AF Archery Turkish Recurve Bow, 50" High-Performance Traditional Laminated Hunting Horse Bow for Adults Youth Beginners Enthusiasts and Hunting

I bought this bow with great hopes seeing many reviews praising its performance but had in mind also the few were it didn't last long, unfortunately that had to be my case. The bow didn't last more than 25 shots in two sessions, on the first it was a quick test and after 6 arrows I was very happy with its performance and no sign of delamination appeared, on the second one after 15 shots or so the bow suddenly exploded in my hand without any prior creaking sound or visible cracks, both times I used heavy arrows over 12gpp and never exceeded 31 inches when drawing and kept it stored in the bow sock inside home and away from sunlight. On every bow I have I always check for damage or limb misalignment before and after stringing and shooting them and I couldn't see anything wrong in this one so I'm quite baffled on what could have happened, my only guess is due to AZ dry climate the glue on the bamboo might have failed. Edit: I contacted AF archery explaining my experience and they kindly sent me another bow, I haven't been able to test it thoroughly yet but seems to be well made

It’s exactly as it’s advertised a simple bow the poundage of your choice I personally got the 45 pounder and I’m getting about 6 inches of penetration at 20 yards

At the time of this writing this is 1 of the 2 bows I really like being offered by Amazon, and they are both sold by AF Archery. The other bow I like is the 53" Tatar bow. This bow is super light weighing about 4/5th of a pound, its fast and snappy. Built and finished very well. It has one drawback, but that's because of how fine the bow is and how short the bow is and so it should be expected. The bow is a little unstable...what does this mean? It means if you are not careful to make sure the limbs of the bow are straight after you string the bow...this means the string has been put on a little crooked. If you draw the bow like that, it will warp and destring itself violently on you. This is NOT a defect, this is what happens when you so finely tune a bow to these dimension. YOU, need to make sure you string the bow so it is straight. Get on youtube and learn how. If you are uncertain about that, then I recommend the Tatar which is a little more stable due to being a little less stressed with the added length. But this really shouldn't put you off, I am writing it hear to help prevent unnecessary returns. These two bows are my absolute favorite and I am buying another of each in heavier draw weights for hunting.

Shipping was on time. The bow looks great and seems to shoot well and the draw weight amazingly was correct out of the box. I will try to update after I’ve had time to properly test it out. The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is because I received the bow with a broken bow string pad. But AF customer service is amazing. And sent me new pads for free, though I had to pay a small fee for shipping ($10) I will be buying from AF again either through amazon or direct. Update: had this bow for less than a month only used it twice. Went to use it a third time strung it up just fine but when I loaded an arrow and went to draw it I heard a crack sound and the bow felt funny. After inspection I saw that the bow had split the laminate separated from the wood. I have been trying for weeks to get ahold of AF for a replacement or refund but this time they will not respond. So I have taken the rating down to 1 star because it did work well when I got it and maybe it was just a bad batch but customer service not responding is upsetting! The bow is not usable after only 3 sessions.

I got the 40# model and it measures 41# at 28'' when I measure. This bow is a pleasure to shoot. The draw is very smooth upwards to 29'', which is to my ear with a thumb draw. It does draw to 32'', but starts stacking after 29'' with 30-31'' being pretty stiff (but also adding poundage and fps.) The hand shock is very mild and essentially non-existent if you use proper khatra. The bow is very light, and with the smooth draw, I can shoot this all day. It is a pleasure to use. However, as a light, short bow, it is pretty unforgiving for errors in technique and release. I would not recommend this for someone who has not used a horsebow before. Some have mentioned in reviews that the string does not stay on. This has not been a problem for me as long as you check that the string remains within the string bridges during stringing. Stringing a horsebow is a little different so it may be worth reviewing some guides on YouTube before trying to string.

A little worried about the limb twist issue after reading some reviews. Also not sure about the fiberglass quality of the black version. After one month and about 3000 shots I can say it's still a great, accurate, intuitive bow, and it still looks and works like in day one. Also I was a bit concerned about the durability of the leather like arrow pass but it turned out to be incredibly tough, same if not more durable than the white bone inlay arrow pass on my other af archery tatar bow. 3000 shots only smoothed a bit on the arrow pass, no sign of wearing out.

This shortbow is powerful, and the Ottomans used it to conquer 1/3 of Europe with it. It's made from Ashwood so it's not the highest quality wood, but it is still strong, flexible, and tough. I have had this bow for a month as my first bow. I have shot roughly 1700 arrows off of it. It's accurate and really brings out weaknesses in your form. This is because mistakes get amplified due to how short the bow is. It's a great learning bow, I've read the other reviews on this bow, and nearly didn't buy it because of the bow string issues. I decided to buy it because I assumed people who complained about the bow string were probably string it themselves instead of using a bow stringer. Like your shooting form, stringing this bow with your body will bring out of your mistakes in bow stringing form, because of how short the bow is. That said, I always unstring and restring it nearly daily and have never had any issues. Hey I get it, it's cool to string a bow using your body, it even looks cool, but it's less safe and effective than using a proper bow stringer. I used thumb draw because I hope to shoot off of horseback someday. But I would definitely recommend this bow for beginners. FYI, I am 6'3", so the picture makes the bow look even shorter.

I got a 35lb @28" model. It measured 37lb @28" on my scale. My dl is 27" on a western recurve and just over 26" on this bow. Idk if its because the handle is much thinner than a recurve bow or the grip is different, but my dl is shorter on this bow. So its slightly lighter than what I was shooting for. It is 32-1/2lb @26- 1/4" I tested my scale weighting 3 10lb weight plates and it showed 29.87lbs. I shoot with a release due to hand injuries. I'm using two Gt warrior arrows, one 600 and one 700 spine. Both 31.5 " w 175 grain points and three 4" feathers. I'm not certain which flys best, leaning towards the 700 spines. I tried uncut 1716 with several weights, they did poor. 30" 1816 w 200 grain point three 4" feathers strike left when bow is not tilted. So does a 500 spines 28" carbon I had. Ill have to do much more shooting with it to get consistent form before trying to tune arrows. Based on arrow trajectories, the Gt warrior will stay fairly flat out to 40 yards while the heavier 1816s really drop fast after about 30 yards. All those arrowers meet the min weight required @.6gram per pound using 35 lb but if you drawl out to 30+inches the carbons are likely too light. Overall, it is a real nice looking bow and weighed only 9 ounces w the string. Very fun to shoot.

I didn't like this bow at first, 45lb draw seemed to be too much, however you get used to it. This is a good bow that packs a punch and throws arrows where you want.

+This is a light, lively, fast, accurate bow. It is beautifully made with attention to detail. I have already shot well over two thousand arrows through it and it has become one of my favourite bows. I am fairly tall, so I tend to overdraw the bow to about 31 inches. The draw weight is 35 lbs at 28 inches so I imagine by overdrawing it I am pulling maybe 40 lbs. I have had it destring itself once when I was careless in putting the string on. No damage ensued. It shoots flat and fast. I have used wooden arrows , carbon fibre arrows, fibreglass arrows and even arrows made out of hand picked dogwood, as our native brothers used to do (perhaps still do). This bow is a delight and I will probably buy another higher poundage version of it before much longer. I highly recommend it and I have been an archer, now, for 74 years.

This bow is amazing. I have many bows, this one is my new favourite. Very well made.