mrmagoo08

Hi, guys,

I'm a newbie here, but was wondering if anyone has read the article in Traditional Bowhunter Feb/Mar 2008 about arrow lethality. I was always under the impression that a lighter arrow traveling faster would be better than a heavier arrow moving slower. My eyes were opened up by that article. I learned a lot about arrows that I didn't know. There is so much good stuff in there that I reccomend that it be read by all hunters. I missed part one of the article, having just got a subscription started.

Centaur 1

From what I understand you can't compare a traditional bow with todays compounds. A traditional bow is so slow that you need a heavy arrow in order to achieve adequate penetration. With a compound the extra weight is only necessary on large game like moose or bear. Ondeer sized game a passthrough is a passthrough regardless of the arrow weight. Shot placement is much more important and a lighter arrow shoots flatter.

davepjr71

You're talking about momentum. This always starts a heated debate on here.


The problem with just stating a lighter faster arrow compared to a heavier slower arrow is that it's all bow dependant and no numbers are presented with your statement. Meaning, how light what were the arrow used and what equipment were they shot out of?

Since traditonal bows are not very fast the traditional bows needheavy arrows to have enough momentum to push through, or into, game. That goes for people who shoot very light compound bow draw weights too.

Modern compounds can launch a light arrow at high speeds so that the arrow uses it's velocity instead of weight to push through game.

A lot of modern bows can shoot a heavier arrow at high speeds. Therefore, where do you draw the line and say that the "ligher, faster" arrow is acceptable? At some point in the equation you can have a lighter arrow that will have more momentum than a heavier arrow. I shoot a 420 gr arrow that some people would call light and others heavy. It goes along at 290 fps which is pretty fast. That meansmy 420 gr arrow has as much initial momentum as a 700 gr arrow at 174 fps.

I know a guy who shot a Kodiak Brown bear at 35 yds with a 370 gr arrow out of an Allegiance at 70 lb. To me that's enough proof that it does not matter what arrow you shoot as long as you shoot accurately.

wack

The lightest arrow isn't always the flattest shooting. An arrow is much like a bullet. For example the trajectory chart on different bullet weights for A 30-06 My chart shows that of the 150 grn, 165 grn 180 grn and 220 grn bullets, the 180 grn has the flattest trajectory and most down range KE. Unfortunately there are so many more factors in archery that there really isn't any chart to tell you what weight arrow will fly the flattest for you and your bow. Many who go with the lightest arrow possible not only are not shooting the flattest trajectory possible, but also causing more noise to boot. The lighter your arrow, the noisier they shoot and more stress you put on your bow.
Another big myth is the faster an arrow spins the more accurate. It doesn't take much spin to stabilize an arrow although some broad heads need more than others.. The more energy the arrow uses to spin, the less energy to carry down range. It's all a balancing act. Start with the correct spine and see what works best for you and your set up.

OHbowhntr

With traditional equipment, that is relatively true, because the KE is relatively low, the MOMENTUM becomes more important. As does the choice of BH, and FOC. With our high-speed modern compound bows, a compromise fo the the two seems to be the choice of most hunters, because more speed equals less trajectory to compete with, which in turn make our bows more effective at longer ranges, and allows us more error in yardage judgement. Idaho, unless they've changed, requires that a hunter's arrow weigh at least 400gr's, which lends itself to making hunters more effective especially when hunting large game like ELK, etc.

The argument over it is similar to a baseball being compared to a tennis ball, a tennis ball traveling at 130 MPH may have the same KE of a basebal at 90, but I can certainly tell you I'd rather take a tennis ball at 130 than a baseball at 90. Swing this debate around to turkey hunting, and everything changes, because speed is probably better with a turkey, because his body will "give" with the impact, and dissipate some of the KE, therefore, you may want a faster, lighter arrow when shooting turkeys.

mrmagoo08

Hi, Guys,

I didn't mean that what I wrote in the post was gospel. Like I said, I'm a newbie, and what I read in the article was just very enlightening to me. I had no idea that there was so much to consider as far as arrow performance and penetration goes. Here's the thing that I'm actually wondering about. I bought a crossbow that is not a compound type bow. It uses a traditional type prod. It has a draw weight of 150# It also uses bolts that are only 16" long and made from 2216 shafting. It turns out that 16" shafts are hard to come by, most are 20" long. The target points that came on the shafts are 125grn. Since it doesn't shoot the bolt at compound speeds, I was wondering if I should put on a heavier broadhead for hunting, that is, if it doesn't affect the flight of the bolt. I'm also considering making my own bolts, similar to the originals, and I don't want to make up a bunch without getting some opinions from some of you guys. I went to the local Gander Mountain where I bought the CB,to get some broadheads to try, but most of them there were 150 grn and I didn't know if I should take the chance and buy them since I have no other bows that use screw in points. All my otherbows are longbows and I use wood arrows because that's all I've ever shot. Never even had the urge to try a compound. I'm strictly traditional. Any thoughts?

IADeerHunter16

Theres a crossbow forum on this site that could probably help you out more with your bolt building question. If you add weight to the front then remember your spine changes too atleast on a compound bow it does. You might want to be careful with this I don't a bolt blowing up in a crossbow would be very good