calcuateing bow speed kind of

[oberon]

Is there any formula to get a ball park arrow speed for laminated longbows and recurves without the use of a chronograph?
 Thanx,
 Oberon

[Falk]

Try to built a ballistic pendulum -
c. 20yrs. ago I did not to good with it though. I had no chrono (still don't) and wanted to know my arrows speed. With a pendulum you only need a tape measure or yardstick and a scale - and some brain to do the math  

[TonyW]

I figure that since the speed of sound is more than 1120 feet per second, it is better to lose a couple of feet per second to have a quiet bow. You can Google  a do it yourself ballistic pendulum, but it looks like a lot of work for questionable results.
 http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/45094/Build_a_Ballistic_Pendulum.html