At some point a lighter arrow travelling faster will have the same KE as a heavier arrow going slower. There will be more KE retained down range from the heavier arrow but if you don't shoot that far with that heavier arrow you may not reap the benefits. You have to make trade offs and figure out what is best for your circumstance and be confident. I shoot a 403 grain arrow at 69# 280 fps. I think it is sort of middle of the road to light but not super light.

I don't think I was clear on this. I won't shoot over 40 so if I guessed 50 woulnd't take the shot for starters. What I noticed was there was only about a 2 inch difference in impact with the samepin between the two arrows. Not evenenough to move the site between the two. I can use the same pin for bot sets ofarrows. I didn't shoot 40 yardswith the 30 yardpin and compare differences ifthat is what you are asking.

Heavier Arrow- Quieter Bow.
Heavier Arrow- More KE, packs more of a punch.

I took a random assortment of arrows i have and did a little test over the summer. Probably 6+ different types of arrows, 20+ in all. Different weights, spines, etc. Backed up to 40 yards and with FPs put every arrow in the 4-5" circle ring on my old bag target. Not a single arrow missed this circle, which is much smaller than an animals vitals. 40 yards is my absolute max distance for hunting as of now.

No sir. The lighter arrow will NEVER carry the same KE as a heavy arrow, no matter the range. We've already established the heavy arrow has more off the bow, and we've already established a heavy arrow retains it's velocity better than a light arrow.....The light arrow simply CANNOT carry more.....It can't.

Bar of Soap: how 'bout a poll here?

One point that nobody yet has considered, and it's the reason I'm considering switching to a lighter arrow after hunting with 500 + grain arrows for the last two years:

Trajectory.

I'm not talking just about trajectory past 30 yards. I'm talking about trajectory between 15 and 23 yards, where most treestand whitetail shots occur.

If you look at OnTarget you'll see what I mean. If you sight in at 25 yards like I do and use a single pin zero to thirty, the arrow reaches its highest point at about 17 or 18 yards then drops slowly until 25 yards and then drops quickly after 25 yards.

I'm dead on at 25 yards, but with my 515 grain hunting arrows moving at 257 fps I'm 2 - 2.5 inches high at 17 yards.

Now, almost all of the deer I kill are less than 20 yards, but I have shot at 25 and even 35 yards at deer. I've been hitting them about 2 inches higher than I wanted every time when they were less than 20 yards. One of these days a deer is going to duck and I'm going to spine one or I'll have a less than stellar bloodtrail because of this 2" high at 17 yards problem. I tell myself to hold 2" low if the shot is close but in the heat of the moment I usually forget and hit them a little high.

Now if I use a 380 grain arrow instead, the trajectory is a little flatter. So when I sight in at 25 yards, I'm only 1" high at 17 yards instead of 2.5" high. And of course like everyone else said I'm more accurate at 28, 29, and 30 yards because there is less drop.

I loved the penetration I got with my 515 grain arrows moving at 260 fps. Ive blown through every shoulder and leg bone I've encountered on quartering away shots. But it's definitely overkill for whitetails, and I can certainly see the benefits of a lighter arrow as well, even though I shoot mostly 15 - 25 yards.

I use two pins to hunt with. One is dead on at 15 and the other is dead on at 25. No worries about trajectory for me and my heavy arrows .