The reason I suggested the weight tubes is that I would be sure the weight was evenly distributed. Not sure if that would be the case with any cable. Not sure if it matters much either. Good luck with the experimenting and let us know how it turns out. Always good to know new ways to do things.
That would be tough to do unless you wanted to turn the admiral down quite a bit and maybe use real heavy tips with the Assassin and light tips with the Admiral but I would be careful of getting the FOC on the Admiral to low.
Bruce...I'm honestly worried that the FOC for my Admiral arrows are is going to be low from the start anyway. Maybe I could still use a 125 grn head if I keep the weight down to about 62 or so. I think the CAT3 cable will be uniform the whole way. Guess I could really tinker with FOC if I wanted. Perhaps wrap electrical tape on the front part of the CAT3? I've never really cared about using a heavier arrow setup before.
Well, just tried the CAT3 trick. My initial arrow weight (w/ 100 grn head) was 376 grains. After installing CAT3 the length of the arrow, it went to 704 grains. That's probably a bit much! :D There is a flaw with my idea though. The CAT3 is just small enough to slide down into the shaft. Once you cut the end off of the cable for the nock to seat, it makes it difficult to pull the cable back out. Now, I could either shorten the cable in length to reduce the weight but never get the cable out or I could pull a few wires out the cable to reduce the weight and keep it full length. I'm gonna play around and see what works. I need a chrono too.
They are very snug (which I like) but I was able to use a bolt through the insert to push them back out.
Just found this and it has me wanting to mess around with arrow weight. I have an older bow and no idea what speed I'm shooting now although I'm sure its very slow by today's standards. Would I start creating too much arrow drop over distance with the added weight to still be effective?
I just went krazy with my set up. Have a Mathews MR6 set at 80lbs and 28" draw and im shooting FMJs at a total weight of 484g at 299fps...so im a little over 96ft/lbs of ke. I can do 4 inch groups at 60 yards so I think its gonna be a pretty effective set up...and I only hunt whitetails lol.
I guess I'll be the one with a conflicting opinion. I'm not willing to give up my preferred speed to gain 4lbs of energy. From what I've found, you don't have to and can pick up more significant penetration advantages elsewhere and still keep a reasonable speed. Specifically, I've found shaft diameter, insert design, shaft finish, and broadhead design all impact penetration at least as much if not significantly more than the amount of KE you can gain by adding arrow weight to a given bow (without changing DL or DW). I prefer to gain a penetration advantage by going these routes instead of sacrificing my preferred arrow speed. For whitetails, I feel I get the optimum pin gaps for splitting pins in the 280-285fps range so I tend to build my setups around that. Here is a real example where a bunch of equations on paper just don't matter when the rubber meets the road....... Last year my best bud and I had nearly identical bow setups. I had a 30" D-340 setup at 62lbs, and he had a 29" D-350 setup at 66lbs. Both bows were producing about the same energy based on DL, DW, and brace height differences. I was running a 29" Victory VAP 300 4 fletched with blazers and a wrap on my arrows, for a total weight of 430ish grains. He was running a 28" Victory VForce 300 with 3 feathers and a wrap, along with a 100gr muzzy insert for a total weight of around 520 grains. I was getting around 280fps, and he was getting around 260. On paper he was making about 78lbs of KE, and I was making about 74. When we were shooting side by side at the same targets, my arrows were penetrating WAAAAAY deeper than his. I wish I had pictures to show the difference but it was significant. There were times mine would pass completely through the soft spot in the bag when his would penetrate to maybe half the shaft when the arrows were nearly touching. Now if you were to do the ballistics behind this, if he were to misjudge a 30 yard target for 40 yards, along with a 10mph crosswind, he would hit 10.1" low and wind drift about 2.25". On that same target, I'd end up 8.1" low and 1.5" of wind drift. Stretch that out a bit to 40 yards judged for 50, and he's 13.9" low and 4" due to wind with me being 11.1" low and 2.6" of wind drift. As you can tell I have a yardage judging advantage as well as a wind profile advantage as well. In the real world these can easily mean the difference between a punched tag, and dead batteries in the flashlight with a cut shirt tail. And in regards to the the heavier arrow = more forgiveness, my best indoor vegas games were all shot using the lightest setup I've ever shot indoors at around 260-265 fps, and my best field archery and FITA scores were all shot (out to 90 meters) with setups in the 275fps range. I don't buy the slower is more forgiving argument at all and most guys shooting long distances in competitive venues will agree. Now I'm not suggesting the faster the more accurate, as I feel there is a point of decline (around 280-285fps), but I don't feel there is any point in dumbing down a setup to 220fps for accuracy.
In regards to forgiveness, I was not talking about perfect form in an archery competition. I was speaking about hunting situations where I don't usually shoot deer while I am flat on the ground with my body untwisted/unbent at longer than what I consider bowhunting ranges, less than 30 yds. As far as an 8" miss being better than a 10" miss, I would suggest that an 8" miss from point of aim is going to result in just as long a night as a 10" miss from point of aim. Rangefinders, they work great and certainly cut down on 10 yd misjudgements but so does not extending your max range beyond your (not you, Matt) capabilities and from what I read hear too many bowhunters, especially newer ones, have max ranges wel beyond their capabilities. For your average bowhunter it is my opinion that to err on the side of heavier/slower will result in a better setup than faster/lighter.
