IMO, to the archer the diffence between KE and momentum is purely an academic one. There is absolutely nothing you can do to increase KE without increasing momentum and of course there is absolutely nothing you can do to increase momentum without increasing KE. They move together inseperable. Again, after ruling out a new bow or doing more work and to a much lesser extent lowering virtual mass (but no need to talk about that now), the only way the archer can influence KE/momentum is by changing the weight of his arrow. Heavier means more KE/momentum but the price is a bigger arch in trajectory. Lighter means flatter trajectory but the price is less KE/momentum. The tradeoff is between trajectory and penetration. It is not possible to choose between trajectory and KE vs. trajectory and momentum. For "practical" reasons the typical archer can forget the terms KE and momentum and simply substitute penetration. You're right Cougar Mag "To heck with KE formulas and theories" !!

Now how to choose. Basically there is a balancing act to be done here. If you want flatter trajectory you can go lighter and lighter but there comes a point where you will damage your equimpent or you will not have sufficient penetration to dispatch the animal and gain only a tiny flattening. If you go heavier and heavier there will come a point where you are only wasting the penetration capability by driving the arrow deeper into the ground on the other side of the animal and making distance estimation unnessisarily more critical.

Is there an absolutely correct balance? If you stay away from the extremese then NO! But I agree with walks with a gimp in that its probably a good idea to err on the heavy side.

Is anybody else having trouble posting?