Trajectory

At my bow hunting distances trajectory isn't different enough to ever consider a light arrow. Trashy 3D courses might be a different story.

Darin Cooper's article about the Trick Pin is also a good tutorial about trajectory.

 
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IMO the biggest advantage for shooting lighter arrows is for range estimating errors. If I have time to range, it's no big deal at all whichever arrows I choose to shoot. I can even see with my sight pins where my arrows will be all the way to the elk to avoid branches etc. But for those snap decision range estimations as I'm nocking an arrow and drawing, it makes a big difference. However, I'm not willing to shoot brittle light arrows at a big bull elk, so the trajectory is what it is.
 
Here is a decent screen shot :

Screenshot_20210810-122606.png


Seems like it aligns with a lot of the common thought. Shooting close, you can shoot heavy, it doesn't matter.

It's a little disappointing he was using different bows. Yes the velocity is the velocity, but if kinda skews the numbers to be using different levels of energy to get the arrows moving. Kinda like comparing a 175 grain from a 308 to a 220 from a 300wm. Yes, they are both 30 cal and being fired from a rifle, but they are starting with a different amount of energy behind them. The heavier arrow is going to maintain better, but it might be 75 yards before the fast arrow is going as slow as the heavier arrow at launch.

Hopefully both were well tuned tho and the arrows didn't loose a bunch of energy in recovery.


Best thing to do is just sight in at 40-50 yards, then back up an additional 5-10 yards and see how much things fall off. Like @5MilesBack said, it's distance forgiveness that we are chasing in the elk woods.

If you are shooting deer in the east and the furthest you shoot is 35-40 yards, you don't need to worry about it.
 
Here is a decent screen shot :

View attachment 315375


Seems like it aligns with a lot of the common thought. Shooting close, you can shoot heavy, it doesn't matter.

It's a little disappointing he was using different bows. Yes the velocity is the velocity, but if kinda skews the numbers to be using different levels of energy to get the arrows moving. Kinda like comparing a 175 grain from a 308 to a 220 from a 300wm. Yes, they are both 30 cal and being fired from a rifle, but they are starting with a different amount of energy behind them. The heavier arrow is going to maintain better, but it might be 75 yards before the fast arrow is going as slow as the heavier arrow at launch.

Hopefully both were well tuned tho and the arrows didn't loose a bunch of energy in recovery.


Best thing to do is just sight in at 40-50 yards, then back up an additional 5-10 yards and see how much things fall off. Like @5MilesBack said, it's distance forgiveness that we are chasing in the elk woods.

If you are shooting deer in the east and the furthest you shoot is 35-40 yards, you don't need to worry about it.
 

Didn't watch the whole thing, but just demonstrating the drop at 50, when sighted in at that range with only one arrow isn't that great.

Now, what they did, had they just adjusted their sight to be on at 50, then shot at 60 to show the difference in that 10 yards seems like it could have been practical.

Then the fact they are putting 300 grains on the front of a 340 shaft from a 75 pound bow that they guess is drawing 77-78# sure doesn't help that arrow either.


I'll agree with their assessment, use the heaviest arrow you can that still gives reasonable trajectory.
But if trying to do an experiment I like to see variables controlled better. I always used arrows of a heavier spine for heavier front weight when I played with stuff at distance. For just getting chrono numbers up close, heavy tips are fine to simulate overall weight.
 
Didn't watch the whole thing, but just demonstrating the drop at 50, when sighted in at that range with only one arrow isn't that great.

Now, what they did, had they just adjusted their sight to be on at 50, then shot at 60 to show the difference in that 10 yards seems like it could have been practical.

Then the fact they are putting 300 grains on the front of a 340 shaft from a 75 pound bow that they guess is drawing 77-78# sure doesn't help that arrow either.
This was the best I could do on short notice haha.
 
Last year my bow was tuned and sighted in with my 520gr arrows out to 80 yards. With my 390gr arrows and using my 80 yard pin dead on the bullseye at 100 yards, they are right at 6" high. If I aim 4 feet above the bullseye with my 80 yard pin and shooting my 520gr arrows.......they still won't even make it to the target and hit well in front of it. That's a significant drop from only another 20 yards distance. But that's a HUGE difference in trajectory between the two.
 
I hunt white tail and consider my max effective killing range 60yds or under. I shoot for speed mostly for yardage estimation and I personally would rather shoot smaller pin gaps and hit where I’m aiming. I can’t talk for elk hunters but my 360g setup has no problem slaying deer or a 3D range. There’s a number of fixed blades that fly and penetrate great at 300fps.I’d rather hit where I’m aiming than worry about penetrating bone.
 
This is a great video that makes up for the holes left by the recent giant arrow videos.
The trajectory difference would be even greater if he had used the same bow for both arrows. For the light arrow, he was either shooting a very slow (by today's standards) bow (315-ish IBO) or he's actually shooting less than the 72# he stated. For the heavy arrow, a 340 IBO bow at 75# could produce the stated speed. Granted, he acknowledged that the bows were different, but based on KE values of the two test arrows, they're very different:
385 gr @ 304 fps = 79 ft-lbs​
600 gr @ 275 fps = 101 ft-lbs​
That light arrow is pretty average, but the heavy arrow is moving very fast for its weight. Out of the same bow, the differences in apex height would be even greater than what he showed in the video.

As others have stated, a more practical trajectory test would be to intentionally shoot with the wrong pin and see by how much you miss the bullseye to simulate misjudged yardage in the field.
 
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I did my own test last summer. I zeroed my sight for each weight of arrows at 30 yards. I picked the one that had the flatter trajectory at 15 yards. Coincidentally, I haven’t noticed anymore penetration in my targets at 40 yards with my heavier arrows than my lighter ones.
 
I was just happy to see someone popular post a trajectory video. This has been the elephant in the room with the recent KE, momentum, math videos put up by Ranch Fairy and THP.
 
I was just happy to see someone popular post a trajectory video. This has been the elephant in the room with the recent KE, momentum, math videos put up by Ranch Fairy and THP.

He needs to do it with the same bow but then we need to see what happens when you don't have a 30''+ draw length. The average DL is sub 28''. That changes from 300fps/270fps down to like 290/250. That is substantially different.
 
He needs to do it with the same bow but then we need to see what happens when you don't have a 30''+ draw length. The average DL is sub 28''. That changes from 300fps/270fps down to like 290/250. That is substantially different.
Funny how everything is based on 30dl -70lbs but that's not the average. Chasing that carrot. Would love to see them advertise their speeds @ 26dl-50lbs with a 600 grain arrow.
 
Funny how everything is based on 30dl -70lbs but that's not the average. Chasing that carrot. Would love to see them advertise their speeds @ 26dl-50lbs with a 600 grain arrow.
That is my gripe with all these pro archers giving their opinions as facts. Our experiences are based on our own subjective facts. Most of these pro archers are 30''+. Levi is 32''? Tim is like 34''? Tim states spine is the most important part of tuning an arrow, which at his draw I believe it is. at 27? I am more inclined to believe the tuning window is significantly larger than his is at whatever draw it might be.

Same as these people pushing mechanicals as the end all be all. If you can shoot a 475g arrow over 285fps because you're drawing 30'', you can shoot any head you want. Anyone under 29'' starts losing options on how they get to build their arrows for optimal penetration.

Shorter draws need heavier arrows and/or COC heads to be as effective as possible, but there is a large bell curve that can be used. Needing 600g+ is ridiculous. Just another schtick. Beware the man who gives you a problem and sells you the answer.
 
I am 100% confident I would have 3 or 4 more dead elk and deer if I were shooting a faster arrow with a flatter trajectory. I would have killed 1 more bull if I’d have been shooting a heavier arrow with a 3:1 head IMO.
My issue is flight, I’ve never really had issues with penetration but have been hunting a state where I have to shoot fixed heads. For me that means 280fps, I have shot up over 300 but that was a bear to tune. Don’t want to have two different sights and arrows so I end up with a 500gr arrow going just over 280fps with my 28” draw and 70lb bow.
If I were only hunting states where I could shoot expandable heads I’d drop down about 100gr and only shoot small expandable heads like a deadmeat. There is enough trajectory difference to matter to me in a hunting situation. I have shot just under several animals and I have clipped a low hanging branch as well due to a slower arrow with a larger trajectory.
One time ever I wished I had a heavier arrow and that was when I center punched a 6 point bull in the shoulder socket at 20 yards. I was shooting a 65lb CST with a 400gr arrow tipped with a slick trick. Probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway with that poor shot placement.
 
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