Fallhunt, it sounds like you shoot like Josh Miller (Styk Man Archery) on YouTube and he's a heck of a shot. He shows a good view of his bow grip.

OK. Fall Hunt. I should have read a little more carefully.

Larry....I say it ( ring and middle fingers) cause I do it. I also carry a suitcase that way. Seems to me that's the center line of the bow.

The one thing we can all agree on is those ASLs especially those backset ASLs kick like a mule. I shot my JD Berrys today, I really don't know why I practice so much, I have not hardly shot in two months and it is like nothing has changed That kick like a mule Morningstar wrecked two refurbished 1918s in the first two 4 arrow groups from 18 yards. I blame the deer target, the arrows stick in it too straight. I am afraid these two from now are just tomato stakes. yus kidding don't ya no, but I have shot ASLs that kicked so hard they could change your eye dominance.

Fall Hunt. What you're describing is just a high wrist grip, but you're doing it on a low wrist bow. G.F. Asbel in his first book on instinctive shooting advocated the same. That's before he had much experience shooting a longbow/ASL though.

I will chime in yet again about my method of holding the grip in regard to accuracy and hand shock. I have straight grips on all of my ASLs. I hold the grips with a low wrist grip position in regard to the pressure of the grip against my hand due to my outstretched bow arm. However, I only hold/squeeze the grip up high with a combination of my index finger and thumb both encircling the top of the grip while my middle finger, ring finger, and little finger just hang naturally relaxed. I get zero hand shock from that method of holding the grip while my shots are accurate left to right.

Over the years many expert ASL shooters have promoted a low wrist grip position while only squeezing the grip with the ring finger and little finger. I have so far never read about anyone else promoting my type of hold. That should probably tell me something. I have tried shooting with the more favored squeezing the grip with the bottom two fingers. I can do that. I feel zero hand shock. My shots are accurate from left to right. However, that grip feels so unnatural and uncomfortable to me. I am reasonable sure that this is only because I have developed a "bad" habit of shooting the bow "wrong" for so long. But that is okay. It works for me.

I shoot my bow arm with a bent elbow. I have a 28" draw length despite my stature because my body shape causes me to anchor on my earlobe in order to get proper alignment of my string arm elbow with the line of the arrow. Another possible reason for my unusually long draw length might be because I hold my head perfectly erect with my eyes completely straight forward toward the target. I have very poor partial vision in my dominant right eye even with corrective lenses. I cant my bow, but I do not cant my head at all.

Re low stretch strings, I use D-97, but there are lots of others that will also work.

I have found that the advice on how to grip an ASL as stated by Kelly above to be sound. A solid, low grip helps a lot in reducing hand shock. When I hear somebody at a shoot complaining about severe hand shock, I start thinking I might be on the verge of a good deal on a good used bow.

There are two things that can be done for handshock. 1. Get a longbow that is properly designed and built correctly. Of course, that you can not control. 2. You make sure you're grip is heel down and using the bottom two fingers to squeeze the grip.

RE: Your draw length are you using a straight elbow or bent one?

It was suggested by someone here for me to place a piece of packaging foam on the grip and wrapping it with grip tape. It’s the foam sheet material that is sold for packing dishes for long moves.

If the feather touching your nose is your anchor point, you're drawing a lot less than 31.5 inches. Regardless, folks have already provided arrow spines that should work -- 1816s in aluminum, .700 or .800 spine in carbon. About 40-45# in wood will also work. I'm pretty sure they'll be long enough for you.

In addition, you can go to a low-stretch string, if one already isn't on the bow, to reduce hand shock further.

At 9.3 GPU a 31" shaft is around 288 GB, plus feathers and nock and insert, and with 125 up front it will be over 423 GB. For a 34# bow that is in the neighborhood of 12.15 gpp. Right where you need it. Adding a bit of weight to the bow itself could also help with shock.

I am not any sort of expert such that you are probably getting better advice from above. I like to communicate, so I will throw in my two cents.

Shaft length, point weight (plus insert weight), fletching size and weight with nock, plus other variables (e.g., string nock location, type of string, strands in string, shooting form etc.) are all also possible factors in choosing the right arrow for your purposes. I have four 30# longbows (2 are ASLs and 2 are reflex/deflex hybrid longbows).

You probably will not be happy with the arrow weights. But in general, all four of my 30# longbows prefer the range of 700 spine to 800 spine arrow shafts when cut to 30 inches, with a 125-grain point, and with three 4-inch feathers. I like aluminum, so I shoot Easton Camo Hunter 1816 shafts (756 spine and 9.3 grains per inch) from those bows.

In regard to too much hand shock due to the light arrows, none of my 30# longbows have any perceptible hand shock with the 1816 arrows. One 30# longbow is a self-bow ASL. One 30# longbow is a Ben Pearson Archery. One 30# longbow is a Bear Archery. One 30# longbow is a Howard Hill Archery ASL. That is a decent range of different 30# longbows with no hand shock from 1816 arrows.

Mark...where I was going with my earlier comment is perspective. You don't need 600 and 700 grain arrows for that bow, even though almost all of my arrows are in or near that range, shooting between 55 and 65 most times. Yes, tame that bow, but also give it a chance to shine.

" And when I rotate my shoulder using my back muscles, my anchor point goes waaay back. IDK. " Engaging the back muscles does not lead to a longer draw. You can engage the back, drawing to your nose, and I don't think your going to injure your back pulling 34#.

OTF - "Off the fingers"

The reason I wanted a heavy arrow was to absorb more bow energy and reduce hand shock. I'm not shooting anything so light that it would risk damaging the bow, I know that. This is all about taming an ASL bow as much as possible.

I have a bow scale, and I marked my arrows where I draw to normally, and then drew to that point with a bow scale that holds the highest weight value. It reads 34#.

It's only a 30lb bow, so at 28", it is averaging 1.3 pounds per inch, and an extra 3 inches would be 4# more -- if the percentages held. I know draw curves don't necessarily run that way, but I guess a 68" longbow isn't stacking much at that point. IDK. I'm going by the scale, not the math. But I'm not overly surprised to see the weight, it's pretty much exactly what I expected.

As for anchor, I am tall, but not huge -- about 6'2". If I draw and anchor at the corner of my mouth, it is just about 28". But, when I engage my back muscles and expand to the full draw of my shoulder/back, it takes me well past the corner of my mouth. I'm anchoring with the finger at the jaw pretty much. (I'm actually using the feather touching my nose as a anchor point.)

I was surprised by the length, too. But I'm trying to implement the BEST system Arne Moe discusses to keep my shoulders from developing injury. And when I rotate my shoulder using my back muscles, my anchor point goes waaay back. IDK.

Well if you truly have a 31.5” draw length then wood arrows are not a consideration. Max arrow length of 31”.

By the way, what does OTF stand for, don’t know that term.

I wouldn’t be worrying about weight of arrows. Virtually every size arrow at that length will be more than 10 gap, 340 grains.

How did you come up with the 34# draw weight? Should be more than 5# increase for 3.5” more draw, probably closer to 7-8# increase.

Keep some things in mind. A heavy arrow for a 100 pound bow is not the same as a heavy arrow in a 30 pound bow. Keeping things in perspective, an arrow of 9 to 12 grains per pound of draw force is about right. That translates to about 1000 grains for that big guy and 300 grains for the lil guy.

What style of bow, its speed of recovery, its dimensions ( including how close to center the riser is cut), arrow length and , tip and nock weight of the arrow and even arrow shaft material can influence spine and your particular needs.

Mark,the guys above are giving you very good advice,with years of experience to back it up.All I can add is that ,when you have good quality wood shafts,they are easy and enjoyable to build and shoot ,and very easy to keep straight.A lot of guys that shoot ASL prefer wood over machine made shafts,me included.Wood, even tho it doesn’t have as tight a tolerance as mass produced carbon or aluminum shafts,actually shoot better out of a ASL bow,at least for me any way.

Your arrows are way too stiff and too long. Yes we need to know your actual draw length when concentrating on shooting-not concentrating on how long you are drawing the bow.

You might try some 1816’s.

As far as keeping wood arrows straight that hasn’t been a problem for me and shouldn’t be for you either. In almost 60 years of using them keeping ‘‘em straight no more difficult-maybe even easier because they are a solid shaft, not hollow like the rest.