Question about only using 1 fixed pin..
 

OK, here is what Im thinking about doing, First Im not crazy about the sight that came with my Fred Bear Gameover, Great bow but not crazy about the sights, Next year I will get a HHA but for now Im getting other things that are needed more, like digital compass, anyways what I did is take off all the pins of my sight, Took two off and left the one green one on, I want to set it at 30yrds, then practice at 20,30 and 40 so I know where I would need to place the pin on the target while hunting, or just shooting at a block, so has anyone on here tryed this? If it works then great, if not, its a lesson learned. Let me know what you think.

I shot a one pin sight for about 10 years. No, regrets. But, I did have it set at 20 yards. Just makes things more simple, less to think about, believe you will like it.

Well IMO one pin would definately not clutter your field of view. Now a couple of questions. How fast is your bow? If its dead on at 30 yds, where will it hit at 20 or 40? You may want to experiment with this idea. Like maybe try 25 yds as your zero. I see you are in FL so living there for 4 years your shots are more than likely to be 25 yds or usually less. Personally I like at least 3 pins set at 20, 30 and 40.

Same here. I use a vital gear 1 pin sight , its very durable and bright,the pin is really small too, so I have a large sight picture w/ almost no obstruction. I was shooting at 3d targets today at 20- 50yds, sighted in at 2" high @ 20yds, I aim 6" high at 50yds, aim 2" low at 10-20yds, all right in the killzone. when Im hunting, I rarely shoot past 20 yds but Im confident out to 30+. oh and I only get about 250fps w/ 400gr arrows.

Well. I don't plan on taking anything over 30, not that I cant, its just I want to make sure its a clean kill, I know If I set the pin up at 30 yards, I know I'm going to be good from 20-30 maybe 35. What I am going to do is this..

Set the pin at 30 yards, Next start at 20, then go till I cant get a good shot anymore. so if I stop at 35, I stop at 35.. But the pin will be set up at 30 yards...But never know, maybe the 25 will work better, I will play around with it..

I tried to get one pin to work for my bow (Hoyt Maxxis), and I got just a bit too much drop at 30 yards to be able to use one pin without thinking.

I set one pin to work well from 5 yards to 25 yards, and I have another pin for 35 yards. For 30 yards I just put the target between the 2 pins.

If you want to do this right you need to know how fast you arrow is leaving the bow. If you know how fast your arrow is then post it and it is as simple as plugging in the numbers into a ballistics calculator.

Well last I checked, I was at 276 and my draw weight was 54, Friday I cranked it up a half a turn, so I would say Im at about 56-58 draw weight so I should atleast be at 280+, I will know more this week when I hit the range..

See My idea was to set it at 30, that will be my zero. Then so where it shoots at 20, 25 and even 35.. If im only 2 or 3 inchs high or low, Im fine with that, The main thing I will need to know, is how many inch I am off, so I could visual adjust that when those distance come up.

A deer vitals are about 8 - 9 inches top to bottom.
Assuming a 350 grain arrow at 280 fps.
If a deers vitals are 9 inches top to bottom. I would use a +or- 3 inch aiming point to give yourself a little error room.

Sight in your single pin at 23 yards and this will put your arrow 3" high at 12 yards, zero at 23 yards and 3" low at 28 yards.


If you sighted in your pin to be zero at 30 yards then you would be over 5 inches high at 16 yards and 5 inches low at 36 yards. Too much adjusting and too easy to screw it up IMO.

Im using the easton flatline 400spine.. how did you come up with the math? so say I put it at 25yards. Then how would I come out?

i use 3 pins...20 and below, a 30 and a 40 yrd pin..i gave up on guessing along time ago.

If I told you I'd have to kill you. Just kidding. There are a number of on line archery ballistics calculators you can use if you know a few numbers.
http://www.outdoorsden.com/archery/archbal.asp

I'm going to assume a 28" arrow. Your total arrow weight should be, with a 100 grain tip, about 345 - 350 grains.

If you use a 25 yard zero then you would be 3.5 inches high at 12 yards, zero at 25 yards and 3.5 inches low at 30 yards.

The one pin game is really hard to play unless u just have blistering speed. If u aren't up at like 330+ it's not worth the try... I took two second place, and one third shootin my old xforce with one pin in hunter class. I was at 335fps with a 370gr arrow though;). I had it zeroed at about 26. Never shot over 35 with it though and even at 35 the drop was quite a bit more than most would expect.

One Pin
 

If I wanted to use just one pin I would sight it in for 20 yards. Most of the shots I get year after year are 15-25 yards. I have 3 pins 20,30 and 40, the style of hunting I do rarely allows for over 25 yards. Bows still are not fast enough to use one pin out to 40 yards and get pinpoint accuracy.

I agree. Even a 7mm with a 150gr bullet has about .5" of drop at 40yds.

Playing the one pin game is pretty tough.

I have a 291/2 arrow. I going to use 3 pins, sounds like to much trouble..lol

I say set the pin at 20yd sight it in flat. Then practice from 10-30 yards. Ive been using a single pin sight for years and have it set at 20 yards. I can shoot very consistantly out to 45 yards. But in real hunting situations youll rarely ever have to shoot over 20yd. You want the deer in as close as you can get them and still be comfortable with your shot.

I really need to disagree with you on this. Ive been using one pin since I started shooting bows. My first bow was only shooting 250 roughly and I had no problems out to 30 yards. Its all how you shoot and how confident you are in your shot placement, speed plays a very small factor in it. My new PSE Stinger isnt shooting 350fps and I can nail the center of the block at 40 yards...using one pin.

I don't think you can really say what is exactly right for another archer to use or not for pins. I have been using 1 pin with no peep site for a long time now and have always had success. I mean there are a lot of guys who hunt with no pins and do fine.
It all comes down to knowing the distance of the shot. Realistically its no harder to hold a 20 yard pin high at 30 yards then it is to move down to your 30 yard pin if you have more then one. It's really whatever is comfortable for you as the hunter/shooter in the woods. Im sure there are plenty of guys who got in a hurry and used the wrong pin for the distance they were dealing with even if they were right how far the deer was away. There are both pro's/con's with using 1 pin or more then 1 pin.

If you practice with what you are doing I don't see a real advantage to how many pins you use.

OK, Im going to try it this season, If i dont get anything then I know not to try it next season..

I think have the credentials to consider myself confident and good in this game;) I would bet any amount of money that at any professional shoot u won't see anyone only using one pin for all, unless it's a slider of course. To have true accuracy another pin is pretty vital.

Sure u can guess all day long, but u aren't getting pin point accuracy. I'd lay any dollar amount out that if we shot a few different 3d targets at different ranges u would have some that were high/low at distance. How do I know this??? Like I said, I've done it as well. Hell, even have trophies from it, but it only works to a certain level of accuracy, and any amount of speed helps.

And when talking accuracy here, I'm referring to an arrow exactly where intended. Not a 15yd guesstimation of where over the back to aim...

Like I said, It works, but true accuracy will not be great this way. And aiming at the deers back is cool as well, as long as it works.

Well I thought the 1 pin discussion was for hunting only. I totally agree on more then 1 for 3d target etc..

I just dont see much difference in knowing where to hold a single pin or deciding which pin to use in the hunting setting when the shot matters. Both take practice, both require you knowing your distance. For me I know Im fine from 15 to 40 without raising or lowering the pin much. So I just aim and shoot, don't think about the distance that much. I do try to range as many trees as possible when Im in stand but sometimes as you all know deer come in quick and I dont have time to mess with the range finder.

Alot of good input on this. I just erased the stuff i wrote.

In the July 2010 issue of Petersen's Bowhunting, Bill Winke writes a great article on this topic. One pin if you shoot out to 30 and two pins if you shoot to 40. Bet you can still find it in stands. Both bigbulls and Bill Winke are believers in the K.I.S.S. principle.

Keep It Simple Stupid. This will save your butt everytime cuz you will find dumbest things to think about in the first 20 seconds you see that wall mounter and vaguely remember shooting over him and really cant remember ANYTHING important. Now I practice three things. 1. Anchor point 2. Pick the exact dot I want the arrow to go thru the animal 3. And Breath. I don't practice to shoot better anymore. I practice to keep ingraining those 3 things in my head and the muscle memory of it all. I dont THINK about shooting anymore. So when I get those special 20 seconds, I can actually remember the good stuff! :) Even if I miss, I generally know why. If I hit, I know where I hit, the sound of the hit, I know the reaction of the animal, the direction it left, the direction I last heard it...... And those are all great memories!!

If this thread is about hunting only, not shooting than I apologize to all and wis bow hunter for offering my experience...

As for the 15-40 statement with one pin... I would bet that most setups hav roughly 2ft of drop between those distances... When 2ft happens in a 25yd span, and u don't check yardage much, how many deer do you miss/wound??? That's a ton of variation man and u are doomed if u ever decide to shoot at one in the high 30 range IMO. Maybe not the first time, but the yardage WILL get u eventually n

I'm done with this thread. Have fun:popcorn:

Good advice. A pin at 26-27 and one at 35 makes an easy bowhunting setup!

In order to be +or- 3 inches from the bow to 40 yards you will have to be shooting 405fps and sighted in to be zero at 33 yards.

You would be 3 inches high at 16 yards and 3 inches low at 40 yards.

got one pin set at thirty i like this cause i no the drop from twenty to thirty is more than shooting high at twenty using a thirty pin. not too much higher..

by the way your bow maybe shooting slower or faster than mine so you got to find that yardage you are happy with...

I have been shooting one pin for a very long time. I use to take all pins off the sight except one and sight for 25 yds and practice at different ranges, I would hold over or low depending on range. I never shot competition or anything but I went on a 3d shoot one time and took first place my very first time out, all using one pin and shots were out to 50 yds, all done with hold over.
For a few years now I have been using a slide one pin sight.