For beginners and advanced archers...

Technical archery terms

Tuning

Tuning refers to the adjustment of bow and arrow to ensure that the arrow flies as straight, smooth, and efficient as possible. The goal is stable arrow flight, tight groupings, and a comfortable shooting experience.

Typical areas of tuning:

  • Setting the nock point
  • Adjusting the center shot
  • Optimizing brace height
  • Selecting the correct arrow spine
  • Matching arrow weight

Methods:

  • Bare shaft test
  • Paper tuning
  • Walk-back tuning
  • Grouping checks

Good tuning means that technique and equipment work together harmoniously.

Underhand Grip

The underhand grip (or three-under grip) is a technique for the drawing hand in which all fingers are placed below the arrow on the string. This technique is mainly used in barebow and traditional archery.

Characteristics:

  • Three fingers below the arrow
  • Arrow rests above the fingers
  • Often used in combination with string walking

Effects:

  • Alters the distribution of force on the string
  • Brings the arrow closer to the eye
  • Produces a flatter arrow trajectory at short distances

Vanes

Artificial fletching of the arrow. See also: natural feathers.

Vectran

Vectran is a high-performance synthetic fiber that is commonly used in archery as a component of modern bowstrings. It is often combined with materials such as Dyneema to enhance specific properties.

Properties: Very low stretch, high dimensional stability, good temperature resistance, and consistent brace height.

Significance in archery:
Vectran reduces string “creep” (length changes over time) and helps maintain a stable, reproducible setup.

Note:
Pure Vectran strings are rare—most commonly, it is used as part of a blended fiber.

WA – World Archery Association

World Archery (WA) is the global governing body for archery. It was founded in 1931 (originally as FITA) and is recognized by the IOC as the official federation for Olympic archery.

Responsibilities of World Archery:

  • Organizing World Championships
  • Establishing rules and class divisions
  • Overseeing Olympic archery
  • Maintaining international rankings

Disciplines:

  • Target (target archery)
  • Field archery
  • 3D archery
  • Para-archery

World Archery sets the international standards followed worldwide.

WA Round

The FITA round refers to a classic target archery competition distance, named after the former world federation FITA (now World Archery). A traditional FITA round (outdoor, men’s recurve) includes distances of 90 m, 70 m, 50 m, and 30 m, with 36 arrows per distance, totaling 144 arrows. For women, slightly adjusted distances were used in the past.

Today, the classic FITA round is mostly referred to as the WA round, reflecting the federation’s renaming to World Archery.

Wall

The wall in a compound bow refers to the firm stopping point at full draw, where the draw cycle comes to a mechanical stop. It is created by the cam system of the compound bow.

Significance:

  • Clearly defined end point of the draw
  • Very consistent anchor position
  • High repeatability
  • Important for precise shooting

Depending on the cam system, the wall can be:

  • soft (slightly yielding), or
  • hard (a clear, solid stop).

Weight Scale

Often, a simple luggage scale can be used as a draw weight scale to measure the bow’s draw weight, allowing the archer to determine the “actual draw weight” on the fingers for selecting suitable arrows.

World Archery

See „WA„.

Youth

Age categories of the DSB for archery competitions: Archers in the Youth class are aged 15 to 17 years.

Zero Bow

Training device for DIY construction. Basic components such as limbs, riser, and string are assembled so that it can be used for “dry firing” during training. The following PDF from the DSB describes the materials and procedure for building a zero bow.

Zniper

German manufacturer of high-quality barebow accessories.