Arthur,

I just scanned your post and the others and am not sure if you missed referencing the actual mass weight of the bow and how it affects forgiveness. Len' s bow would be a good example of that. It nearly broke my arm when I held it....

Bogobble,

I am one of those folks who " places more stock" in brace height in comparison to axle to axle when it comes to overall forgiveness....all else being equal. The problem is that rarely is " all else equal" . Mass weight, riser geometry, cam style, etc... all factor into it so saying one is " more critical" than the other is a bit misleading. I think what many folks fail to consider is how brace height and draw length affect one another to some extent.

Take any 7 inch brace height bow and have an average shooter with a 27 inch draw length shoot the bow. It will probably turn out to be relatively forgiving for him while still offering relatively good speed because of the decent sized powerstroke that if offers. Then take that same bow and put it in the hands of someone with a 30 inch draw length. That 7 inch brace height bow might still be more " forgiving" than a 6 inch brace height bow for the 30 inch draw length shooter but it is not going to be " as forgiving" as it would be to the 27 inch draw length shooter because that extra 3 inches of draw length also means 3 more inches of powerstroke....which translates into more sensitivity.

I tend to think of 7 inches as being the minimum brace height that I would recommend for beginning or even intermediate level shooters. However, maybe I should clarify that belief/comment. For the average archer...29 inch draw....a 7 inch brace height bow is about as low as I would generally recommend. But, as the draw length of any given archer becomes shorter than 29 inches then said archer can probably get away with a slightly shorter brace height and still expect a relatively decent level of forgiveness.

I would also point out that the two would not necessarily be of equal measure.....meaning that if you had a 28 inch draw length then I would not necessarily suggest a 6 inch brace height bow (a 1 to 1 inch ratio in that case). I would probably rather suggest something around .25 inches of brace height for every inch of draw length below 29 inches. In other words, an " average shot" 26 inch draw length archer might be able to shoot a 6.25 inch brace height as well as 29 inch draw length " average" archer would shoot a 7 inch brace height bow.

Now by no means is that an absolute. It could equate to a half inch per every inch of draw length or an eighth of an inch. It really varies per individual and per bow however I think my example is a relatively good one.

Hope this helps.