Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: mspink on November 20, 2010, 01:44:16 am

Title: SPEED!
Post by: mspink on November 20, 2010, 01:44:16 am
Hey I was just wondering what the average speed was for ur bows out there.. Around fifty lbs or so.. I just finished a deer rawhide backed maple.. 50lbs @ 26" n it shoots 158fps. Was wondering if that any good or bout average.. Made another that only shoots round 152 fps. Jus curious to see what y'all got.. Also what's the best advice fir getting faster speeds? How thin should tips be n what kind of tiller? Thanks
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: NTD on November 20, 2010, 01:49:32 am
From what I've read in tbbiv thats awesome for a 26" straight profile bow!
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: M-P on November 20, 2010, 03:01:14 am
Howdy,  I'm not the expert, but from my reading your chrono results are somewhat meaningless without knowing the grain weight of the arrow(s) used.  If you were using a 500gr arrow, I think those speeds are better than average.   If you were shooting 700gr arrows your bows are awesome.  If you were shooting 330 grain arrows your bows aren't living up to there potential.
There are several opinions on maximizing arrow speed from a given piece of wood, but they seem ( to me) to boil down to leaving just enough wood in the bow to avoid breaking.  The member who posts here as 'badger' has done some amazing work along these lines.  His conclusions are that the physical mass of the bow is one of the best indicators/ predictors of efficiency.  That's efficiency in a an engineering sense, or in other words maximizing the return on the energy your muscles put into the bow as you draw it.  See the chapter on the mass principle in TBB4, or check some of badger's posts.
The tips should be as thin as you can get them without there being much bend. Actual dimensions will depend on the density of the wood you're using.( For maximum arrow speed.)  The last 6 inches or so can be surprisingly narrow.
Ron
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: Justin Snyder on November 20, 2010, 03:03:29 am
What weight of arrows are you shooting?
If you are shooting a heavy arrow that is good, if you are shooting light weight arrows it is OK.

I guess M-P was typing while I was.  ;D
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: Del the cat on November 20, 2010, 04:47:34 am
150 Sounds reasonable, here are a few of mine.
50# Self Yew ELB  150 fps
75# Self Yew ELB  170 fps
Ash Meare Heath style heat treated 36# 147fps
(All with 5/16" x 28" + 70grain pile)

Del
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: acker on November 20, 2010, 05:04:54 am
@del : The weight of the arrows ? 10gp# ?
Thanks acker
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: avcase on November 20, 2010, 05:13:32 am
It depends on your purpose for the bow.  For me, archery consists of target shooting and flight shooting.  Therefore, I shoot lighter arrows than a typical hunting setup and the faster they shoot cleanly, the better.  Flight shooting is even more extreme with very light arrows and very high speed.  It is so bad that I consider the sound of a volley of near dry-fires like sweet music.  There's always room to improve and the challenge of doing it with natural materials keeps it interesting.   :)
-Alan
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: George Tsoukalas on November 20, 2010, 09:51:30 am
No idea. Don't own a chrono. I will flight shoot new bows. I can basically tell if a bow is good enough for the woods fairly early. Jawge
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: adb on November 20, 2010, 10:16:44 am
A ball park figure is: with a 10gp# arrow, it's usually the draw weight of your bow plus 100.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: aaron on November 20, 2010, 11:59:39 am
.... as far as the tips go, for vine maple, i use "back nocks" and 3/8 wide by about 1/2 thick.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: aaron on November 20, 2010, 12:06:12 pm
a back nock is a small wedge of wood lashed to the back of the bow- this creates a stop for the loop without cutting any grooves into the tip.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: mspink on November 20, 2010, 01:33:22 pm
I've weighed them before.. Most of my arrows are in the 550 range.. Some 650. This arrow was 550 range.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: Del the cat on November 20, 2010, 04:58:28 pm
@del : The weight of the arrows ? 10gp# ?
Thanks acker
Dunno, I don't have an accurate scale for arrow weighing..
Maybe that's something else for Santa to get me ;D.
I usually shoot 11/32 shafts and 100gn piles from the 75# longbow (it stops any hand shock and takes the speed down to 166fps) I just included the speed with my 'standard arrow' for comparison.
Del
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: mullet on November 20, 2010, 05:07:34 pm
 mspink,

 That sounds good and more than enough for hunting with that weight arrow.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: stack on November 20, 2010, 07:40:04 pm
I am new to bow building.  Does anybody have experience building replacement limbs for a t/d recurve.  A tree jumped out in front of me while shooting causing one limb to break.  I thought about building a laminated all wood replacement.  Is this doable with comparable performance of the original fiberglass laminated ones?  If so any specs suggested.  Thanks.
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: M-P on November 22, 2010, 03:22:11 am
Hi All,  For a 550 gr arrow I think 150fps sounds a little above average, especially for a short draw.  Ron
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: okiecountryboy on November 22, 2010, 03:39:31 am
No idea. Don't own a chrono. I will flight shoot new bows. I can basically tell if a bow is good enough for the woods fairly early. Jawge

AMEN!  It's the feel and the eye......That's all you need to know. I hope I don't anger anyone...HONESTLY, I do not mean to, BUT, THIS IS primitive archery.......

OK...I will shut up now ::)

God Bless
Ron
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: Pappy on November 22, 2010, 07:30:52 am
That sounds very good to me if you are shooting a hunting weight arrow, Never have cono many but most of the ones I did were about 3 times the draw weight,I have a short draw and seem the longer draws do a little better. :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: sailordad on November 22, 2010, 11:39:19 am
ive only ran one bow thru a chrono(the 1st i ever made)
it was 3 times the draw weight

but i much prefer to shoot them and check distance/cast over "how fast" some techie piece of equipment says it is
after all that speed is directly off the bow and not how fast it moving when it hits its target down range

i to like doing the distnace/cast check over chrono for the same reason that okie mentioned
its "primitive",well that and i am too damn cheap to go buy a chrono or spend money to use the one at the local "pay range"
Title: Re: SPEED!
Post by: bcbull on November 22, 2010, 07:48:14 pm
speed dont matter deer  or elk aint gonna know the diff between 150 and 205 if it s in the right place  brock ;)