It is difficult to pin down a where exactly this ring originated from. Examples exist from Mughal India through Indonesia and Korea. Never the less it has become a very popular, if modern, style, and our collection would not be complete without a rendition of it. It's distinctive features are a long curving tongue which covers much of the thumb pad protecting it from excess retained tension in the thumb, a pronounced string stop, and a generous internal surface to bear the rearward load from the (likely) over-curling of the thumb which is encouraged by such a pronounced string stop.

There are some indications this may be a modern style (18-19th century) ring, but we have nothing conclusive regarding it’s origins, only a lack of older examples. One thing that suggests it is relatively modern is the way it loads force on the thumb, which is very different from every other historical style we carry. Whereas typically you want about a 70/30 or 80/20 load on the sides of the knuckle vs. the pad of the thumb, here a much higher percentage of the load is borne by the thumb pad. For new shooters on low to medium weight bows this is very comfortable, as the thumb pad is used to holding some force. As poundage increases though this becomes less comfortable and much more difficult to hold as the thumb and index finger lack the strength. It also encourages and permits an unusually high degree of curling of the thumb which feels very natural to beginning shooters/leather ring shooters, likely contributing to the popularity of the style.

We size all our rings on a virtually continuous spectrum for a perfect fit. No longer do you have to live with set sizes made for a hypothetical thumb. Measuring your thumb accurately though is still difficult, which is why we strongly recommend our customers use one of our Ring Sizers and order a set of three closely sized rings. More information can be found by clicking the Sizing Information link on the banner at the bottom of the the page.