They say a bow is much more efficient running it at near peak weight rather than having the limb bolts all the way out. Say a person is looking for a used women's bow and wants to run in the 38 lbs range and maybe work up to 40 or a bit more for hunting. How bad is it buying 40-50 lbs limbs rather than 30-40lbs? Looking at them new you can get the DW down to 38 -53 lbs actually on the 40-50 lbs limbs and 28-43 lbs on the 30-40 lbs limbs. I would rather have a 30-40 but it sure seems like they are hard to find used. The 40-50 lbs seem much more common. Maybe it isn't as big as deal as I am making it out to be and should just a 40-50 lbs bow and save some money. Thoughts?
It's not that big of a deal using the 40-50 pounds limbs at 38 pounds. Keep in mind the more you back off the limb bolts you will increase brace height and in turn increase draw length. You could twist the string to get the draw length corrected at 38 pounds, but will lose valley doing so. So I do not suggest this. Rather set the bow to the 38 pounds, then adjust the draw length to fit her. You will probably have to decrease the draw length on the bow later if she is able to move up to 50 pounds from starting at 38. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
I'd recommend dw comfort first. Later id draw the most poundage that I can. I Once started with 50 lbs . now I'm drawing my bows at 72 max
You'll be fine. The very best indoor and 3D scores I ever shot were with a 60lb bow backed down to 52lbs.
I don't think it matters as much with today's bows, but here's some food for thought. Make SURE before you buy that the bow actually has the full 10# of range in the limbs. For instance if I wanted to shoot 50# I'd probably make sure i could easily draw 50# and opt with 50-60# limbs turned out to 50# and I'd have the luxury of bumping the poundage if I wanted. Reason I say make sure those 60 limbs go down to 50 is I've seen some bows not get that full 10# swing. I had a Mathews No Cam with 60-70 limbs I cranked to 72#. With little to no tweaking I could turn those limbs out 5 turns and get 58#. Just as quiet and shot the same as on 72#, although understandably slower for lower weight. I love my Obsession but you can only turn it out 3 times. It has 50-60 limbs cranked to 61# but 3 turns out only gets me down to 56-57#. I could twist and untwist string and cables and get it to 50# but it's loose and loud to me. My buddy has another brand with 55-65 limbs and he wanted to shoot around 55#. 4 turns out gets him to 58#. He's looking for new limbs. I would make sure the shop set my 50-60 limbs up at 50 before I left.
Today's bow lose much less efficiency turned down to minimum than bows of 20-30 years ago. But then, most bow's adjustment range was greater than today's 10#. You will gain a little draw length reducing the weight but the bow's efficiency/performance will change little. I would have no issue shooting at minimum weight.
Good question and the answer will sure benefit me this spring. My son is going to be getting his first compound bow and Im sure it will need a lot of adjustments along the way. And as for me Im dropping down to a 60# draw weight from a 70lb max draw weight bow.
My daughter is shooting a G5 Quest Radical. Lots of adjustment, (draw length and draw weight) and she has moved up 7 pounds in the last 6 months and is still enjoying shooting. Package price, (I think) was about $395.
There are several nice bows out there with a very wide range, Mission being one of them that starts at 30 and goes up to 50 or more so plenty of flexibility.
Agree I got my Mission Riot by Mathews since 2012. Great bow, I can adjust the poundage from light pull to 70 pounds my self no problem. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
My wife has a charger with 40-50 lb limbs, sometimes she'll set it to 38 and work up to 42 if she hasn't shot in months. We haven't noticed any draw backs shooting at 38lbs. Maxing out the limb bolts used to be an issue on older style bows, not an issue with modern bows. If it were an issue then you wouldn't see all these highly adjustable bows IMHO
