Light poundage, heavy arrows?

stringstretcher · September 19, 2011, 07:02:00 AM

Just kind of curious on what grain weight some of you are shooting that shoot bows between 40 and 45 pounds at your draw length. Total arrow weight?

Mike Vines · September 19, 2011, 07:50:00 AM

46#-49# bows, I shoot 635-640 grain (total weight) douglas fir arrows

September 19, 2011, 08:20:00 AM

43-46# bows, arrows run about 525g.

Rob DiStefano · September 19, 2011, 08:31:00 AM

imo, no matter what the holding weight below 50# and above 40#, i'd use a 500gr arrow minimum. this becomes more of a rule with woodies as going lower in mass wood arrow weight is a tougher row to hoe than with carbons or alums.

that said, i use 50-55# longbows and all arrows - carbon and wood - never go below 10gpp, with most 11gpp or more.

ron w · September 19, 2011, 08:57:00 AM

40-49# 575-626gr. Wood ,carbon or alum.

Pat B. · September 19, 2011, 09:03:00 AM

I think Rob has it..

Just yesterday I shot a set up with 12.5 gpp; 48ish pound bow with a 600 grain arrow. Great arrow flight and penetration. The other arrow I've been using gives me 11.5 gpp.

Friend · September 19, 2011, 09:04:00 AM

Would not consider anything below 550 and personally feel that 500 min is in the gray area and will work just fine with a perfect mark.

Employ as many as possible of the penetration enhancing factors in to your arrow design and you should be golden.

Night Wing · September 19, 2011, 09:04:00 AM

A very heavy arrow setup (2117), for me, with my 42# bow is around 572 grains which gives me a 13.61 GPP (grains per pound) arrow. My second heavy arrow setup for my 42# bow is a 2215 weighing 536 grains which gives me a 12.76 GPP (grains per pound) arrow.

The heavy arrow setup (2213) for my 37# bow is 480 grains which gives me a 12.97 GPP (grains per pound) arrow.

My light arrow GPP setup for both of my bows can be seen in my signature.

While the vast majority of people won't consider anything under 500 grains, in my case, at 421 grains for my light arrow setup.......speed kills. My 42# bows shoots 185 fps and my 37# bow shoots 174 fps. The speed comes from my 30" draw length combined with the 23.5" (times 2) length of my bows' limbs and 19" risers.

During my 47 years of trad bowhunting, I've never been one to "run with the pack" so to speak so sometimes I will forego conventional wisdom to experiment and see if things work out.

Archie · September 19, 2011, 09:35:00 AM

I shoot about 730 grain arrows out of a 48# longbow, at my 31" draw length. Probably too heavy, but they fly great, and make the bow real quiet!

JimB · September 19, 2011, 11:29:00 AM

I agree with Rob also.More weight just harnesses a little more of your bow's energy and at the ranges we shoot,trajectory isn't a big factor.

After decades of shooting 9-10 GPP arrows,a few years ago I set up some 700 gr arrows for a moose hunt.It took 3-4 shots to get the feel of them.I liked them so much,all my setups now are 650 grs plus,mostly 12-13 GPP.

My lightest bow is 48# and I probably draw it to 50.The most recent set I made for it weigh 680 grs.,13.6 GPP.It handles them very well.Recently I built some arrows for another bow and they turned out to be 740 grs.Not meaning to go that heavy but that's how it worked out.When I shot them,I was surprised that they impacted with my 655's and 700 grain ones.Curious,I stepped back to 29 yds which is my "point on" distance,with 700 grs.I'm not a gap shooter but use it if I want to take a shot that far.I shot two arrows into the bull 1" apart.I don't usually shoot that tight but it did tell me what I wanted to know about trajectory.

Then one day I decided to see what the 740's would do out of the 48 # bow(14.8 GPP)and found I was hitting dead on with them.I only shot out to 20 yds.I thought that bow couldn't be any quieter but it was with those arrows.

I know for some these are extreme examples but am just throwing them out as food for thought.I never thought I could tolerate arrow weights like these but at my hunting ranges there was very little adjustment and the gains in penetration and quiet have been considerable.

Rob DiStefano · September 19, 2011, 12:14:00 PM

absolutely what jimb said.

paradocs · September 19, 2011, 12:16:00 PM

46# @ 26", 560 gr cedars (200gr Ace heads)...just a hair over 12 gpp

Ray Lyon · September 19, 2011, 02:12:00 PM

Just a hair over your draw weight range (47@29") but for reference, I'm shooting 550 grain cedars (125 grains up front) and 540 grain Easton Axis carbons with 250 grains up front. Just as a point of reference, the carbons blow through the bales like they're not there. cedars go to the fletching.

Art B · September 19, 2011, 02:57:00 PM

Pat's hill cane will get you between 550-600gr Charles. Got any of those? No better hunting arrow IMO. Perfect for your setup. Shooting the same weight bows myself......Art

stringstretcher · September 19, 2011, 04:31:00 PM

Yeah I have a few Art. Going to have to get them straight and spine them and see what I get. Thanks everyone for the info.

drewsbow · September 19, 2011, 07:59:00 PM

My bow is 48-50 nat my long draw and have been using 840 gr arrows but have stepped down to 760 gr for this year (bamboo) but I love heavy out of a lite bow

Don Stokes · September 19, 2011, 09:49:00 PM

Arrows for my 40# recurve weigh 570-580 grains.

BUCKY · September 19, 2011, 10:21:00 PM

45# 520 grain arrow.

Friend · September 19, 2011, 10:22:00 PM

I am high in favor of upping the gpp as the draw wt goes down. There are definate limits of marginal utilty. Even Dr. Ashby had 12 out 12 arrows(691 grain -26.2% EFOC) shot fom a 40@27 moderate performing recurve penetrate the ribs of a young Asian Buffolo bull.

I believe with the game we typically pursue, the appropriate arrow wt range, yet still quite lethal, is much less than 691 grains especially if design enhanced penetrating features are retained.

Gordon martiniuk · September 19, 2011, 10:51:00 PM

I like 10 to 12 gr a lb if you go too heavy you loose some range and if you cannot hit your target it does not matter how heavy your arrows are ,I find a flatter arrow at 10 gr a lb make more sence to me ,, just my 2 cents worth