Need some help on this. I currently have and love my Mathews Monster. I have it set at 71 pounds with a 29.5 inch draw and 400 grain arrows. I am shooting 318 fps with about 98 ft pounds kinetic energy. I hunt in the thumb of Michigan on my farm. I am comfortable shooting up to 60 yards as I can hit a 10 ring at 60 with all 3 arrows. I hunt a mix of woods and field. Now I want more fps keeping the same draw weight and draw length. Now should i go to a lighter arrow and gain more speed but lose energy. Or should I keep the set up I have? I want to get up to about 330-335 fps. i know I will sacrifice energy. What should I do?

i would keep the weight.

You've got energy to spare. If you want to get a faster arrow, you won't lose much KE. You can probably go to 350gr and not have less than 95lb-ft KE. On the other hand, you'd have to have an arrow that is well below 5gr/lb in order to get to the speed you are looking for. You might be able to pick up 10-15fps, but that is about it.

Good luck.

First, if you are shooting a 400 grain arrow at 318 you are not generating 98 foot pounds. You are generating 89.8 foot pounds of kinetic energy.

Second, even if you picked up 10 - 15 fps there isn't going to be any noticible difference in your trajectory. If you shot a IBO legal arrow (350 grains) at 338 fps there is only going to be less than 1" difference at 20 yards if sighted in at 40 yards.

Stick with what you have. If it were me I would shoot a heavier arrow which would get you increased penetration, a quieter bow, less wear and tear on your bow and string, and better broadhead flight.

@BigBulls. increasing the weight of my arrows will do all that? Let me ask you this. If my arrow weight is 400 grains. If I use a 100 grain broadhead, would my arrow then be considered 500 grains? The trajectory is not a big issue in this, The bow shoots flat as it is, I just want the speed to help with deer jumping the arrow.

You can forget that. There isn't a bow or crossbow made today that can fling an arrow fast enough to negate a deers reaction time.

Absolutely! You would be surprised how quiet a bow will get when you shoot a 500+ grain arrow. In fact if you want to beat a deers reaction time this is the only way to do it. The quieter the bow the less the deer will react to the shot.

A bow becomes more efficient with heavier arrows. The heavier the arrow is the more energy that the bow is able to transfer to that arrow which results in greater penetration. Another benefit to heavier arrows is less wear and tear on the bow. Since the bow transfers more of its stored energy to a heavier arrow there is less "left over" energy that the bow must dissipate through vibration and noise. The less the bow is vibrating the less wear and tear.

I'll second big bulls. Shoot a big heavy arrow and be done with it. Quieter, easier to tune, more efficient. The bow will use more of it's potential energy with a heavier arrow...

I shot my omen at 30"DL 66#'s 530gr arrow at 287fps. 97#'s of KE. Fast is cool, but around 300 is plenty fast for trajectory purposes... I was shooting a 2514 xx78 Easton aluminum.

You could go light and get more speed, but the difference in trajectory is not worth the above listed results IMHO. Like I said, speed is cool no doubt... But there isn't that much néed for hunting.

What kin of arrow you shooting? Are you sure you aren't confusing the spine with the weight? Just checking.

I shoot a Gold Tip xt hunter. now when you talk arrow weight, when you say +500 grain arrows, are you talking just the arrows weight or with the broadhead?

BM,
If you're really that good, you should be shooting professionally. Not 1% of archers are capable of consistently putting 3 arrows in the 10spot at 60yds, maybe not even 1% of a %.

What arrows are you shooting??? Are you sure they are 400 grains or are they 400 spine arrows??? You don't need anymore energy, that's the last thing you should be concerned about. More realistically, a heavier arrow would slow you down a little, but it would also quiet the bow down. If you're shooting something with a severely weak spine (that set-up really needs a .300 spine or stiffer) you'll know real quickly when you put BH's on the end of arrows because they're gonna fly RIGHT of your FP's.