What would you rather have, a little more kinetic energy or a little more speed? I'm shooting a diamond marquis with carbon express piledriver arrows. The arrows are 460 gr and in shooting then around 260 ft per second with almost 66 lbs of KE. If I go to a 400 gr arrow I gain almost 20 ft per second and only lose 1.5 lbs of KE. I'm just wondering what way I should go. After shooting at 50 yards I really noticed the speed difference and it really made me think that I might want a little faster arrow to help reduce some errors.
If you are doing any longer range shooting for whitetails....I would take the additional 20 mph of speed over the 1.5 lb of KE (assuming your arrows will fly just as accurate at the higher speed)...your setup will still have more than enough power to punch through a deer
I will still never shoot a deer over 30 yards. Maybe a elk at 40 but that would be it. I'm just thinking that the extra speed could help more than the energy. I'm just seeing if it's worth buying all new arrows since I just bought a dozen of my piledrivers maybe two months ago
Well, you actually have about 69ft/# of KE with a 460gr arrow traveling 260fps... See Link, it has a speed estimator and KE calculator... http://utopiaprogramming.com/ke/KineticEnergy.html# But in all seriousness, 400 gr at about 280fps is pretty stinkin' fast and full of energy too.... I think often times we OVER think things, as far as how much energy we need out of a specific set-up, etc. I'm cutting back to about 65#, on everything, as my shoulders have given me fits .... (P90X wrecked me a little....) But I feel pretty confident that anything inside of 40yds, I have plenty of energy as long as I'm taking APPROPRIATE shots....
I shot a buck at 60 yards with a bow that shot a 281/2" 2117 with a 125 gr broadhead at 211 fps. I would trade some KE or FPS for a bow that rolls over into the valley or an actual smooth draw cycle.
Those weren't the exact numbers, I lost the paper I wrote them on but they were very close. With extra speed it will put my pins a little closer. I was hitting about 6" high at 50 yards with the lighter arrow so it will help with small distance errors. Also having a faster arrow limits the time a deer has to move after the shot. I know it's not much but every bit helps I think.
I'm not saying I can't kill a animal with my set up at long distances. I just want to give myself the best setup I can have. I don't know if you were saying that the Marquis isn't smooth or that your bow isn't but I find the Marquis to be one of the nicest shooting bows I have ever shot
I use a range finder so I know my distances before the deer shows up. Plus, the kill zone is 8 inches so if I am off by 2 inches it won't matter much. Maybe in 3-D but in real life 2 inches won't matter. More speed also means less forgiving so you may not gain all that much exactitude anyway.
In my opinion, maybe not others, the best setup is the most forgiving setup. Faster and lighter are less forgiving than slower and heavier. The changes you are thinking of making are not that all and I am not trying to talk you, or anyone, out of them. I am just pointing out some other things to consider in setting bow and arrow up.
You know what kind of false answer you will get. As you know,when dealing with speed in archery,MUCH is misunderstood.The fact of the matter is,if most didn't have access to a chrony,they wouldn't be able to tell the difference in 40 fps,much less 20 fps.
Like I stated above,it was a loaded question.He knew what kinds of responses he was going to get and we both know they are not valid. Most don't understand what miss distance is.A 20 fps difference in arrow speed is a non factor on a 5 yard miss in yardage estimation at 40 yards..Both arrows will miss the target,so the difference means nothing. In fact,1 of my target setups only yielded a 1/2" difference in impact at 40 yards with a 3 yard error on yardage with 20 fps difference in speed. Most of us tune and setup our pins with the arrow we plan on using,this means it will be sighted in for the distance we will be shooting.Plus,most of us use rangefinders but even if we didn't,a 5 yard miss on yardage is still a miss with both.Just one will be 1" lower than the other.
When I started thinking about this was when I was out camping and shooting my bow. I had no chronograph or anything around. It was just a fairly noticably speed change. It's not that noticeable at 20 yards but is at longer distances.
So it would be impossible for you to ever find yourself in a situation that maybe a deer shows up in a spot that you didn't check the range or maybe in the heat of the moment you forgot what the exact range was? Nobody is perfect. You asked a question and I gave an answer. Even if you don't find more speed an advantage for you...it doesn't mean it coudn't be for someone else.
But the pin will be sighted in for the lighter arrow so it will be dead on. Like I said,MISS DIFFERENCE when sighted in for that yardage with the preferred arrow is all that matters. I don't know why I continue to try and educate people on this subject because the market is not geared in that direction.People want faster so the market keeps playing on that.Don't get me wrong,faster bows will generate more "potential" for penetration while giving us flatter trajectory but it just isn't anywhere near what most think it is.
That's why I said even if I miss by 2 inches it is still a dead deer. More speed really isn't an advantage for anyone in hunting situations, just less forgiving. Shoot as fast a bow as you want, doesn't matter to me but " a flatter shooting arrow " doesn't make anyone better off, they just think they are.
Please don't misunderstand my post.You can use whichever you preferr but the difference will be neglagable at best with a hunting setup.You may like the faster better and may shoot it better,that should be the determining factor.BUT,imo,the slower speed will be a more forgiving setup with fixed blade heads.
I don't have nearly the experience as most people on here but would there be any advantage to a lighter arrow not losing as much energy through flight for long distances? It's probably not much at all. But would it almost make up the little bit of energy that you lose by using a lighter arrow?
Fine...how a about 2-3 yard miss in yardage estimation at say 25 yards..30 yards You can't tell me that there is no scenerio that 20 mph more speed couldn't make a difference between just missing the lungs or killing the animal. All this said...my setup shoots 260 mph (not extremely fast). But i'm not about to go to a heavier arrow if it means i'm going to slow down to 240 mph. How far do I need my broadheads to dig into the ground after they pass through the animal?
