I made up some heavy arrows today because I really want to shoot 225 grain broadheads. The problem is...wow did that slow down the arrow. Do you guys think 11gpp is too much?
No......not if you can deal with it. If you just can't get used to the slower speed, then you might want to go a little lighter.
Bisch
I shoot an arrow that is 12 gpp for my bows and it doesn't seem to effect anything. I personally like an arrow to be at least 10.5 gpp for hunting though.
I like flat trajectories, and shoot 9.25 GPP. Fast and flat. I still get plenty of KE. I know the Black Widow guys like to suggest 9-11 gpp for hunting, and they know their business. It all depends on what you like and if your style and your bow likes it. I am from the "lighter and faster" camp and don't care for slow arrahs... but a large segment of shooters here like the heavy weights and kill a lot of game with them.
Poll results after 175 Trad Ganger votes from 10/30/2011
Under 8 ggp 1% (2)
8 - 9 ggp 5% (9)
9 - 10 ggp 28% (49)
10 - 11 ggp 42% (73)
11 - 12 ggp 15% (27)
Over 12 ggp 9% (15)
The above summarized date may enlighten enlighten you to the greatly varied opinions. Your personal confidence is paramount.
Pick your poison.......
With my 37# recurve, shooting a 420 grain arrow gives me an 11.37 GPP (grains per pound) arrow leaving the bow at 174 fps (feet per second).
All of my shots are broadside shots at 20 yards and under. This arrow gets the job done on deer, small feral pigs and javelina which I mostly target.
That's about where I'm at. For some reason my brain is wired for about 165 fps., so I shoot as much arrow weight as I can to stay in that range with my bows.
I believe confidence in your equiptment is paramount. If your set up is quiet and you acheive good arrow flight, no wobbles or flyiers, you are leathal as long as your arrow is flying. I have a 66 inch JD Berry Vixen longbow that shoots my 580 grain wood shafts like they were carbons, absolutely straight. I think it shoots slow as it is like 50 pounds at my draw. That is like 11.6 gpp of draw. I think it may be about 160 fps or so. No matter, I am confident it is big medicine for any white tail deer I may encounter. You will have better FOC than I do ... you should have a very nice set up there.
Bob.
Friend that is great data. rat'
The buck I shot last year was with 42lbs and 550gr arrow, coming in at 13gpp. The arrow skipped in the dirt with a complete passthru. The arrow had so much gas left after the passthru that I believe it would have passed thru an elk.
This stuff gets a lot harder to figure out when you've got a longer draw. I draw about 29.5, and I'm transitioning from longbow to high performance recurve. I'd love to keep some FOC, but playing with Stu's calculator, it looks like I might have to give that up, and my gpp will probably fall below 10.
I've got another poll for you: http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=088382
Here we have some more results, because 568 users have voted...
8: 1% (6)
8-9: 9% (49)
9-10: 29% (162)
10-11: 35% (196)
11-12: 17% (99)
12-13: 6% (36)
More then 13: 4% (20)
Hope this helps...
I always shoot 10-11 gpp. I like my bow quiet, and my arrows bloody and sticking in the dirt.