Best Longbows for Beginners

Southwest Archery's only one-piece longbow borrows the dymondwood, tiger wood, white oak, and padouk mix from its Tigershark recurves, and it's easily the best-looking riser under $250. Reinforced tips mean it'll take a Fast Flight string, and the box includes a stringer, rest, and actual instructions. One real problem: when we checked in June 2026, all sixteen draw-weight and hand variants were sold out at the manufacturer.

Price

$249

Min draw

25 lb

Length

68"

Build

One-piece-laminated

Lancaster's house brand took the Sage name everyone knows from the recurve world and put it on a 68-inch one-piece longbow. Dymondwood, hard maple, and oak under black fiberglass, phenolic-reinforced tips, and a crowned shelf. At $229.99 and 1.23 pounds on the scale, it does exactly what a first longbow should: teaches you to shoot a stick without emptying your wallet.

Price

$229.99

Min draw

30 lb

Length

68"

Build

One-piece-laminated

OMP's 68-inch workhorse in hard maple and walnut, with a multi-laminate handle, reinforced tips, and Fast Flight compatibility. MSRP says $279.99 but nobody pays that — Bowhunters Superstore had it at $193 to $207 depending on weight when we checked. The 8 to 8¾ inch recommended brace is unusually tall for a longbow, which quiets it down at the cost of a little speed.

Price

$192.99

Min draw

35 lb

Length

68"

Build

One-piece-laminated

The shortest and cheapest bow in this group, and arguably the most interesting. The Black Ridge 62 is a one-piece hybrid with a deflex profile, hard maple core laminations, phenolic tips, and satin black glass. At 62 inches it's the only entry-level longbow here that won't fight you in a treestand or a ground blind, and the hybrid geometry means less hand shock than the 68-inch D-bows it undercuts on price.

Price

$209.99

Min draw

30 lb

Length

62"

Build

Hybrid-reflex-deflex

The Montana's been Bear's longbow since the late '90s, and it hasn't changed much because it hasn't needed to. You get a hard-rock maple riser, white maple limbs under black fiberglass, a mild reflex profile, and a leather-wrapped grip with a leather shelf rest. At $529.99 it costs roughly double the import D-bows, but it ships with a D97 Flemish string and it's the only bow in this group you can buy off the shelf in almost any weight, right now.

Price

$529.99

Min draw

30 lb

Length

64"

Build

One-piece-laminated

Henry Bodnik's 60-inch hybrid is the hot rod of this group: bamboo limb cores with a carbon layer under crystal-clear glass, a Merbau and Makassar riser, multilayered Mycarta tips, and a low pistol grip. It's built in Germany, carries a 30-year warranty, and at 60 inches it draws and hits like bows half a foot longer. US street price is $699 at Kustom King; ordering direct from Bearpaw runs $798 and the direct listing was sold out when we checked.

Price

$699

Min draw

25 lb

Length

60"

Build

Hybrid-reflex-deflex

The Savannah is the bow trad hunters point to when they explain why reflex/deflex matters. Built in the Damon Howatt facility in Walla Walla, it's 62 inches, weighs a scant 1 lb 1 oz, and pulls 40 to 65 pounds. The r/d profile stores energy without the wrist-slap of a straight D-bow. It's $825 with a straight inlay, $875 curved, and you don't buy one off a shelf anymore — you reserve a build slot and wait five to seven weeks.

Price

$825

Min draw

40 lb

Length

62"

Build

Hybrid-reflex-deflex