When you do your test,remember to equalize the foc.You must also do it by keeping the diameter the same.You can not do a penetration test when diameters are different.It will not work.Live animals are different,I still believe it makes a difference,but not nearly as much.



I have done some of these test and being a tool maker,I was able to keep all things equal.I played with foc and that made a huge difference.I had a 350 gr arrow that did better than an arrow that was heavier than my scale would measure(700 gr range?).The foc was 5% and the arrow hit the board and stopped.The lighter arrow did much better but the foc was 12%.This was using the same arrow,I just added a weight tube.The arrow aslo spined all the way to 100# so spine was good.BUT,when I used an arrow that was built with extra mass up front and had an foc of 18%(traditional light nitro stinger)and a total weight in the 420 gr range,it blew through my test medium.Particle board and foam together.

All the above test were with Nitro Stingers and they are tapered shafts.


There is definately much more to the penetration game than arrow weight.That has never been disputed in this thread.It is just much better to setup a heavy arrow for a novice and accomplish good penetration,especially on marginal hits.


I have found spine to be a crucial part of penetration.


I personally feel that ke plays a role when dealing with compounds that store alot of energy.They get high ke numbers.As well as speed when it comes toSLICING skin and tissuebut not much farther than that.Not really a big help.


Some test here in the past showed that expandables had a better track record when utilizing speed and ke.


I know,momentum is present with high ke.I believe when momentum is equal,the one with higher kewill penetrate further.So therefore,there has to be an offset between the 2 somewhere.



Momentum bust throughbone and that can't be dipsuted.When combined with cut on contact heads,it will blow through anything put in front of it.This is the basis of this whole thread.



Long bows and recurves don't store nearly as much energy as some compounds.They must utilize momentum because the ke are relatively lower.


I also feel that when all else is equal,the carbon arrows penetrate better.They are stiffer and will not bend nearly as much as aluminum when frontal impact is made.Look at an aluminum arrow when it hits a 3 d target.It takes a while for it to quit vibrating.


An arrow is a tuning fork and the arrowSHOULD vibrate all the way to and through it's target.Excessive vibration will kill penetration because the energy is going side to side instead of through.


This is different than spine or I probably should say,taking spine to another level.[8D]




The heck with 20,were going for 30.