Broadheads at distance, velocity lost.

[Billy Goat]

Not anything real scientific, I was gonna do more but ran out of time. Just thought some might find the results interesting. I'll probably play with it again later, but currently these were the only heads I played with.


I had a target set at 75 yards, labradar setup, tracking arrow velocity to the target. I can't confirm exactly what the ranges were that it was picking up on the velocity except what it says. It was tracking them at 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55 yards as well as at launch. I was just shooting 2 arrows at a time, had AAE Max Stealth vanes with 3 degree helical.

Shot field points(125gr), then IW wide 125gr, IW solid 125, Sevr 2.0 125, Field points again to check, then Day6 EvoX about 131 gr. 2 different heads of each shot, then just switched heads over for another 2 shots.


Summary:
From launch to 55 yards:
Fp's lost 27.5 fps
IW W125 lost 41 fps
IW S125 lost 35.5 fps
Sevr 2.0 lost 35.5 fps (tho a wider range)
Day6 EvoX lost 34.5 fps


I was surprised at the similar drop off with the Sevr and the fixed heads, also expected the large cutting EvoX to loose more than the smaller heads.

Chicken scratch data, because I'm not much on actual spreadsheets.




I also compared the AAE Max Stealth vane in 3 fletch 3 degree to Bohning Bronco at same specs and then Bohning Heat 3 fletch with 1 degree offset, losses were all within a few fps of each other. Speeds were different as weights were different, but degradation was 27.5-30 fps. Found that really surprising.

 

[Stickmark]

I find this useful. Though I am in the Primitive Bow Camp, and with no chronograph, I can extrapolate your data to see that my 44# bow might be a bit slow at 25 yards.

 

[Blue_dog]

Well done. I’m most surprised by the lack of drag caused by the 3 degree fletching. It would be interesting to know if the IW field points perform similarly to the BH.

 

[Billy Goat]

Well done. I’m most surprised by the lack of drag caused by the 3 degree fletching. It would be interesting to know if the IW field points perform similarly to the BH.

I was using GT easy pull points for the FP's, so a little similar to the IW points.

 

[Beendare]

It doesn't surprise me the 3 degree helical lost 10 fps at distance.

The real question- IMO- is did we lose accuracy or a significant amount of trajectory due to the fletch or BH?

Does that extra helical give you better BH accuracy?
I tested that helical with FP's at 3deg. vs 1.5 didn't give me any better groups at 60y.

 

[Billy Goat]

It doesn't surprise me the 3 degree helical lost 10 fps at distance.

The real question- IMO- is did we lose accuracy or a significant amount of trajectory due to the fletch or BH?

Does that extra helical give you better BH accuracy?
I tested that helical with FP's at 3deg. vs 1.5 didn't give me any better groups at 60y.

Think you aren't reading my chicken scratch correctly.

The 3 degree was slower, but was heavier. It actually didn't loose hardly anything in comparison to the 1 degree straight offset smaller fletching. Which was pretty surprising to me. It launched 10 fps slower, but they were pretty comparable at 55, in speed lost.

 

[S.Clancy]

Interesting with the AAE max stealth. I know that switching from a 4 fletch max stealth to a 3 fletch max hunter (I controlled for weight by adding arrow wrap) gained me yards on the tape. That 4 fletch max stealth slows down so much more and stabilized less, per my testing.

 

[Billy Goat]

Interesting with the AAE max stealth. I know that switching from a 4 fletch max stealth to a 3 fletch max hunter (I controlled for weight by adding arrow wrap) gained me yards on the tape. That 4 fletch max stealth slows down so much more and stabilized less, per my testing.

What's your tuning method?


I was pretty surprised with the information, I probably would have found it subject if I wasn't able to track the minor differences between the heads, and all being pretty consistent.


I had some 4 sketch heat I was playing with, but I didn't shoot them in comparison.

 

[Beendare]

I did read it wrong….I was only looking at the one final speed column assuming everything else was equal

That makes sense. In the fletching test i did i literally couldn’t tell a difference in groups.

 

[Read1t48]

Thanks for sharing. Great test.

 

[S.Clancy]

What's your tuning method?


I was pretty surprised with the information, I probably would have found it subject if I wasn't able to track the minor differences between the heads, and all being pretty consistent.


I had some 4 sketch heat I was playing with, but I didn't shoot them in comparison.

I bareshaft tune to 30 yds, then confirm with broadheads.

I tested my setup based on the finding from the CO study that the Iron Will guy authored on different vanes, drag and stabilization of fixed heads.

 

[Bigborealaska]

Not anything real scientific, I was gonna do more but ran out of time. Just thought some might find the results interesting. I'll probably play with it again later, but currently these were the only heads I played with.


I had a target set at 75 yards, labradar setup, tracking arrow velocity to the target. I can't confirm exactly what the ranges were that it was picking up on the velocity except what it says. It was tracking them at 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55 yards as well as at launch. I was just shooting 2 arrows at a time, had AAE Max Stealth vanes with 3 degree helical.

Shot field points(125gr), then IW wide 125gr, IW solid 125, Sevr 2.0 125, Field points again to check, then Day6 EvoX about 131 gr. 2 different heads of each shot, then just switched heads over for another 2 shots.


Summary:
From launch to 55 yards:
Fp's lost 27.5 fps
IW W125 lost 41 fps
IW S125 lost 35.5 fps
Sevr 2.0 lost 35.5 fps (tho a wider range)
Day6 EvoX lost 34.5 fps


I was surprised at the similar drop off with the Sevr and the fixed heads, also expected the large cutting EvoX to loose more than the smaller heads.

Chicken scratch data, because I'm not much on actual spreadsheets.

View attachment 792363View attachment 792364View attachment 792365


I also compared the AAE Max Stealth vane in 3 fletch 3 degree to Bohning Bronco at same specs and then Bohning Heat 3 fletch with 1 degree offset, losses were all within a few fps of each other. Speeds were different as weights were different, but degradation was 27.5-30 fps. Found that really surprising.

View attachment 792385

Awesome data. Do you mind sharing the bow you launched them from and your draw weight and length?

 

[Billy Goat]

Awesome data. Do you mind sharing the bow you launched them from and your draw weight and length?

Lift 33.
70ish #, I have 4 scales and they are all a little different.
Using the 80% G mod, but short stopping the cam to increase the holding weight a little more. Actual DL about 28 3/8", but I play with loop length. Don't know that I have measured the true DL on that bow, but that's gonna be really close. I set them up to all be the same overall DL but that's throat of grip to d-loop, and it changes with ATA/string angle.

I have a heavy peep and 4 monkey tails on string.

The 4 monkey tails (70 or 75gr) cost me 7-8 fps.

Can't remember the exact weight on the arrows now, sub 400. They varied, I think 385-395 depending on the fletch.

 

[Bigborealaska]

Lift 33.
70ish #, I have 4 scales and they are all a little different.
Using the 80% G mod, but short stopping the cam to increase the holding weight a little more. Actual DL about 28 3/8", but I play with loop length. Don't know that I have measured the true DL on that bow, but that's gonna be really close. I set them up to all be the same overall DL but that's throat of grip to d-loop, and it changes with ATA/string angle.

I have a heavy peep and 4 monkey tails on string.

The 4 monkey tails (70 or 75gr) cost me 7-8 fps.

Can't remember the exact weight on the arrows now, sub 400. They varied, I think 385-395 depending on the fletch.

Fantastic. Thank you for all the data and your knowledge. I love reading your posts.

 

[Billy Goat]

Fantastic. Thank you for all the data and your knowledge. I love reading your posts.

I try to be helpful, sometimes.....


Need any memes???

 

[dkime]

[mention]Billy Goat [/mention] and I have talked about this a decent amount lately, I think the one thing guys can take from this or doing testing like this is what that speed degradation translates to in terms of POI shift. I did a similar thing years ago when testing vanes for a field archery setup I was competing with.

For most of my setups 25gr of additional weight translates to about 8-9fps loss. This is going to be slightly different for where you fall on the overall weight of your setup but for a hunting arrow that finishes around 510-535 that’s roughly what I expect to see.

But how does that translate to field use? Well doing testing at 80yds that 25gr would create about a 12” POI shift on average, or for most folks it’ll come out to an additional 2yds being added.

Not a big deal when you can account for it with an accurate sight tape, but to bring the rifle guys slang into it, the danger space has shifted. With my setups I want a 4-5yd danger space at 50yds on deer sized game. Just my preference, to each his own but if you build your danger space off of elk then you’re definitely not as cool…..kidding…..kind of. But basically 2.5yds in either direction will typically keep your BHs inside the vital sized area.


As with all animals it definitely makes sense to error on the side of a lower POI. No real point to my post other than to show my experiences with speed degradation and how I think about it. I’ve been drinking coffee since 4am so definitely a caffeine fueled post.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Billy Goat]

For most of my setups 25gr of additional weight translates to about 8-9fps loss. This is going to be slightly different for where you fall on the overall weight of your setup but for a hunting arrow that finishes around 510-535 that’s roughly what I expect to see.

For my setups, I find it's pretty dead on 30 grs/10 fps/ 3/4" @ 40 yards.

Meaning, for a fairly wide range of arrow weight, 3 grs is 1 fps loss or gain. And at 40 yards 10 fps is 3/4". The 40 yard measurement has a lot more variables.

My elk hunting setups I'm normally what I feel like is +,- 7 yards. Meaning shooting for 45 yards, I'm going to hit vitals if that animal is 38-52 yards.

I do try to remember that I'll rise slower than I fall. You will miss falling out the bottom before you rise out the top, but as mentioned, most animals will tend to drop a little, so that helps negate the difference.

 

[three5x5s]

Good info, Thanks

 

[AkRyan]

I took my garmin to the archery shop one day and set it up under the targets, we were all shocked at the difference fletching makes. The shop owner started stocking them right after this.

 

[Blue_dog]

I took my garmin to the archery shop one day and set it up under the targets, we were all shocked at the difference fletching makes. The shop owner started stocking them right after this.

Which setup are you saying is best?