I am going with a heavier arrow this year for whitetail hunting. It will be 517-522 gr once fully setup. I haven't sighted in the bow yet, waiting for all this rain to go away. For those of you that shoot a heavier arrow, did you have issues getting it to group at longer distances? Say 50 yards and on? Thanks in advance!
In reference to...? Correct spine along with tuning...besides the obvious shooter's ability...is what will affect groups at longer distance more than anything. I don't shoot a "heavy" arrow by any means, but I recently went from a 380 grain 400 spine arrow with around a 9% FOC to a 430 grain 340 spine arrow with a 12% FOC and can't tell any difference when shooting them whatsoever besides the bow shot being quieter.
Yeah I know JZ! And I don't. But, I like practicing at longer distances. It makes the closer shots seem easier.
I think the average shot over at archerytalk is 500 yards. So yea go for it.... Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
I went from 400 grains to 600 grains. At 600, my accuracy past 50 did decrease significantly, and i have clearance issues with my CBE hybrid engage at 85. I shoot 70lbs 28”. With 400 grains, my drop at 60 yards was HALF what it is at 600 grains. For killing, I’m all in with heavy ass arrows. I want to be as lethal as possible under 30 yards, which is realistically the farthest I’ll have to shoot at a whitetail. But, I’m not just a hunter - i like to shoot my bow at targets at long range, and i do that for 70% of the year. I will go back to light arrows once these heavy ones break or i lose them. Breaking shoulders in theory is cool, hitting targets at 100 yards in reality is much cooler. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
With a similar set up to you- I went from roughly 435gr to 520gr: My groups at distance have gotten a little more consistent horizontally. I think maybe the heavier arrows are not as susceptible to wind shear. But vertically? You need to be really consistent in your PoA, and you better have your range finder- they drop much more steeply so a 3-5 yard mistake in range estimation and resulting PoA makes a huge difference. I tinkered with a 600gr set up for a bit but penetration was less than 435gr (in foam at least- maybe b/c I was using large diameter CX Piledrivers) and those things drop like rocks after 30 yards. 520 seems to be the sweet spot for me. I could probably extend my range another 15 yards by dropping to 500 but these are the components I have and they are fine out to 80 yards so I will stick here for now.
No problem! I neglected to mention that the drop begins to be pronounced after 25. When I was shooting 435gr I set my first pin at 25 and was only a touch high inside of 20 and a touch low at 30. Not much drop and a large margin of error. Now with the heavier arrows I use a sliding sight which in the deer woods I start out with at 22 yards but there is definitely several more inches of variance between 15 and 30. I don't say all this to discourage you using heavier arrows; just buyer beware. Overall I am happier with my current set up and think it is more lethal. I really like 2 holes.
Interesting that you feel there is a big drop off even at 25 yards. I have noticed very little difference with my 600 grain arrow build versus the 480 grain arrows I shot last year out to 40 yards. After 40, the trajectory does drop off quicker with the heavier arrows, but it is still managable.
Having a testing process in the design phase that requires surviving 1500 dry fires probably would have solved that problem before it went to market.
I have no doubt. When I bought mine; I had no intention of buying a Bowtech. I just shot most all the big names' flagships (except Hoyt; sorry not gonna spend $1600 on a bow) and it just felt the best. Been good to me so far.
To be faaaair...1600 is on the carbon line and is why i shoot the Helix and not the Redworks R series(or however they spell it). Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I hunt a lot in open country that by its nature tends to lend itself to presenting some longer shot opportunities. In the advent of precise laser range finders and multiple pin sliding sights vertical drop at hunting ranges is almost non issue at this point. I am going to be ranging and dialing anyway. Another overlooked benefit of small diameter( .204 ID) dense fairly heavy arrow builds is the effects of cross winds. With those wide open spaces and long shots wind is often times a factor. A heavier build in a smaller package will be better in cross winds. However as it pertains to typical midwest and eastern whitetail hunting with the vast majority shots being under fifty yards and most of those being under 30 yards I think arrow weight is should primarily be determined by broadhead type. The only reason i would use 550 to 600 grain arrow set up for whitetails is if i was using a mechanical broadhead as my primary head. With any kind of decent fix blade head i am most likely going to be in the 450 too 500 range for total weight.
