peak draw weight

[snowman69]

I was wondering I have herd a few different opinions from pro shops. One tells me that your bow will perform best at its maxed out draw weight which makes sense,but I was also told that sure it will perform its best but for how long he gave me the example of would you take your snowmobile and max out the trottle, not likely because eventually it will break down or develop problems. which makes more sense if you max out a bows draw weight does it not put more strain then desire to put on the bow.

[PABowhntr]

In some sense, yes, and in some sense, no. The latter part of your reasoning is true provided you are not fully utilizing the amount of energing that your bow is generating. Utilizing as much energy as possible falls into two areas. One, and most importantly, using an arrow of the appropriate weight and spine for your setup. Generally speaking a heavier arrow will absorb more of the energy that your bow is generating. Since the arrow absorbs less energy then there is less excess energy being dumped onto your bow components (limbs, string, riser, etc...).

Second, your bow has to be tuned appropriately. If your arrows are not coming out of the bow correctly then you are, again, wasting potential energy and delivering it into the bow components thus increasing wear and tear on your setup.

Give the rationale provided, we should all be shooting lighter draw weight bows so that they last longer. In many cases this is neither necessary nor practical. Bows today are designed to withstand quite a bit of usage. Do your part with choosing the proper arrows and having your bow tuned correctly and you will not have any problems because of the draw weight that you are shooting......(ofcourse, assuming the draw weight is comfortable for you to shoot, physically, in the first place.

[nubo]

Never thought of it that way PA ,but that's very interesting and I'll be sure to remember that.

nubo

[Paul L Mohr]

I have shot all of my bows in various spots from every end of the draw weight range, backed all the way out, and turned all the way in. I have yet to see a difference in performance as far accuracy goes. Keep in mind that any time you change anything on a bow it may require retuning. You can't expect to go from maximum draw weight to minimum draw and not have to touch up your nocking point or arrow spine. Sometimes you can get away with it, but not always.

As a matter of fact I target shoot with my bows limbs backed all the way out, not all the way in. None of them make any more noise this way or are any less accurate.

Paul