Ignoring the Darton part of your quote and just focusing on the issue of a smoother drawing cam.....


It seems that we go somewhat round in round in circles on this issue. What I mean to say is that 10 or 15 years ago we had " softer" drawing cams that were shot at heavier draw weights in order to increase our speed and flatten our trajectory. Then we went to harsher drawing cams and slogans like " Pull less weight to get more speed" came into play. Now I see some companies taking up the banner again of " Its so smooth that you can pull more draw weight" .

I think the problem with all of these methods is that they look at a bow' s set draw weight as being a true indicator of the bow' s draw cycle and subsequent energy storage when in fact that is not necessarily the case. Your question Rangeball is a perfect example. The cam style itself in large part dictates the force draw curve which in turn dictates how much energy the bow is capable of storing and releasing....whether it be a gradual draw cycle up to a " heavy" peak weight and then a gradual transition into the valley or a relatively quick jump up to a moderate peak weight and then a more prolonged plateau at that peak weight into a shorter valley. In either case there is only so much energy being stored because of the subsequent shape of the force draw curve.

I think I read in one of Arthur' s recent posts where he quoted Norb Mullaney' s use of measuring that stored energy at each inch of the draw cycle and then giving it a total value. This seems like the only way to trully compare what you are looking to compare. For example, if you have your Hornet with a set peak weight of 70 lbs and a stiff draw cycle then the total value might be (just to throw a number out there) 290 because it holds at or close to that 70 lb draw weight for a longer distance of the draw force curve. On the other hand that 80 lb bow with a softer draw force curve does not maintain that 80 lb peak weight for very long in order to keep the draw cycle well rounded. So, even though the 80 lb peak weight might be 10 lbs heavier than the 70 lb model the two end values might be close because of the different shapes of the two force draw curves.....and because the two end values are similar the stored and released energy would be similar and you really would not gain much from it.

Now, I did say that I did not want to necessarily mention Darton simply because their cam design in particular seems to be very efficient given the draw cycle and thus capable of helping to store and release more energy than some of the harsher drawing cams on the market.

Hope this aids in your discussion.