Cronographed some High End bows

[L. E. Carroll]

Wife and Grandaughter are on a cruise with no one to keep me busy. and the fact you can only stand so much TV, I took some bows in to test.

Please keep in mind, this was by  way a "scientific test". However , they are the numbers I came up with.

I Shot the same Gold Tip 5575 3 times thru each bow. arrow cut 29 1/2 to BOP with 3 5" Shield cut feathers and 145 gr field tip.  Tolal wt.457.5 gr.
[This is increased 90 grns when BH's are on]
I averaged 3 shots for the speeds I found with each bow. Shot at 3 ft. with fingers and glove at 28 1/2" draw lenght and as smooth of release as I could manage.

1.Roy Hall Cherokee 62" 52@28>188.6 fps> 8.7 gpp
2.Griffin 2 pc T/d 60" 55#@28>191.0 fps> 8.3 gpp
3. Widow TF III R/C 60" 59#@28>198.3 fps> 7.7 gpp
4. Super Shrew 58" 55#@28 192.6 fps> 8.3 gpp
5. Pronghorn 3 pc T/D 59#@28> 200.6> 7.7 gpp
6. Bezaleel 1 pc R/C 55#@28> 194> 8.3 gpp

I know this may of been of no interest to some, but I was surprised how close these numbers were considering the bows varied from 52-59# in draw weight. The bows them selves varied from recurve to "hi-bred" and some less severe RF/DF long bows.

Now what to do to stay busy tomorrow,,, well I have lots more bows I could test???  Lets see there are more pronghorns, the Thunderstick II, Thunderhorns, Widows, the Wess Wallace Royal, the MA II...oh the choices a bored guy has to make.

Now if I can just get that cruise extended????
Hope this was of some interest to a few of you.
Gene

[PastorSteveHill]

Let me know what the Wes Wallace does for ya..Thanks

[deadpool]

keep them test coming,

and you thnk you can send me a pic of the bezaleel?

[L. E. Carroll]

The Wess Wallace "Royal" is a super smooth shooting bow!!! Very hard to miss with [if you do your part].  I'll try and get you some #'s tomorrow.
It's a 64" 50# bow.
Gene

[Over&Under]

Goodness Gene, you have quite the collection of some very nice bows, I am more than a little jealous...LOL

Interesting results, I agree, very close results with the different poundage.

[bowless]

Good stuff, I'd say test the rest.
Thanks for the info.

[L. E. Carroll]

Had a "Senior Moment" last night when I posted these numbers. The last numbers for each bow should have been shown as grains per lb. of draw wt. I have corrected the post.
Gene

[redant 60/65]

Thanks for the info. Good stuff.  

[McDave]

What was your method of determining that you had a consistent 28.5" draw length?

[kadbow]

That Shrew seems pretty slow, since you probably want to get rid of it I'll be happy to take it off your hands for you.

[L. E. Carroll]

McDave, "nothing scientific" and I did not use a clicker. I just relied on constant form, correct back muscle tension, and shooting trad since the early 60's. Best I could do. I hope it was good enough. Like I said at the top of the post, when I said "they are just the numbers I came up with".

As far as your question, I'm wondering how anyone shooting trad. [ I have never felt a "Clicker" could to be classified as trad] can state their draw lenght by any other means than the explanation I gave above. When I do everything right on my end, my draw is a measured 28 1/2". Besides marking the test arrow in some way? I'm open to suggestions.

Gene

[McDave]

The reason I asked is that I just wondered if there was any better way to do it.  I chrono my own bows and arrows from time to time, just by shooting the arrows through my chrono at what I hope is a fairly consistent draw length, same as you do.  My typical results through the chrono will vary within 5 fps usually, with the occasional arrow that goes outside of those parameters and I chalk up to a poor release or some chrono measurement error.

Ken Beck at Black Widow uses a shooting machine and a much more expensive chrono than I have, so his results are much more consistent, of course.  But probably not as realistic, given that we shoot with our fingers and not with a machine.

Shooting my bows, which are in the same poundage range as yours, but which I draw to 27.5", I'm more likely to get readings in the 175 fps range.  I don't know if the difference is about what you'd expect with a 1 inch less draw, due to differences in our chronos, or whether my release isn't as crisp as it should be.  I've considered setting up some kind of rig to hold my bow so I could pull it back to my draw length with a release, so I could measure what the difference in arrow speed is, but other than curiousity I don't know how I would use that information, so I haven't done it yet.

[Shawn Leonard]

That Cherokee is probably the best performer there considering it is a mild R/D longbow. If ya ever want to part with it let me know! Shawn

[L. E. Carroll]

I'll do that Shawn,  right now I have plans for it in 3D shoots.  I will keep you in mind though as I trade bows alot as you may have figured out.
Gene

[O.L. Adcock]

The biggest mistake folks make chronoing bows is not measureing the draw weights on the same scale, not keeping the gr/lb the same, and not measuring the draw lengths correctly between them. Chrono's, even the $100 ones are plently accurate within 1 fps but either they need light kits or used only between 10am and 2pm outdoors so the light is good.

Not keeping the gr/lb constant warps the numbers big time and unless folks are familiar with exacty how bows behave, they aren't able to extrapolate numbers from varying gr/lb. Assuming the same gr/lb around 9, every fps is 1% in horsepower so you can extrapolate around that. If one bow is putting 4% more intp the same arrow then another bow but it's 8% more draw weight, the slower/lighter weight bow is a better bow. Best bet is to get all the gr/lb the same, no guess work that way. Aluminum tape works great to adjust arrow weight a few grains as is brass washers between point and shaft. Draw lengths, just make the arrow relative to the low point of the grip and have an assitant off to the side watch the mark. Fingers....It effects all bows the same so as long as all are shot the same way, it's valid as a comparision between them. String types of course change things as well as how tight arrow nocks are. A person so inclined can do very accurate tests, they just have to be methodical and don't dismiss any detail as "it won't make much difference"....O.L.

[George D. Stout]

Actually, I like knowing things like this that aren't so stinking structured.  What we do in the woods and field is not nearly as consistent as a shooting machine.  My only thought would be that the arrows had to be flying well from each setup to make fair comparisons....if they were, then the figures mean something, even if not purely scientific.  

I judge my bows by the point-on that they have when I shoot them.  That's about as scientific as I get.

[Indie]

If you want to compare the efficiency of the bows, the way to do it, is as O.L. Adcock had described.

But if you want to find the best bow for you, you have to feel the riser in your hand, draw the string and shoot a lot of arrows through it.
You´ll feel the right bow and you´ll see on the target, which is a good bow for you.

Best bow is probably the one that is the fastest with a heavy arrow, of the ones that feel right.

[HATCHCHASER]

Thanks L.E.  Enjoyed reading your findings.

[O.L. Adcock]

George, "I judge my bows by the point-on that they have when I shoot them. That's about as scientific as I get."

Nothing wrong with that at all and will yeld the same results if tuned to the same quality. I like watching point on's go from 55 to 70 with the same draw weights or stay the same with less!   ....O.L.

[George D. Stout]

O.L., I hear you.  If I work a point-on out past 55, I really screw-up my mid-range shooting.  It's my hard head I suppose.  :rolleyes: