Bowcabulary

Your Archery Dictionary. Learn the terms, techniques, and gear language every archer should know — straight from John Dudley.
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What Is Spine?

What Is Spine?

Discover why arrow spine numbers matter and how the right stiffness helps your arrows fly straight for tighter groups and punched tags.
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What Is Axle-to-Axle Length?

What Is Axle-to-Axle Length?

See how axle-to-axle length creates tradeoffs between maneuverability and accuracy on compound bows, plus how your draw length changes everything.
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What Is Brace Height?

What Is Brace Height?

Discover why brace height determines arrow speed and how one inch equals seven to 10 fps when comparing bow performance specs.
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What Is Tiller?

What Is Tiller?

Understand why tiller tuning evolved from balancing uneven limbs to fine-tuning nock position, draw length, and bow feel on modern setups.
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What Is a Bow Square?

What Is a Bow Square?

See why every archer needs a bow square in their kit, from setting brace height and nocking points to verifying your setup before every shot that matters.
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BC: What Is Hysteresis?
What Is Hysteresis?

What Is Hysteresis?

Learn how hysteresis and hidden friction inside your compound bow affect efficiency and overall performance.
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What Is Shimming?

What Is Shimming?

Understand what shimming means for your compound or recurve bow and how it applies to your cams, limb pockets, limb alignment, and cable-rod systems.
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What Is a Hinge Release?

What Is a Hinge Release?

Understand how a hinge release works and why its rotation-based firing method is one of the most effective tools for building a surprise-based shot.
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What Is a Limb Rocker?

What Is a Limb Rocker?

Learn how limb rockers work, why they matter for bow alignment and stability, and how to maintain them for peak performance.
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Bowcabulary graphic defining "collar" as a component that fits around an arrow shaft.
What Are Arrow Collars?

What Are Arrow Collars?

Learn how arrow collars reinforce smaller-diameter carbon shafts and improve broadhead-to-shaft alignment for durability at 3D events and in the field.
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Bowcabulary graphic defining "Lizard Tongue," a spring steel launcher blade that serves as an arrow rest.
What Is a Lizard Tongue?

What Is a Lizard Tongue?

Find out why a simple piece of spring steel can outperform drop-away rests on the target line and what makes blade sizing and clearance so critical.
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What Is a Barreled Shaft?

What Is a Barreled Shaft?

Learn how barreled arrow shafts revolutionized target archery and why understanding their unique design helps you make smarter arrow choices today.
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School of Nock Bowcabulary graphic defining "Riser" as the central non-bending frame of a compound or recurve bow.
What Is a Riser?

What Is a Riser?

Learn how bow riser design shapes your shooting accuracy, speed, and forgiveness, whether you hunt or compete on the target range.
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What Is a Power Stroke?

What Is a Power Stroke?

Understand the real trade-off between power stroke and forgiveness and find the bow setup that balances speed with real-world shootability.
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