Finger tab or glove
Equipment
I’ve been using a glove but am interested in trying a tab. Glove has been working fine for me on 40 and 50lb limbs though.
Tab, Cavalier Elite is what I shoot with my Trad bows and my finger compound and old Mathews Conquest. Read up on it, nice tab for about 30 bucks, I get a much cleaner release with a tab. Shawn
I have been shooting an Allen tab for 25 years
I shoot a tab because you can eat with it on
can't really explain why but I used a Saunders slick tab with my compound & a glove with the recurve probably because I used the recurve when deer driving & things happen quickly explained the glove. the slick tab is a durable plastic super slick & unaffected by weather
I used the super tab with compound, no pinch tab with recurve and glove with longbow. Go figure. Try all three and make your choice.
Running? Not sure what that means but I use a Flipper rest that pops on and off.
Fliper test with a plunger button for fingers on a compound. Ive akways used gloves but, upon shooting my trad bow again, ive went with a tab and much prefer it
Using a tab for 45 years, a Black Widow or a Bateman Cordovan tab. Much cleaner release with a tab. Have you ever seen an Olympic shooter with anything but a tab?
can't go wrong with the nap flipper rest used one for over 20 years.
I love the flipper ...any problems and you pop it off and put on another.
I am no expert but can share my own experience. With my compound bow I use bare fingers. With my long-draw found I was most comfortable pulling with three fingers then drooping to two with the release. I shoot my long ow ans recurve with a tab. It is all about comfort and feel. What feels right for me may be wrong for you.
I like tabs because they don't "groove" like a glove. For me, the grooving leads to plucking and an erratic release. Lots of guys shoot gloves with no issues. I've just found that a tab gives me a more consistent release.
My favorite is the Saunders Pak Tab. It's a teflon-plastic tab that allows you to easily modify the thickness. It's also waterproof. I've also shot smooth leather and calf hair tabs, but gravitated to the Saunders about 20 years ago and never looked back.
For a compound, definitely want a flipper style rest. Back when I was serious about finger shooting a compound, I got much more consistent arrow flight with a cushion plunger (Berger) button on the flipper. But that was shooting aluminum arrows from a heavy bow, with plastic fletches. Today's carbons don't flex as much coming off the string and that cushion plunger may not be necessary.
For you guys shooting flippers nowadays, are you shooting feathers?
Tough to go wrong with the simple calf hair tab with a finger spacer
I shoot feathers off the flipper rest. LOTS of work tuning bow and bareshafts to minimize fletch contact!
Yeah, thats where a plunger really helps.
I also used the Flipper rest as shown above, and shot well with them many years. If you go with one, you might want to keep an eye out for some thin plastic tubes that would come in handy for replacements for the original when it wears out. I used a good bit of WD-40 when I did more work in my garage, and the tubing used on them and on some other spray cans (brake cleaner?) went into my tackle box when the can was empty.
I also discovered that the tubing would sometimes slip out towards the end of the wire arm after some use. Best answer I found for that was to bend a small "L" in the end of the wire. Not too severe, or it will impede replacement.
I was quite happy with them and carried a couple extra ones in my tackle box in case I needed to replace one on a hunting trip or a distant tournament, but they were so reliable I almost never needed one.
I went to the Whisker Biscuit, and also liked them for many of the same reasons I had liked the Flippers......Quick and easy set-up and replacement, low cost, and most of all extremely reliable. Hard to beat either choice. The WB does offer full capture which is great for hunting, and was the main reason I switched. Had the wind take my arrow off the rest once while the bow was in the holder on the side of my stand. Tried the WB shortly after that and liked it.
Has anyone tried a springy rest? That's what I used when I shot a compound with fingers. Works like a plunger and flipper rest but much more durable and accurate.
RE: Tab I shoot an Angel tab. I have for ~ 20 years. They are a little thinner and I like the feel.
fisherick- I shot a springy for years. (I have a couple on hand if interested. I shoot an AAE fast flite elite with a Teflon berger button. The rest is magnetic. To silence it for hunting, I glue a little moleskin on berger button. I wrap the wire arm with Teflon (The kind you use on plumbing threads.) It is much more adjustable than a springy. I shoot 4x4" on my FMJ's. The rest system might look delicate for hunting, but the only issue I have ever had was trying to custom bend the wire arm and it broke. (You can buy a spare arm, which I now have on hand) It is the best release I have ever found for shooting tunability. Finger shoot since 1980. Not much into change!
another vote for the springy with fingers on a compound. Works like a berger button to help correct your errant releases. It holds the arrow at the ready too. Missed a giant whitetail one day. Took me a month to figure out how I could have shot under him at 15 yards with sights. I never put the damn arrow up on the rest as it had a tendency to fall off. That was with a flipper style rest. Those lessons hurt. He didn't mind.
