new guy has questions. EFOC? GRIP?

[team fudd]

I am new to your forum,  I have already learned a lot from being a guest but I do have some questions,  started shooting trad last year with a very nicely built R/D longbow 53# @28.  My draw is an honest 29 and 3/4 so I am pulling about 57.  I shoot three under and with little help in the way of coaching have developed my own methods which seem to produce relatively good accuracy for me,  my first question is this, do those of you who shoot heavier arrows equipped with weight tubes or inserts see an increase in accuracy as well as penetration? I am most concerned about hunting scenarios so increased penetration is a bonus,  are there any downsides to heavier shafts?  Also why do I seem to get more consistent, tighter groups if I grip the bow rather tightly unlike my compound which merely rests in the web of my hand? I have tried various grips and something just short of a death grip seems to work the best for me.  Thanks one and all for puttin up with the new guy!

[Terry Green]

EFOC has nothing to do with form.

Good arrow flight is good arrow flight no matter if the FOC is 15% or 30%.....and good arrow flight and accuracy has much more to do with penetration that FOC.

Heavier shafts....whether weighted shafts or weighted heads should be considered when chasing bigger game that deer or black bears. IMHO.

Heavier shafts period with 15% FOC and good flight and accuracy are more likely to penetrate better than the gain in the weight just up front.

Make sure you are getting good arrow flight from your arrows, whether deer weights or for bigger game.

[divecon10]

Having tried with varying weighted carbons and with varying distribution of weights it seemed, the best FOC’s appeared to be 8-12%, for the spine I had in relation to the draw weight. What TG says, check out his form clock, this helped me a lot in conjunction with good flight and practice seemed to give the best accuracy. Loading up with weight is all good, if there is power to propel. There also seemed a big loss of trajectory after 20-25yds with more weight and much said about the importance of Grain weight /lb. But just adding more weight up front also requires adjustment in spine as well. There is a lot of informative consensus regard this available in regular reads on Powwow.
Rob mentioned something in a thread the other day on Powwow “ in terms of efficiency of stick bow with regards to performance/speed, typically the hierarchy follows this suit - recurve, aggressive r/d longbow, mild r/d longbow, straight (hill style) longbow. Also, typically as performance/speed increases, 'stability' decreases”

Going  to woods and longbows, is another learning curve, so FOC seems to be more of a consideration for my purposes than grain weight when building a good arrow. There is very slight increase in FOC from point weight with my field tipped arrows,tho spine remains constant, when experimenting with 125-160gn points. There is a slight increase with BH weight but the flight effect of the BH seems to negate any change, FOC is hardly altered. All the arrows coming out 8.5-11% FOC.  Giving good accurate flight over varying ranges. I have a preference for the lighter points and BH's @ 170gn just now.
When changing draw weight up by 10# or more and depending on if it's a recurve or long bow, a higher spine is selected but keeping the same field point/BH formula all to good effect.

Dr Ashby has a lot of info on high FOC,  EFOC, point weight and fletch size etc., which I mostly grasp and understand from this there seems to limit to optimal distance of shot. As opposed to theoretical and 3D distance with lesser FOC’s. I have some more Q's for him too. And as yet have not experimented much this way as I want to secure a sound base where I am now.  It’s a terrific read and u’ll perceive better u’rself what u’ll need to gleam from it. Also arrow tuning for what u have now may be worth looking into.

With regard to tight grip I noticed on advice it was important, when learning to shoot left handed it seemed to give better stability and lateral control of the bow in this off hand, something akin to those small control movements in the right hand that its more attuned to. Over time I still notice a more secure grip with this off hand comparatively, maybe this has something to do with u’r transition over from wheels.

[hvyhitter]

My FOC is whatever it ends at with in a great flying arrow. As far as a tight grip, I am one of the few that grip all bows pretty tight when I shoot but thats just what works for me...........YMMV