What weight arrow is too light for a 45# bow?

[James Wrenn]

Well I don't think Hill followed that most of the time.He shot cedar arrows a lot with light points from bows 80lbs.No way possible for him to be shooting 10gns/lb with the length arrows he used.I expect with the heaviest cedars he would be shooting 8gns/lb or less.Now with hardwoods ect they were shooting maybe 10gns but with heavy bows and short arrows it was not possible with cedar arrows. jmho

[Rob DiStefano]

at least to me, it'd be interesting to know the average weight of hill's broadhead arrow for a given draw weight bow.    

i've read that he prefered hardwood footed arrows, so that would increase total weight.

[James Wrenn]

Rod a few years ago someone on the other site had one that weighed at around 560gns.According to his arrow building section in "Hunting the Hardway" he prefer tapered 11/32 cedar over everything else.He did use a 3/8s shaft when he wanted a heavy arrow and tapered it full length.He also went on to say he did not like footed shafts with broadheads because it made the front of the arrow too heavy with broadhead and rob the cast.He never wanted a broadhead over 150gns and prefered lighter again to not rob cast.By his own words he was shooting less than 8gns/lb and wanted a low foc to get as much distance from the arrow as he could. Howard liked light fast arrows.  

[Ybuck]

Originally posted by LKH:
It also depends on the bow.  Many of better performing bows made of modern materials can handle lighter arrows.  I would be more hesitant with a selfbow to shoot light arrows.

I don't like the noise my bows make with light arrows.

i agree.
My Hoyt Gamemaster "likes" light arrows.
#43, arrows=400 grains

[bmb]

my 44# hoyt likes both 525gr and 370gr. arrows.....i like the lighter especially since i gap shoot.

but my 52# hoyt gamemaster2 really likes 415gr. arrows!! its a give and take thing...so for me personally i would rather have a lighter arrow that HAS and WILL do the job for me on Alabama deer, hogs,turkey, and especially 3-d.

BTW- i have taken hogs with the 44# hoyt gamemaster2 and a beman ics 500 with a 100gr. magnus stinger for a total weight of 375grs. ....biggest hog was around 140# and all that was sticking out, on the entry side, was half of the fletching. hog ran about 50yds before expiring.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by James Wrenn:
Rod a few years ago someone on the other site had one that weighed at around 560gns.According to his arrow building section in "Hunting the Hardway" he prefer tapered 11/32 cedar over everything else.He did use a 3/8s shaft when he wanted a heavy arrow and tapered it full length.He also went on to say he did not like footed shafts with broadheads because it made the front of the arrow too heavy with broadhead and rob the cast.He never wanted a broadhead over 150gns and prefered lighter again to not rob cast.By his own words he was shooting less than 8gns/lb and wanted a low foc to get as much distance from the arrow as he could. Howard liked light fast arrows.      

wow, now that's revealing!!!    

[Guru]

Ybuck, 400gns isn't light for a 43# bow...for a 60# yes....you're over 9gpp at 400gns...

[James Wrenn]

Yeah Rob I was a bit surprised too.I just started reading the book after winning it at a shoot last year.Sure seems a lot of things are different than things I have seen posted on the web about him.Sorry about all the typos in the other post.My batteries were dying in my wireless keyboard and it kind of typed what ever it wanted to.    

Back on topic.. You draw length has much to do with how light of arrow you can shoot from bows.A person with a 30" draw shooting 9gns puts more stress on a bow than someone with a 26" draw does with a lot lighter arrow.Going below the regular 8gns threshold on most bows if you have a short draw really should not harm the bow at all if the constrution is sound.I only draw 26 and have a couple of bows that shoot nice and quiet with 7gn arrows.Since I shoot light weight bows and love big broadheads I can seldom get arrows that light except for shooting targets however. jmo

[George D. Stout]

For what it's worth, when Hill went to Africa in 1950, he got his cedar arrows (100 dozen) from Ben Pearson...who sent them to Hugh Rich in California to be prepped for Hill's trip.  Hugh made sure they were all straight and mounted the broadheads per Hill's preference.

[Bjorn]

A while back I asked Jay St. Charles what is the lightest arrow I could shoot with a 53# Thunderbird recurve he made, his response was there is no such thing in his opinion, any arrow was going to be heavy enough.
I am not advocating light arrows........I shoot 500-600 gr woodies out of all my bows; but I have also tried 250 gr carbons just to satisfy my curiosity.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
A while back I asked Jay St. Charles what is the lightest arrow I could shoot with a 53# Thunderbird recurve he made, his response was there is no such thing in his opinion, any arrow was going to be heavy enough.
I am not advocating light arrows........I shoot 500-600 gr woodies out of all my bows; but I have also tried 250 gr carbons just to satisfy my curiosity.

mr. st charles statement sure don't sound right to me.  all bows have limits, and the lighter the arrow the closer to a dry fire.  250gr out of 53# holding weight is 4.72gpp - that's a dry fire in my book.  yikes!

using 10gpp as a minimum, the release feels better, the arrow receives more of the limb's energy, the shot is more stable and with less noise, a better sense of 'shot feel', and increased penetration.  

the price is lower trajectory, which can be an issue for open space hunting out west, but not in the deep woods where most shots are under 20 yards.

[Ybuck]