chronographing your setup

[Doc Pain]

How many of you have actually worked with a chronograph on your setup?  Were you pleasantly surprised or disappointed in the results?  The reason I ask is because I have chronographed  quite a few friends bows over the years and most were not getting anywhere near the speed that they thought they were.

[DesertDude]

It will open your eyes to a few "Myths". I have done alot of Chrono testing. We use it to get a baseline for the bow being tested then make changes to see what effects it had. In the end you have what you have, all testing has the Human error factor also. I like to prove or disprove findings some have listed...

[FerretWYO]

I shot a chrono once. The guy at the shop was not happy. I guess my bow was fast enough to put that thing out of comision.      

[Chris Shelton]

I have always wanted too, and probably will here in the near future.  But just havent, I hope I am not disappointed.  I must say that I really wont care either way . . . it is like buying a truck and worrying about gas mileage.  WE dont buy traditional bows because we care about speed, lol!

[Predator Man]

I have and I can tell you that the biggest speed robber in the whole entire world is cat wiskers. Rubber cat wiskers have been dragging my bow down for years.  I gained 15 fps from removing cat wiskers from one of my bows.  Most of my old setups were from 188 to 205. I only draw 27.5 - 28 so thats not bad

My martin super diablo is getting 205 with a 7.2gpp arrow and 18 strand 8125 string with beaver balls. Its really the most impressive bow i own since I only paid $120 for it gently used.

All of my bows shoot over 200 fps with arrows 8gpp or less but the all cost way more than my MSD and there all shooting 10 strand 8125 strings with yarn silencers.

If you want a speed bow you have to buy a speed bow. You cant tell by it's looks what it will shoot like.  Brace height is also a big factor.

[Chris Shelton]

quote:Originally posted by FerretWYO:
I shot a chrono once. The guy at the shop was not happy. I guess my bow was fast enough to put that thing out of comision.              I am actually scared about that

[George D. Stout]

If you are going to be disappointed after seeing numbers, from a bow that shoots great and hits the target, you may want to get some therapy 8^)).

Last bow I chronographed was in 1980.  I know how bows shoot by shooting them.  I want them to be quiet, and dead in the hand.  I want them to fall within a point-on for target/arrow connection that suits my style and form...from 50 to 60 yards.   And that is with a hunting weight arrow of between 9 and 10 grains per pound.  My choice of weight range.

People get so enamored with numbers they will buy a bow that is porported to be fast but they can't shoot it worth a darn...amazing.  For my shooting style, and my arrows, I think somewhere between 170 fps and 180 fps fits the balance nicely.  Ultra fast bows are generally finicky too, especially on the bottom end of the grains per pound spectrum.      

And if I ever do shoot through a chronograph, I will not need to have therapy, I will already have a good idea of what it will say.  Numbers don't impress this old curmudgeon....putting the arrows where they should go, does.  

[NDTerminator]

I love gaining knowledge & fiddling, so I chronograph my bows with various arrow types, weights, and spines.

What surprised me is unlike compounds, with recurves there is little difference between bows in performance given the same draw weight/length & arrow weight.  Even the high end/high performance recurves aren't jaw droppingly faster than the other stuff, all else being equal.

My bows, from lower cost imported production through semi-custom to full custom, which are 51#-54# at my 28.5" draw length with arrows of 500 or so grains, ALL shoot in the low-mid 180's.

So being, IMO feel & shootability are most important, followed by pride of ownership, and performance last when you buy a trad bow.

I had three of my bows shot through chronos for speed.  I hit the rim on the first one I had someone else shoot for me. I was surprised how fast two of them were and shocked how much slower my Bear takedown was in comparison.  So I put on a set of limbs I got from Bear that were newer and shorter and got 15 fps more. These bows are all old bows, but two of them got as much speed built into them as the bows of today. There were speed differences in the magnesium Bear takedown with different setups. I wish Bear still made all of that stuff, even if other bows are faster, they were still great bows.

[George D. Stout]

pavan, the last bow I chronographed was Bear Takedown, 65# with a 1718 Graphlex arrow, shot 196fps average....that was a new bow in 1980...the Gainesville model.  That was at the Pa. Bowhunter Festival.  My buddy at the time had a 67 pound Jennings Arrowstar, and with his arrows he got 187fps average.  He sold it the next month and ordered a Bear Takedown.  His arrows were Easton 2117 aluminum and about twenty grains lighter than mine.   He still shoots traditional to this day.    

 

[rraming]

After getting one I don't believe some of the things I read

[DesertDude]

OK are you sitting down George?  If the bow shoots great and hits where you are looking than the numbers mean nothing....That's so True George.  What I like about a chrono is that, when a guy says his bow shoots 210fps, or he did this and got a extra 10fps. You can say "Let's See"  If it does great..  Most times he's way off.

It's a nice tuning tool, to find the sweet spot for brace height. (other than sound/feel)YMMV

[Bjorn]

I have a chrono, my son and I use it from time to time to check our set ups and most recently we used it to work on release. A very worthwhile item to have, or at least have access to.

[daveycrockett]

Originally posted by rraming:
After getting one I don't believe some of the things I read

:rolleyes:  me too.

[Doc Pain]

George, I did not mean for a moment that speed was the most important thing about how well a bow and arrow combo works, but it is important.  If I have offended you, I am sorry.  Why I brought this topic up is that I have noticed that quite a few of trad gang members that list their bow weights and draw length are typically in the low to mid 50's.  With arrow weights in the 9-10gpp range of hunting weight arrows, I have chronographed very few that have made it to 180fps.  Most are in the mid 170's.  Longbows, even the hybrids seldom break into the 170's.  The only way I've ever gotten the longbows of that weight class into the upper 170's is with an extremely low brace height and bare{unsilenced} string.

[James Wrenn]

I find it a valuable tool for working on bows and tuneing.I am never dissapointed in numbers because well..they are just numbers.    

Shooting through a crony on a regular basis is the best thing in the world for cleaning up your release.I disagree about the cat whiskers being the worst thing for robbing performce.A crappy release and a little creep intstead of useing back tension is the worst.  :D

[flinthead]

I just put all my bows thru the chronograph this week . Shot a 413 grain Gold tip 35-55 arrow thru all . All shot 175 to 182 Feet per second . One Widow , 3 Hummingbirds and one Croe Creek . Found out bamaoo inside and outside of limbs shot like 4 pounds more draw weight .
Nothing scientific . Some had different silencers and draw weight svaried by 4 pounds . 49 pound Widow recurve shot same as 49# Hummingbird 3 piece longbow . That surprised me .
Read where a guy shot 202 FPS out of a bow like mine . Did the math , his arrow was 6.5 grains per pound . Scary . Roy

[Mike Most]

I got a chrono a while back, shot my recurve #55 thru it with 525 grain arrows, and then did the same with my 53# longbow, One went thru on the average 162 fps the longbow was 151 fps.

After reading all the fast posts here I thought I would be higher, but I havent killed it yet, and I even tested it with an AR 15 and it went 3041FPS. My bows still bring home the meat. Both pork and venison.

I agree with the clean release guys here.

[pdk25]

Comparing bows in the same weight range and gpp means nothing unless you consider the strings, silencers and draw length.  IMHO, a chronograph is a nice tool that let's you quantitate how changes to your bow effect its performance.

[BWD]

No, don't feel the need, and wouldn't care about the results anyway.