Types of Archery Arm Guards

Do not buy into the whole business that if you have perfect form you don’t need an arm guard.  Perfect form is great, but it cannot be relied upon.  Even with perfect form your shot can still be hampered b/c in the winter you are wearing additional clothing which come into contact with the shot.  An archery arm guard can help keep this from becoming an issue.  In fact, the two main benefits of archery arm guards are (1) keeps clothing from coming in contact with the shot and (2) protects the forearm from having the string after firing.  Anything promoted beyond these two benefits can mostly be chalked up to marketing hype. 

Makeup of Archery Arm Guards

You can expect to find two kinds of archery arm guards: (1) what we will call standard arm guards and (2) primitive or medieval arm guards.   

Standard Arm Guards 

Archery arm guards come in a variety of different materials.  Some of the more common ones include stainless steel, plastic cores, nylon staves or flex foam.  Also, a number of arm guards have backing of either soft leather or a poly-fiber.  Finally, the arm guards are attached to the forearm using elastic straps, nylon straps with Velcro, or leather strings.  All of these materials end up creating very light arm guards which provide varying degrees of comfort and protection.   

Primitive or Medieval Arm Guards 

These arm guards have more of a showy feel to them and can be made by any number of materials including stainless steel, nickel, and brass.   

Prices & Companies

Standard Arm Guards are very inexpensive as their prices range from $5.00 to $20.00.  Popular companies that sell standard arm guards include Lancaster Archery Supply, Three Rivers Archery Supply, Modell’s, Archery Sports USA, and even Cabela’s and the Bass Pro Shop.   

Primitive or Medieval Arm Guards are a little more expensive as they price range is between $30 to $60.  Primitive or medieval arm guards can be purchased from most traditional archery stores.  Some choices include Ravenswood Leather, Medieval Collectibles, Ye Olde Archery Shoppe, and Artemis Archery.