Best Arrow Rests For Recurve Bow

Arrow rests are a critical part of a recurve bow, you need to put your arrow somewhere, right?

There’s a few different styles you can use, so this will simplify them for you.

In this article you’ll learn what type of recurve arrow rest there are, which type will work best for you and what the best recurve arrow rests are.

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Types of Arrow Rests for Recurve Bows

There’s a few different styles of rests you can use for your recurve bow, they all have their advantages.

Which one you use is mostly going to come down to how you plan to use your recurve and personal preference.

Shooting off the shelf

For the majority of recurve bows, you can actually shoot your arrows off what is called the shelf.

The shelf is the bottom of the little cut out in the riser where the arrow is shot through.

This is the more traditional way to shoot a recurve.

But even if you want to shoot your bow off the shelf, you still want to put a hair rest & side plate on the shelf to help protect your bow riser and reduce friction of the arrow as it moves across the shelf.

Most of the time this is just a strip of fur that covers your bow’s shelf.

Stick on Rests

Stick on rests are one step up from shooting off the shelf.

They are usually made from plastic and aren’t the most durable arrow rests out there.

Because of that, most of them are sold in packs of 4-10 arrow rests.

This type of arrow rest does give you a little bit of added stability compared to shooting off the shelf and is relatively cheap, which can make it a good option.

Olympic Style Arrow Rests

All other recurve arrow rests pretty much fall under Olympic style arrow rests.

There’s a wide variety of these, but most of them are some variation of a metal bar for the arrow to sit on.

You can find these as stick on arrow rests, but many of them are going to be bolted on to the bow.

One thing to note is that Olympic style arrow rests are designed to b used with a plunger, which helps to keep the arrow centered on the arrow rest.

Factors for Choosing the Best Arrow Rest

Shooting Style and Technique

If you want to shoot any kind of competitive archery with your recurve bow, then an Olympic style arrow rest (with a plunger) is going to be your best bet.

This combination is going to give you the most consistency in the long run which is vital for winning competitions.

If you're a recreational archer who wants a more traditional and historically accurate look, then shooting off the shelf is the way you want to go.

For bowhunters, most opt for either shooting off the shelf or stick on rests.

A big reason for this is they are less likely to fail in the field.

Yes, Olympic style rests are usually more accurate, but they are also very precise and can easily get messed up in the course of a hunt…

If your arrow rest fails on a hunt, you’re probably going to have to lose a day of hunting to go get it fixed, which for most hunters isn’t worth the risk.

Noise and Stability

One big bonus of shooting off the shelf with a hair rest & side plate is that the hair helps to quiet some of the noise of the arrow when you shoot.

This can be a big bonus for hunters who need their bows to be as quiet as possible to keep game animals from ‘jumping the string’ from the noise of the bow string.

The opposite side of that coin is that Olympic style rests are usually the most stable to shoot off of.

Being able to balance between these is going to come down to personal preference and what type of shooting you plan to do with your recurve.

The disposable stick on style rests are somewhere right in the middle, they aren’t the most quiet, but they’re more stable than shooting off the shelf.

Best Arrow Rests for Recurve Bows

Bear Archery unisex-adult Arrow Rest/Silent Plate

There are hundreds of different versions of hair rests and side plates that you can get.

This one comes from bear archery which is still one of the foremost archery brands in the world, and is a little more reliable than most of the others.

The package comes with a hair arrow rest and a hair side plate to help reduce noise and friction from your arrow.

If you are wanting a more traditional look when shooting your recurve, then this is the arrow rest to go with.

Also if you plan on bow hunting with your recurve, this is going to help keep your bow quieter on the shot.

Bear Archery Weather Arrow Rest

The Weather Arrow Rest is a simple stick on arrow rest.

It’s easy to set up and use, while still giving you some added stability over a hair rest & side plate.

Because this arrow rest is so simple and cheap, you can easily carry a backup with you on a hunting trip, just in case something goes wrong.

SAS Screw On Arrow Rest

The SAS Screw On Arrow Rest has some of the benefits of an Olympic arrow rest without being as complex and not needing a plunger.

It’s slightly more durable than the Bear Weather stick on rest, but still comes in a 5 pack in case one breaks in the field

One thing to keep in mind with this arrow rest is that because it’s a screw on arrow rest, your bow needs to already have a bushing already installed in the riser.

For the price, this is a good value, but it isn’t going to be something that you’re shooting tournaments with.

NAP Bow Hunting Flipper Arrow Rest II

This arrow rest is a bit of a hybrid between a stick on rest and an Olympic style rest.

It’s extremely simple which makes it good for hunting, but it also give you a little more stability than a standard stick on rest.

Also it’s pretty cheap, so you can get enough backups to bring with you if something goes wrong.