Free-to-play Ranged training

In F2P, Ranged can be a force to be reckoned within PvP situations if one boasts a high level. If 1.5 multiplied by your ranged level is equal to or over than your attack level + strength level then your combat level is ranged based.

Weapons
In general, a free-to-play ranger should wield the best shortbow that they are capable of wielding, this goes for both training and pvp combat. The Maple shortbow is the best non-degrading shortbow available in free-to-play worlds.

For training, one should use whichever arrow they can afford in bulk. For dangerous PvP, the ranger should use the best arrows he can wield. For safe PvP, the arrows used are entirely up to the player. The ranged strength calculator can help in deciding which arrow to use.

'''Do note that the ammunition used (arrow) with a bow does not have any effect on your accuracy, only damage. Any statement made of such is false.'''

Shortbows
The Shortbow is the ideal ranged training weapon for free players. With its extremely high rate of fire (faster than a Rune Scimitar if the Rapid attack style is used) and equivalent accuracy and damage per shot to a longbow of the same material, it is superior to longbows in almost all aspects especially during training. They are also the ranged weapon of choice within PvP situations as they can quickly wear down the opponents' lifepoints.

Longbows
Often having a lower speed, equal accuracy and equal damage per shot compared to a shortbow of the same material, most longbows are inferior to a corresponding shortbow. Usage of any F2P longbow, except the Maple longbow (sighted), is discouraged. The sighted maple longbow is vastly more accurate than a Maple shortbow, but retains the other two disadvantages.

Because all f2p longbows have lower speed and equal damage per shot compared to a corresponding shortbow, logically, a shortbow can potentially deal damage at a faster rate. Using a longbow artificially limits the player's experience gain. The only situation where the sighted maple longbow will deal more damage than a maple shortbow is when an enemy has high defence and/or is otherwise hard to damage. Training on such monsters is not recommended, as the point of training is to gain as much experience as possible in a short amount of time, by dealing as much damage as possible in a short amount of time.

The sighted longbow can be useful in PvP. Read its article for more information.

Crossbows
The two crossbows available in f2p, the Crossbow and the Phoenix crossbow are rather inaccurate. The only usable ammo, Bronze bolts, provide a mediocre ranged strength bonus, and both weapons are extremely slow. Players opting to train Ranged cheaply should opt for Kayle's sling, or use weaker arrows.

The fact that they are the only f2p ranged weapon to be able to have wield a shield while ranging is useful, such as when players attempt to fight Elvarg the dragon during the dragon slayer quest.

Slings
Slings are very low level Ranged weapons that require no ammunition. There are two types of slings in the game: Kayle's Sling (a reward from the free quest The Blood Pact), and the "regular" sling dropped by monsters in the Lumbridge area. Kayle's Sling has slightly better ranged bonuses than the regular sling, so if you opt to use a sling for training, Kayle's Sling is the better option.

Despite their short range, low accuracy and limited damage, slings are excellent items for low levelled players to train Ranged with. Some players with a higher Ranged level choose to use the sling for training as well, for two reasons. First, the sling doesn't use ammunition, which removes the need to pick up arrows while training, saving time. Second, at higher Ranged levels, the sling actually averages a decent damage output against monsters with a low defence against Ranged attacks. Bow and arrows will always average a higher damage output, however.

Level 1 – 9 Ranged
Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a leather body

Players should get a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a leather body, should they be able to acquire these items. These items have no skill requirements.

Lowe's Archery Emporium gives free samples. 30 bronze arrows, 1 wooden short and 1 wooden long bow.

Level 10 – 19 Defence
Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a hard leather body

Rangers should replace their leather body with a hard leather body (usually available cheaply from the Grand Exchange). Alternatively, rangers can craft cowhides into a hard leather body when their Crafting level is 28 or higher.

Level 20-39 Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: a coif, a leather vambraces, a studded hard leather body, and a pair of studded chaps.

Rangers are recommended to buy a coif, a studded hard leather body, and a pair of studded chaps off the grand exchange or Lowes Archery in Varrock.

Level 40+ Defence and Ranged
Recommended Set: a coif, green dragonhide chaps, and green dragonhide vambraces, green dragonhide body 

Players can now use green dragonhide chaps and green dragonhide vambraces, both of which can be bought from the Champions' Guild and require a defence level of 1. The green dragonhide body can only be worn after achieving a defence and Ranged level of 40 and after finishing the quest Dragon Slayer. With the Fist of Guthix update, a new ranging item has been introduced - the Green d'hide coif. It is only slightly better than a normal coif in stats, giving only 2 more ranged attack bonus (+4 instead of +2). However it is not recommended for training as the bonus is very insignificant over a regular coif and the time spent recharging it would be better used for training ranged with a regular coif.

Amulets: Amulet of Power
Having no requirements and not being particularly hard to obtain, the Amulet of Power, the amulet that provides the highest ranged attack bonus out of any amulet in f2p, is the amulet of choice for all situations and should be obtained right from the start.

Arrows and bolts
Bronze Bolts Bronze bolts are not recommended for use under any cirumstances as they have minimal ranged strength and can only be fired by a crossbow (which have very low ranged attack bonus in f2p).

Training arrows
Training arrows can only be obtained from Beefy Bill at the cow pen north of lumbridge. They are the equivalent of bronze arrows but are not recommended for use as they are untradeable and only 30 arrows can be acquired at a time.

Bronze arrows
Bronze arrows were once the arrows of choice for training as they were cheap and could easily be bought on the grand exchange. However, after the introduction of the personalized shop update the supply of bronze arrows have been diminished and they're now very difficult to buy on the grand exchange. Some high-level Rangers choose to buy massive amount of bronze arrows to have an extremely long training time at a certain location (eg. the karamaja volcano) or for powertraining so they don't have to waste time picking their arrows back up.

Iron arrows
Iron arrows are the arrows of choice for training as they're easily bought on the grand exchange and are fairly cheap. They're also a fairly common drop from minotaurs within the stronghold of security, one can buy 500-1000 iron arrows and stay there for hours on end as their supply of arrows will never run out.

Steel arrows
Steel arrows are not recommended for training as they only hit a little higher than iron arrows whilst costing more than twice the price. They are dropped by zombies within the second level of the stronghold of security.

Mithril arrows
Mithril arrows are great for training if one is fighting higher levelled monsters such as demons or ankous as they hit nearly as high as adamant arrows but at a fraction of the price. They can also be used in pvp worlds if one is poor. They are dropped by ankous within the fourth level of the stronghold of security, ice giants at the asgarnian ice caves and wilderness, and black and white knights at their respective castles/fortresses. These are recommended for higher leveled players with money.

Adamant arrows
These are the most expensive and powerful arrows in free-to-play and are used almost exclusively in PvP combat. They are never recommended for training due to their high cost. They are dropped by ankous within the fourth level of the stronghold of security and ice giants at the asgarnian ice caves.

Accurate
The Accurate attack style increases your Ranged level by 3 levels. For instance, if one's Ranged level is 60 and they attack a target while using the Accurate style, it will be as though they are attacking with a Ranged level of 63. This means greater accuracy when attacking with ranged as well as a potentially higher maximum hit. It is not recommended to train or pvp with the accurate style as it has lower damage per second than the rapid style.

Rapid
The Rapid style increases the speed of a bow by one unit and is the attack style of choice within nearly all situations as it boasts the fastest damage per second.

Longrange
The Longrange style allows a player to attack with Ranged at a greater distance than they normally would with the other two attack styles. Training with Longrange is not recommended as xp is split between ranged and defence (with ranged being trained much faster on rapid and defence being trained much faster with melee combat). It can be used from time to time in some competitive activities where need fit, like Fist of Guthix or Clan Wars.

Minotaur (combat level 12, 27)
Minotaurs are the ideal monsters to train on from 1-40 ranged as one can bring 500 iron arrows and stay indefinitely as they constantly drop iron arrows. Level 40 ranged should take approximately 5 hours here, killing the level 12 minotaurs from 1-25 ranged and the level 27 minotaurs from 25-40. Also remember to switch to better ranged equipment as you level to speed up the training process. Minotaurs are found on the first level on the stronghold of security and there are multiple safespots at both the level 12 and level 27 minotaurs.

Fortress guard ( combat level 20)
The northern tip of the Ice Mountains is an excellent spot to snipe the 3 fortress guards below you. It is recommended to use a sling becouse it is a long way to the bottom. A sling can still pack a pretty big punch once you get higher. If the fortress guards become to easy to kill, there's some black knights right next to them you can train on.

Flesh crawler (combat 28, 35, 41)
Flesh crawlers are an ideal monster to kill as they are aggressive, afkable, have low defence and boast great xp/hour. They are found in the second level of the stronghold of security. One can bring a full inventory of trout and range them with iron arrows, a maple shortbow, power amulet, teamcape, leatherboots and the best melee armour that you can wear (with chainbody). Otherwise those with low defence can safespot the flesh crawlers at the corners of the room.

Moss giants (combat 42)
Moss giants on Crandor have great drops and boast even greater xp/hour than flesh crawlers (though they require good attention as there aren't very many of them and they become unagressive if your combat level is over 84). There are multiple safespots though even 1 person can distrupt your xp/hour so it's recommended to kill these on quick-chat, foreign, or certain activity based worlds. Getting 40-70 ranged on these and burying the big bones will give nearly enough prayer xp for the eagle eye prayer which increases your ranged by 15%. Iron arrows are recommended when ranging moss giants.

Flesh crawler (combat 28, 35, 41)
One can continue ranging flesh crawlers if your defence is low (below 70). Iron arrows are recommended when ranging flesh crawlers. Of note, there are usually safe spots which you can use while training here.

Giant Spiders (combat level 50)
These boast similar xp per hour to fleshcrawlers but are only recommended if you have 70+ defence as their max hit is 70 lifepoints greater than that of a flesh crawlers. They're aggressive, afkable, and have twice the lifepoints of a flesh crawler meaning you don't have to switch between as many monsters when training. Giant spiders are found on the third level of the stronghold of security. Iron arrows are recommended when ranging giant spiders.

Lesser demons (combat level 82)
Lesser demons are recommended if you have below 70 defence.With the max hit is only 80, it is an ideal place to train for player with high ranged level but low defence with a rare drop of a rune med helmet.The best spot to ranged lesser demons is in karamja island with fishing spots (lobsters and swordfish) and near the bank in Draynor Village.With explorer's ring 2 or above, you can easily bank your items and refilled your arrows.There are many safespots in Karamja.It is recommended to use steel arrows with maple longbow(sighted).It is not recommended to kill lesser demons outisde of Karamja(not including Crandor).

Greater demons (combat level 92)
Greater demons are the best place for high level (best if you have 75+ ranged level but still fine with 70+) ranged and high level defence (70+ defence highly recommended).Greater demons have a max hit of 90 with rare drop of a rune full helmet.The best place to ranged greater demons is the wilderness volcano with a bank just outside the volcano and its semi-safespots,it can protect you from the demons.Beware of other high levels monsters (hell hounds,lesser demons,ankous) that might attack you in your semi safespots or even other greater demons.Revenants do not spawn in the volcano but do come inside of the volcano rarely.Steel arrows is highly recommended with maple longbow (sighted).It is not recommended to kill greater demons at demonic ruins because of revenants and distance from bank.

Ankous (combat levels 75, 82, 86)
Ankous are found on the fourth level of the stronghold of security. They have high lifepoints (up to 700) and have fairly good drops. They can be safespotted and are a more profitable of training range in comparison to flesh crawlers and giant spiders who both have little to zero drops. Mithril arrows are recommended when ranging ankous.