Why didn’t I switch to 125 gr sooner?

First let me say thanks to Bruce, BHF and Gmmat for commenting and answering questions I had.

I had it stuck in my head that I wanted to stay with a 100 grain head because of availability, instead of picking a head weight that was a better match for my bow.

My bow shot smoother and quieter as a result.

“Great” I say. Small positive changes are a good thing. I’ll just deal with not having the convenience of being able to get BH’s anytime I want.

Well I found out the hard way how good of choice this is. I shoot in my basement from concrete wall to concrete wall is 16 yards. I was shooting into my Rinehart 18-1 target and decided to practice a little with my foam target that has a deer (with vitals) on it. That target is showing some wear but isn’t in too bad of shape. So I take a shot and noticed it sounded funny. So I walk down there…. What occurred is the first pass through on that target and into the wall and cracked the arrow. With the 100 gr tips I never had a pass through so that is why I didn’t have another old target behind it. Damn there went a brand new arrow.

So I think about it a little and decide to run a little experiment. I shot the same arrow with a 100 gr tip and a 125 gr tip. Turns out the 125 gr tip passed through 30-50% of the time and I could not get the 100 gr tip to pass through.

So the loss of an arrow (and a little chip in my wall) showed me physical evidence which head is better for me. Not just a subtle change but major strides.

Needless to say this made my day!

 

LOL Ya gotta love a good FOC with some momentum .

 

I agree Bruce! I have preached for a long time a minimum of 12% FOC for broadheads for the best performance possible. I actually prefer closer to 15%

I have one set of arrows that have over 20% FOC with brass inserts. Sweet!! :-)

Dan

 

GFY....

I enjoyed the board talk and the PM's. I'll give you your due credit. You care....and it shows.

Congratulations (with your results...and for your dedication to tuning your equipment). You're a LOT farther along than I was, when I shot a compound.

 

I know Bruce and I run the exact same setup (50-grain brass inserts with 100-grain heads), and I came to prefer this setup after shooting a round of 3D with Jeff and Chris Propst a few years ago, who at the time were being featured in a lot of the Drury Bros. videos...

Jeff was preparing for an upcoming elk hunt, and was shooting an arrow that outweighed mine by about 75 grains... On EVERY target, his arrow was sinking a good four to six inches deeper than mine; got to the point I didn't want to pull his arrows.

That was the day the light went off

 

Thanks..... I also want to add, knowing and understanding the "why" it works is just as satisfying. Today is when my light went off.

 

Congrats GFY! Glad to hear you're all tuned up.

But that now has me wondering....is my set up correct? How do I decide/figure out if I'm using the correct grain arrows/BH's?

This was my first year bowhunting and I didn't get a shot at a live animal, but seemed to be ok with target practice.

Would love some advice anytime.

 

weed.....

I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone.

Choose the weight BH/tip you want to shoot.....then build your arrow backwards, from there. It's not as simple (most times) as picking the tip weight you want to shoot.............last (unless you're willing to....AND you're able to make additional changes to your setup/arrow).

 

Thanks GMMAT. I'm shooting CE maxima hunters with Rage 2 blades. All I've let fly are the practice BH's and 100 grain field tips. I'm kind of odd though with a 32.5" draw. Shooting 65# Hoyt AM 35. Do you think the "weight forward" tech in the arrow is enough or would you adjust that set up? Now I'm worried that IF I would have had a shot at a deer that it would have been unethical. Would hate to do that to a deer. I love hunting but want to do it "the right way."

 

I'm actually far from being all tuned up. This just the first step. Finding the weight head and make sure I am correctly spined for that head. I still have not shot one arrow through paper, one bareshaft or one arrow walkback method. That is all to come yet. It can only get better from here on out.


My suggestion (take it with a grain of salt) is to buy a bunch of different weight fp's and try them. If you really want to know you should check your dynamic spine by shooting bareshafts with different weight fp's. Good luck

 

Sorry for the thread hijack GFY!

 

No problem. I said what I needed to say.

Also what is your FOC %??? Check that first and let us know.

 

Great question....except that I have no idea how to figure that out...

 

Here is a guide on how to check FOC.

http://www.backcountrybowhunting.com/articles/foc.php

 

I see your draw is 32.5, what are your arrows length cut at? Also are your arrows the 250s or 350s?

 

My mistake, draw length 31.5. Shooting the 350's, length of shaft (without nock and field tip) 30 7/8". Nock to tip 32 3/8".

 

The way I figure, I'm at about 7.5% FOC.

 

Approximately how much FOC does the additional 25 gains in broadhead weight add? Right now as I calculate it my FOC is 10% with a 100 grain magnus buzzcut. Can you overdo it?

 

Sounds like you need more weight on your head

 

Very cool Brad, glad I could help! If you need any heavier tips let me know. I have 145,175 and 200 grain you can play with if ya want! A good way I to learn is to just do it!