Anybody shoot over 12 grain per pound

[James Wrenn]

I can see where small feet would be a plus.    
Really however I know up close like in most of my treestand shots weight is really not an issue.But since I do far more shooting during the year and a lot at longer ranes than my normal hunting shot and above 11gns makes a drastic differance in the hit and miss ratio.Do you guys with 13 or more grains and short arms ever shoot farther than 15 or 20 yards?If so does not that slow arrow make things a lot tougher?Not picking a fight over what is best here.Just really wondering about how you handle something that is not spitting distance if you don't have a long draw.

[doctorbrady]

James,
Your question is a valid one.  I can only answer for myself.  I shoot routinely out past 30 yards and haven't noticed any problems.  Out to that distance my brain does the math for me so to speak, so I just pick a spot, draw to anchor, and shoot.  I find that if you feed good data into your brain through consistent, repeatable practice, the little computer on your shoulders will typically put out good data in the form of proper shot placement.  I have shot much lighter shafts in the past, and still wouldn't hesitate to shoot 8 or 9 grains per inch on most North American sized critters.  Since moving up to heavier shafts (and sometimes bigger critters), though, I have experienced better penetration and really don't notice a great deal of difference in the distance I can effectively shoot.  Though my longest trad kill was a whitetail doe at 48 yards, I don't routinely loose arrows on critters out past 30 or so yards.  On the other hand, I don't judge yardage, nor do I rely on it to dictate my shot.

[Seeking Trad Deer]

I don't shoot past 15-20 yards tops at a deer so if the arrow is dropping it isn't in that range.  On targets I only go to about 25 yards and I think it is just beginning to drop enough to notice and I imagine 30 yards would be a significant drop.  If you shoot at 30+ yards I'd stick with the light shafts.  One thing though is if you stick to shooting the heavy shafts your brain does calibrate them in after a month or two in my experience.

[Deadsmple]

I like to shoot around 14gpp with my bows. Like doctorbrady I don't routinely take shots at animals past 30yds. But I do practice daily out beyond 50yds. Boy do my arrows drop beyond 30yds!! I don't think that drop makes a big difference in my ability to shoot the longer distances. The thing I would like to know is how much is too much? Like the 8gpp minimum I see many bowyers reccomend, is there a maximum gpp?

[DesertDude]

Let me start this by saying I like a heavy arrow and quite bow.  Let's say you shoot a #50 bow and a 600 gr arrow = 12gpp. Most will aggree that this is a heavy arrow (not supper heavy) but none the less a great set-up for most if not all north american game (ok maybe not for Griz) The 600gr arrow will do the job well with enough transfered energy. Now put this same arrow in a 65# bow and your gpp drops to 9.2. This same arrow that was great traveling slower now is to lite traveling quicker?  As long as your bow still shoots quite I see no reason to go heavier....Mabye I'm missing something..........Mark

[MW]

Thank you Mark, I was wondering the same thing.  

I have a long draw lenght 31 and hunt with high draw weights 74  when you start the division my gpp and gpi go down but the overall arrow weight is up.

I can shoot the same overall weight arrow as someone shooting with a 25 draw out of a 5o lb but the averages are all wacked out!

I just re-read kind of weird but i hope you get the idea.

[Black Gold]

That is my question as well....How can a 525 gr arrow be good out of a 45lb bow and not out of a 65 lb where it is traveling faster thus giving it more kinetic energy.  Doesn't make sense to me....please explain.

[jon]

Mark,

I can't speak for the rest of the gang, but I shoot heavier arrows(13-14gpp) because I shoot lighter weight bows for big game.
In my experience, you can shoot southern deer sized animals with pretty much any weight over 9gpp from bows as light as 45 pounds and have good results. The difference is hunting the big things with 50-52 pounds max. I can launch a 700 gr arrow out of a 52# longbow right at 166fps and kill anything in north america with it. If I could shoot it accurately, I would shoot a similar arrow out of 65 pounds. I can't, so I make do with what I can. My formula is simple, heavy carbon arrow, all the weight in the front, a 3x1 ratio 2 blade razor sharp head, and perfectly tuned arrows, and shots under 30 yards.  

Jon

[Black Gold]

The amount of translational kinetic energy (from here on, the phrase kinetic energy will refer to translational kinetic energy) which an object has depends upon two variables: the mass (m) of the object and the speed (v) of the object. The following equation is used to represent the kinetic energy (KE) of an object.

KE = .5 X Mass X Velocity(squared)

This equation reveals that the kinetic energy of an object is directly proportional to the square of its speed. That means that for a twofold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of four; for a threefold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of nine; and for a fourfold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of sixteen. The kinetic energy is dependent upon the square of the speed.

 Everyone may know this, but I was getting confused so I had to google it.  Seems like draw weights on face value don't matter.....to increase kinetic energy you want to move the most weight you can as fast as you can....I guess try to find that happy medium!

[DesertDude]

Jon I love your set-up (heavy carbon, 3x1, sharp 2 blade, tuned perfect) 700gr @13-14gpp.  Sweet hitting freight Train. My point is if you shoot this out of a bow let's say 75# now your down to 9.3gpp.  Some would say that 9.3 gpp is to lite.
When in fact 700gr arrow is never to lite even if it comes out at 9.3gpp........Hunt well

[Black Gold]

That's just it!....That 700 gr arrow is hitting with more kinetic energy at 9.3 gpp than it is at 13 gpp.

[Black Gold]

Don't know if anyone cares, but if my calculations are right then a 500 gr arrow moving at 200 fps has just about the same amount of kinetic energy as a 700 gr arrow moving at 175 fps.....slow day at work!  

[gwhunter]

The gpi measurement is a rule of thumb.  The KE is what matters.