Author Topic: Looking for a 400 yard shot  (Read 170 times)

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Offline sleek

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Looking for a 400 yard shot
« on: May 13, 2025, 09:12:59 pm »
I know most of yall aren't very involved in flight shooting, but we all love to watch an arrow fly.Im sure most of us are guilty of having shot an arrow at 45 degrees to see how far it would go, and if you have, guess what? Welcome to flight shooting!

  The capabilities of each bow for distance very greatly based on draw weight, length, and arrow weight. Find the proper combination and you can really be in for a long walk in what I like calling the oldest game known to man, human fetch.

  For reference, most 50 pound bows will shoot a flight arrow between 200 and 300 yards. The current record is right around 350 yards for a self bow, which is what I am most interested in. I have a goal to shoot a flight arrow into the 400 yard mark. That would shatter the 50 pound record and the unlimited draw weight record.

This year for the flight shoot coming up at the last weekend of August, my goal is to build 3 high performance bows. One as a 35 pound proof of concept, a 50 pounder and a 90 pounder. I'll be updating this thread as I go along. Progress will be slow until July, when I'm able to take some time off of my contract job, and hit it hard and heavy.

  These bows will do more than test limits of a wooden bows capabilities, they will challenge my craftsmanship and also test some theories I have on how to make any bow perform better.

So, stay tuned for updates and video links.
Tread softly and carry a bent stick.

Dont seek your happiness through the approval of others

Offline Selfbowman

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2025, 10:29:41 pm »
Watching ! I’m still trying to hit 350 yds.🤠🤠🤠 but I’m looking to shoot a broadhead 260yds with a selfbow.
Well I'll say!!  Osage is king!!

Offline sleek

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2025, 10:58:40 pm »
If you build a 64 inch version of the bows I make, and pull it to 35 inches, you will absolutely blow way past 264. Arrow shafts will be your hardest part.
Tread softly and carry a bent stick.

Dont seek your happiness through the approval of others

Offline RyanY

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #3 on: Today at 12:32:33 am »
Looking forward to this. My goal is to attend next year after some practice at home and building the equipment. What is the arrow length and weight you are trying to achieve for the shot?

Offline sleek

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #4 on: Today at 01:06:45 am »
Looking forward to this. My goal is to attend next year after some practice at home and building the equipment. What is the arrow length and weight you are trying to achieve for the shot?

Arrow length is 23 inches, legal minimum for the event. Arrow weight will be whatever flies best, wish I had a better answer. 50 pound bows do well in the 170 to 220 grain range to give you a ballpark figure.
Tread softly and carry a bent stick.

Dont seek your happiness through the approval of others

Offline Selfbowman

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #5 on: Today at 07:01:59 am »
Kevin you need to talk to Jim Davis if you want to make thee arrows longer. He makes a arrow repair that’s about three inches long that glued on to the taper tooled shaft. So taper tool your arrow and glue  his piece of shaft on the end. It adds about 3-4” to the length. Pretty slick arrow repair for those of us that miss a lot .🤠🤠🤠
Well I'll say!!  Osage is king!!

Offline Del the cat

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    • Derek Hutchison Native Wood Self Bows
Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #6 on: Today at 07:06:56 am »
watching with interest.
My PB is 341yards with a self Osage (the Osage was from Osage Outlaw when I visited the TN Classic).
I can't pull the heavy weights anymore, so I can't see myself bettering that.
I was testing a release aid that I made last Autumn with a heavy flight bow, it released before I was expecting and it gave my left elbow a huge jolt with the recoil (it made me yelp and say bad words  ;D ), it's not been the same since.  :(
Hey ho, none of us getting any younger I s'pose.  ::)
Del
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline bjrogg

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #7 on: Today at 07:21:14 am »
I will be watching this. (-P

My wife, son dog and I drove almost 1500 miles to play with Arvin.
Never did get to watch the arrow fly for distance. I’m still looking forward to that some day.

It was worth the drive anyway

Good luck sleek.

Bjrogg
A hot cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise

Offline Selfbowman

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #8 on: Today at 07:54:02 am »
Kevin I could be very wrong ! But if you have only 50# of energy in a35” draw well that’s what you have no matter how far you pull the arrow back. Now if you add 60 gr of arrow shaft by making the arrow longer you defeated your purpose so to speak. I think there is a happy place where the mass of the arrow and draw weight and length peaks. That’s why shorter bows with shorter arrows do better in flight. Now you take a 70 or a hundred pound bow it could be different I think mass ratio between arrows and draw length and weight might be the key to distance. But what does the related math guy know.🤠🤠🤠
Well I'll say!!  Osage is king!!

Offline Badger

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #9 on: Today at 02:26:06 pm »
 Arvin, if the bow was drawing 35" you would likely have about 62# stored energy. That would not be near enough to make up for the drag of an extra 10" of the arrow. Monuz seems to do pretty well at 30" for the hundred # bows but who is to say he wouldn't do better with shorter arrows? Hard to say. I know only about 230 fps is needed to hit 400 yards with a very well-tuned arrow. 300 fps will not reach 300 yards if the arrow is not tuned.

Offline willie

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Re: Looking for a 400 yard shot
« Reply #10 on: Today at 06:14:46 pm »
If you build a 64 inch version of the bows I make, and pull it to 35 inches, you will absolutely blow way past 264. Arrow shafts will be your hardest part.

can we see the unbraced side view of that design? sounds radical.
« Last Edit: Today at 06:30:32 pm by willie »