rcd567

Hello Sportsfans,
Yesterday I spent the morning at the pro shop. Paper tuned the bow so it shot bullet hole after bullet hole. Next, weighed my arrows. 490 grains[]. These are the Carbon Express Terminator Hunters, 4560, with a white dip, cresting and three 4" vanes and a 125 grain field tip. Next onto the chonograph. Numerous shots yielded an average speed of 231. Now weight x speed x speed / 450,800, equals 58 pounds of energy which beat my goal of 55 by 3 pounds. I' m only shooting my bow @ 55 pounds of weight, and I can shoot it for hours. According to most experts, 58 pounds of kinetic energy should be adequate for deer, bear, or elk. (I use cut on contact broadheads) Now obviously I' ve set up my rig for penetration but know of some folks that shoot for speed. I also know that a heavier arrow is a quiet arrow and my bow is extremely quiet.

So I guess my question would be, whats the advantage of speed? Do more folks set up their rigs for speed or KE? Let me know.

Turk_man

I have always set my bow up for KE instead of speed. For hunting from treestands I don`t understand the need for 280+ fps. I prefer a quiet smooth shooting rig over a loud(sounds like a crossbow)rig. If I hunted out west and did alot of spot and stalk I would want something a little quicker but we still have those laser rangefinder availiable so knowing the distance to your target is easier than ever. I personally shoot a xx78 2315 29" , at about 235fps and would use this on anything in North America.

Rack-attack

I set my hunting bows more on the speed side. My hunting arrows weigh from 365 to 380grns and I like to shoot in the 280 fps range. Since a bow will only vary a few lbs of ke either way, I will sacrifice a couple lb' s of ke to shoot flater. It is just what I am used to, and what I like. Since I am putting out over 65 lbs of ke I never even worry about it.

And my bow is VERY quiet at 280 fps

PABowhntr

I always try to setup whatever ICS carbons I am using at the time to weigh in the neighborhood of 420 grains. That number is somewhat " ingrained" in my mind as so many manufacturers always touted shooting their bows at no less than 6 grains per pound of draw weight and I was almost always shooting at 70 lbs.

With that 420 grain arrow my bows usually generate between 68 and 80 ft. lbs of KE and speeds in the 265 to 290 fps range. So, to summarize, I do not really setup my bows for either factor though it would seem I tend to get the best of both worlds in most cases.

Todd1700

Well here' s my two cents worth. The advantage of speed would be a flatter trajectory of your arrow. This makes minor errors in distance estimation less critical. For example if a deer is 28 yards away I can put my 25 yard pin on him and my arrow will still hit almost in the same place as it would at 25. It also allows some people who get very high speeds to shoot only 1 pin out to 30 yards. Its also never bad for an arrow to get there faster on animals that tend to duck or jump the string. Besides ,as Rack said, a bow of a certain draw length and poundage is only going to vary a very little bit in kinetic Energy from a light arrow to a heavy arrow. If you are currently shooting a 490 grain arrow at 231fps you can test this out by shooting an arrow that weighs about 390 through a chrono. See what you get then sit down and do the math. I think you will be quite shocked. Now there are some advantages to a heavy arrow too. It will make a bow quieter but My Q2 is already super quiet with a 370 grain arrow. Some tout the greater momentum generated by a heavy arrow and say this makes it a better penetrating arrow. But, my arrows already go all the way through the deer I shoot so why worry about momentum. (your arrow can only go through them one time)

Arthur P

The 51 lb longbow I made shoots a 570 grain arrow @ 180 fps for around 40 fpe. Anemic by compound standards, so I guess I' d have to say I set up a bow for neither speed nor energy. But I wouldn' t hesitate to use it on anything up to the size of elk.

Big Country

rcd567, your setup should be fine for hunting whitetails.

Almost without fail, speeding up your rig has no real effect on ke.

A certain bow makes " X" amount of energy period. Going from a finely tuned arrow at 10 grains per # to a finely tuned arrow at 5 grains per pound from the same bow, at the same draw weight and length you will usually see the heavier arrow sport 1-3 foot pounds more of KE.

I am not advocating speed over arrow mass, just sharing countless hours worth of chrono blasting. Some people just have too much time!

BTW, I am pretty sure that you divide vel X vel X mass by 450,240 for ke.

dick_cress

I' ll take Kinetic Energy over Momentum EVERY TIME.

rcd567

Hey Big Country, your probably correct on the formula. I got the 450800 out of a Bowhunter magazine article but also had the 450240 stored on the computer. I figured my formula was wrong and theirs was right. Either way, it comes out to 58 pounds of energy. Now in my younger days, I was shooting a Jennings Arrowstar with 35% letoff set at 75 pounds. But since three or four shoulder surgerys (hell, I can' t even remember) I feel more comfortable shooting the 55 pounder.

dick_cress

I have the 450,240 figure also.