Left or Right Handed Bow and Arrow

As hard as it seems, distinguishing whether it is a left or right handed bow and arrow can be confusing which is why it is important that you have first hand knowledge on how to identify your bow. Left-handed compound bows are designed for the dominant eye, rather than the dominant hand. As such, the minor differences between left- or right-handed compound bows will be in respect to visual alignment, such as the side of the bow the arrow is drawn on or any attached sights. Right-handed bows will be held by the left hand and drawn with the right, which means the arrow and sights will be on the left-hand side of the bow.

Read this article further to better understand bows and arrows.

A Few Clues

The first thing that you need to do is to pick up the bow. Make sure that you pick it up in the right way and it’s not upside down. One way to know is that the device is sticking up and for some other clues, the serial number or draw weight should also be displayed accordingly.

Another way is to look for the riser's arrow stabilizer, which help secure the arrow. If it is on the left-hand side of the bow, then it is a right-handed bow. If it is on the right-hand side of the bow, then the bow is left-handed. The stabilizer and the hole should always go down when you’re holding the bow.

If the stabilizer is on the right side of the handgrip on the bow, it means that it should be held in your right hand. Thus said, such bow is a left-handed bow. Take note that if the bow should be held in your right hand and the string should be gripped by your left hand, it is a left-handed compound bow.

On the other hand, as shown in the video, it may be hard to tell whether a bow is right-handed because we can’t tell from the arrow rest of rises because the hand grip looks the same as a left-handed bow.

What you can do is to look at the stabilizer and the hole to determine if it is held correctly. If you look at closely the arrow rest, the hole can be located at the left hand side, which means that the bow should be held in your left hand and the right hand holds the string. Compound bows are made to specifically fit right-handed or left-handed people. They do not interchange. A right handed bow is held in the left hand and drawn back with the right hand. A left-handed bow is held in the right hand and drawn with the left hand. As you might imagine, most right-handed people shoot right-handed bows. Most left-handed people shoot left-handed bows. For most people, it's a pretty simple choice.

However, like most things, there are exceptions to the rule. Some archers choose their bows based on eye-dominance, rather than hand dominance. For more details about bows and arrows, check out the products that Combat Australia offers.