greenboy

I dont know what you guys shoot but at 305 grains my bow shoots at 230 fps and it works just fine

gzg38b

450 grains is ideal in my opinion. It give you the best combination of everything that matters - speed, accuracy, penetration, and silence. 275 fps is PLENTY fast for hunting.

A 365 grain arrow will be a little faster, but it will be a LOT louder and less accurate with fixed blade broadheads. And you'll lose some penetration if you hit bone.

For 3d shooting I'd take the lighter arrow, but for hunting I'd use the heavier one.

passthru79

I was waiting for someone to say something about the heavier arrow having more KE, but both are withing a couple of 10ths of a foot pound. With todays short furrel high quality broadheads the faster arrow will be just as accurate as long as the shooter can do his part. Yes you may gain just a tad more noise and vibration but thats why they make high quality stabilizers and limb savers, string leaches etc. So in the end you have a set up that is shooting flatter, faster and farther and delivering the same amount of energy. Whats not to like about that?

toddr96

My choice is the heavier arrow every time to help with momentum. Penetration is dictated by arrow momentum and broadhead design going inversus thestopping force applied by the flesh/bone. Stopping force comes mainly in the form of friction, and friction goes up exponentially with speed (i.e., there is 4x more friction when the speed is doubled across a given surface). My arrows are just shy of 525 grains and fly at 255 fps from my Mathews Switchback at 30" and 69#. I personally make the heavy arrow choice because I hunt mainly elk, and I never know what unforseen problems are lurking that will shave off my penetration ability. The bottom line is shot placement, but when the unseen twig moves my shot placement into the shoulder, then I want to have as much weight as possible to salvage whatever penetration I can.

davidmil

YUP, I go heavy.,. but hey, that's just me. I could shoot the 350 grain arrow(But never have) and gain a lot of speed. Instead, I'm shooting the 467 grain arrow at 250. To each his own, but my bow is quieter and easier on the bow with the 467 grain arrow too.[8D]

mobow

Ok, I can buy that, but we aren't comparing apples to apples here.....We haven't even come CLOSE to doubling the speed.....Maybe added, what, 20-25%?? So we've really only increased friction by 1x, and from a bow w/ good KE anyway......who cares really??

(disclaimer; I am not arguing, merely stating it as I see it, and trying to learn something in the process.)

toddr96

mobowhuntr, I agree that the increase in speed is a small percentage, but it is one of the considerations I take into account in my choice of arrows.I think about these little gains adding up becauseI want every chance I can get at a full pass-through on a quartering elk that I can get.

mobow

Understood, and I suppose I can't really relate as the largest I hunt is deer. It just seems to me, with your heavy arrow and my light arrow producing nearly IDENTICAL KE numbers, it wouldn't be an issue....I'm no physicist though....Hell, I can't even spell it.....

toddr96

The KE number is (and I'm trying to say this as quietly as possible in a forum) relatively useless in regards to penetration. It is a directionless number in physics that is a sum of all of the energy imparted into the arrow from the bow. These energies are things like vibration, oscillation, heat, and momentum. The momentum part is the factor that accounts for penetration because it is given a direction vector. KE, however is a good starting point for choosing between two bows that you can shoot well and feel good in your hand; the higher the KE, generally, the higher the momentum that will be imparted into the arrow from the bow, especially when you can tune the bow well to remove oscillations and vibrations from the arrow.

mobow

I was shooting 425 gr. 282 fps, producing KE of 75.06....I now shoot a 368 gr. arrow 310 fps, producing KE of 78.54......So, if higher KE = higher momentum (generally) won't my light arrow be carrying more momentum?? I'm so confused....