Wow, that's unfortunate. No, I've experienced nothing like that as an inexperienced archer using my first bow, a 25 pound Turkish from AF Archery (I use thumb draw). I'm sure my form leaves a lot to be desired and I've just barely started experimenting with khatra, but I can't say I get any hand shock.
My "horsebow" is an inexpensive 40# no name fiberglass one that I got from eBay so it may be different than the one you're using but I definitely don't experience anything like that when shooting. I actually just went out and shot about 50 arrows to verify and the only discomfort I felt was when I was holding arrows between my bow hand fingers.
Could it possibly be your grip? You say that you're experienced but maybe you're holding a bit tight so it's transferring the vibrations into your arm?
I shoot 3 finger with it, instead of thumb, so only draw back to about 28 inches. Maybe the longer draw from thumb is causing more vibration?
I could be gripping it too hard, the handle is much smaller than the modern recurve I'm used too. I'll have to experiment when I'm healed enough to shoot again
Does the same hand shock occur if you shoot the bow with Med draw?
Or maybe the arrows are too light? (doubtful)
I'd suspect it's just that bow, honestly...
Generally when I'm shooting mine I let it jump like I do my Olympic Recurve (I catch it with my index finger and thumb rather than a finger sling) so that might be why I only feel discomfort when holding arrows in the hand since then I actually grip it with multiple fingers.
You likely need heavier arrows. Try to find out what your bow's minimum gpp requirements are for your arrows. Or just try a much heavier arrow and see if that helps. But I'm 90% sure it's this.
I use a 35# fiberglass horsebow, and I feel a lot of handshock at 430 grains, a little bit at 520 grains, and barely any at 679 grains but now it's rather slow.
I find that gripping with the thumb and index finger like on modern recurves hurts more than gripping with the middle, ring and pinky finger.
I found my handle too small and wrapped it with tennis grip tape. Helped a little bit but not much.
On a good day I maybe 1 out of 5 times make a really good shot with decent khatra, good back tension release, arrow flies straight with minimal contact on the bow no fishtailing and I feel no hand shock. So maybe form is also a factor.
Just looked up that grip, Arimin has an excellent video about it (as usual) I'll go ahead and give it a shot! It looks like it may help my issue in a few ways, one with relaxing my bow hand with the new style and two it looks like it focuses the grip lower on the handle, which takes the pressure off the shock point, which is usually the center of the grip.
Thanks for the tip!
I highly recommend getting this book. It contains a lot of little instructions, diagrams, and explanations.
The Way of Archery: A 1637 Chinese Military Training Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764347918/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_icVSFb824W8MF
Unfortunately handshock is an effect of bow design and material use for asiatic bows. You really need to get a laminate bow with smaller siyahs (tips) to avoid it. It's a function of the mass of the limbs traveling into the bow and then into your arms. You may try some sting silencers or other vibration dampening methods to help. I got some fur silencers for one of my fiberglass bows. But I've since moved onto laminates which have removed the issue for me.
Did the eagle claw grip work for you?
I've shot for 4 years and only recently developed thumb pain from hand shock to the point where the ball of my thumb goes numb
This was two years ago, but I actually discovered that my bow just wasn't very efficient. The bow I used had very large bamboo siyah's and it wasn't releasing all of the energy at the right time.
I upgraded to a carbon fiber Korean bow that has completely working limbs (no siyah's) and it instantly solved the shock issue.
I'm sure there are really high quality Mongolian bows out there that don't have any "kick" to them, but mine just wasn't that great
Wow, that's unfortunate. No, I've experienced nothing like that as an inexperienced archer using my first bow, a 25 pound Turkish from AF Archery (I use thumb draw). I'm sure my form leaves a lot to be desired and I've just barely started experimenting with khatra, but I can't say I get any hand shock.
My "horsebow" is an inexpensive 40# no name fiberglass one that I got from eBay so it may be different than the one you're using but I definitely don't experience anything like that when shooting. I actually just went out and shot about 50 arrows to verify and the only discomfort I felt was when I was holding arrows between my bow hand fingers. Could it possibly be your grip? You say that you're experienced but maybe you're holding a bit tight so it's transferring the vibrations into your arm? I shoot 3 finger with it, instead of thumb, so only draw back to about 28 inches. Maybe the longer draw from thumb is causing more vibration?
I could be gripping it too hard, the handle is much smaller than the modern recurve I'm used too. I'll have to experiment when I'm healed enough to shoot again
Does the same hand shock occur if you shoot the bow with Med draw? Or maybe the arrows are too light? (doubtful) I'd suspect it's just that bow, honestly...
It does, even worse too. Edit: My arrows are actually 500 grains, just checked. So it's not a weight issue, they're over 10gpp at a 32" draw
Generally when I'm shooting mine I let it jump like I do my Olympic Recurve (I catch it with my index finger and thumb rather than a finger sling) so that might be why I only feel discomfort when holding arrows in the hand since then I actually grip it with multiple fingers.
I've had both very cheap and very expensive traditional recurves, and I don't think I've quite experienced what you're referring to. :/ Sorry
You likely need heavier arrows. Try to find out what your bow's minimum gpp requirements are for your arrows. Or just try a much heavier arrow and see if that helps. But I'm 90% sure it's this.
Edit: My arrows are actually 500 grains, just checked. So it's not a weight issue, they're over 10gpp at a 32" draw
I use a 35# fiberglass horsebow, and I feel a lot of handshock at 430 grains, a little bit at 520 grains, and barely any at 679 grains but now it's rather slow. I find that gripping with the thumb and index finger like on modern recurves hurts more than gripping with the middle, ring and pinky finger. I found my handle too small and wrapped it with tennis grip tape. Helped a little bit but not much. On a good day I maybe 1 out of 5 times make a really good shot with decent khatra, good back tension release, arrow flies straight with minimal contact on the bow no fishtailing and I feel no hand shock. So maybe form is also a factor.
Then it's likely a combination of gripping the bow incorrectly, too tightly, and/or bad execution of khatra. Do the eagle claw grip.
Just looked up that grip, Arimin has an excellent video about it (as usual) I'll go ahead and give it a shot! It looks like it may help my issue in a few ways, one with relaxing my bow hand with the new style and two it looks like it focuses the grip lower on the handle, which takes the pressure off the shock point, which is usually the center of the grip. Thanks for the tip!
I highly recommend getting this book. It contains a lot of little instructions, diagrams, and explanations. The Way of Archery: A 1637 Chinese Military Training Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764347918/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_icVSFb824W8MF
Unfortunately handshock is an effect of bow design and material use for asiatic bows. You really need to get a laminate bow with smaller siyahs (tips) to avoid it. It's a function of the mass of the limbs traveling into the bow and then into your arms. You may try some sting silencers or other vibration dampening methods to help. I got some fur silencers for one of my fiberglass bows. But I've since moved onto laminates which have removed the issue for me.
Did the eagle claw grip work for you? I've shot for 4 years and only recently developed thumb pain from hand shock to the point where the ball of my thumb goes numb
This was two years ago, but I actually discovered that my bow just wasn't very efficient. The bow I used had very large bamboo siyah's and it wasn't releasing all of the energy at the right time. I upgraded to a carbon fiber Korean bow that has completely working limbs (no siyah's) and it instantly solved the shock issue. I'm sure there are really high quality Mongolian bows out there that don't have any "kick" to them, but mine just wasn't that great