I used to bow hunt a lot several years back. Last fall, a good friend gave me a used PSE. It's 10-12 years old, in good shape. I have been shooting it a lot lately, getting ready for an upcoming hog hunt.
It's a PSE Fire-flight Elite. On the factory sticker on the limb, it says 60-70 # draw weight. I have it turned up to almost max, but thhe limb bolts are not yet bottomed out. Last night that friend and I went to an archery shop to buy some new GT carbon arrows. I was curious as to what poundage I was pulling so the guy put it on the scales and checked. It came out to 87#.
I realize that almost any bow will pull more poundage than what it says, but 17# more?? AND, not yet maxed-out?? This shop owner is a very accomplished bowhunter as well as makes and sells very professional bowhunting videos. I asked him if maybe the sticker said 60-90#, not 60-70.
He said that no, back then PSE really went high on their poundage.
Has anyone else ever had this experience with a bow??
No, I have not experienced that much of a poundage difference between the actual peak weight and the listed peak weight. 7 or 8 pounds was usually the farthest off that I have found with one exception. The local shop had a PSE Nova in stock two years ago that was listed as a 60-70 pounder. Actual peak weight was 92 pounds. As it turns out the wrong limbs were placed on the bow. That would be my guess in your case as well.
Now being an older bow,I,m guessing that the strings and cables were replaced sometime along the line
Someone please correct me if im wrong but maybe,just maybe,the cable is way to short for the bow and thats whats causing the high poundage or maybe the cable has been twisted so many times its throwing everything out of whack.
Check the brace height on the bow and see if its close to where its supposed to be.
Hmmmmm......Well, I am at least the third owner of this bow, so who knows what may have happened in the past. I will measure the brace height though, as that will me simmple and quick.
What I found most interesting was when the pro said that he encountered this quite a bit "back then." (1993 +-)
It very well could have strong limbs on it.. But I do bet that the cable/string lengths are also out of whack a bit. Back in the early 90s Fast Flight was the string material of choice.. and it was well known for it's stretching abilities.. Since you are the 3rd owner... you don't know if the string has ever been replaced... so it could be a few inches longer than spec. Also back then alot of bows still used steel cables.. and were just starting to switch over to fiber cables. The steel cables would not stretch (no timing issues).. and the string would.. in essence this is like twisting the cables on the bow.. cables are short (not stretched) and the string is long (stretched) equals higher poundage. Also the draw length was commonly adjusted by different slot/pegs on the cam.. which would effectively shorten or lengthen the string. Not to mention the long and short stringing a bow was a common practice of taking a bow that you had in stock and making it fit a customer that did not fit in the range of that bow.
I did own a 1990ish Pearson Spoiler back in those days... and this was my fist higher poundage bow... it was a 55-70# model... I started w/ it at around 50#.. and over the winter I shot every day.. and would crank it up a little at a time.. trying to build myself up. Well winter ended and I had been shooting the bow w/ it completely maxed out. Took it to the shop to get some new arrows.. and got the weight of the bow check to make sure it was up to 70#... the owner placed it on the scale and had to get assistance to pull it down.. 86#.... the bow blew up a week later.. the limb bolts pulled out of the magnesium riser... had them helicoiled and sold the bow.
KBacon,
Well now you have me wondering if this thing is going to blow or not.
Do you think that I should turn it down some??
I guess I don't understand how a LONGER string would make it pull heavier. My thoughts are that it would pull harder with a shorter string because the limbs would be flexed more before drawing. Could anyone explain this to me please??
The best thing to do is to have the cables and string changed if you can't confirm when it was last done. It's cheap enough and a good idea. I'm surprised how often routine maintence is overlooked.
With that said I have a PSE Thunderflight express made around 1994 that has 60-70 lbs on the sticker and it will crank down to around 80lbs.
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PSE 60-70# bow, 87# pull?
