Shooting with both hands

MupKo · Post by **MupKo** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:36 pm

Are there any historical proves of shooting with both hands? I found in that in battle of Velbuzd, (1330) warriors of young king Dushan performed that. "They shoot with both hands, and never miss." I presume that they were cavalry archers, since for foot archer it's all the same one or another hand.
They could do that with one bow, or not? Maybe with one hand they have shoot with thumb, and with other mediteranian, so that arrow rest on same place. Or with thin grip you can shoot from each side?

robno · Post by **robno** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:28 pm

Put it this way:
Take a bow at lower weight than you usually shoot. Shot 30-60 arrows a day with it for a week. At the end of that week this bow will feel light, and you will start feeling more comfortable with the "wrong" hand.

Assume you hade been doing this for just about all your life. You will be able to shoot with both hands with most weights of bows.

In short: It is unlikely that people have not used both hands when the need arose.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 2:07 am

The Chinese military manuals recommended shooting with both hands - especially for horseback archery. The enemy can't be guaranteed to approach on your left.

My experience is that the best technique is simply mirror-image (left hand shot mirrors right hand shot). But because your quiver is always on one side, it's never possible to do that perfectly.

When I teach Chinese archery to experienced FITA archers, I always make them start learning by using the 'wrong' hand. That means that their FITA shooting preconceptions will not interfere with learning Chinese archery, and the techniques they learn for Chinese archery will usually not affect their FITA archery skills.

S

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:58 am

Taybugha in Saracen Archery expressed the opinion that it would be good to be able to shoot with both hands in battle.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:23 pm

Indian texts such as the Danurveda advise shooting with both hands.

MupKo · Post by **MupKo** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:30 pm

Thank you guys, you are realy great. When I ask such questions on other forums, they think I'm alien.
Hornbow designs allow shooting with both hands? There is no "left hand" and "right hand" bows, right?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:59 am

There aren't arrow rests on Asian bows that I remember. This is possibly a late19th early 20th century invention. This is the best reason not to include one on a traditionally inspired bow of Asian design. -j-

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 3:19 am

I have never seen an arrow-rest on a traditional Asian bow. I did have a 19th Century folding bow with a steel hinge in the grip. The grip was drilled out with a hole to allow an arrow to be centre-shot. But I think that was an aberration.

S

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:15 am

From what I have seen, arrow rests were unknown in the Old World until the twentieth century. There are some used in Mongolia, but their use does not go back earlier than the 1960s.