So after all the hura about this little widget, I decided to tinker a bit. I was very pleased with what it said compared to what I already knew. I am always hesitant about online gadget type deals after my experience with ballistics tables online. So my question is, for those of you that have chronoed your bows, was the calc close as far as the speed it had listed. It seemed a bit liberal to me, but then again I haven't got a clue what any of my bows chrono, mainly because speed is not my concern. It's like buying a truck and trying to get 40MPG, just aint gonna happened.
I will give you an example, I shoot a 55# take down recurve, 12 strand ffstring, center cut . . .
My arrows are Beeman ICS bowhunter shafts, 400 spine, with 100 grain brass inserts, cut to 29.5 inches, 8.4 gpi, approximately 480 total grains. The calc says I am about 4 points shy of the neccesary dynamic spine. But bare shafts dont lie . . . soo I am not worried about that. 8.8 gpp, 19.1%foc, 200.6 fps!
I suppose I could get it chronoed and find out . . . but this is way more fun.
Off season is among us :)
:dunno: Since I don't care about the speed factor I haven't checked it out.
speed? :laughing:
I have checked 3 different bows to calculator specs 1 was right on projected speed the other 2 were 10 to 20 fps below. But the bow that I shoot best and most accurate is the slowest one.
Still believe it will kill all the deer I want to shoot
Stu rates my go to bow and arrow set up 10ft per second faster than it is. Curiosity kills cats, it is however a good learning tool when applied correctly by people.
I, too, believe the speed thing on Stu's calculator is off. Actually, I'm sure of it. I have a chrono and I have tested different bows and none are as fast as what Stu's calculator says they are. But, I still love his calculator when I use it for everything else. It is a great starting point when choosing arrows and is very accurate and useful in estimating total arrow weight and FOC.
maybe Stu is trying to give you guys some confidence by telling you your stuff is faster...LOL
For me, I'll take a slow quiet bow upon arrow release over a fast bow everytime.
My bow comes in 10 fps slower that Stu's calculator says but I tell ya what. So far I have put the specs for every bow that I own in and other than the arrow speed it has worked perfectly. It is a great calculator.
Oh well, I don't have Exel to make it work for me.
problem is stues is a bit on the general side for bow specs. so theres a lot of variables it doesnt account for. i have found it right on sometimes and pretty far off others .as a whole its a good starting point.each bow has its own charicteristics, and thats not accountable in the tool.
like others say speed isnt as important as other things but i do like a flat tradjectory . i guess 170 is ok with a heavy arrow in my book.
i would not count on that 200fps guestimation if i were u like it even matters. usally more speed= more noise anyway. if you gotta know go put some through a chrono . but i wouldnt be upset if you saw 185 or there abouts.
I've compared it and for my bows its generous on speed. I also found it isn't very close if the speeds off. So I tweak the bow specs in the calculator to match my chrono'd speed. Then play with arrows to match the spine. I have found this method to be very close, within 2 lbs on the spine, otherwise the calculator seems to be off 6 to 10 lbs on spine. I have found I need to go with the stiffest spine my bows will shoot according to the calculator. I then start with a shaft about 1 1/2" to long and bare shaft from there. Rarely do I have to cut much off at that point. After the arrows fletched and the broadheads fly I sometimes have to cut a little more, but not much. Took a lot of trial and error to figure this out but now its a big time saver.
QuoteOriginally posted by Cottonwood:
Oh well, I don't have Exel to make it work for me.
You can use the "free" download Open Office program that will automatically open Stu's calculator program. You don't need Excel.
http://www.openoffice.org/
The speed estimate if not very close for most bows and really doesn't need to be included. IMHO
I think the hardest part of using it is putting the bow data in correctly and accurately.
Mike
You know what guys I think I just figured it out. I bet that speed is dead on for a bow with a bare string. But after all we are bowhunters, and I bet all of us have some kind of silencer on the string to make our bow quieter, thus slower. . .
Thanks for all your inputs
What in the world is a STU's claculator?
For my ACS it is damn close.
If I say it's a deflex reflex longbow it shows 5 fps slower than it is.
If I say it's a performance recurve it shows 1 fps faster than it is.
Most bows aren't as effecient as an ACS, that's why it's closer than most. IMHO
http://www.heilakka.com/stumiller/
Check it out Longbowman. It's a great tool to get you from dead-on to awfully close when determining what arrow will match up to your bow.
Thanks Stu!