More accurate with more poundage?

[KyleAllen]

School has been keeping me from shooting as much as i would like lately. My muscles weren't liking my 58# limbs without getting to shoot on a regular basis. So i decided to buy some lighter limbs. I bought some 49@ 28" limbs from a fellow ganger. At first i loved em. Seemed to really help my shooting. I even took a hog with them. Well our local 3d league started a few weeks ago, and i've really been sucking hind tit. Couldn't figure out what the deal was. Kept blaming it on my lack of opportunity to shoot here lately. I'm on spring break this week so i've been getting some shooting in. If anything, i seem to be getting worse. My release is worse than it has ever been and my anchor feels sloppy. Then i had a thought...."ya know what, i used to shoot pretty darn good with my heavier limbs". Plus just last week i read Dr Ashbys report on testing the 54# bow and how he struggled with a good release. So i bolted the 58# limbs back on and WOW!!! Arrow is on the mark every time. String just jumps from my fingers and everything feels so solid and steady at full draw.

Anybody experience this?
Kyle

[Shawn Leonard]

Kyle, that was how it was for me for quite a while when I was forced to switch from 60-65#s downn to 52-53#s. It just took time to get a good crisp release with the lower #age. Lots of guys experience the same thing. I now shoot as good as I ever did! Shawn

[Landshark160]

Yeah, that's exactly how it is with me.  I learned to shoot with a #65 lb. bow.  Had never shot anything lighter than #60 before the first of this year.  Got a bow that was #52 and man did I struggle to get a good release.  I believe it really helped my form shooting the lighter bow, but I've gone back up in weight and now shoot better than ever.

[George D. Stout]

You have to work on that back tension with the lighter bows.

[daveycrockett]

Same thing here.

[kawika b]

The added weight masks release/form/back tension errors. Learn to get a good clean release with the light bow and watch how much your shooting improves with the heavier one. That was the one of the reasons I kept my 45# Redwing hunter.

[DeerSpotter]

Just this last week I purchased a Bearcat TD takedown. I will use it to train and to keep my form in line.  Shooting form that is.

It was a reasonable price, and I will make good use of it.  I don't know how old that it is or what kind of value a it has, the serial number on it
is BT-07369, it has two weights listed 40# @ 60" and also 38# @ 66" they're right underneath each other. It was made in Florida.  But it is a low poundage bow, that will be good for practicing on the form.

Carl

[Diamond Paul]

My shooting did nothing but get better with lower poundage.  My draw length also got longer, because I can get all the way back and lock into my anchor now.  I felt the heavier bows encouraged me to semi-snap-shoot, cause I just couldn't stay back with more weight.  If heavier was more accurate, I think we'd see all the Olympic shooters with 60lb bows.

[KyleAllen]

Originally posted by Diamond Paul:
My shooting did nothing but get better with lower poundage.  My draw length also got longer, because I can get all the way back and lock into my anchor now.  I felt the heavier bows encouraged me to semi-snap-shoot, cause I just couldn't stay back with more weight.  If heavier was more accurate, I think we'd see all the Olympic shooters with 60lb bows.

im gonna have to disagree with the olympic comment. How many olympic shooters have you seen shooting a stick bow instinctive? They are shooting like the compounders, except with no draw stop and no let off. If i am mistaken, please educate me.

[vermonster13]

Try shooting the number of arrows required of an Olympic archer at distances up to 90 meters with a 60# bow and see how accurate you can stay. The lighter weight is of necessity.

[Matty]

Originally posted by kawika b:
The added weight masks release/form/back tension errors. Learn to get a good clean release with the light bow and watch how much your shooting improves with the heavier one. That was the one of the reasons I kept my 45# Redwing hunter.

I agree with this comment from Kaiwa,   I shoot alot and often videotape my shooting, My arrow hit's its mark often when I dont completely hit anchor with my #59 longbow, when I switch, to my #45-51-or 55, my shooting suffers with the same BAD form.  when I spend alot of time, with the lighter bows, and good form my accuracy picks up.

[SHOOTO8S]

Interestingly....several of the top Olympic/FITA shooters are now shooting around 50# limbs, with a couple up to near mid 50's...not only to decrease flight time for those 90 M targets in the wind, but one of the key reasons is.....release is less critical, which may increase accuracy.

[kawika b]

probably subjective but,,, What would be the point of diminishing returns as far as accuracy/consistency and draw weight is concerned Rod? Or are Oly/FITA guys using the upper end of the spectrum of capable/handleable draw weight?

[gregg dudley]

Higher draw weight will improve your shooting by masking flaws in your form/release up to the point that you become overbowed for whatever shooting event that you are doing.  For hunting, you make a comparatively higher increase in the draw weight since you are making fewer shots over a longer span of time.  For field archery, you have the endurance factor to weigh in and can not increase the draw weight too much.

I saw G Fred Asbell speak at the TBOF State Championship last weak and his point as I interpreted it was that when the draw weight got too low you tended to stop the action of "pushing and pulling" unless you concentrated on good back tension.  If it is too easy, you tend to let the "pulling" arm do all of the work and that creates bad habits.

[Charlie Lamb]

I'm glad this question was asked. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I have some pretty strong feelings about it.

I've long maintained that it's as easy to be underbowed as it is overbowed... with similar negative results.

I agree with Fred Asbell per Gregg's post. If your muscles aren't working to shoot the bow it's far easier to do all kinds of weird things before the arrow clears the bow.

Recently because of "perceived" aging I'd gone down in draw weight considerably. The accuracy that I once had suffered and I wrote it off to that same aging thing. I'd just have to accept it... but I couldn't and wouldn't be satified with less than the best I could do and I knew it had to be a lot better than what was going on.

Not having had a new bow in almost ten years I decided it was time for me to have one and I finished it a few weeks ago.

I brought it to weight 5 pounds heavier than I'd been shooting and the result was an immediate improvement in my shooting.

Once again I can draw up on a target, anchor and hold and KNOW the arrow is going straight away to the target.
It's not just about getting a better release with the heavier weight... my release is just fine with lighter weight.

It's my opinion that many of todays archers are much too relaxed at full draw with their lighter bows.

And shooting a weight you can shoot all day is a matter of conditioning... really, if you shoot a 3D course how often do you shoot anyway.
If you were standing in one spot shooting a dozen arrows at a time I could see being fatigued at some point.
But shoot an arrow and waiting 5-10 or even 15 minutes between shots allows plenty of time for muscles to rest.

In my life I've shot bows in the upper 80# range and snagged more than a few tournament wins with that weight.

I had progressed down the ladder to 62# and now am back to shooting 67# at the age of 61 and I'm tickled pink with my shooting again.

There is no excuse for shooting any weight bow with bad form. If you can't reach full extention with the weight you are shooting then either improve your shooting strength or admit you are overbowed (no shame in that!)

Finding the "optimum" draw weight for your body type and physical limits is a worthy quest and can be difficult to find.
Ideally it's not one more pound than you can shoot accurately or one pound less.

I sure hope this doesn't turn into a heavier/lighter debate. It should be about what is best for YOUR shooting.  

   

[BigRonHuntAlot]

WELL said Charlie.      

[daveycrockett]

Well put Mr. Lamb. That is just what I've discovered in the last few weeks. I just turned 47 and I went back to my 65 to 68 pound bows and am shooting remarkably better.

[Leland]

It got to the point where I was spent by the end of a 3-D shoot with my heavier # bow.So I bought a lighter # bow, like mentioned above it was not an easy transition.It took me awhile to " reprogram" myself,but it's improved my shooting with both bows.  Leland

[Art B]

Hey Kyle, tried to respond to your PM but your inbox said full up. -ART B

[Diamond Paul]

Originally posted by KyleAllen:
 

Originally posted by Diamond Paul:
My shooting did nothing but get better with lower poundage.  My draw length also got longer, because I can get all the way back and lock into my anchor now.  I felt the heavier bows encouraged me to semi-snap-shoot, cause I just couldn't stay back with more weight.  If heavier was more accurate, I think we'd see all the Olympic shooters with 60lb bows.

im gonna have to disagree with the olympic comment. How many olympic shooters have you seen shooting a stick bow instinctive? They are shooting like the compounders, except with no draw stop and no let off. If i am mistaken, please educate me. [/b]

That's correct, but trust me, no stop and no let off make it a far cry from shooting a compound.  That's why any top compound shooter can soundly beat the best Olympic shooter in the world on spots.  Anyway, I think Olympic shooters will tell you that a good release is next to Godliness, or something along those lines.  I usually shoot 100 or so arrows everyday, so 60lbs is way too much for me anymore.  If you feel it improves your shooting, that's what I'd shoot if I were you.  I wish I could shoot that much myself.  60lbs might be as easy for you as 45lbs is for me, though.  Good shooting, whatever weight you choose.  Paul.