The BAREBOW Blog

Because finding this information all in one location can be difficult I wanted to provided these charts for the barebow masses. Coaches and parents trying to buy a new bow or setup may find it most useful.

Barebow Recurve Bow Measurement Chart

Shooter HeightRecommended Recurve Bow SizeDraw Length
Up to 4’6”48” – 54”Up to 21”
Up to 5’58”- 62”21” – 24”
Up to 5’2”62” – 64”24” – 26”
Up to 5’6”66”26” or less
Up to 5’8”68”26.5” – 29”
Over 5’8”70” – 72”29” or longer

*In barebow it is common to use a slightly longer bow for purposes of string walking and reducing the tension on the ring finger for crawling to shorter distances. For this reason I recommend shooting even tiller as a change in negative or positive tiller can change the pressure on the grip and hook. For kids and new shooters I recommend strictly even tiller. 

Recommended Brace Height 

Bow LengthInitial Brace Height
Youth Bows48”7 ¼  – 7 ⅕ 
54”7 5/9  – 7 ⅞ 
60”8 – 8 ¼
Youth / Adult Bows62”8 ⅛ – 8 ⅜
64”8 ¼ – 8 ⅝ 
66”8 ⅜ – 8 ⅞ 
Adult Bows68”8 ½ – 9 ⅛ 
70”9 – 9 ½ 
72” +9 ¼ – 9 ¾ 

*Note start all recurve shooters at lighter weight limb configuration and anticipate that limb lengths and poundage will change if you put longer limbs on a shorter riser. Poundage will increase slightly in that configuration.