Barebow is a recurve bow without a sight. You aim with the arrow point as your reference, and to adjust the elevation for distance you move something you already have with you: your fingers on the string (string walking), your anchor on the face (face walking) or the spot where you hold the point relative to the centre of the target (gap shooting). You find it in both of archery's worlds, but the rules are not the same: in World Archery and FITARCO it is a division without stabilisers or a clicker, with target, field and 3D events; in FIARC it is the Arco Nudo category and in the IFAA the Barebow style, both in field archery, and both allow a stabiliser.
People who choose it usually do so for the way of aiming rather than for the score. Below you will find what the rules of the two worlds allow, the distances you compete at, how the three aiming methods work and what the studies on barebow have to say.
What the rules allow
In World Archery and FITARCO the barebow rules start from those of the recurve and take things away. In World Archery Book 3, the target archery book in the version in force from 15 August 2026, article 9.3 says the equipment is the same as for the recurve with two exclusions, the sight and the stabilisers, and then goes into detail; Book 4, for field and 3D, repeats the same rules in article 19.3, except the one on the centre serving. FITARCO, the Italian member of World Archery, has the same structure in article 11.4 of its Book 3, in force from 1 January 2026, and in article 22.3 of its Book 4. In the other world FIARC sets out the Arco Nudo category in article 2.6 of its Regolamento Sportivo, in the version of 2 December 2023, as a closed list: only the accessories it names are allowed. The IFAA sets out the Barebow style, which exists for both recurve and compound, in article IV of the By-Laws in its Book of Rules, and on 1 June 2026 its executive added a number of clarifications. If you are about to buy or set up a bow, these are the points that matter.
| Item | World Archery and FITARCO | FIARC | IFAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | Recurve. | Recurve, with double-curve limbs. | Recurve or compound, in two separate styles, Barebow Recurve and Barebow Compound. |
| Sight | Not allowed. | Not allowed. | Not allowed. |
| Stabilisers | Not allowed. | One, which may be in several pieces, no longer than 12 inches (about 30 cm) from the back of the bow and no wider than 2; no side stabilisation or counterbalance. | Allowed, with no limit on number or length in the style rule; under clarification no. 6 of 2026, any stabilisation system is acceptable in Barebow Recurve. |
| Weights and dampeners | Allowed, provided the bow with everything on it passes through a ring 12.2 cm in diameter (± 0.5 mm) and does not help with aiming or judging distance. | Weights on the lower part of the grip, fitted directly with no extensions; other weights no more than 5 cm thick; dampeners that do not help with aiming. | The style rule does not mention them, and clarification no. 6 of 2026 confirms that in Barebow Recurve no rule limits weights added to the riser. |
| Marks on the bow | The bow must be bare apart from the arrow rest and free from marks that could be used for aiming; any within the aiming area must be taped over. | No mark, decoration or device on the bow or string that could act as an aiming reference. | Bow, arrows, string and accessories free from marks, blemishes or lamination markings that could be used for aiming; if there are any on the window, the full length of the back of the window must be taped over. |
| Clicker | Not allowed, like any other draw check. | Not allowed: it is not among the listed accessories. | One non-adjustable draw check and a level are allowed, mounted on the bow and not above the arrow. |
| Rest and pressure button | Allowed; the pressure point may sit no more than 2 cm back from the pivot point of the grip. | A rest on the inside of the window, with no part above the arrow, and a side pressure adjuster are allowed. | An adjustable rest is allowed, provided it does not extend above the arrow, apart from the parts it needs to work, such as the button. |
| String | One or two nocking points (FITARCO's field and 3D book allows one), no kisser and no other lip or nose mark. In target archery the end of the centre serving must not be within the archer's vision at full draw. | A single nocking point, formed by one or two locators; silencers at least 30 cm from the nocking point. | A single permanent nocking point, marked by one or two locators; one or two string stoppers outside the line of vision. |
| Tab | Allowed, including an anchor plate; stitching must be uniform in size and colour, and marks uniform in size, shape and colour, with no more than two different lengths. | Allowed, as is a shooting glove; the rules say nothing about marks. | Allowed, with or without marks, including to set the gap between arrow and fingers; it must not be held towards the target to judge distance or aim. |
| String walking and face walking | Allowed. | Allowed: grip and release may move vertically during a competition, and you may close one eye. | Not prohibited: the style rule fixes neither the grip nor the anchor, as it does for Bowhunter. |
For anyone buying a bow, the difference that matters most is the stabiliser: the one FIARC and the IFAA allow is excluded from World Archery and FITARCO events, so if you plan to shoot in both worlds you need to be able to take it off and get the bow through the 12.2 cm ring. On the tab the picture is reversed, because World Archery and FITARCO spell out the rules on marks in detail and FIARC does not; and since FIARC's Regolamento Sportivo rules out the idea that anything not written down is allowed, check with the federation's technical bodies before you mark your tab. The two worlds also part ways on notes: at FIARC events you may not take notes that help you judge distances, while the IFAA Barebow style allows written notes carried on the archer.
The rule on marks also closes a route sometimes suggested to people shooting without a sight, which is to draw a line on the limb for each distance. A 2023 model calculated where those lines should go, but no archer has tried them on the range, and in the registry the claim that marks on the limb calculated for each distance can do the job of a sight is transferred. In barebow, in any case, all four rulebooks require the bow to be free from aiming marks.
Competition distances
In outdoor target archery barebow shoots closer than the Olympic recurve. Under World Archery (Book 2, version of 15 August 2026) the qualification round is 72 arrows at 50 metres on the 122 cm face, at 30 metres for under-15s; indoors it is 18 metres on the 40 cm face, the same as the recurve, in its triple version at international events. In FITARCO events Book 2, in force from 1 January 2026, keeps 50 metres and brings the Allievi class in to 40 metres and the Ragazzi and Giovanissimi classes to 25, always on the 122 cm face.
In World Archery field archery, barebow shoots from the blue peg (under-18s from the yellow, closer in), between 5 and 50 metres on marked courses and between 5 and 45 on unmarked ones. In 3D, again from the blue peg, the targets stand between 5 and 30 metres and the distance is never marked, so judging it is part of the competition.
In FIARC every shot is at an unmarked distance, and barebow shoots from the same pegs as the other categories; Scouts have a closer blue peg on targets in groups 1 and 2, except in the 3D Round, and Cuccioli, the youngest class, a red one. The maximum distances depend on the event and on the target group: 40 metres in the Battuta and the Percorso, 55 metres in the Tracciato for group 1 targets, 35 metres in the 3D Round. You shoot at animal targets, paper or three-dimensional, with three scoring zones, the body, the spot and the super spot, and unlike the historical bow, the longbow and the recurve, barebow is exempt from the timed shots.
In the IFAA, Barebow too shoots from the same pegs as the other styles, which change only with the age division. In the field round, at marked distances, adults shoot from 20 feet (6.10 metres) to 80 yards (73.15 metres) on faces from 20 to 65 cm; in the hunter round, on black faces with a white centre, the distance goes up to 70 yards (64 metres); in the animal rounds, on animal faces, the first peg for the largest targets stands between 60 and 40 yards, and in the unmarked version the distance has to be judged. In field and hunter rounds each arrow scores 5, 4 or 3, and juniors and cubs shoot closer in.
Three ways to aim without a sight
All three methods use the same reference, the arrow point, which at full draw you see below your eye and place on the target. What changes is how the elevation is adjusted for distance.
String walking. The anchor always stays the same, usually high, with the index finger at the corner of the mouth, and the point always goes on the centre. What changes is where the fingers take the string: the further they move down below the nock, the higher the nock sits relative to the point, and with the point held on the centre the arrow lands lower. For close targets you therefore crawl further down, and for distant ones less. There is one distance, different for every archer and every bow, at which you shoot with the fingers at the nock and the point on the centre, the point-on distance; for shorter distances you move down the string, and the length of the crawl is read off the marks or stitching on the tab, which World Archery and FITARCO allow provided they are uniform and which the IFAA allows for exactly this purpose.
Face walking. Here the grip stays at the nock and the anchor moves on the face. The higher the anchor moves towards the eye, the more the arrow lines up with your line of sight and the shorter the shot; the lower it goes, the more the arrow tilts up and the further it flies. It is also the method FITARCO's rules leave to the instinctive bow in field and 3D events, where string walking is not allowed.
Gap shooting. Grip and anchor stay fixed and the aiming point moves. At the distance where the point sits on the centre you aim straight at it; closer in you hold the point below the centre, further out above it. The space between point and centre, the gap, is learnt distance by distance, and at unmarked distances, as in every FIARC event, it has to be judged together with the distance.
In practice many archers combine the methods: someone who string walks at short distances, for example, may switch to the gap beyond their point-on distance. I know of no study comparing the three methods on archers, and there is none in the registry, so the choice depends on the discipline you compete in and on the coach who follows you more than on any data. Since you aim with the arrow point below your eye, it helps to find out early which is your dominant eye.
Weights on the riser
Without stabilisers, a World Archery or FITARCO barebow is made heavier with weights screwed into the riser, which must stay within the 12.2 cm ring. In FIARC weights go on the lower part of the grip or must be no more than 5 cm thick, and you may fit one stabiliser up to 12 inches long; in the IFAA stabilisers are allowed with no length limit, and a clarification of 1 June 2026 states that any stabilisation system is acceptable in Barebow Recurve, weights in the riser included. On how to arrange the weights there is a single study, small but direct: seven club archers rated, blind, eleven set-ups fitted to the same bow, and preferred the ones that made it vibrate and move least after the shot, in particular those with two weights, the heavier in the centre and the other low down. With no weights the bow moved 139 millimetres sideways, with the two preferred set-ups 17 to 19. In the registry the claim that in barebow, archers prefer the weight set-up that leaves the bow steadier is reported. The study does not say whether that set-up also scores more: to see that, the authors calculate, it would take about a thousand arrows for each set-up.
Who chooses barebow
Barebow appeals to people who want a bow that is simple to set up and carry, and to those who find aiming with the arrow part of the pleasure of shooting. It is at home in field and 3D archery, where the distance changes at every target, and so in the world of FIARC and the IFAA, but it is shot on the target field too, outdoors and indoors: FITARCO's Italian target championships have their own barebow division, in which FITARCO also places the longbow and the instinctive bow. If you come from the Olympic recurve you find the same kind of bow and the same release with the fingers; what changes is the way you aim, and at first trusting the arrow point instead of a sight takes patience. On draw weight the same care applies as for the recurve, and the differences from instinctive shooting and from the compound are set out in the comparison of instinctive, Olympic recurve and compound.
Before you buy
Before you buy, decide which world you want to compete in and read its rulebook in the edition in force: the differences in the table, starting with the stabiliser, are enough to get a bow through equipment inspection or keep it out. FIARC members can go on to compete in the IFAA's international events, where IFAA rules apply; for events in Italy the reference remains the Regolamento Sportivo, which your club can give you or which you can find on the federation's website, fiarc.it. The World Archery and FITARCO rulebooks are on the two federations' websites, worldarchery.sport and fitarco.it.