Compound Bow Terminology For Beginners

Compound Bow Terminology

In this compound bow terminology guide, we will learn about some compound bow terms which can provide us with enough information about compound bow glossary. A compound bow is a modern bow which is used in archery competitions and target practice. There are a lot of terms which can help us to get information about the compound bow and provide a good head start.

Compound Bow Terminology

IBO Speed Rating

IBO speed rating is nothing but a test which is used to calculate the speed of the arrow a bow can shoot.
Recurve bow has IBO speed rating than the compound bow. A compound bow may exceed around 300 FPS (Feet Per Second) of IBA speed rating.

Tiller

Tiller works best for compound bow glossary to aim through various adjustments in a bow. Assume that you have too much tiller on an upper limb then reduce the weight on the lower limb. 

Tiller is nothing but the distance between the upper limb and lower limb of the string to the base of the limbs.

Back Wall

The back wall is nothing but a point where you cannot pull or draw bowstring further. It is the final point of a full draw from where you let your arrow go. This is the most confusing compound bow terminology. 

Draw a bow?

• To draw a bow fully, you have to pull the string first which will store kinetic energy in the limbs of the bow.
• After reaching the peak draw weight, energy starts to reduce and this is the point which is known as the back wall. 

Valley

Valley is a compound bow term which is defined as the distance between the back wall to the point when the draw is going to let off.

Valleys are of two types:

Wide and small. 

Wide valleys are best for beginners as they provide enough space to draw and shoot a bow smoothly. 

Draw Weight

Draw weight is nothing but the measure of force which can be used to fully draw a bow. Draw weight plays an important role in long-range shooting and bowhunting. 

Grains

Grains is the measurement used to measure the weight of the bow and its adjustments.  

Arrows can also be measure by GPI (Gram Per Inch) rating in same matter. 

There are some important compound bow terminology which can be helpful for new archers. We will update this post frequently if we find more interesting compound bow terms.