always surprised by little tweaks

[smokin joe]

So, I decided to do some fine tuning to my "ugly bow" this morning. I also wanted to make up an arrow that is a bit heavier. Here is the back story.....

I was communicating with Sid at Border Bows in Scotland. He let me know that the Hex6 limbs on my Bear TD riser (aka Ugly Bow) generate the same force as a 53# Bear TD. So, in thinking things through, I thought, "Why not try to cook up an arrow that would be as near 530 grains as possible, so I am shooting 10 GPP in terms of power." (OK, maybe I think too much)

So, starting with a Gold Tip Velocity 400, I cut it to 29.25 inches. I installed a wrap and just the quills of 3 feathers and I put in an aluminum nock adapter and a Bohning classic index nock. Up front I have a brass 75 gr glue-in-glue-on adaptor and a 190 gr field point.

A little fiddling with my nock height and I am shooting right on the money with a bare shaft that is dead straight in the target and accurate as a rifle without any fletching. Amazing.

I was surprised that the last tweak of the nock height was about 1/32 of an inch and it made all of the difference in the world in bringing in the final arrow straightness and accuracy.

Little things mean so much........ and I have a new arrow formula that should be the kiss of death on deer and hogs.

[McDave]

I’m confused.  Your Hex6 limbs “generate the same force as a 53# Bear TD.”  Does that mean that the actual draw weight of your bow is different than 53#?  If that is so, what is the actual draw weight of your bow?

[smokin joe]

42 pounds.

[McDave]

That’s cool!  I assume this is possible because of the Border hex limbs storing more energy under the curve, i.e. the limbs are designed to reach close to the specified draw weight earlier in the draw cycle?  Compared with a bow that has more of a straight line force draw curve, does it seem more difficult to draw say from zero to 2/3 draw?

[smokin joe]

Yes. The first half to two thirds of the draw feel like a much heavier bow, but then the  limbs start gaining less weight per inch in the last part of the draw. It takes some getting used to. Sid said that the Hex6 would equal Bear limbs up to 13 pounds heavier. He also said that the new Hex8 limbs would equal standard recurve limbs 17 pounds heavier, but he could not make the Hex8 limbs for a Bear TD due to the geometry of the Bear riser.