How to balance a bow with Stabilizers? [Step by Step Guide]

Do you have a bow stabilizer and have no idea how to balance it with your Archer Bow? Or Are you missing shots constantly with your bow stabilizer? If yes, then this article will help you to improve your aim with stabilizers.

Before starting, you should also know that the definition of a perfectly balanced bow stabilizer can vary from person to person. A small change in your stabilizer can make a significant difference for someone else and vice versa. So, you would have to try all the different tips and tricks we are providing to know which setting is the best for you.

How to balance a bow with Stabilizers:

Most experienced and top-end bow users like to use V-Bar bow stabilizers. Therefore, we are using a V Bar bow stabilizer to show step by step process. Firstly, just set up your stabilizer on the bow. After that, keep following the instructions given below.

Step 1:

Aim a few shots at Target

Firstly, you should know either you want to increase or decrease the weight from your stabilizer. Now you should be thinking about how you would know that. Right?

It’s simple, just aim a few shots at your target and observe if your target shots are hitting too high or too low on the target you should consider making changes in your bow stabilizer, and how you are going to fix it depends on where you are hitting on the target.

Aim a few shots at Target

Step 2:

Adjusting Weight:

On Front Side:

As in the image above, you can see that most of the arrows are hitting well above the target. So, I need to make my stabilizer a bit more front-heavy. For that, I will add some more ounces on the ending side of the stabilizer. This way, my bow will become heavier from the front, and the arrow will hit the target slightly lower and enhance my accuracy.

After adjusting the weights, you should check how much difference it has made. To check it, grab your bow from its pivot point from your fingers. After that, let it fall wherever it falls. If it falls at the front side as shown in the image below, you have made its front side heavier than its back end. Therefore, it should enhance your aiming.

Adjusting Weight

On Back Side:

In contrast, if most of your shots are hitting below the main target, it’s time for you to decrease your front weight or put some weight on the backside of your V-Bar. This way, your bow will be lightweight, and your aims will start impacting a little higher on the target, and you will see a significant difference.

After making its front side lighter, grab your bow from its pivot point with your fingers and let it fall wherever it does. If it stays at the 90-degree angle, as shown in the image below, your stabilizer has become heavier from the back end of V Bars, so it will be lighter to lift, and your arrows will start making impact slightly higher on the crossbow target.

Step 3:

Repeat until you get a perfect balance:

You can not adjust weights on your Archery bow stabilizer on the first run. It is a time-consuming process. Therefore, you would have to keep repeating it until you get a perfect balance.

After adjusting the weight, test your aim on your target again. This time, you can observe the difference between previous and current stabilizer settings. 

Once you observe the difference, repeat the second step. However, since you will be repeating it over and over again, you should only move 1 or 2 ounces of weight at one time. This way, you would get a clear idea of where you should add or remove weight. Or else, too much movement can make confusion, and you may have no idea where to go back to. Therefore, moving fewer ounces is always a better idea.

Step 4:

Adjusting V-Bars:

Adjusting V Bars can also improve your aim. A few people like to keep weight equal on both V Bars. However, most hunters prefer to offset the ounces of each side.

If you a right-handed, then you can try to add 1-ounce extra weight on the right side. And for left-handers, add it to the left sidebar. Then do a few shots on the target. This way, you will get its taste and what suits best on your hand. Therefore, you will know if you should keep it balanced or imbalance version works better for you. You do not need to make too many adjustments to it. Adjustment of 1 or two ounces should be enough.

Adjusting V-Bars

Beginner Archery Setup:

Beginner setup differs a bit from a professional or elite recurve bow setup. However, all professional and elite components are compatible for beginners setup, but they are recommended to use long stabilizers only. Once they get used to long rods and build some muscle then, they can upgrade the V Bar bow setups. 

V Bar setups are usually heavy and can be tricky for a starter or young boy to carry. In contrast, beginner’s setups are designed to be lightweight and have less weight at the end of the stabilizer.

Balancing a Beginner Archery’s Setup:

For beginners, you can add whatever attachments you want. But that is not going to help. Instead, that would make your balancing and aim worse. 

Therefore, only use a long rod at the front of your bow. Also, try to keep it a little heavy at the end of the rod. Your rod’s back should be light as a beginner archer. A top-heavy bow can make a significant difference in your training sessions and build muscles to upgrade to V Bar stabilizers.

Also, make sure, your bow does not have a super heavy top. Instead, it should be slightly heavier than the back. After grabbing it from its pivot point with fingers, it should fall at an angle as also shown in the image below.

Balancing a Beginner Archery’s Setup

Other than the steps discussed above, there are several factors you need to know about bow stabilizer purpose and how you can select the best compound bow stabilizer setup. Therefore, we have discussed all those dominant factors along with the detailed steps below.

Best Bow Stabilizer Length:

Most people get confused about which length stabilizer they should use. However, the answer is simple. If you are looking for your first bow stabilizer and have no experience, then you should start with short aims with a short bow stabilizer. 

Although, you can increase the length of your bow stabilizer after gaining some practice or build muscle memory with aiming. 

Bow Stabilizer Purpose:

Bow stabilizer has several purposes. It absorbs all the vibration your bow will generate after making a shot. It reduces the after-effect shock you will feel in your bow grip. Nevertheless, its main purpose is to balance your bow and enhance your aiming skills. Therefore, every professional always uses them. Plus, people also use it for internal aiming tournaments. 

Balancing Front Rod:

There is no archery stabilizer weight formula for balancing the rod. However, it makes its front the most significant impact on your bow. While firing, it controls the backward force your bow will generate after making a shot. After attaching a front rod, your bow will try to move out of your hands. This way, it will be eliminating all the recoil. 

Among all combinations, a flexible body with a heavy front end is the most popular configuration among archers. Moreover, for vibration reduction, a rubber dampener with a heavy front end can also make a vital difference. 

Archery Stabilizer Weight Formula For Beginners:

There is no archery stabilizer weight formula. However, if you are a beginner and have no idea what weights you should put on, you can apply this technique. Still, it all depends on how you feel comfortable with your stabilizer. 

First, measure the length of your rod with the length of your rear rod and the weight on its tips. For example, your rod is 30 inches in length, 5 oz of weight on tips, and the length of the rear rod is 12 inches.

Now we will put it mathematically. Multiply the length of the long rod with the weight on tips. It will result in 150. After that, divide it with the length of your rear rod. In this case, dividing 150 with 12 inches, and we will get 12.5. Since additional weights come in 1 or 2-ounce weights only, you can consider it to be 13 OZ too. 

You can also use the same formula for a lightweight rod.

To Reduce Sound:

Bow stabilizer also plays a significant role in reducing the sound. If you are the type of person who likes to practice in his backyard, then it might not be a crucial factor for you. However, if you are a marksman and love to hunt in the wild, then sound dampening should be your top priority. 

In the wild, you can not give your location away after making a few shots. In fact, a quality stabilizer can also reduce the sound of your bow up to 95%. It is another factor that can boost your hunting experience and make your bow a silent killer in the wild. 

Reducing Vibration:

Other than adding additional weight to your bow, stabilizers also reduce the vibration your bow will produce after making a shot. No doubt, bows are supposed to transfer all the energy to the arrow. However, some of its energy also stays in your pieces of equipment and produces vibration. This small vibration can make a significant difference when it comes to aiming at small targets. 

If you spend hours in practice with a bow that does not have a stabilizer, then does not matter how strong you are, after a few hours your arms will get tired due to its recoil. Therefore, it helps you to spend hours of practice sessions without worrying about your stamina.

Setting up Stabilizer for Recurve Bow

Attaching a bow stabilizer is not as tricky as most people expect, especially when you have clear instructions. Therefore, we have discussed each step of attaching a stabilizer with a bow in detail below.

Adjusting Equipments:

Before attaching the stabilizer, we need to adjust our bow. So, adjust the sight with a quiver seated on the bow. Plus, all other pieces of equipment should also be attached to the same side. All this is to make sure, you are carrying your bow with a relaxed hand because setting up a stabilizer on a death grip bow is not as effective. 

After that, you should hold your bow and draw it back. Stare at it for a while and notice each small detail of movement it makes. Every motion it makes should be natural and suit your hunting style.

Adding a Stabilizer:

Once you get the feel of your bow and have an idea of how your bow reacts, then you should be looking to add a stabilizer to your bow. Moreover, if you are looking for better performance, you should go with a variety of stabilizers. Among all combinations, a short side rod with a long ride is the best combination. This combination will help you control the energy your bow releases after making a shot and also help you in balancing your scope. 

Side rods can also be an effective addition. If your bow has a mount at the bottom, you can add your side rod over your bow’s riser. This way, both of your stabilizers will be working on different planes. By applying rods like this, you will be pulling off larger torques while aiming. This way, it is going to improve your aiming accuracy.

Weight Adjustment:

After adjusting the stabilizer, you should make a few shots to get some experience with your stabilizer. After a bundle of shots, you will exactly know how your bow is working with the stabilizer. Moreover, you should be observing if it sits on your hand or not. This way, you will know absolutely what you want to change in weight. 

You should add weight to your side rods after adjusting the stabilizer. If you are a right-hander, then start adding weight from the left to right, and if it leans back, you can add weight on its front to stabilize it. 

While balancing your bow stabilizer, you should know that you are carrying what you are comfortable with. In search of that perfect weight balance, you would have to change your stabilizer’s weight a couple of times, so you should be patient and keep repeating it until you get the best setting that works for you.

Buyer’s Guide

You can not just buy any random bow stabilizer and expect it to balance your bow perfectly. You should know your requirements along with the budget. Therefore, here we are providing you a quick brief on what you should be looking for in your bow stabilizer. 

And if your current bow stabilizer is lacking these features, it might be time for you to change or upgrade. 

Measuring Weight And Length:

Buying a stabilizer with adjustable weight or long length is not enough. Instead, you would have to make sure that it is compatible with your bow too. You should know about your bow’s quality, how much it can carry, and the stabilizer’s storage part you are looking for. Only after that, you should select a stabilizer that matches your archery bow.

Noise and Vibration Reduction:

Before purchasing a stabilizer, you should know how it adds value to your hunting experience. It makes your bow a silent weapon and reducing the vibration makes it easier for you to keep shooting for hours without worrying about your arm. 

Especially if you hunt in wild, this is a factor you can not miss. However, archers who like to aim at a target only can neglect this factor.

Keeping Bow Steady For Hunting:

At hunting camps, a bow stabilizer is a must-have item. It improves your aim to hunt wild animals like rhinos or deer. New archers need to understand that to become a professional, they would have to lift a heavyweight stabilizer. Since they increase the stability and steadiness in the aim, they are top priority of every hunter. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

There might be a few questions in your mind about balancing a bow with a stabilizer. In fact, most people have some common questions in their minds. So, here we are discussing answering all those questions.

Do I really need a stabilizer attached to my Bow?

Stability is crucial for any hunter. It makes a significant difference in your aiming takes it to the next level. As its name suggests, a good stabilizer will enhance your stability while hitting the target. Consequently, it will improve your skills and make your practice sessions more effective than before. In other words, it will be your confidence and skills booster. 

Now back to the question if you need it or not. The answer is simple. You need it to add a forward weight to your Bow. Other than adding weight, it also reduces the sound it generates after making a shot. Its weight-adding capability is like a rifle’s barrel. The longer barrel would result in more precise and accurate fires. Similarly, it will longer stabilizers also result in more accurate and precise shots. 

Therefore, every professional hunter and Olympics competitors always use long and heavy versions of bow stabilizers. So, it should be a nice addition to your bow too. And you need a bow stabilizer attached to your bow especially if you want to be a professional hunter. 

However, if you are still not convinced about it, then you can also buy a cheaper version of it. This way, you can try it out, and you can see the difference for yourself.

How long Bow Stabilizer should I use?

There is no one-line answer to this question. It depends on your style. Either you aim at targets in your backyard or go to the wild for hunting. However, a 12 Inches stabilizer is a standard size that can work for both types of archers. Therefore, we are dividing the answer into two subsections for you to understand better.

  1. For Target Shooters:

If you want to target aims only, then the 12 inches stabilizer is the max you should be looking for. Anything longer than 12 will add additional but will not be as effective. It will improve your aim and precision. However, you can compromise on its sound dampening feature. Therefore, professional Olympics archers also use longer versions of Bow Stabilizers. Concluding, if you are a target shooter, get a good quality long stabilizer.

  • For Shorter Stabilizers:

Shorter stabilizers are mostly recommended for wild hunters. Since they are featuring silencing and vibration lowering, it is a perfect match for people who like to hunt in the wild. It primarily focuses on making your bow a silent weapon. However, it will not be as effective in controlling your bow’s preciseness or accuracy. Still, if you are a hunter, a shorter stabilizer is the way to go. 

How much weight should I put on my Bow Stabilizer?

It can vary according to your age and experience. However, 6 oz of weight with a 30 inches front bar and 12 inches rear bar is the recommended weight for general archers. 

Other than that, you can also use the tips we discussed above regarding its balancing and putting weight on the stabilizer because what works for you may not work for someone else. Everyone has a different aiming style. Therefore, keep trying different weights and stabilizers.

After making some practice shots you will get an idea of how much you can carry with ease. But, ideally, you should keep the weight near 6 oz.

Conclusion:

All the instructions given above are guidelines to find what works best for you. As an archer, you should never copy other’s strategies to balance a bow. Since everyone has different muscles and muscle memories, they react differently to each bow. Therefore, coping with someone will never take you anywhere.

Instead, as discussed before, you should trust your instincts and keep changing the weight until you feel comfortable with it, and always make sure you are using the stabilizer that is made for you. Not the one that does not suit your archery style. 

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