Weight or FOC

[xtrema312]

I am working up a new arrow.  I have a range of weights and FOC to consider.  The arrow needs to have a reasonable trajectory out to 25 yd.  So what is your pick for bet performace on medium size game?  Do you like weight or FOC if you have to choose one factor as primary?

[Bill Carlsen]

Personally, I would go with the FOC. I did a lot of experimenting with carbons and the best solution for me was the FOC. However, the caveat is that you should do whatever gives you the best arrow flight. Personally I bare shaft my shafts before i commit to a particular point weight, etc. A perfectly flying arrow trumps anything you do to add weight.

[bornagainbowhunter]

I use weight with reasonable FOC.  Out of my 53#@28" I shoot 540gr with a 17% FOC.  IMHO the best of both worlds.

[Richie Nell]

In your situation I would go with average weight, not too heavy or too light.  However I would produce the weight up front creating 25%+ EFOC.

[Charlie Lamb]

Can't go wrong listening to Bill Carlson!!  

[Don Stokes]

Like Bill said. Perfect arrow flight is by far the most important factor in performance.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Depends on what your hunting.  FOC is more important in my view since it increases penetration at any weight, and helps with arrow tuning and good flight.  If your only worried about trajectory out to 25 yards, I would crank the weight up above 650 grains personally.  Not a whole lot of difference at that short of a range.  Once you get out past 30 yards you really start to see trajectory issues with heavier arrows.

[Orion]

If you're talking about a carbon arrow, the two go hand in hand.  The shaft is very light, thus to increase weight any substantial amount, you'll need to increase point weight fairly substantially, which will also increase the FOC.  (Filler tubes/lines don't add a heck of a lot of weight.)  For a given overall arrow weight, the options won't be that different, but to the extent they are, I would opt for the one that yields the greatest FOC.

[xtrema312]

In running a 400 spine arrow now, but it is in the 8.25 gpp range and on the light side for FOC in my heavier bows.  It shoots great for targets.  I also shoot the same arrow in my light bow with more point weight.  In that bow I get a better gpp and foc for hunting and all around shooting.  The arrows I have will end up for the light bow, and I will build these new arrows for the heavier bows.

I have 6 CE350’s on hand.  I am trying to decide if I want to make them up or not.  On a CE 350 I will have over 600 gr. weight, but light on FOC.  

I have two other options.  One is a 300 spine generic carbon.  It would lose some weight from the CE, but get more FOC.  The other option is a generic carbon of 340 spine.  It would be lighter in weight than the others, but more FOC than the CE.

I have the figures at home.  I will post them later for more input.  I just wanted to see what the feeling is in general about weight vs. foc.

[JimB]

I think I would try to determine first,exactly what overall weight gives me the trajectory I want.Then go from there.I have been shooting 13-14 gr per # arrows and out to 20 yds I don't have to think about trajectory but at 25,I do.

I have to admit,I'm not very good at hitting that overall weight I am looking for.The bow ends up steering me to what it likes.Often,that ends up very different than what I thought it would be.

[Butch Speer]

Got to agree with Bill Carlson. Soot whatever has the best arrow flight & you won't be disappointed.

[Greg Skinner]

It depends on how much you enjoy tinkering.  Just decide about what you want to achieve and then mix and match until you get there.  I personally like FOC above 25% and arrows in the area of 11 - 12 grains per pound of draw.  So I just try different combinations until I get there. I like my arrow speed to be 150 - 155 fps and with that I am good out to 25 yards.  I'll shoot beyond that stumping or ground squirrels just for practice.  I've arrowed ground squirrels out to 33 long paces with that type of setup so I don't feel too handicapped with the heavier arrows.

[cacciatore]

I hunt with 65# bow so i don't have many problems, having a 650-700 grs arrow with18-20% Foc, i get speed penetration and trajectory up to 35-40 yrs.If I'll plain to hunt Cape buffalo I'll change set up.

[wapiti792]

I have toggled back and forth between a carbon arrow at 10gr/lb draw weight with FOC 18% or so to now going with a heavy 2219 (11.5 gr/# dw) with my FOC being lower to get a heavy elk arrow. I am shooting a 62# at 30in recurve. I had NO problems with penetration in the 4 deer I killed this year with the carbons but I wanted a heavy arrow for elk. I hope to report back with an elk on the ground in Sept to give you my opinion  

[Rob DiStefano]

imo, it's just logical thinking.

first and foremost, tune best arrow flight ...

... second, arrow gpp weight (retune for best arrow flight) ...

... third, arrow foc (retune for best arrow flight).

better yet, combine gpp and foc/efoc and have it all - as long as the arrow flies straight and true at your hunt shooting distances.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Originally posted by xtrema312:
I am working up a new arrow.  I have a range of weights and FOC to consider.  The arrow needs to have a reasonable trajectory out to 25 yd.  So what is your pick for bet performace on medium size game?  Do you like weight or FOC if you have to choose one factor as primary?

If I had to choose one I'd say weight. I try to get my arrows around 9 gpp and tune them accordingly. I've never once set up arrows with FOC in mind.

[olddogrib]

Not sure if you mean lighter weight for flatter trajectory or heavier weight for better penetration.  I would assume the latter, and if that is the case you can have both with the choice of the right arrow.

[pdk25]

Just out of curiosity, what are your heavier bows and draw length?   You mention 300 spine arrows, and with the bows that are listed at the bottom of your posts, I'm not sure that you could put enough weight in the front to get them to be tuned to your bow.  If you did, you should have more than enough FOC, JMHO.

[xtrema312]

I am looking at heavier weight of more FOC for better penetration.

I draw longer than the listed bows.  I would like these arrows to run about 31" if possible.  My current light bow is shooting about 185 fps with a 31" arrow at 9+ gpp.  Ideally I would like to see the same arrow length out font and have close to the same speed so I shoot everything about the same.  I like 125 gr. Phantom heads, but have 100 and 150 BH's I can use.  I have to chronograph a couple arrows in my bows to dial in better on the expected speed.  I like low $ shafts, but have the CE's on hand.  I also like the wood look.  I am still weighing out all the options and priorities.  So I just wanted to throw in weight vs. FOC to see which one gains the most penetration.  This is just a start.  Here are some estimates on arrows.  

CE 350 31",100 gr. insert +125 gr. point, 11 gpp, 612 gr. 17% FOC, 172 fps.
Beman Bow Hunter 340 30 1/2", 100+125, 545 gr., 9.8 gpp, 19% FOC, 181 fps.
GT trad 7595/300 31 1/4", 100+145, 601 gr., 10.9 gpp, and 19% FOC, 176 fps.
Beman Bow Hunter 340 31" 50+145, 523gr., 9.0 gpp, and 17% FOC, 185 fps.
Beman Bow Hunter 340 31 1/4", 100+100, 528 gr., 9.1 gpp, 17.4% FOC, 188 fps.

[Richie Nell]

xtrema,
Dr. Ashby's research suggests that a real increase in penetration is not noticed until you reach 19% FOC.  Then the penetration increases with every percent of FOC over 19.

So...you should probably be thinking about the heavier arrow and not the FOC when the FOC is
19%ish or under.  If you get the FOC in the 20's then go with the highest you can get.  And going with the higher FOC option does NOT mean you would negate the weight, which is a win win.

Of course all of this doesn't help much without the arrow flying properly...and that CAN be done with a super high Ultra EFOC, heavy arrow, just like with any other arrow.