some point on the journey down, my bag must have been crushed and my arrow rest had been pushed down just slightly. I loosened it and moved it back up a touch, literally less than a mm and locked it back down.

In the 13 targets that followed I only dropped 5 points, scoring 255 out of a possible 260 so that definitely did the trick! I kept this kind of performance up for most of the round, with a few 18’s near the end on the longer shots and those that were exposed to the wind. The wind was quite harsh all weekend but the courses were in dense woodland so only a few targets really felt it.

Really nice shot through the trees - literally!
 

 

In the end, I finished the Hunter round on 536 points – a new pb by 2 points which put me into first place going into day 2! I was absolutely over the moon with this performance, and I feel sure that if my rest had been in the right place at the start, and if I hadn’t deflected a shot off another archer’s arrow into the 4 ring that I might have hit 540!

We all retreated back to the hotel to get cleaned up, changed and we went back out for dinner at the same pub as on Friday night. I had plenty to drink, a fantastic curry and a great evening!

Cyril John, President of the WFAA

I think we'd had a few too many at this stage!

Posing on the Glenrothes monument!

 

We all met up in the morning again, nursing our sore heads from the night before, and got the minibus loaded up with everything for the long drive home after the shoot. We arrived in plenty of time on day 2 and I went back onto the practice butts to verify everything was ok this time around.

We were split into target groups by ranking and I was in the top group, shooting head to head with the other archers contending for the top spots. We had a good day shooting together and the competition was tight. We were at each other’s heels all day and there were only a few points in it towards the end. We were grouping so tightly that on the shared targets we kept shooting nocks and fletches off, and one of the archers in our group was down to his last useable arrows when we finished!

Getting crowded on the 50 yard target

The standard of shooting was very high at this tournament
 

 

We finished the round and the scores went in, and there was a bit of a delay before the award ceremony as the Pro shooters were still on the course. When it was all finished and the results were announced, I was absolutely thrilled to find out that I had finished in second place and had taken the silver medal in AMFU! First place was taken by Daniel Rae who shot extremely well and deserved the win, and third place went to Dennis Groom.

Now for the best part...once the final awards had been given, they announced the results of the Home Nations Challenge. To compete in this, each country must field a team of 2 x Compound, 2 x Recurve, a BowHunter and a Historical archer and I was one of the compound archers selected by out team captain at the start of the event.

 

All the scores are added and the highest cumulative score wins. The results were read out, and Wales took the top spot by a commanding lead! We were all called up and presented with a gold medal and Gary Hart, the team captain called the whole Welsh squad together for a team photo with the trophy.

 

 

This was an incredible achievement, and it is the first time that Wales have brought the Home Nations trophy home since 1992 – the first win in 21 years! Mat Symmonds and Cyril John, VP and President of the WFAA congratulated the whole team on our most successful UKIFAC turnout in memory, with 7 new champions and many more silver and bronze medallists as well as the Home Nations win.

It took about 9 hours to get home because of some bad weather slowing us down on the motorway, and we arrived back in South Wales in the early hours of Monday morning, but spirits were high and we all considered it to be an incredible trip.

All in all, a very successful weekend that will be hard to top!

 

The Welsh & Open Field Archery Championships 2013

Hi everybody!

It's been quite a while since I shot this, but I forgot to update my blog!

The weekend of 29/30^th of June was the Welsh & Open Field Archery Championships, hosted by Llantwit Major Archers at Fonmon Castle. It was a 2 day shoot, shooting an IFAA Hunter round on Saturday and the Field round on Sunday. We went down nice and early on the Saturday and got a few practice ends in to verify my marks and make sure everything was good, and then grabbed a spot of breakfast before the groups were called and we went out onto the course.

The Hunter round was shot on the South course and the weather was actually really good for us! It started off slightly overcast, but this lifted and it was nice and sunny all day. The ground was fairly dry and easy going compared to usual, so footing on the targets was ok. I shot a good round, with consistent performance between the halves, shooting 266 in the first half and picking up 2 more points for 268 in the second. This put me on a final score of 534!

This is a new PB for the hunter round by 8 points, my second GBM score and the highest IFAA score I have shot to date! I was absolutely thrilled with this result, and it put me in joint 1^st place with David Home, a professional archer who also finished on 534 so the shooting was going to be tight on Sunday.

Shooting the 53 yard walk-up

On the Sunday we started slightly earlier, and were split into groups based on bow style and position so I was shooting with David and the other AMFU archers, and  the pressure was on. Fatigue is always an issue on the second day with stiff shoulders and tired backs. I didn’t shoot any practice arrows and I think this was a mistake as my first few targets felt difficult to shoot and were a bit shaky.

Because of this I dropped points early on (10 points on the first 5 targets) which dented my score too much to recover from. Once I got up to par I shot the rest of the round fairly well but because of the poor start I finished up on 522 points.

The results went in and David Home took the win by 7 points, and I finished in second place by a comfortable margin and came away with the silver medal! I am really pleased with the results – a silver medal, picked up my GBM patch from 2 weeks ago, and shot a new Hunter and all-time PB.

So lessons learned for this weekend – get more rest the night before day 2, eat/drink more healthily between the shoots (I doubt the Chinese takeaway and ale did me any favours!) and make use of the practice targets to warm up before going back out to get on a roll before you start scoring.

Equipment wise I am really happy with how the CPXL is shooting now. The new strings are settled in and shooting very nicely indeed and I seem to have everything dialled in. It is holding steady and putting arrows in the X from 20 feet to 80 yards, so long as I shoot it properly so it can be left alone now.

I don’t have any tournaments on for a little while, so I am going to use this time to have a bit of a play with my other bows. I haven’t shot my Guardian in a little while so I will take that up the club to have some fun with, and my Brigadier is in the middle of a makeover!

It was matt black and a bit worn from its previous owners so I had it stripped and powder coated. I always liked the look of the Specialist in the limited edition gloss-white, so I had my Brigadier done in that colour.

I am in the process of refitting the various components but the coaters didn’t mask off the threads as they were supposed to, and the arrow rest/sight mount threads are caked up. You can’t get the screws in them and the rest one rounded off the first thread, but one of my friends has a set of taps so he can clear the threads for me. I am going to pop round to his place in a few days and get it sorted. Once that’s done then I can reassemble it properly and tune her up ready to use in the next indoor season.

Classification round at Fonmon

Hi everybody!

On Sunday the 16^th of June, Llantwit Major Archers hosted a classification round at their course at Fonmon Castle. It was a Field round, standard 28 targets shot to IFAA rules. The weather forecast was terrible for the weekend, but I made the decision to go anyway. I needed to test out my new strings in the field and make sure my sight marks are accurate and everything is ready for the Welsh Championships in 2 weeks.

We got there and it was just starting to rain, and by the time we got everything geared up and went onto the course it was raining steadily and it kept it up all day. I have good waterproofs though, and I don’t mind shooting in the rain – it is good practice and you need to be prepared for when it happens on serious tournaments.

After the first few targets, I discovered that my peep was too high so I needed to move it down about 1/16^th of an inch and that of course moved my sight marks. It took another 3-4 targets to get everything dialled in so I dropped a few points but that was to be expected testing a new setup, and I finished the first half on 261.

In the second half though, I shot well and with the adjustments it was the best performance I have ever put in, even with the rain. I finished the second half on a new PB for a half of 269, for a final score of 530!

At last! I have reached the 530 that I have been chasing, which now puts me into the highest rank under WFAA of Grand Bow Master. I have sent off the claim form and score card and had confirmation that it has been received, so I will receive my GBM patch at the Welsh Champs in 2 weeks to go with my BM and SBM ones – full house!

Looking back on the shoot, I am very impressed with how well the Insanity is shooting with the new strings. It took the first quarter of the course to get the bow dialled in so my first half was down a few points, and in the second half I shot 2 x 17’s because my longest marks were out. All of this was shot in very poor weather as well, so the chances are if the bow was set up correctly at the start and the weather was better, I may have been closer to 540 than 530!

The Welsh & Open Championships are on the 29/30^th of June and are being shot on the same course, and I am now familiar with the ground so I am hoping for a fairly good result.  I won’t have time beforehand to check my longest marks but with the changes I have made they should have come in a bit more so fingers crossed!

String Change

Hi all!

I’ve had my Insanity CPXL for almost a year now, and have really put it through its paces. As a rough estimate, I would say the factory Octane strings it came with have had about 10-12000 shots through them and they are getting a bit shot out and fuzzy. The time has come for a new set of strings!

I bought a bow-press recently so that I can work on my own equipment and change strings/fine tune so I got in touch with Kevin Weller at Wales Archery Specialists who sorted me out with a set of custom strings for my CPXL in hot pink and black that I could fit and set up myself.

They are superb quality, with tight serving and smooth even tension throughout. The clear-served sections for the roller guard looks perfect with the stripes visible through it and the end loops are small and tight. One of the bottom speed nocks has ‘WELLER STRINGS & CABLES’ on it, a really nice personal touch.

I was a little bit nervous as this was my first full harness change on a compound, so I took measurements of everything before making any changes. I have always known that my CPXL is slightly too long ATA (just shy of 1/8”) but everything on it was in time and it shoots very well so I lived with it. Upon taking it down I measured the strings on it and found that they are ever so slightly too long, which explains the ATA error.

I checked Kevin’s strings and they were spot on the factory spec, so I went to work setting them up. It was easy enough to install them and then it is a matter of adjusting the cables by twisting to get the timing marks lined up, and then adjusting the yoke legs to get the cam lean back to how it is supposed to be. Once this was all done, I installed the peep sight and checked the ATA – bang on!

I fitted a rough D loop and shot a few dozen arrows through it to settle everything in, made sure everything was in the right place and fitted a permanent nock point/loop. I checked the draw weight was still correct and shot a dozen arrows through the chrono which is showing 285 fps, about 10fps faster than before – result!

I printed off sight marks to match the new speed and fitted them, and did some tuning at the club to get things lined up. Here is the results of paper tuning once i’d adjusted the cam lean with the new strings, and a group shot at 35 yards..



Paper tear at 5 yards - perfect bullethole!




35 yard group - not bad!



Not bad! I’ve only been able to check my marks back to 35 yards but everything seems to be ok. There is a classification round at Fonmon shortly which will be a nice road test of the new config, no awards or pressure just shooting for a score and to see how the bow performs. It’s also 2 weeks before the Welsh Champs so time for final tweaks before the big one!

The FITA All British Championships

Hi everybody!

This weekend was the FITA All British & Open Championships at Pentref Bowmen. This was a 2 day tournament, shooting a FITA 24 Unmarked round on Saturday, and a Marked round on Sunday.

The weather for this shoot was absolutely stunning! We had sun all day with only minor cloud cover on Saturday, and on Sunday we had glorious sunshine all day – and not a breath of wind all weekend! Definitely the best shooting conditions that we have had all season.

On Saturday I arrived nice and early and got everything set up, had a good breakfast and shot 2 dozen or so arrows on the practice targets to get warmed up. We got into our groups and were led out onto the unmarked course.

On the unmarked round, you shoot 24 targets at various distances but none of the distances are given – you need to estimate and work out the distances which can make many of the shots quite tricky.  I have a system whereby I can estimate the distance depending on how much of the target I can see through my scope. This worked well for most of the targets, with only 2 targets catching me out when I shot high 3’s. As I had misjudged the distance, I didn’t know how much to adjust the sight to bring them in so I just aimed off the same amount and put the remaining arrows in the gold.

I had a great day with some strong shooting, and finished on a new personal best for the Unmarked round of 385 – up 24 points from my previous best of 361! I haven’t shot the Unmarked round for about 6 months which explains the big jump, but this was a great result – it was my first Master Bowman level score (377+) and was over the threshold to get my next Arrowhead badge so I put in the claim form.

Day 2 was the  Marked round, shot on a different course of 24 targets again but this time the distances are given. Contrary to what you may think, the marked round is usually harder as even though you are told the range, the targets are further away. I had a fairly good first half, and a new personal best for a half in the afternoon with 197 finishing on a total of 381 for the marked round - another MB score!

The results were announced once the courses had been cleared and all scores submitted, and I ranked in 4th place at the British Field Archery Championships, only 6 points short of making the podium. I was absolutely thrilled with this result! So in summary I shot my first 2 MB level scores, won my next Arrowhead award and finished in 4th place - not a bad result for a weekend of shooting in the sun!

The Welsh Field Masters Tour - Round 2!

Hi everyone!

Sunday the 19th of May was round 2 of the Welsh Field Masters Tour, a Hunter round at Red Kite Field Archers course in Broad Oaks, Carmarthenshire.

I drove down to this one with Chris and it was a superb morning, the weather held out for us all day which was a welcome change! It was sunny and bright, quite warm with only a mild breeze in the afternoon– it was the best conditions we have had so far this season and the first shoot where you could get away with a T shirt!

Beautiful woodland at Red Kite Field Archers'course.

Even though the weather was on our side, it was still a bit tricky as the course there is quite challenging. The long shots are exposed and prone to wind because of the landscape there, and there are a few sharp downhill shots on slopes that can catch you out.

I had a bit of a shaky start, dropping 12 points on my first 6 targets but I soon figured out what was wrong. My 2nd axis must have taken a knock at some point and it had dropped slightly so my bubble wasn’t true on the slopes, and I was trying a slightly different bow hand position out but it wasn’t comfortable and felt forced, so I went back to my normal grip and things improved from there on in.

A little bit low, but still very pleased with this group on the 70 yard walkup!

I pulled it back with some good targets, including 20’s on the longest distance walk-ups and then shot a strong second half but I had dropped too many early on. I finished on 524 which is around my average – I’m usually in the mid 520’s and I was happy with my shooting once I got it into gear! If I had put in the same performance at an easier course I think I may have been able to get closer to my goal of 530, it will come eventually!

So – my analysis of the day’s shooting.  Firstly the grip – I grip a bow deeper into my hand than most, if I try to get it on the pad of my thumb it feels forced so I was trying to get used to it. It feels alien and inconsistent, so I have decided why fight it? The bow is comfortable in a deeper grip, it is more relaxed and consistent so I will shoot it how it feels right. Another thing that came up is my sight marks may be slightly out, I think they are about a yard short so I need to verify them against a physical measuring tape and also calibrate my rangefinder against it.  

Lastly, I need to do some fine tuning to make the bow more forgiving, but it is not worth doing now as I will be putting new strings on it within the next few weeks. I am having a custom hot pink/black string set made for my CPXL and will be able to set it up and tune it from scratch. I invested in a bow-press so that I will be able to work on and tune my own bows (expensive at £350 but worth it in the long run!) and I need to build a draw board to sort out cam timing. Once this is sorted I will be doing the ‘kitchen sink’ method of tuning to ensure everything on the bow is squared away and shooting as well as it can be.

The All British Championships is coming up, a 2 day FITA unmarked/marked tournament and I have a few weeks gap after that, so I will be get the tuning done during this break to make sure everything is ready for the rest of the masters tour.