finally paper tuned it...now I need expertise/opinions

[kiamichi kid]

This Christmas I was gifted with close to 2 dozen 35-55 GT trads. After a couple months, I finally found time to paper tune them to my Striker Slapstick 50 @28 drawn to 28". After 2 hours I finally got a bullet hole tear with the arrow cut to 30 1/4" and a 175 grain point for a total arrow weight of 488 grains. When I put an arrow through the chrono, it topped out at a "blazing" 160 fps. That speed seemed really slow to me considering the arrow weight was less than 10 gpp but I'm not too concerned considering the arrow flight is right on the money. However, I have to ask the question, Is that speed normal for a R/D longbow with that arrow weight? And with that arrow weight and fps in mind, what are your recommendations between the Zwickey No mercy or Delta four blade for deer and turkey?

[Charlie Lamb]

While that speed seems a little slow given the arrow and bow weight you need to remember that all chronographs are not created equal.
You very well could get a vastly different reading on another machine.

Either of those broadhead choices will work just fine. If you have any concerns about penetration go with the No Mercy 4 blade.

[kiamichi kid]

Thanks for the reply, Charlie. I hope I did get a poor reading on that chronograph. Getting selfbow speed out of a fiberglass bow is not a great feeling.

[Biathlonman]

That speed wouldn't surprise me a bit.  I've put a lot of bows over a chronograph and around 160 is fairly common.

[Bjorn]

Comparing FPS over the 'net is tough. You may have a set up that has 18 strands of dacron with 4 sets of silencers and the other guy has an SBD string.
A lot depends on what you are hunting and BH choice.

[JC]

While those numbers do seem just a bit low for your specs, I think both Charlie and Bjorn have a point as to why. I personally wouldn't worry at all about chrono numbers myself....it's nice to have them for braggin rights but I've never seen a chrono kill a critter.

If you can deliver a razor sharp, quality broadhead accurately at hunting ranges under hunting conditions then it's fast enough in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the most efficient bow possible but don't let a number get in your head and prevent you from utilizing a perfectly capable tool to your best advantage.

[Bladepeek]

I've been shooting an indoor league on a "Techno Hunt" screen. There is a chrono involved and the arrow speed shows for each archer. All of our speeds are 10 - 15 fps slower than what Stu's calculator shows and what I was expecting. I find it useful only as a relative comparison. Some 9 gpp 1535s show up the expected amount faster than my 10.5 gpp 3555s. All read slow for what we expected to see. It would be fun to shoot some over a known accurate chrono so we could know the "conversion fudge factor" for reading the chrono results in the league. Not loosing much sleep over it, though.

[Caughtandhobble]

Like stated, all chronographs are not created equal. Bullet holes are the important thing.

The one thing that a chronograph will tell you all day long is how consistent your release is  

[Bjorn]

What Caughtandhobble said is well worth noting.
A good clean release can be 20 fps faster than a poor one-my son demoed that to me!