Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

I know it is possible, but is it safe totake a SBXT that has 50-60lb limbs and stress them beyond 60lbs to say 63-65lbs?

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

Ive heard alot of the new drenalins are coming in set a fair amount over their max. If the bow will do it, I sure dont see a problem with it. The only thing I wouldnt do is bury the limbs, crank them all the way down and back them out at least a 1/4 turn.

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

Most bows will do this. They have a max limit of say 60 or 70 lbs. If you bottom the limbs out they usually peak a bit higher. I looked at a Mathews years ago and it maxed out at 75 lbs with 70 lb limbs!

Will it hurt the bow? I highly doubt it, these things are made to take more stress than you dish out to them on purpose. No company wants to have bows exploding on their customers. Not very good word of mouth if you know what I mean.

I actually took a mid priced darton (yukon) that had 60 lb limbs on it and shimmed the limbs to get more draw weight. I got it up to around 68 lbs. I also played with the timing of the CPS cams and got it up to around 290 fps with a 26 inch draw length. The bow is only rated for 298 fps at 70 lbs, 30 inch draw and 350 grn arrows (I think I was using just under 350 grns). At any rate the bow never exploded on me, shot just great as a matter of fact. I shot it that way for a few months. Keep in mind at the time I was shooting over a hundred arrows a day, well over that on some days. And the new bows are built better than that one is (2000 model).

That being said, your bow may only be warrantied to the peak draw weight on the limbs. If you send it in for warranty work and the peak weight is higher they may have an excuse to back out and make you pay. I have NEVER heard of this actually happening though.

Paul

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

I have a 70# Drenalin that is cranked down or should I say up, to 74# ....

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

Oh, and just for the heck of it, here is my take on adjusting draw weight.

The adjustment is there for two reasons. One to get a proper spine match with your arrows. And two, to make the bow fit YOU. Too many people worry about how much weight they draw. You should set the bow up to where it shoots well and is comfortable to draw. Then check it on a scale to see what it is so you can begin choosing the correct arrows.

My suggestion is once you find a model you like find out how much you can COMFORTABLY draw and then pick the model with a peak weight closest to that. Then when you choose your arrows do it for the weight adjustment in the middle. Say you get a bow with 50-60 lb limbs, do your calculations for arrow spine at 55 lbs. This way when you are tuning your bow you have 5 lbs leeway in either direction to get the spine to match with a simple limb adjustment. You can also shorten an arrow to make it stiffer or add tip weight to make it weaker. However it is much easier initially to just turn your limb bolts and take another couple of shots.

For some people there are two things they should never know about their bow. Draw weight and arrow speed. The only reason to know either is to pick the correct arrow and track the tune of your bow. An example would be if when your bow was originally set up it had X amount of draw weight and Y amount of speed. A year later the draw weight and speed changed and you didn't do anything to the bow. This would indicate the tune of your bow changed. The string or harness stretched and the cam/s may be out of time/sync.

Other than that it's just bragging rights in my opinion. You are ALWAYS better off with a bow that fits you, is easier to shoot and set up properly than you are with one that shoots 5-10 fps faster than your buddies bow;).

And I haven't shot a bow made in the past 10 years that it mattered where the limbs were set. Bottomed out, set in the middle or backed all the way out, they all shoot well. You may get a very SLIGHT amount of mechanical advantage on some designs when the limbs are maxed out, but not enough to warrant it if you have to struggle to draw it. Almost every bow I have shot was just as quiet and accurate no matter where the limbs were set as long as the arrows matched and the bow was tuned.

My opinions anyway.

Paul

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

Thanks guys. I have 50-60# limbs now. For years I have had back issues to due an unfortunate vehicle accident. Now I am healthy and comfortably drawing back more weight because I am getting back in shape.

Seeing the prices of replacement limbs...I know I don't have the budget for. But for the time being, getting a few more pounds out of my current limbs would make me happy.

Thanks for all of your responses.

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

If you can draw it comfortably then I don't think it will be a problem. What are you trying to gain from this? Do you simply want to draw more weight for the sake of drawing more weight? Your speed will not increase enough to make a noticeable difference and your energy won't go up much either.

I certainly wouldn't spend the money to get heavier limbs, the bow you have now has more than enough stored energy to take any game on this continent.

Something else to keep in mind is that increasing your draw weight 5 lbs will effect your arrow spine. You may not notice a difference, then again you might need to re-tune your bow, especially with fixed blade broad heads. If you were a little stiff to begin with it might help. If you were on the line of being weak you might need to get new arrows, or make the ones you have shorter.

Personally, if your bow shoots well now I wouldn't screw with it. Unless you are good at tuning and like doing it. Then go for it I guess, best way to learn really.

And by comfortable to draw I don't mean you can draw without blowing a testicle. You should be able to look at your target, point the bow at the target and draw back to your anchor points in one smooth motion while staying on target. If you can't do that you are drawing too much weight in my opinion. And remember your bow is almost twice as hard to draw while sitting in a tree stand or when you are cold and tired.

I thought I could hunt with 65 or 70 lbs once. I used to shoot a lot in my yard and had no trouble drawing 70 lbs standing in a controlled environment. I took that bow hunting and after sitting for a while I got bored and decided to draw it. Guess what, I could barely get it back.

I picked up my stuff and went home for the day. Glad I didn't figure it out when a deer was in front of me;).

I'm not saying any of this applies to you, just sayin' because I've been there and done that:D.

Paul

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

Thanks Paul for the info.

Here is my story. I'll try to make it short.

I bought SBXT late last year and threw on a cheap Cavalier double prong rest to go hunting. I did this because I have hunted all my life with a double prong rest and I knew I could have confidence in it.

Now we are in the off season and I am finding myself wanting to learn the in's and out's of tuning a bow. With that said, I have been messing around with my current set-up for a while now and I just don't like the maximum potential I have achieved so far.

In two weeks I am switching from the double prong Cavalier rest to a Trophy Taker Pronghorn drop away. I am switching a few other things to maximize my set-up. With that said, I want to crank up the poundage a bit. Since I will be re-tuning my bow anyways.

I am confident that another 3-5 lbs won't affect my drawing ability.

Will it increase my fps? I hope so. Even 1 or 2 fps will make it worth while.

Will I have to purchase new arrows? Maybe, but I am due for a dozen anyways.

Thanks a lot for your feedback Paul.

RE: Increasing the Draw Weight Beyond?
 

You will have no problems at all. We took 40 lb limbs out of a Hoyt Raptor and put the limbs in a Tenacity riser and the bow was 70 lbs with zero issues. Now that was an extreme situation and I don't recommend it to everyone, point being, a couple pounds will do zero harm to your setup.