Arrow wieght

[biggamefish]

Do you guys know how many grains your arrows are. I am running around 538 grains. I have a 125 grns broadhead the rest is the arrow shaft ,insert feathers etc. The heavier the arrow the better the penatration. Physics baby.

[fasteddie]

I am only shooting a 430 grain arrow with 100 grain broadhead . Pass throughs baby !

[Geno C]

wow 538? thats a heavy arrow... i am going to weigh my arrow this week and see. i would have to say i am under 400 grains. pass through everytime...

[fasteddie]

My youngest son is shooting a fixed , weighted single bevel blade on his Grizzly Stix arrows . He is shooting over "800" grains and those arrows hit hard !

[WNYBuckHunter]

Im somewhere around 360-ish grains

[Deerthug]

I'm shooting 100 gr G5 fixed 3 blade. Together with arrow shaft and FOBs I'm coming in at about 400grains. Don't know if there will be pass through. Have not tried in field yet. Come October 15th hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised

[biggamefish]

800 grains now that is an arrow that will travel through.

I would like to get mine a little heavier but they shoot good and

They blow through a deer.

[Geno C]

so many guys confuse arrow weights tho thinking the heavier the better. that used to be the mentality 10 years ago when shooting Alum arrows was popular... Now a days with these faster bows we can generally shoot lighter arrows that shoot way faster then a 500+ grain arrow will go and we sacrifice no penetration. with the right combo shooting a faster bow / lighter arrow and maybe a stiffer spline you will get pass throughs day in day out. but eitherway, you hit that off sholder dead on your arrow is getting hungup. from one end of the cage to the other pass through all day...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

It is all about energy. That is the combination of wieght and speed. Ideally the best shooting combination with the highest KE . I actually went with a heavier arrow ont he new bow because it shot better. at 5 yards the KE was still 74ft/lbs. I believe my arrow and broad head weight is 480. I would have to check my numbers to be sure but some bows will shoot better lighter and some heavier. An aweful lot like finding the round your rifle like to eat best.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I am only shootig 65 pounds on my bow. that is max for it.

[Geno C]

^ 65 will get the job done in a hurry dude

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I know....I have had a change in mindset with this new bow purchase. was less concerned about break neck speed and went for smooth and quiet. Never had a deer jump the strig with my old one but I think it was because it go tthere before the sound did...lol. I was shooting 74 pounds on that one....decided to take it a little easier on the shoulders now.

[Geno C]

goodstuff dude, yeah your better off. you got a new bow this year right?

[BizCT]

200lb. Excalibur Crossbow.

Shooting 150 grain Boltcutter broadheads with Carbon Easton Firebolt bolts.

Total weight 417 grains.

Draw Weight Firebolt 2213 2216 2219 Arrow Weight 417 grains 423 grains 466 grains

502 grains

150 lb. 260 fps 63 ft. lbs. 256 fps 62 ft. lbs. 2251 fps 65 ft. lb 243 fps 66 ft. lb 175 lb. 282 fps 74 ft. lb 278 fps 73 ft. lb. 271 fps 76 ft. lb. 268 fps 80 ft.lb. 200 lb. 302 fps 85 ft. lb. 300 fps 85 ft. lb. 290 fps 87 ft. lb. 290 fps 87 ft. lb. 225 lb. 321 fps 95 ft. lb. 320 fps 96 ft.lb. 311 fps 100 ft. lb. 303 fps 102 ft. lb

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I did Geno. I picked up the Hoyt Element. Can't wait to get it in the treestand. I was thinking of running up North this weekend but I may have to wait for our SZ opener.

[fasteddie]

My oldest son is an advocate of Dr Ed Ashby who pushes the heavy single bevel broadhead and he shoots a weighted 900 grain arrow with his Black Widow recurve bow .I won't shoot an arrow that heavy unless they open a season fro Wart-hogs or Water Buffalo .

[biggamefish]

I undrstand the combo of speed and a light arrow. You will get pass throughs. WHen it comes down to deflection though a heavier arrow will penatrate farther and be harder to stop. It is physics when it comes down to it. Take a train that is 6 tons and a bike that is 800 pounds which one will a 6 foot thick concreat wall stop fatster. The exemple might be a little drastic but it shows the point.

Those light arrows might travel faster and you get the pass throughs but they will deflect alot easier from hitting twigs or bone.

[wdswtr]

I undrstand the combo of speed and a light arrow. You will get pass throughs. WHen it comes down to deflection though a heavier arrow will penatrate farther and be harder to stop. It is physics when it comes down to it. Take a train that is 6 tons and a bike that is 800 pounds which one will a 6 foot thick concreat wall stop fatster. The exemple might be a little drastic but it shows the point.

Those light arrows might travel faster and you get the pass throughs but they will deflect alot easier from hitting twigs or bone.

Hey you stole that from me on another hread lol. A pass through is a pass through and to get that you dont need the grains you need a perfect shot, now throw in some bone into the scenario and a light arrow can deflect easier and lose drastic penetration. You need weight behind that point of the broadhead to drive the arrow through. Im an big advocate of getting as close to 500 grains as you can for a hunting setup. I think everyone has gotten a little lost or confused with the faster the lighter the better. What the speed and the light shafts get you is a flater trajectory and nothing more. The flater the trajectory the accuracy increases and the distance increases. Im not shooting deer at extreme distances with a bow nor am I treating a hunting scenario like a target shoot for braggin rights. Its close quarter 40 yards and under so I could care less about the flatest shooting arrow at the fstest speed I can get it to the point of impact. I care about penetration and driving that arrow as deep as I can in a good shot or not. I have had light carbons deflect and angle into places I couldnt believe all when place perfectly right behind the shoulder and more than once. I went back to shooting as close to 500 as I can get and not sacrificing my FOC. Im at 486 grains. And since doing this I have not had any arrows deflect when shot right behind the shoulder. I know some of you are just shaking your head but kinetic energy is what you need the most of and to get that you need grains. The loss in fps was minimal compared to what I gained. Im still shooting over 300 fps. I got 4 other guys at camp to make the change in the past 2 years after hearing the same stories of deflection and lack of penetration and they all thank me for convincing them to make the switch.

[fasteddie]

Nick , my youngest son , shot an 8 point last year with a 850 grain arrow at 10 yards . He wasn't used to shooting that close and was shaking and hit the buck high in the back . The deer dropped , kicked a couple times and expired .

If I had hit the deer in the same spot with my 430 grain arrow , it probably would have just wounded it .

I was only 4 miles away when Nick called so I stopped by and took pics . I pulled the arrow out and the blade stayed . It was wedged in the backbone .

Nick's 8 point

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Here is a little part of an article I read. I think it demonstrates the loss described.

Same bow

yards/speed/KE

326 gr arrow

0/316/72

10/308/69

20/299/65

580 grain arrow

0/243/76

10/239/74

20/235/71

(Had to reformat from the article post)

The actual testing results follow what would be expected from the theory and math discussed earlier. I would like to test the speeds out to further distances and will do so in the future to get a better picture of behavior downrange.

It’s interesting to see just how much more the lighter arrow slows down and sheds its kinetic energy and momentum. The lighter arrow is losing speed at a rate 40-45% faster than the heavier arrow. At point blank range, the heavier arrow starts with 3.7 ft-lbs. of KE more than the light, and by only 20 yards it had 6.6 ft-lbs. more KE. I would say that is a significant difference!

Of course the extra KE and momentum come at a cost, trajectory. The heavier arrow is going to drop significantly more at every distance and yardage estimation becomes much more critical. A three to five yard mis-judgement in yardage with the lighter arrow could still result in a clean kill shot on an animal, while with the heavier arrow it most likely would result in a much poorer shot or even perhaps a complete miss.

That being said, having a fast arrow is no substitute for practice in yardage estimation or using a range finder when possible. Each archer needs to know their own equipment and make their own decisions on arrow weight depending on the game being hunted and where they are hunting. Know your equipment and practice with it constantly!

I think bow hunting is a balance of a lot of variables. In my set up I was going for #1- shootablility. a comfortable set up that was easy to repeatedly shoot.

I wanted the energy and a flat trajectory. well those things are contrary to one another so it is the balance I mentioned above. The heavier you go the faster it falls.....the lighter you go the faster it sheds energy. I think there are a wide range of combinations that will give us good results within our "normal" hunting ranges. One thing to think about that I think many forget to check when they are adding weight to their arrows to get the KE up is the balance point of the arrow. Simply put the final configuration of your hunting arrow should balance about 10% front of the mid point of the arrow. 30"----3" front....28" ---2.8" front. Think of how a dart we threw in the bars was weighted......an arrow weighted to heavy in the front (by adding a really heavy broad head) and an arrow heavy int he back ( by shootig a micro light broadhead- heavy fletchings- and lighted nocks) will have more erradict flight than a balanced arrow.

We spend so much time getting out bows tuned just right and many (me included) don't take the time the get the business end of our sport tuned in.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Culvercreek hunt club

[wdswtr]

Refreshing to see someone who understands, I have pointed out the importance of arrow tuning as well as bow tuning. Your FOC is very important part of the equation. Good post.

[nybuckboy]

465 gr includes 100 gr G5 Montec's 60 lb Mathews

[biggamefish]

I started this post to see what everybody was shooting. I actually got some damn good info thanks guys. Like I said I am just over the 500 grain mark and my arrows are shooting very good with field tips and fixed blade broadheads. I struggled for awhile because some one told me to go lighter withthe broadhead when I first stared and I finally went witha heavier one and tightned my groups up.

[wdswtr]

I thiknk you will be more than pleased with that setup BGF. Have you ever checked your FOC? Just curious how it plays out with the 125 grain head. What shafts are you using?

[biggamefish]

I havn't tried the FOC thing yet but I am going to try it out. I am currently using 2117 aluminum arrows right wing helical feathers. I shoot them out of a long bow recurve hybrid Martin Vision. I can knock knocks off at twenty yards not all the time but I keep them in the kill zone.