statjunk

Can decreasing the poundage of your bow below the recommended spec decrease the accuracy of your bow.

I have a Mathews FX that I've set down to 52lbs. It is a 60-70lb bow.

Thanks

Tom

Red Lion

That is a good question that I can't answer for you, but maybe I can bump this to the top and one of the local pros can answer it.

cr422

Interesting question that I don't have the knowledge to answer. If I wanted less though, I would probably buy a bow with a lower pull weight.

Trembow

I would be more concerned about damage to the bow than accuracy!

If you have it turned all the way down to 52, your limb bolts are probably about to strip and fly out!!!!

That will almost definitely void your warranty too.

Find a Mathews Proshop and have the limbs swapped out if you can.

For answers specific to your bow, try the folks over at:
http://forums.mathewsinc.com/

Paul L Mohr

How did you go about doing it? I have had a few bows that were pretty low poundage and never had any trouble with accuracy.

I have a darton Yukon with CPS cams that I continually screw with. I usually use it to teach someone to shoot. This poor little bow, I have shimmed the limbs and got it up to almost 70 lbs with a 26 inch draw length, and it's a 50-60 lb bow. I have also shot it at 45 lbs, which is 5 lbs under what it is rated at. I actually shot indoor spots with it this way. I managed to robin hood an unfletched arrow into a fletched arrow at 20 yards this way, so I think accuracy is Ok.

I also set it up with a different length string once for a buddy to shoot at a longer draw length instead of changing modules. And I set it up for my girlfriend to shoot with a bunch of twists in the string to shorted the draw length. I also lowered the draw weight to around 30-35 lbs. She broke a couple of nocks at 15 yards in her basement. And this was with a 30 dollar 3 pin hunting sight, a large hunting peep and wrist release off the string. And arrows that were about 20 lbs over spined.

Some of these set ups left a considerable amount of gap between the limbs and limb pockets, as well as throwing the cams severely out of time. After re-adjusting things and some minor tuning it shot just fine. I give some credit to the CPS cam system, those things rock for the most part.

So in my opinion if you are looking to target shoot or plink at 10-20 yards with field tips then I think you will be fine. As long as the limbs are turned out the same amount and there are enough threads in the riser to keep it from flying apart on you. You will probably need to re-tune the bow though. Accuracy has WAAY more to do with your shooting form and aiming technique than it does with the equipment. I was playing with one of those $40 kids bows one day, and with my feather fletched arrows and a release I was shooting suprisingly well at 10 and 15 yards ( didn't have enough umph to make it 20). And this was with no draw stop or arrow rest.

Paul

TEmbry

my thoughts exactly......my friend once turned his bow waayyyy down because he said he liked pulling the lower weight. when he took it to a pro shop they told him it was a good thing he hadnt shot yet because the limb bolts barely had a grip and the threads probably wouldve stripped.

IMO those limb ratings are there for a reason and my vote is for switching out limbs if you wanna keep the 52 lb draw.

phil 5oh

Turning the bow down that much does a few things. The limbs are most likely not seated in the pockets properly anymore. The limbs may be moving side to side when drawn andshot.The cam is severely out of optimum rotation. Speed will suffer not only due to lower draw weight, but the cam being under-rotated. Holding a bow steady when weight is turned down this much can become a problem (at least it is for me when turning a bow down more than a few #). Tension in the stringand cable isless when a 70# bow is turned down to 52# than that in a 52# bow maxed out.

Roskoe

I think it depends a lot on the bow. My son's Fred Bear Element 50/60 was backed out six turns - works fine. Two of the pro shops in this area said this was OK - with this bow. I did some chronographing with it at 47 lbs, and it was about 27 fps slower with the limbs backed off six turns than it was turned all theway up.

TROPHYHUNTER25

i would make sure your limb bolts still have enough threads in the bow so they don't come out. you might be messing with the tuning

ijimmy

Rule of thumb , 3 turns out from bottoming the bolts , or if you own a martin 4 turns out max

If your string and cabel lengths are out of spec then your poundage will be also

As far as accuracy goes , when your bow is at the poundage that best matches your arrows spine , you will have the most accuracy you can get , assuming everything else is at its optimal setting .