I have heard that a bow will shoot better if it is near or at its maximum weight setting. For example, I have a 60-70 Lb. Mathews Rival Pro. Should it perform any better at 68 lbs than it would at say 62?

Edited by - VAboy on 12/26/2002 18:50:27

Edited by - VAboy on 12/26/2002 18:51:33

maybe you will shoot better pulling less pounds . i dont think it makes a diferance it might be slightly louder but not more accurate . more important would be match between the bows weight and your arrows spine .

We all have different oppinions , if we did'nt the world would be a BORING place

It mostly depends on you. You've always heard the saying "it wasn't the bow, it was the person behind it". If you can handle the weight, go for it, it certainly won't hurt, faster, and more accurate. But if it's to much you will shake, and throw your shot off. Always remember how much harder it is going to be to pull your bow back with all of your cold weater gear on also. Just experiment, and find the best weight for you.

Leland Bunting

Actually yea, they are suppose to perform better at peak weight. When you let poundage off, your shortening your A2A length and increasing draw length. But, its nothing really serious to worry bout. Anywhere from half weight recomendation to full weight is where you should be. Plus, if your only goin to shoot 60 pounds on a 70 pound bow, why not just buy a 60 pound bow in the first place? Im sure people will argue with me on this, but this is just my knowledge on the subject.

VAboy I have heard the same thing, I will assume there will be some more folks on here with a take on this issue. I just bought a 60-70 bow and had him set it at 70 when I bought it, my last bow was 65 and I really do not notice any diferrence in the pull, but then again I have lost many brain cells over the years so that may explain me not being able to tell a difference.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

VAboy, it's been said bows shoot best at peak weight. I don't believe this to be totally true. Manufacturers today feel it make little difference to turn them down some. Some are a little louder turned down, some not. I shoot 60# bows set around 55-57#. That's what feels best to me. I can pull them back in any weather or clothing, without pointing away from my intended target. The less gyrations as you draw, the better. I think it ultimately come down to what feels best to the shooter. As the others have said, too much weight is not helping your accuracy.

Phil.
&quot;Could you guys be quiet, my dad's trying to shoot.&quot;<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

Ok, think about this one for a minute. If a bow shoots better maxed out, why would target shooters fine tune their bows by adjusting their limbs? Any kind of tiller adjustment is going to affect that. You can't tiller tune and keep your limbs bottomed out. I have shot my bow either way, maxed out and set as low as it goes. Shoots the same either way. If you think you want to shoot alot, you may want to go with a lower poundage any way. Less stress on you and the bow.

And my bow geometry does not change according to where I set my limbs. My ATA and brace stays the same even with 4 turns out of the limbs. And as far as I can tell my draw does not change either, maybe about 1/8 of an inch, I would have to measure it. The important thing is to take the same amount of turns out of your limbs and check the tiller when you are done. If you don't back the limbs out an equal amount of turns it will throw you tiller off, which will effect your nocking point. That is good way to make minor adjustment to you nock point by the way, take a half turn or so out of one of your limbs and see how it shoots(called tiller tuning) You can also correct spine issues by adjusting your limbs.

Keep in mind any time you change anything on your bow, you should check the tune, if you fine tuned it for 70 lbs and then turned it down to 63 or something, you may need re-do it again. I sometimes wonder if this is the problem when I hear people say it effects how a bow shoots. Maybe they just cranked the bow down and fired some arrows thru it and said, &quot;Hey, it shot better before!&quot; In the mean time, the bow might be out of tune, there is less holding weight which changes your grip pressure, and the spine of the arrows may have changed. No, it must be that these bows are built junky and have to be cranked down tight in order stay together, that sounds better.

My bow also does not make any more or less noise when the limbs are turned out.

Paul

What you're heard is true. Take identical bows, one that's a 60-70 lb. bow, and one that's a 70-80 lb. bow. Set them both at 70 lbs. The 60-70 lb. bow will shoot slightly faster.



MOCraig

I was not talking speed by the way, I was talking more about how well the bow shoots overall, not how fast. Maybe I missunderstood your question. It may very well be that they store energy better maxed out, but technically it should not make a difference if all else is equal, like draw and brace height. I doubt if the gain is anything significant. How much of an increase in speed did you see when you tried this?

Another thing that might mess that up is some assume that a 70 lb bow will be 70 lbs maxed out, that's not alway the case. I have seen some that maxed out at 75 lbs. It is also pretty hard to read those bow scales accurately. They could be 2 or 3 lbs off from bow to bow.

Paul



Edited by - Paul l mohr on 12/27/2002 12:06:49

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