Short story version:
Swapped the stock FF string on my Dorado to a B50 I made. It's way quieter, but had to increase point weight from 125 to 175 to get them to fly right. So now I'm shooting a quieter bow with a heavier arrow -- I'm a happy camper.
Long story version:
Hoyt string on my 45# Dorado was annoying from day one. The rubber silencers that came on it were cut in half and fell off in the first week. I put string leeches on, but they cut in half shortly too. When I learned how to make strings, I finally realized that what I had was a very bundled string. They hadn't reverse twisted the bundles before doing the second end, so you ended up with a very profound double helix effect:
I also never was happy with how quiet the bow was. The shop where I bought it this summer (first bow I've purchased) set me up with some Beman Bowhunter 500's, cut to 30" with 125 grains. The bow is supposedly 45# at 28, although I draw to 29. Weight tubes helped some, but I gave up chasing my nocks everytime I went stump shooting. Brace height mades some difference, as did hair silencers and string groove silencers. But it was never quiet.
I made some new strings for it back in December. A B-50 twelve strand and a D-97 10 strand but never put them on. My serving had completely worn out a the nocking point, so it was time. I put on the B-50 with some of the wonderful hush puppies and suddenly it was whisper quiet. But I couldn't get my arrows to fly right. So to the club where I tried to paper tune.
My arrows had always been a touch underspined before. 125 was the biggest head I could get on them and still get any kind of decent flight. Now it was showing way over spined. I messed with the brace height, and then 145 grain points. Not enough. Killdeer had given me some 175's so I put those on for fun and suddenly bullet holes.
For kicks I also tried the D97 I had made. No silencers. It seemed a lot faster than the B-50 obviously, but going back I couldn't get the 125's to fly right at all. Maybe adding the silencers would have slowed it down just a bit, but here I was getting worse not better.
Back to the B50. Arrows flew nice, and everything was quiet for the first time ever. Outside at 20 yards, I had a bit of adjusting to do though. Suddenly what Killdeer called my laser beams had arc to them. That'll take a bit of getting used to. At home later in the day I was actually starting to shoot better after a few practice rounds at 20-25 yds:
I think with a little drop, my sight gap is smaller, which is helping. And perhaps the B50 is more forgiving as well?
Overall, I couldn't believe the difference in arrow flight as well as noise with the three different strings. Now I know. And as speed isn't necessarily my thing if I can hit where I'm aiming, I'm starting to like the B50!
Of course, I had to order some 175 grain blunts and broadheads yesterday from 3Rivers. But I was overdue for another order anyhow.
Topic: What a difference a string makes! (Read 302 times)
