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

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.

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.

I never like to leave a bad review, but I can corroborate the reports of the string not staying on this bow. I am an experienced archer and shoot horsebows and Scythian style bows exclusively, so I am very familiar with the process of stringing this type of bow. While I could get it strung, drawing the string back would result in the string popping off as the bow twisted, making this a dangerous bow to shoot. It appears that the siyahs twist in the opposite direction and cannot be adjusted in a manner to make this bow work. Perhaps the reason others do not have this issue is because they were lucky enough to get a model that was not defective. I believe these bows are mass produced, so it's the luck of the draw in getting a good one. Save your money and explore other options if you want a traditional Turkish \ Horsebow. Sorry to disappoint.

Short, fast bow with a big comfortable handle. The 50lb model is easy to shoot, accurate and has good penetrating power.

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 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.

Beautiful craftsmanship and not a mark on it from shipping!