Sweet spot... (brace height confusion)

[gobblegrunter]

Happy 4th of July everyone!

I'm confused when it comes to finding my bow's "sweet spot"...

I shoot a short, hybrid longbow that has a suggested BH range of 7.5"-8.5". I've noticed that with BH set at 7.5" the bow is loud, but I seem to group my arrows consistently well. When I increase the BH to 8", the bow quiets down a good bit, but my arrows are all over the place. I've shot with it set both ways pretty extensively and consistently come up with the same results.

Does this make sense? I'm having a difficult time deciding where to set the BH as a result. Anyone else ran into this? Any advice? As always, thanks in advance!

[Orion]

Raising the brace height does quiet the bow.  It reduces the speed by a few fps, but really shouldn't make your accuracy change much. If the bow shoots well for you at 7 1/2, shoot it there.  Just add some string silencers. There are always tradoffs.

[katman]

Raising brace will also effect arrow tune.

[BWD]

Try a heavier point, on your arrows, and see if that helps.

[CEW]

It is probably effecting your arrow spine. The larger the brace height the stiffer the arrow needs to be.

[Lincoln Ribeiro]

I use to find the brace height in the bareshaft tuning. If the arrows are a little bit stiff, I raise the BH. If they are a little bit weak, I decrease the BH.

[Pon]

it would also effect nocking point

[Night Wing]

All bows have a recommended brace height range and somewhere within that range is the "sweet spot". Since I have two 66" take down Blacktail recurves, their recommended brace height range is 7 3/4"-8".

I fine tune my 32" constant length arrows to my bows by adjusting the brace height either up or down "usually" in the recommended brace height range.

As an example, my 2212 arrows tipped with a 75 grain point weight, both of my bows like an 8" brace height and that is the "sweet spot" for each bow since the arrows out of both of my bows hit where I'm looking at.

If I decide to shoot a 32", 2114 arrow out of both bows with an 80 grain point weight, both of my bows like a lower brace height of 7 15/16". With this brace height, the arrows hit where I'm looking at. This is also where the "sweet spot" is with regards to the noise level a bow makes upon arrow release.

I also have a pair of home made yarn wool puffs installed on the bowstring of each bow which dampens the noise level upon arrow release. I used to have a pair of catwhiskers installed on each bowstring, but I've found yarn wool puffs are much quieter than catwhiskers.

[Bobby Urban]

I always lower it until it starts to get loose(you will know) then I turn it back a few twists and that is my sweet spot 99% of the time.  I am getting the most out of the bow this way.  If it is a little loud use silencers as mentioned above and place them at 1/3rds on the string.  it will be the most efficient point to dampen harmonics.  Well, the true best point is 1/2 but that gets in the way, obviously.  So you take the two next best points but measuring the distance between the two points the string touches the bow when strung - on a longbow this should be the length of the string but with a hybrid or recurve it is where is touches the limb.  divide by three and place them there.  It is a physics thing and I am not a math genius but I do know it works.

[gobblegrunter]

Thanks to all. I really appreciate the valuable advice. I'll keep tinkerin' with it. In regards to Pon's comment about the nocking point, would the 1/2" difference in BH change the nocking point substantially or not enough to worry about? Also, does anyone have any experience with the limbsaver product that sticks to the belly-side of the limbs? Thanks again everyone.

[Night Wing]

I always set my nocking point at 5/8". That never changes with my arrow setups. I can shoot a different spined arrow, point weight and brace height, but the 5/8" nocking point always remains the same.

[Bobby Urban]

The knock point will remain the same as you twist the string up or down because you are twisting the whole string so no worries there.  As far as limbsavers go - I have them on my recurves just at the end of limb fades.  Keep them close to the handle/riser at the fades.  Putting them out on the limbs just adds weight and defeats the purpose IMO

[ChrisM]

Your arrows are too weak as raising the BH will require a slightly stiffer shaft so it sounds like the low bh is on the edge and when you move it you fall right off.  try a smaller point or a 1/2 shorter shaft.

[gobblegrunter]

Great! Thanks again for the helpful advice guys.