Last summer at Denton Hill I had a chance to chronograph my bow. Having never done this,I was amazed with the results a blazing 135 fps. Out of curiosity I borrowed a buddy's chronograph to check a couple other bows. Two of the bows are 46# at 27 and the other is 46# at 28. Shooting a douglas fir 575 grain arrow out of them all, the fastest shot a pretty consistent 145 the next around 140 (both of which are recurves) and the last a longbow still around 135fps. I should add I draw 27 inches and due to the fact the speeds are very consistent from bow to bow I think I'm doing my part. I've used this set up for around 8 years and have had pretty good success with whitetails. I guess I'm still amazed I'm so slow. What do you guys think am I were I should be? Joe

You could drop 100grains and get 170fps but if your shooting well and killing , no need to change.

At 12.5 gpp of draw weight, and I assume you shooting a good coc head, approx. 3:1 length/width ratio, sharp, you should be able to plow thru 2 elk and stick it in a tree.

Hey if it's working, I guess keep on.

If you just want to yard play, and maybe just hunt plain ol whitetails, you can cut back to 9 gpp and keep the sharp, coc head and still plow thru deer with faster speeds.

Me, I'm shooting 444g arrows with #52, and shoot a consistent 179/180 fps. If I was hunting heavy big game, I'd be like you and get the weight up. But I'm not.

Your shooting roughly 12.5 to 13.4 GPP and probably with a dacron string,not really that bad for that heavy of an arrow.

You are where I am with my Meigs Hill style longbow, #46 @ 28". I draw 27 and with an ash arrow get 147 fps. Total pass through on deer with a Zwickey Eskimo. I use mercury speed nocks and a 14 strand B50. Bow is deathly quiet.

I have been thinking about dropping arrow weight to around 475gr. With the increase in speed penetration would probable still be pretty good. I shot 55#s for years and penetration was never an issue much more so with lighter bows. Joe

So what do you mean by pretty good success with whitetails...if you are not experiencing a lack of penetration or difficulty in hitting them where you wish to why would you want to fix something that is not broken...lots of game has been killed with selfbows and stone points by people with short draws

DDave

I'm with Camo on this if your not having any issues hitting and dropping and pentration why change you found something that works.

Maybe work on your string to pick up a skinny string with padded loops. Thats a pretty heavy arrow whats your point on distance. What point weights you shooting also I didn't see that mentioned.

I would assume he would want to get the shooed up for a flatter trajectory, that's the only reason I care about speed, really

It sounds to me like the only problem you have is that you got too close to a chronograph. Apparently everything was fine before you did that...correct?

The main reason I was thinking about trying a lighter arrow is for the longbow.This was my 1st year using it and I missed a nice buck.Not to make excuses but it looked like my arrow took forever to get there.Ended up switching back to recurve to get my buck.I guess what I'm after is getting the longbows performance up to the recurves.I know 10-15 fps dosen't sound like much but my recurve seems to zip an arrow so much harder.My main bow is the recurve shooting 145 fps a 125 grain tip and a total weight of 575gr.I get pass throughs quite often with this set up. Joe

Agree completely with what everybody else said.

I tend to agree with Roadrunner. I chronoed a bow once. Worst thing I ever did. Builder advertised speeds 10-15 fps faster than I was getting. For the next six months, I overdrew that bow in an attempt to get more speed out of it and my accuracy went down the tubes.

You're shooting a pretty heavy arrow, gpp wise. You could lighten up on your longbow arrow until it gives you the same flight as the arrows you shoot out of your recurves. Still enough for deer size game IMO.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of chronos have accuracy problems of one sort or another.

I would drop arrow weight to 10 grains arrow weieht per pound of draw. As you found out, the animal needs to still be fairly close to where it was at the shot when the arrow gets there.

All pretty good comments. You could try some 475 grain arrows for a while and see if you are any more accurate with them. If not, use them for kindling and go back to what has served you well. - lbg

I'll bet the bows are dead quiet when you shoot them. First guess is you are trying to shoot the same arrow out of the longbow you are out of the recurves? If so I am willing to bet the arrows are over spined which will slow down the arrow flight. Second for the most part, but not always, longbow shoot slower than recurves of the same weight. So it being slower doesn't supprize me. Also having that 27 draw shortens the power stroke slowing it down some. That speed though will kill a deer. A friend of mine shot a deer with a hinged ax handle bow some years ago it shot 135fps and he put a arrow clear through the deer. DANNY

Thanks guys for all the reply's.Just something I've been thinking about. Read on here were guys are having success with much lighter arrows and wondered if I could drop some weight gain a little speed and a flatter shooting arrow and still have good or better penetration.I've been hunting with bows for 40 years and still consider myself a student in all this.Thanks for the help. Joe

The easiest way to find out that you don't like your bow is to shoot it thru a chrono!!

The easiest way to find out that you don't like your bow is to shoot it thru a chrono!!

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