Indoor vs Outdoor Target Archery: Gear, Distances & Scoring

Are fat 'line-cutter' arrows actually worth it indoors, or do they just cost you forgiveness?

They help, but not as much as the marketing suggests. A 23-series shaft (think 2613, X-Cutter, 30X) is wide enough that arrows clipping the line get scored up, and on an 18m spot where one ring decides a tournament, that matters. The catch is two-fold. Fat broomsticks are notoriously fussy to tune, with a lot of trial and error on point weight and shaft length before they group. And several shooters report putting up the same scores with skinnier ACC-type shafts that were far more forgiving of a sloppy release. Plenty of pros shoot fat shafts, so they clearly work, but you have to earn it with a properly tuned bow. If your groups aren't already tight, the extra diameter buys you very little.

Should I drop my draw weight for indoor shooting?

A lot of archers do, and it's a sound move. At 18m you don't need cast or speed, so the argument for lighter limbs is purely about holding and aiming. Pull less weight and you can hold steadier at full draw, your gaps shrink, and you stop fighting the bow on a 30-arrow round. Some barebow shooters run noticeably lighter limbs indoors than they'd use outdoors at 50m, where you actually need the arrow to get there with a usable sight picture. The trade-off is a tuning one: change poundage and your spine and point-on shift, so you can't just back the limb bolts out the night before a shoot and expect arrows to fly the same. Settle on your indoor weight early and tune the arrow to it.

Why are my sight marks off when I take my indoor-sighted bow outside?

Lighting, mostly. If you sighted in under indoor fluorescents and then step onto a sunny outdoor range, your pupil dilation changes and your eye lines up the pin slightly differently, so the marks drift, usually a touch of windage. Shooting into shadow versus full sun on a field course can shift them again. None of this is your form falling apart. The fix is simple: don't trust indoor marks outdoors, re-check your sight on the actual range in the actual light before it counts, and sight your windage at your longest distance first, then come back and confirm 20 yards. And never sight in during wind. Pick a calm session for marks, then practice reading and aiming off for the breeze separately.

I shoot great indoors but my outdoor scores fall off a cliff. What's going on?

Welcome to the club. The jump from 18m to 50 or 70m isn't linear, it's exponential, because every tiny form error gets multiplied by the extra distance and the sight picture gets much smaller and busier. One shooter who reliably banged 270+ on the 40cm indoor face managed around 200 on his first couple of 70m attempts, and that's normal, not a sign you've forgotten how to shoot. Wind, light, and the sheer psychology of a faraway target all pile on. Don't read your outdoor number as a verdict on your ability. Build outdoor reps with a 'walk-back' drill, starting close and stepping back only once you're grouping, and give it a full season before you judge yourself against your indoor PB.

Can one bow setup do both indoor and outdoor, or do I need two of everything?

One bow, yes. One arrow set, usually not. The riser and limbs happily cross over, and a setup dialed for 18m can often be nudged out toward 50m with a plunger or shelf tweak. Arrows are where people end up with two kits. Indoors you want a slow, often fatter, heavier shaft that hangs in the air long enough to straighten out over the short distance and cuts lines. Outdoors you want something closer to optimal spine, lighter and better-flying, so it cuts the wind and stays forgiving at range. Swapping between a fat indoor shaft and a skinny outdoor micro means retuning, so most committed archers build two arrow sets and leave the bow itself largely alone.

The case for fat shafts is real: more diameter catches more lines, and a slow, heavy arrow has time to straighten before it hits at 18m. But the pushback is just as strong. Fat broomsticks are a pain to tune, and several shooters say skinnier shafts scored the same while being far more forgiving. The honest read: they work for tight groupers, but they punish loose form.

Most agree that since 18m needs no cast, lighter poundage lets you hold steadier, tighten gaps, and shoot a cleaner round, with several barebow archers running noticeably less weight indoors than at 50m. The dissent isn't really about the principle, it's the warning that dropping weight shifts your spine and point-on, so you can't change it casually without retuning the arrow.

There's near-consensus that they don't. Lighting changes pupil dilation and shifts how you center the pin, so marks set under fluorescents drift in sunlight or shadow, usually in windage. The advice is consistent: re-verify on the real range in the real light, sight windage at your longest distance first, and never set marks in wind.