Bow question

[Chester Thompson]

Question I have been pondering, I have a 25" draw, so to get a 45 lbs bow at my draw I have to buy a 55 lbs (approx), so what I was wondering is am I also losing power stroke on the bow too? Is there anybody that had designed a bow to be effective with a shorter draw length?

[JamesKerr]

You can get a custom bow made to maximize that bows limb performance at 25". I would go with a carbon and foam cored limb to give you a boost in performance.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Craig at Howard Hill Archery can make a bow that has all the power you need at that draw length.

[Sixby]

I build draw specific bows as does Bigfoot bows . There may be others that do but I do not know. I agree that you should go with foam core and carbon for max performance. You are losing power stroke. I would also suggest that you ask a prospective bowyer what the brace height is on his bows./ You need to have a low brace for max powerstroke when your draw is that short. The bow should start stacking about an inch past your specified draw length or so for you to be getting the max out of it. You cannot make up completely for having 3 inches than less draw but you can sure add a lot to the generic method of just adding more lbs to a bow built for a longer draw.


God  bless and good luck, Steve

[Chester Thompson]

Originally posted by Sixby:
I build draw specific bows as does Bigfoot bows . There may be others that do but I do not know. I agree that you should go with foam core and carbon for max performance. You are losing power stroke. I would also suggest that you ask a prospective bowyer what the brace height is on his bows./ You need to have a low brace for max powerstroke when your draw is that short. The bow should start stacking about an inch past your specified draw length or so for you to be getting the max out of it. You cannot make up completely for having 3 inches than less draw but you can sure add a lot to the generic method of just adding more lbs to a bow built for a longer draw.


God  bless and good luck, Steve

Steve thanks, that is exactly what I was wondering  if I was giving my more than just draw length.

[Mike Taylor2]

7 Lakes builds draw specific bows also.  Great bows.

[Brianlocal3]

Steve Turay at Northern Mist makes draw specific also. Great guy.  

If ILF is an option for you , id seriously call A Major ILF dealer and ask if you can optimize draw specific performance from an iLF bow. I do not know anything about them but people speak highly of the limb system

[Chester Thompson]

I talked with Bob Sarrels of Sarrel's Archery and he told me that his draw is 26.5, and his bow are all build to work at 26.5, so I would not be giving to much up. He also said to keep the bow as short as possible to allow the limbs to work. It was really just a question, as I can not buy a bow right now anyways.

It is a good question, I have a 26" draw when I shoot left handed and just a tad more shooting right handed.  I used to hunt with a little fellow that shot many deer, he always claimed to have a 27" draw, he was less than 5' with his good hunting boots on. His real draw was around 23" and 24" on level ground and stretching.  The deer he killed apparently did not know that he had a short draw, neither did he, but it worked for him. Same thing with the draw weights, his bows were all standard 55 pounds and up to 65 at 28".  According to one thread, it was claimed that a longer bow will give better performance at any draw length. That may be true with the bows they tested, but with bows like Hill longbows it is not.  My wife's NAT Lost Creek 54" (42@28") built for her 26 plus draw is flat out fast for a lighter short draw bow. It really comes alive at 26", but even if she were to draw it shorter there would still be good speed, it is ten FPS faster than the identical weight recurve (42@28") that she killed a number of deer prior.