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how light is too light.

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how light is too light.

Old 10-30-2005, 04:18 PM
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Default how light is too light.

so a couple of my hunting buddies were talking last night and we were talking about arrow weight, a few of them were alreading shooting light setups and 2 said that they were gonna go to a light setup. They said that what you lose in kinetic energy with heaveir arrows you can make up with speed. one of my buddies said he shot a doe at 23 yards that was standing in front of his feeder, the arrow blew through one shoulder exited behind the other and then stuck half an inch in his feeder leg. he was shooting 7 grain per inch arrows and a 95 grain head. what do you guys think of a lite setup or what is too light?
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Old 10-30-2005, 05:27 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

I'm not a speed freak so I must say that if your buddy's or anyone else want to go "light" they must consider spine, draw weight, draw length, and of course arrow weight. It can be done, but it can be dangerous if you don't get the charts out and do the math. If you're hunting in close quarters then speed may be necessary......for some of us.
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Old 10-30-2005, 06:56 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

I am shooting a 27.5" Carbon express maxima,and a 100gr tip.Total weight 375 gr.I mad a complete pass through on a doe.My bow is set at 70lbs,so that is 5.3 grs per pound.Alot of people would say that is way too light,but it is 72ft lbs of KE.And slammed an additional 8" into the ground.So how could that be too light?Personally I would not go under 375 with a 70lb,or 350gr with a 60lb bow.Alsoa sharp broadheadwill make a huge difference.If it's not cutting it's going to lose penetration fast,no matter how heavy the arrow is.Hope I helped.
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Old 10-30-2005, 09:11 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

I thought you gained KE byshooting a heavier arrow.
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Old 10-30-2005, 09:46 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

All things other than weight about an arrow being equal, such as the diameter, length, fletching, spine, broadhead, etc..., shot out of the same bow the heavier arrow will penetrate more than the lighter arrow. It will have slightly more KE and a good bit more momentum. There is a point of diminished returns on both sides of the weight issue though.

To be honest it does not take a whole lot of energy to blow right through a whitetail deer. So who is to say what is too light. I will tell you that if he were to ever go after larger and tougher animals that he would want to use a heavier arrow.

On another note the lighter the arrow the more energy left over that your bow has to get rid of in the form of noise and vibration. Another thing to consider is that the lighter the arrow the more abuse your bow is taking primarily in the limbs.

Personally I use to be a speed freak and shot 380-ish grain arrows but soon realized that quiet is far better than speed any day. You didn't say what poundage his bow was at but I like to keep my arrows weighing between 6.5 and 7 grains per pound of draw weight. For a 70 pound bow that is between 450 and 500 grains. I feel this is a very good compromise between speed, noise, vibration, and energy. When I began shooting these heavier arrows the noise went way down and so did the bow jump and hand shock.

His arrow is far too light for me personally but if he likes them then let him shoot them..
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Old 10-31-2005, 05:16 AM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

Since arrow speed is the least important aspect of bowhunting, I pay no attention to it. The things that are imporant - 1) A FOC that is high enough to get good arrow flight from my broadheads, when shooting in wind. 2) An arrow spined properly for my setup. 3)An arrow that has been spine-tuned to shoot it's best.

If a hunter approaches his arrow selection in this manner, it will be literally impossible to shoot a super light arrow. If he approaches it by looking for speed, he'll almost always end up with a setup that doesn't give broadhead flight as good as it could be. When I get done setting up an arrow for my bow, the speed is what it is. It's always fast enough. I have no speed goal in mind when starting, and would never make a decision based on whether it made the arrow faster.
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Old 10-31-2005, 07:40 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

ORIGINAL: zak123

I thought you gained KE byshooting a heavier arrow.
True zak,but ponder this.....

Recommended standards: It has been offered by some experts that 45 ft-lb of arrow energy is a good minimum for whitetail deer, while 55 ft-lb is a proper minimum for elk and caribou. It has been further suggested by several in the broadhead business that an extra 10 ft-lb should be added to each of these minimums when mechanical broadheads are used. These, of course, are only rough guidelines. Many animals have been taken through the years, and will continue to be, with well-placed arrows carrying much less energy.
or this.....

SOME PERSPECTIVE:

It should be noted that a properly placed arrow - impacting with 50 ft-lbs of KE would easily generate a clean pass-thru on large game like Whitetail Deer or Elk (as in our experiment with the Patriot above). So with respect to kinetic energy and big-game hunting, there really is no practical difference between the 300 grain arrow impacting with 50 ft-lbs of KE and a 600 grain arrow impacting with 54 ft-lbs. Either would make a clean harvest on big game. So in most cases, the effective difference would really be how far the arrow sticks in the dirt after passing through the animal.

If you shoot a modern compound bow with at least 55# of draw weight, we suggest you not split too many hairs over the issue of KE. If you do your job and place the shot properly, you'll have plenty of KE to make a quick humane harvest. If you shoot mechanical broadheads, or you hunt "thick-skinned" animals like hogs, bear, or buffalo, some additional Kinetic Energy may be in order.
My bow is making enough KE to kill a caribou with a mechanical head.I'm hunting whitetails.So if my bow is already quiet,and I'm already slamming through deer.Why do I need to shoot those big logs?IMO too much emphasis is put on shooting 540gr arrows.I like speed,and speed kills.BUT you have to have a sharp,quality broadhead,or it will become a problem.Those heavy logs do drive those poor quality heads through,but you wouldn't need all that ke if you had just been using a sharp head in the first place.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/arrowhelp/arrow-selection-5.htm
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Old 11-01-2005, 07:47 AM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

Ishoot 27.25""arrows that weigh 328.5 my bow is set at 65lbs thats 5.05 grains per pound of draw weightthats light and my bow(AR31)as silent as a mouse!
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Old 11-01-2005, 11:50 AM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

My arrows are 28" long and have a total weight of 352 grains. My bow is set to 67# draw weight. That is 5.2 grains/inch. My arrow speed is 298 fps which gives me a KE of 69 ft/lbs. I shoot a cut-on-contact, fixed broadhead and have gotten pass-throughs on all my deer. I also have great BH accuracy out to 40 yards where they group with my field points. This speed allows me to use a single pin out to 40 yards. I can hold it just under the deer's spine and get a double lung hit. I have used heavier arrows in the past and they work fine also. There is just more of an arc. I think if you are hunting any thin skinned game (deer, elk, antelope) that the lighter arrows will work fine. More emphasis should be put on arrow placement and using a quality broadhead.
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Old 11-01-2005, 06:33 PM
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Default RE: how light is too light.

thanks for all the good info, just an additional question, it was stated that going to light will harm your bow, what is considered too light and what will it hurt on the bow
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