Mike from Texas

ORIGINAL: ijimmy



Thanks ijimmy. I hadn't really thought about the situations you can get into while in a tree stand. You are correct though, very rarely have I been able to stand up and have perfect form while in the tree stand. All I had were grand visions of having a bow that would get me 300 fps with my hunting arrows and brace height not really playing into the picture. So what is your opinion on say a 7" brace height bow and a fall away rest? Also in relation to your comment on nock travel, do you know much about the nock travel on Bowtech single cam bows?

CBM SC

I guess it's different strokes for different folks......but the only problem I have had with low brace heights is arm slap !

Accuracy in or out of a tree stand was fine for me ! But getting that occasional "smack" is a pain in the a$$ !!

And ......coming from a guy that has shot over 300 fps for the last 3 years and only shooting a measily 280 right now........there is not that big of a difference !! These guys told me that......but I didn't believe it until the last 3 weeks of shooting off the ground ! I can imagine in a tree stand .....the difference will be negligable !

ijimmy

I own 4 bows , their brace height is between 6 5/8" and 7 1/2 " , all have fallaway rests on them . That should tell you how I feel about that type of rest . I curantly have a bow on order that has an 8" brace height . As to single cams and nock travel , Im not jumping into the fire here , I will tell you I dont curantly own a single cam bow and never intend to purchace another . I did own a patriot single cam a couple years ago and it was a fine bow .

500 fps

I don't think that the longer power stroke is the reason for short brace height bows being less forgiving. As Frank mentioned I had actual #'s to back this up a while back, but am unable to locate them now. The shorter brace height bow does have a longer power stroke, but because they are usually on bows with faster cams, the amount of time that the arrow spends on the string is actaully less. I think the reason that shorter brace height bows are trickier to shoot is that with highly reflexed riser designs (i.e. limb pockets way in front of the grip) they are very torquey and magnify small form errors.

Personally another reason I have trouble shooting some short brace height bows is because they usually utilize radical cams which come with a significant exposion on release. I would anticipate this and flinch upon release after a few rounds of shooting and my groups would open up. So it's not an inherent fault of the bow having a short brace height, but my inability as an archer to have perfect form and release.

Buckfevr

This is very interesting to me. I think that the release of the arrow can be regarded as instantaneous whether the brace height is short or long. I view the form flaws as being caught in that instant. So for me the time on the string is irrelevant. The length on the string is the issue. So it is an interesting perspective that is being presented here.

So I guess I would say that taking two bows of the same speed the one with the shorter brace height would be more critical.

Oldguy

All of this is VERY interesting, but now I am confused as to what "Brace Height" is. I thought brace height was the distance between the bow string and the riser, but from statements regarding "wrist slap" it must be measured some where else???? I would really like to know.

Thanks

Mike from Texas

You are correct. Brace height is the measurement from the sting to the deepest part od the grip (usually the top). A lower brace height bow has a shorter distance from the grip to the string when at rest which places it farther down your forearm toward your wrist. What usually happens as has been mentioned here, is that someone tries to shoot a draw length that is too long for them which forces their elbow to "lock" or they torque the bow at release and their forearm gets hit by the string as it comes forward.

Oldguy

Thanks, Mike!

I better understand now, good explanation