I bought a used Heli M. It is supposed to have 65 lb limbs but with the limb bolts maxed it's only drawing 55 lbs. Could string and cable stretch affect the draw weight that much or might there be something else going on?
Seems like a lot of weight to lose to stretch. Take a tape measure and find out where your ATA is and see how that compares to manufacturer's spec.
There should be a sticker marked with DW/DL (ie 65/28). I also think the limbs are marked on the end (at riser) with a 5, 6, 6.5 or 7. I can look at mine later. Back the bolts out 5 turns and see if they are stamped. Yes, the wrong cable/string length can change the poundage that much. Also you scale could be wrong, been there. My guess it is a string issue or it is not a 65# bow. Very, very, very unlikely that the limbs got weak. EDIT: Good thinking Fitz. If ATA is long there will be less DW. The whole idea of setting ATA is that most people do not have a scale to measure DW but everyone has a tape measure. Measure the shelf side of bow.
If the string stretched the draw weight would go up not down. You need to put some twists in you cables.
With string and cable stretch you loose the preload on the limbs. Thus loosing Draw weight on the bow. Like Fitz said an easy way to find out is measure ATA and see if it is in specs. Also Whitetail mentioned the limbs are marked with the correct draw weight. If all that shows true to being a 65lbs Dw. Its could be a few things with the string. Not enough strands in the string set. This will cause it not to fill the cam and idler grooves enough giving it less preload on the limbs (not likely to have 10lbs less but a few). Also if the string maker made it to the Mathews specs it is going to be too long causing it to loose pounds. Added together and that can be alot. Hutch
^^^This....I heard the Mathews specs are off by a small amount. When I replaced my string and cable set, I had to add a couple twists to my buss cable to hit 70lbs....was only off by a few lbs, no where close to 10lbs though. Good luck with it!
