Olympic Recurve newbie questions

[lagagnon]

I am a relatively new olympic recurve shooter. I have a Hoyt Gold Medalist 25" riser with Hoyt Carbon Plus limbs. These limbs are marked AMO H25 68 (38 pounds). As I understand it as I do have a 25" riser that should give me a 68" long strung bow, with a pull of 38 pounds at a 28" draw. However, when I take a tape measure to my strung bow it measures only 65" long? What gives?

Secondly, on such a bow, how long should one wait before unstringing the bow? The reason I ask is that I want to keep the strung bow indoors for a few days to build up my strength, as I am finding the 40 pound draw (I draw about 29.5") a bit much at the moment, and I don't want to unstring it every time I want to do a few exercises. I assume it is best to unstring the bow as often as possible?


Larry

[stevegabriel]

The length is tip to tip along the bow not along the string.

As far as unstringing the bow is concerned, you don't have to unstring every day but don't stand the bow in a corner when you storwe it. lay it on it's side.

[petew]

The length has nothing to do with tip to tip, or noc to noc or actualy measuring the bow in any way. The AMO bow length is 3" longer than the string that brings it to proper brace height.This is the same for recurves and longbows. You can leave it strung as long as you like as long as it is cool. A hot car in summer will delaminate it.
Pete