Main Discussion Area > Shooting and Hunting
Shooting Light Arrows
Kegan:
I think that's all it really comes down to, efficiency. Steve Gardner and others have mentioned that the heavier the arrow, the more efficient the bow will shoot. Hill used a 1700 gr arrow out of a 115# straight bow, and got 31" of penetration. Fred Bear, however, used an arrow around 800 gr if I'm not mistaken though.
Here's how I see it in terms of final killing power. Say you have two bows: one is quite efficient and will shoot a 450 gr arrow at, let's say, 185 fps with no more shock or noise than a 600 gr arrow. The second bow, however, will only shoot the 145 gr arrow 5 fps more than the 600 gr arrow at, let's say 160 fps. However, becase bow two is less efficient, the lighter arrow will also come with more noise and handshock, the energy going into the bow and string and not the arrow.
I shoot these small-diameter 600 gr arrows out of bows 75# or more at times (my heaviest bow, a real dog, being 86#), and am just now starting to think about making a lighter bow of 65#. Given those weights, that 600 gr arrow could be considered "light", with a 450 gr arrow almost a dry fire :D!
Steve Cover:
--- Quote from: Kegan on February 10, 2010, 07:03:04 pm ---I think that's all it really comes down to, efficiency. Steve Gardner and others have mentioned that the heavier the arrow, the more efficient the bow will shoot. Hill used a 1700 gr arrow out of a 115# straight bow, and got 31" of penetration. Fred Bear, however, used an arrow around 800 gr if I'm not mistaken though.
Here's how I see it in terms of final killing power. Say you have two bows: one is quite efficient and will shoot a 450 gr arrow at, let's say, 185 fps with no more shock or noise than a 600 gr arrow. The second bow, however, will only shoot the 145 gr arrow 5 fps more than the 600 gr arrow at, let's say 160 fps. However, because bow two is less efficient, the lighter arrow will also come with more noise and handshock, the energy going into the bow and string and not the arrow.
I shoot these small-diameter 600 gr arrows out of bows 75# or more at times (my heaviest bow, a real dog, being 86#), and am just now starting to think about making a lighter bow of 65#. Given those weights, that 600 gr arrow could be considered "light", with a 450 gr arrow almost a dry fire :D!
--- End quote ---
Explanation finally making sense to me..... I can now see the reasoning behind the heavier arrow choice.
Also, it is true that two arrows with the same drag coefficient fired at the same velocity would have pretty much the same trajectory (Within a reasonable velocity range, such as from hunting weight bows).
So, a heavy arrow would not be giving up much if anything at normal archery shooting distances, and its inherent dampening ability would make it a better choice in a heavy bow..
Thanks for being patient with my ignorance.
Steve
Kegan:
As far as I can tell, they would have the same tradjectory. Drag really is the only thing that would slow them down.
"Light" arrows make longer range shooting much easier, but at close range (under 30 yards) there wouldn't be much of a change.
Hardly, happy to help :)
ryanfromcanada:
--- Quote from: Swamp Bow on January 27, 2010, 10:18:07 am ---Well you can take a log and hit something at 3 miles an hour, and then take a feather and bring it up to light speed and get the same result. That is plain physics. What is practical in the real world is another matter. This is purely conjecture, but I suspect that even the "fastest" compounds can't bring some of the super light arrows up to a high enough speed to get the same effect as the "slower" traditional bows with heavy arrows. The light arrows will fly flatter and get there quicker, but just won't have as much energy left on target. I have no idea where the line is and it would take a very scientific approach with release machines and the like to get real results. .
Swamp
--- End quote ---
I think that this is ilusstrated well when you look at steel shot vs lead. Nobody argues that the steels better.
riarcher:
If a 450g arrow is good out of a 45# bow (10g/#),,,
I don't see why you'd need a 1,000g arrow out of a 100# bow?
That same 450g seems just better from the 100# bow but at much less than 10g / #.
To me, that makes the 10gpp rule...... non-applicable? ???
Anyways, I'm on a venture with Boo & cane arrows. They are light and wonder what I'm going to do for hunting (weight) arrows.
Definately a strong cut on contact BH.
But in a 50# bow where should my weight be and how? Can only add so much weight to the pile end.
Thinik I'll start a new topic on that. Don't want to go off topic too much.
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