What Size Recurve Bow Do You Need? Draw Length Decides

Buy a 68-inch bow. For most adults, that's the answer — a 25-inch riser with medium limbs, the standard setup in every pro shop. But "most adults" isn't you, and the difference between a bow that fits and one that fights you shows up in your groups within a week.

Bow length follows draw length. Not height, not arm strength, not budget. An archer with a 26-inch draw on a 70-inch bow wastes the limbs' working range; a 30-inch draw on a 62-inch bow stacks hard and pinches the string against your fingers at anchor.

Get the draw length right and everything else — string length, brace height, even arrow spine — falls out of it.

Measure your draw length first

Stand against a wall, arms out, palms forward. Have someone measure fingertip to fingertip, then divide by 2.5. A 70-inch wingspan works out to a 28-inch draw, which happens to be the industry's reference number — under the AMO standard, bows are weighed and marked at 28 inches of draw.

That's an estimate, not gospel. Settled form can shift it half an inch either way, and a coach with a clicker will pin it down better than any formula. A draw length calculator gets you close enough to buy the right limbs, though.

One warning. Don't size off height alone. Two people at 5'10" can carry wingspans a couple of inches apart, and it's the arms that draw the bow.

The sizing chart

Here's the mapping, with heights included for typical proportions — wingspan roughly equals height, so height divided by 2.5 lands near your draw:

• Draw under 25 inches (around 5'3" and under): 62-64 inch bow
• 25-27 inch draw (about 5'3" to 5'8"): 66 inch bow
• 27-29 inch draw (about 5'8" to 6'0"): 68 inch bow
• 29-31 inch draw (about 6'0" to 6'5"): 70 inch bow
• Over 31 inches: 72 inch bow

The mechanics behind the chart are simple. Takedown target recurves pair a riser with a set of limbs, and nearly every manufacturer builds around a 25-inch riser — short limbs make it a 66, mediums a 68, longs a 70. Risers also come in 23 and 27 inch versions, which shift each combination down or up two inches. An ILF riser like the Hoyt Xceed 2 or WIAWIS ATF-DX accepts any maker's ILF limbs, so you can change the bow's length later without starting over; budget risers like the Sanlida Miracle X10 and SF Premium Plus use the same fitting.

Hunting-style takedowns run shorter. The Samick Sage and Galaxy Sage measure 62 inches and list a maximum draw of 29 — fine for woods distances, and easier to thread through brush than a 70-inch target rig.

Torn between two sizes? Go longer

A longer bow draws smoother and expands more steadily through the clicker; the cost is a little arrow speed. A shorter bow is faster and handier in wind, but less forgiving of everything. The string angle at full draw gets sharper as bows get shorter, which pinches your tab fingers against the nock and magnifies small release errors.

Beginners feel that pinch most. Coaches steer new archers toward the longer option for exactly this reason, and most archers find the speed difference between a 66 and a 68 invisible on a target face.

Growing teenager? Definitely round up.

String length and the AMO rule

Recurve strings are sold by the bow's AMO length, not by their measured length — and the two numbers are never the same.

The official standard, published by the Archery Manufacturers and Merchants Organization (now the Archery Trade Association), designates bow length as three inches longer than the string that braces it correctly — with that string measured under 100 pounds of tension over steel pins. Off the pins and relaxed, the same string tapes shorter, which is why the shop rule says a recurve string runs roughly four inches under the bow's marked length. A 68-inch bow takes a string that actually measures around 64 inches.

You don't need to do the math at the counter. Buy by marking: a bow stamped AMO 68 braces properly with a string sold as AMO 68. The minus-four rule earns its keep when you're taping an unmarked string or checking that a used bow came with the right one. Longbow strings sit closer to three inches under bow length — the convention differs by bow type, so don't mix the two rules.

Brace height by bow length

Once the bow's strung, check the brace height — the perpendicular distance from the deepest part of the grip to the string, measured with a bow square. The standard ranges:

• 62 and 64 inch bows: 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches
• 66 and 68 inch bows: 8 to 9 inches
• 70 and 72 inch bows: 8 3/4 to 9 1/2 inches

Factory specs sit inside those windows. The 62-inch Sage, for instance, lists 7.5 to 8.25 inches.

Start in the middle of the range and tune from there: twisting the string raises brace height — two twists adds roughly a quarter inch — and untwisting lowers it. Too low and the string passes closer to your forearm at release; that's the bruise, and the bow usually gets louder too. The quietest point in the range wins. Note the number and recheck it every few sessions, because strings creep.

Run the numbers

Say you're 5'10" with a 70-inch wingspan. Draw length: 28 inches. Bow: 68 inches, from a 25-inch riser with medium limbs. String: marked AMO 68, taping around 64 inches relaxed. Brace height: start near 8 1/2 and tune for quiet.

That's the whole job. Five minutes with a tape measure beats an hour of forum threads — and if you'd rather skip the charts entirely, a draw length calculator or the Find My Bow quiz will do the arithmetic for you. Spend the saved time shooting.