Most accurate bows ;speed overrated?

[philil]

The TBM Little Delta Bow article got me thinking.

A quick arrow seems to become more and more important. Even in trad circles.

I like a fast bow too, but are fast bows also the most accurate ones?   :confused:  

What would you say makes a bow easy to shoot well, and a joy to shoot?

And what are the bows you can shoot lights out with...regardless of speed.

There must be bowyers out there who choose to rather build a smooth-drawing, quiet and accurate bow then a speed-machine.

Tell us about your sniper-bows   :D

[robtattoo]

The only thing that makes any bow accurate, is the person shootin' it!   :D  

Given enough time & practice EVERY bow is accurate. Even with totally wrongly spined arrows, you will shoot accurately once you're familiar with the nuances of that particular bow/arrow combination. You get used to having to am left/right/up/down from your intended target! That's why you may be able to hit a dime (pfennig?   )at 30yds with your bow, but if I picked it up, there's every chance I couldn't hit the sky if I shot upwards   :D

[Glenn29]

I see the trend also for speed and "gadgets" showing up in traditional archery.

I shoot nothing but production bows and they serve me well.

[Matt E]

There does seem to be a speed craze in ever sport. Its a human nature thing! Arrows have a certain speed that makes it easier for a person to shoot well.If you can't follow the tradjectory of an arrow it makes it hard for most archers to ac quire accuracy at moderate distances.The quest for speed can lead to to choosing to much bow.This will cause bad habits and make accuracy hard to obtain.If you use sights its another thing all together.

[James Wrenn]

For me a bow that is smooth and fits my hand best is the one I will shoot the best.How fast the arrow is moving does not change that.The grip is the deciding factor for me.jmo

[vermonster13]

Design is everything. There are several well designed bows that are smooth, fast and stable. Grip is very important as JW says. A faster bow can be slowed down to the speed that works best for you by upping arrow weight and you still get the benefit of the added KE and momentum. Absolutely nothing wrong with making a more efficient trad bow. No matter how fast it shoots, the shooter still needs to hold all the weight and know how to shoot. Gadgets are a whole different ball of wax.

[knife river]

I agree that a bow that's only designed for speed may well suffer in other areas.  However there are several top-flight bowyers who appear to deliver it all -- speed, smoothness, forgiveness, craftsmanship, and beauty.  Sounds pretty good to me.

[Bill Carlsen]

I think Woody is correct. There are a few bows that are well designed and offer excellent shooting qualities in addition to speed. Border has a new limb design that I understand is awesome. In the past fast bows were gnerally super sensitive to shoot and exaggerated slight errors is a shooter's form. Newer designs and materials have allowed modern bowyers to "get out of the box" and offer the shooting public bows that seem to have it all. We livein good times.

[bjk]

James and David have it for me...grip first, then design (specifically riser design -- length, shelf).  

Maybe that is why I have a trillion bows...still looking, but man is it fun!

Bill...I almost agree with the "In the past..." (and maybe you do too    ) The Groves were/are awesome performers and shooters...talk about interesting design and ahead of the times, man.

[Ted A. Young]

I think, and that's a scarey situation right there, speed is way over rated.  If you can't hit the broad side of a barn with a slow bow chances are you won't be able to do it with a fast bow.  IMHO with a fast bow you just miss the target faster.        

[Matt E]

Controlled speed is one thing ,uncontrolled speed is another.Putting sights and speed together is a good partnership but is it good for a traditional shooter? I have noticed that a lot of the top traditional shooters shoot light weight bows. It use to be 45# minumum at the shooters draw.Now you see 35 and 40# bows on the course and these bows are winning! You can't make a bow shoot but just so fast.My Drifter shoots a little over 190fps using a 2114 shaft but it is 55# at my draw. I consider this fast for a 55# recurve.I am relatively sure most of the light bows shoot around 155fps, this is slow.This leads me to believe that a large percentage of archers are not capable of using moderate weight bows accurately therefore not able to get 170fps much less 190fps.I often wonder how anyone knows the correct answer?

[vermonster13]

You are wrong on the speed count with the light bows. These bows shoot just as fast as a heavy bow at the same grains per pound of arrow weight. Most of the lightweight target bows are shooting much faster then our hunting bows because they are shooting at 6 GPP. Speeds of 220-230 are quite common with FITA equipment. Of course they don't have the need to quiet their bows either.

[Voodoofire1]

I don't know there is a correct answer Matt, everyone is different,and everyone has a zone they are comfortable in, but as we get older and our muscle mass deteriorates,lighter bows that keep us in our zone speed wise are a good thing, I like fast bows myself, I'm shooting a 70#'er with 492 gr. arrows at 223 fps. I like the trajectory, and accuracy hasn't seemed to suffer over my lighter bows, but I'm not that good a shot anyway.......................Steve

[robtattoo]

Just to put te light weight/heavy weight into context, my 57# hybrid throws a CX terminator at 9gn pp at 188fps. Conversley my Winn & winn 38# recurve shoots an ACE at 262fps. It's all down to arrow weight & limb efficiency.

[Jeff Strubberg]

A fast arrow isn't really much of a goal.  There are all kinds of shortcut ways to reach that goal.

An efficient arrow, now, that's another thing entirely.  I appreciate good bow design. I appreciate a 55# bow that can deliver the same energy to my target that a 70# can.

Accuracy is affected by bow design, but it's more a matter of careful tuning and practice.

[Ghost Dog]

I have a lot of bows. When ever I want to shoot someting fast, I shoot my Ruger .177. Now that is fast!

OK, sorry for being a butt, but how fast is fast enough for a trad bow? Think about this: a 9 grain arrow shot from a 150 lb. average r/d glass longbow shooting at around 170 fps, will arrive at a 15 yard target in around a 1/4 or a second. That is about the time it takes you to do half a blink. That is pretty fast.

I have shot r/d glass bows that were in the 190+ fps range, but my brain could not get wrapped around that kind of speed, which may say something about my brain.

[philil]

Don't think speed is a bad thing, but I just can't understand how the design of a bow can be changed/pushed towards speed withoud the accuracy suffering...maybe that says something about my brain too    

My initial thought was that there must be elements of design that will increase speed while decreasing "shootability" and the other way round.

Very interesting replies and opinions guys  

[vermonster13]

It all depends on the designer. The materials available today are quite a bit ahead of what was used just five years ago. The guys pushing the envelope do a lot of R&D and test a lot of designs before they ever put one up for sale.

[snag]

I do like watching my arrow sail toward the target and hit it with authority. I am happy with what I have. My longbow is shooting at 160 fps with a 520 gr. wood arrow. I just wonder if I could up the speed to 180 fps if I would be more accurate out to 30 yds. Obviously you don't want to give up accruacy for speed. So the design of the bow would have to be stable as well as fast. I really don't want to have a longbow or recurve that shoots over 200 fps. That isn't something that attracts me. I am practicing out to 30 yds. If the bow was a little faster I think it would be easier to be more constant at that range. I'm sure as I practice I will feel better about hitting my target. Then you have the point of penetration of the animal at that distance with mass of arrow and the speed with which it is delivered...?

[tecum-tha]

Read Traditional Bowyers Bible, the part of bow physics is easy to understand and will give you the reasons why some bow designs are faster than others. There is a german translation as well.
Especially in Germany at the 3D-shoots, most guys shoot lighter bows, because most of them use gap systems and can aim longer and shoot more consistent for a longer time. The distances are not hunting distances either.
This is fine with me, they don`t hunt. If you don`t like the trajectory of a faster bow, just make your arrows heavier and adjust them to your comfortable trajectory line. This means much more penetration for the hunting archer, which is always nice. Faster bows usually have the advantage of a longer distance to the spot, where the line of sight crosses the arc of the arrow. Until that distance the bows are easier to shoot. Beyond that distance it gets tougher, because you will have to elevate your bow hand less than with a slower bow. A bigger elevation of your bow hand is easier to reproduce consistantly than a very small elevation. Try this with a half inch and a quarter inch for yourself and let me know what you think!?