Contemplating Dropping Bow weight

[doc holiday13]

I pull waaay more weight than necessary. 80# @ 31" This idea was mostly driven by my desire to shoot arrows in the 280-290 fps range and before I got my ventum33 I was shooting a single cam Z7. The Z7 was a bit on the slow side at 265 fps. Is 285 fps speed range still doable if I drop down to a 60# draw and 350 spine arrow? Dropping to 70# still keeps me at 250spine arrow but 60# draw lets me jump down to that boarder of 350 spine.

I'm not struggling with 80# on the draw. I lift weights regularly and my shoulders and back muscles are strong. My thought process is mostly that 285 fps with 525g arrows is not forgiving. if I ever miss the target, I'm shocked when my arrow does NOT break. I know I'll still get pass through at 265 fps. I like 285 fps because it gets me a tape that maxes out at roughly 130 yards

 

[Bump79]

At 31" and 60# you'll still need a 300 spine arrow. I'd just go to 70# and build an arrow to go 285 fps.

I built a free calculator for determining speeds. So many online are complete BS... based off a bad rule of thumb and wouldn't apply to an outlier in draw length or weight like you.

Arrow Speed, KE and Momentum Calculator — The Arrow Builder

Many online arrow/bow speed calculators use an oversimplified calculation to determine arrow launch velocity. This results in inaccurate results, especially at higher grain weights. Increasing arrow mass always will lead to marginal increases in KE, meaning the bow gets more efficient as grain wei

www.thearrowbuilder.com

What you'll want to do is enter everything in for your old setup that you have a chrono'd. Then use the slider for derating to get the speed to match. Then you can enter 60# and see what weight you'd need.

 

[doc holiday13]

At 31" and 60# you'll still need a 300 spine arrow. I'd just go to 70# and build an arrow to go 285 fps.

I built a free calculator for determining speeds. So many online are complete BS... based off a bad rule of thumb and wouldn't apply to an outlier in draw length or weight like you.

Arrow Speed, KE and Momentum Calculator — The Arrow Builder

Many online arrow/bow speed calculators use an oversimplified calculation to determine arrow launch velocity. This results in inaccurate results, especially at higher grain weights. Increasing arrow mass always will lead to marginal increases in KE, meaning the bow gets more efficient as grain wei

www.thearrowbuilder.com

What you'll want to do is enter everything in for your old setup that you have a chrono'd. Then use the slider for derating to get the speed to match. Then you can enter 60# and see what weight you'd need.

Not saying you're wrong, but its defnitely borderline of 350 and 300 spine

 

[alexnelon]

I feel like shooting high poundage is only useful to compensate for having a short draw or if you want to kill moose with those giant mechanicals that are supposed to be for turkeys.

At 31 inch draw, I’d shoot 60 pounds, 350 spine cut to 27.5” (or as short as possible depending on the rest), and try to stay around 450 grains.

Should put you right around 290-295 fps.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Is 285 fps speed range still doable if I drop down to a 60# draw and 350 spine arrow?

You won’t get 285 fps with a Ventum 33 at 31”/60# with a 525 gr arrow, but you could get close at 70#. To get 285 fps at 60#, you’ll need to lighten your arrow to around 440-450 gr.

My thought process is mostly that 285 fps with 525g arrows is not forgiving. if I ever miss the target, I'm shocked when my arrow does NOT break.

Build a larger backstop and build stronger arrows. I would try both of those before I changed my entire setup for fear of breaking arrows.

 

[5MilesBack]

My thought process is mostly that 285 fps with 525g arrows is not forgiving.

I have shot 500-530gr arrows for almost 20 years with my 32.5" draw at 285-296fps and have found them to be extremely forgiving. This year I dropped down to 445gr arrows at 297fps with my 70lb bow turned down. They shoot great too. I've been shooting RIP TKO 250's for the past 6 years and haven't broken any. I wouldn't hesitate dropping arrow weight, draw weight, and staying in the 285fps range. That's still plenty for everything in NA.

 

[Bump79]

Not saying you're wrong, but its defnitely borderline of 350 and 300 spine

Fair - depends on your point weight. If you don't have very much weight up front and cut as short as you could then you could pull off a 350. If you had over 150 total up front I'd run a 350. It's better to be a little stiff than weak.

 

[doc holiday13]

Yeah I would definitely drop down to 445ish range weight. Ive always had heavy arrows. Shot aluminum 2317 arrows. With 100g heads they were about 550. Easton axis originals got me down to 500 then I went to 80# draw.

 

[doc holiday13]

Yeah I would definitely drop down to 445ish range weight. Ive always had heavy arrows. Shot aluminum 2317 arrows. With 100g heads they were about 550. Easton axis originals got me down to 500 then I went to 80# draw. NowI'm 250 spine with 150g heads

 

[hickswr]

I had a complete pass through on a bull elk at 45 yards with a 60# 27” draw and a 350 grain arrow.

70# vs 80# with a 31” draw isn’t worth fretting over.