Howard Hill shootout

[bicster]

The one thing I have noticed about my HH is the cast is better  downrange. Even with heavy arrows, it seems to hold a flatter tragectory on longer shots. I shot a spike last weekend with it using a quartering away shot angle. It took out the liver and a lung but did not pass through. I saw the deer walk away with about 6" of the fletch end of the arrow sticking out. He only went 50 yds and when I found him the broadhead end was sticking out the other side and broken off. I am not sure if I did not have a pass through because of a thick arrow or because of the shot angle but it definitely did the job.
HH Longbowman's Choice
64" extra carbon lam
50#@28"
I draw 27"
POC arrow 515 grains w/ Wensel Woodsman BH

Bic

[Wannabe1]

I haven't shot anything or chrono'd my Redman but, it definitely shoots an AD Trad Lite, cut 29.5 BOP with 145gr tip fast enough. Total arrow weight is 498gr. I pull the bow 45# @ 29" and have no compulsions to using it on deer and such.  

[longbowray]

i have shot though a cow elk with a 57 @ 27 in with 580 gr arrow . and other with just the head out the other side . and that bow is 62in long with FF swting and shot 172 to 175 also has a 1/2 in backset and it a t/d . i have 5 HH and love them been shotting them for about 25 yr just my 2 cents

The speeds list are about the same as the Cheetah I had drawn to 26" and 52 pounds with heavy cedars.  The bows that I ordered with a quicker taper and tillered myself are faster with less hand shock.  since I do not totally trust the numbers we got, I will say that they are viable as a comparison to my bows on that day.  I have had only pass throughs on all the deer I have shot with these except one double shoulder hit, the buck went down plenty fast anyway and that was with a Big River that got higher numbers than all but my Schulz legends.

[swampthing]

Nothing not to like about that. Took a few large sows with mid 50#'s, worked, but I want juust a little more juice when the 600g shafts come out of the quiver. That 75#'er gets em at 180fps w/27" of draw, definately makes the 35yd shot a little easier for me.

[Ben Maher]

i average about 150 fps out of my Hills with 550 gn arrows 52# @ 27" 69:"" bows ...

Killed a lot of critters with this set up ...

[RC]

My set up is bout like Bens. I`ve never not got a critter because of the bow...RC

I have noticed with mine that they do not slow down as much as my BW when I bump the arrow weight up.  I use to have Rogue River set aside the ultra heavies for the spines for me.  On the down side, I have also noticed that they do not speed up as much as the recurves when I went down in weight.  Regardless, I have always shot the shortest possible arrow i could get and still get the arrow directly behind the point.  On an actual game hit I cannot say that the arrow speed made many differences, even when using my extra heavy longbows. I found I was measuring my penetration in the distance of the pass through and even that had more to do with the shot angles, most times uphill for me.

[Bill Turner]

Your set-up is more than enough for hogs and whitetails. RC has killed a bunch of hogs with his Hill's. He knows what he is talking about. I'm hunting with a 66", 56@28 TD "Cheetah" and a five lam, 64", 53@28 TD "Red Man". My arrows are woodies, 29" long, carry razor sharp 2 blade heads, and weigh in at 620 grains for the "Cheetah" and 580 grains for the "Red Man". I've never check'um for speed but my shots will be from 10 to 20 yards and I have complete confidence in my set-up. So should you.

[swampthing]

68" Miller Old Tom, straight limbs, 65#@28, 668g arrow, 18-strand FF string, 170fps, 28" draw, static release.

[Rob DiStefano]

never heard that adding more lams to a hill - or any bow, for that matter - will make the bow comparatively faster, given that the holding weight is exactly the same.  hard to believe.  in fact, i'd say that the lighter the limbs, the faster the limb speed.  

take two hill bows that are identical in length and holding weight. limb and riser materials are the same, 'cept one has 5 solid tempered bamboo lams and the other 3 solid tempered bamboo lams.  each is tillered to 28" perfectly.  both shoot the same 10gpp arrow through the chronograph.  imho, the 3 lam bow will be fractionally faster due to two less glue lines worth of weight, for lower limb mass weight, and less weight of the same strength is just ... faster in recovery.

i don't know or care what the chrony speed of my 70", 54@29 tembo is, but in comparison to my mohawks and moab, when flying the same arrow at 30 yards she ain't as fast but she's also no slowpoke slacker.

[swampthing]

Thanks for the insight Mr D. It was a quote I heard from Craig a long while back about the "extra" lams. I like the 3 in my Miller just fine. Shoots the woodies quietly. 29" draw? where are you anchoring that thing? Curious as to the speed difference @29" draw compared to a 28" draw with the same bow.

[Claymore]

Craig told me on my last Hill that adding a lamb of bamboo would add a few feet per second. He was not trying to talk me into it just talking about the things that could be done. Thats why the Wesley has 5.

[swampthing]

Got my hands on a slight backset, 68" Redman again, marked 55#@28. Put a 18 strand FF sting on it and some 530g woodies. 170fps @28" draw was the average, trajectory was suprisingly doo'able at 35yds. Not quite as flat as my 65# hunting bow, {she goes 183fps}, but, not as drastic as I thought it would be.

[R.V.T.B.]

My Half breed is 61 pounds at 29 inches and shoots a 680 grain Surewood at 158 fps.

[Rob DiStefano]

none of the hill style/type longbows are speed demons.  in fact, typically just the opposite.  what the design excels in is "stability", a factor that many prefer over pure arrow speed.

i played around with a number of different chronos over the last 15 years or so, and came to realize that knowing precise arrow fps just doesn't matter, for any reason.  what does matter is using a heavy enuf arrow for the bow's holding weight, and balancing that arrow mass weight against its trajectories at hunting distances.  it's all a compromise of sorts, there are no free lunches.  

[swampthing]

  Thank you Rob, what I did notice was that at about 40yds the 170fps arrow was quite high in order to "fall in." where as the 180fps arrow did not rise much more than 12" over the target.