Can I hear from the 10gpp crowd?

[cacciatore]

My hunting bow are from 55# to 70# so with 10 gpp I have enough speed and plenty of penetration on all the games I pursuit.If you don't hunt very large and thick skinned african games this rule is good for any hunting.maybe you can look for a lighter arrow if you want to compete on 3D.

[1/4 away]

I'm in the 10gpp group as well. I'm shooting a 560gr arrow out of my bows which give me 10.5 gpp. Plenty of penetration for the local deer herd.

[jhg]

Not an expert, but from my research I settled on about 10. I would be happy with as low as 9.25 too, but my arrow/bow/broadhead combination wanted a hair over 10 to bare shaft well. I feel this weight is a nice balance.

Joshua

[scedvm]

All my hunting arrows are 10gpp or in most cases less and closer to 9gpp.  I shoot bows from 58-62# and carbon arrows that fall from 525-625gr depending on the bow.  I wouldn't mind a little heavier but I do not like the ultra heavy 12-15gpp.  Personal preference I just don't like the flight of them.

[smokin joe]

You are fine. Forget about GPP, and concentrate now on first-shot accuracy, getting your broadheads razor sharp, and settling on where you are going to get the drop on your deer. That way, when you do get your shot, everything will fall into place.
Don't worry. Good luck.

[Overspined]

My bows are from 45-53# and my preference is 600 grain arrow. 550 at the low end

[dnovo]

Same here. I'm shooting from 53# up to about 57# and my arrows rang from about 535 grns up to about 585, so I'm liking that 10 - 10.5 weight range. Best balance for me for weight and trajectory

[Rob W.]

Im shooting 55# and a 550 grain arrow including a zwickey delta. Most accurate setup I have ever came up with. I know what you mean about tinkering this time of year. I think for me if I'm not trying to fix something I get bored. If it makes you feel any better I started out not knowing what I was doing shooting 43# with probably 8gpp and a questionably sharp snuffer. The 2 deer I shot with that setup didn't make it any farther than they do with my new setup.

[Shawn Leonard]

That set-up is fine, I would shorten the shaft a bit if you draw 28"s and add more weight up front. I would think you are a tad stiff even full length with that 125 grain point.  I don't agree lots of people are going heavy, maybe with point weight but not poundage. I shoot anywhere from 8-10gpp. I have to agree with above post perfect flight is way more important than going to 10-12gpp. I have blew thru a few deer shooting 42#s and 8gpp. when I had my shoulder surgery. Strive for perfect flight and sharp broadhead and as long as you are above 8gpp. you will be fine. Shawn

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I only shoot heavy arrows because I hunt elk more than any other animal with my bow. For white tails or mule deer I would not hesitate to shoot something at 10 gpp or less if it was ok out of my bow.

[WildmanSC]

Presently I'm shooting a 485 gr arrow out of my 45-47#@28" bows and they fly great.  With my 45# bow I'm shooting 10.8 gpp.  When I switch to the 47# longbow limbs I'm shooting 10.3 gpp.  

When I receive my Eclipse Werewolf 150 gr broadheads I'll be shooting 11.6 gpp with my recurve limbs and 11.1 gpp with my longbow limbs.  I don't expect to have any problems with either set of limbs.

Bill

[Night Wing]

Originally posted by Pokerdaddy:
Anyone here have a hunting setup that is still at roughly 10gpp?  Everything I'm reading points to TG'ers going heavy.  I'm aware of the benefits of heavy, but is there still hope for those of us in the 10gpp neighborhood?  Oh, for Michigan whitetail I should point out.

I've been tuning up the new to me Great Northern Fireball.  42# @ my 28.  I know, light bow, but I'm a newbie and keeping my bows light for the time being.

I'm shooting full length Gold Tip Traditional 3555's.  These GT's are full length as they are my first self-fletched batch, and I don't own an appropriate saw.  I figured I'd make due with full lengthers (at this point) rather than shorten and add weight.

So I'm at 425gr overall for 42#.  I've got 125g Woodsman up front.  

Anyone think I NEED to cut these down and add weight, or go ahead with my setup with confidence?

I agree with everyone else. You'll be fine at 42# shooting a 425 grain arrow. Your bow/arrow combination will definitely get the job done on whitetails.

I have two recurves and one of them is a 42# bow too. I shoot a 421 grain arrow. That puts me at 10.02 GPP. Speed is around 185 fps and that's because I have a 30" draw length.

[Onlyaspike]

IM shooting a 45# Dorado with 29 1/4" GT 35/55 Trads with 165gr Simmons Landshark's up front. Total arrow wt of 451gr.

[Friend]

Definitely not a fan of the old 10 gpp; from my perspective it falls in the category of trying to qualify a hunting set-up based on Kinetic energy.  One of my significant justification is that the rule is continuously applied to an extremely large draw wt  range.

Also, note that Rick Welch’s hunting set-up with light gpp arrows is based on a bow with a draw wt of ~60#s - not 42”s. Momentum is far more reliable value.

MOMENTUM = (Grains * FPS)/225218

Minimum momentum (in slugs)
Eland (?), gemsbuck, blue wildebeest, kudu.....   0.4
Red hartebeest, black wildebeest, tsessebe, nyala.....0.38
Impala, blesbuck, bushbuck, reedbuck.....0.35
Springbuck, mountain reedbuck and all small game.....0.3
Table 2: Minimum momentum required for hunting the common species in SA.

Your proposed set-up is ~ .33 slugs and may not even qualify as a minimum requirement for whitetail sized animals. Rick Welch's set-up is estimated at ~.42 slugs. Even  the .42 slug figure is not the best indicator using this particular set-up due to the momentum value being significantly driven by the high velocity.


Sure a well tuned arrow, sharp 2 Blade BH and excellent placement will produce.
As a hunter, I can guarantee the 1st two requirements, but even with a good shot, the animal reaction at the shot can make a great deal of difference to the outcome.
Not every situation presented can be overcome, however planning for the unexpected gets my vote!!!!!!!!

[Orion]

Several good points Friend.  10 gpp or less  works quite well with medium or heavy weight bows, but can become a little light with light weight bows.  

That being said, though this set up is on the light side, good arrow flight, a sharp broadhead and good shot selection will do the job on deer.

I shoot just over 10gpp - 517gr arrow from a 50#@ my DL bow. The biggest animal I have killed with it is an almost 700# Kudu. This year in Africa I took a nice Red Hartebeest (300#ish) and Waterbuck (400#ish) with entry and exit holes on both. 10gpp is just right for me. A well tuned arrow and scary sharp broadhead is a very lethal combination.

Bisch

[GRINCH]

All mine are in the 10gpp,seems thats where I get the best flight.

[cahaba]

Shooting a 51# D style hunting bow  with 2 blade STOS head I like 10 to 11 gpp. Its a good compromise without to much drop.

[Pinelander]

If I were in your shoes (with the extra time) and looking for that last bit of confideence builder....

I would strip the fletching off a couple of your arrows and do some bareshaft shooting. Get a real good idea where they are in regard to weak, stiff, or right on the money. The less your fletching has to "work" to get (and keep) your arrow flying straight, the more energy your arrow will deliver into your target.

I hunt with 40-45# bows and the actual tune of the arrow is the most important thing to me... it has to be when shooting low poundage. Simply fletching up the arrows, and "they look like they are flying fine", doesn't cut it for me. It's amazing how much the fletching can correct a not-so-well matched arrow to the bow. Like I said... the less work to correct, the more energy realized.

The big bow guys can afford a little bit of lost energy, but we cannot. We are already down to pretty much the minimum, so it only makes sense to know that we're getting all we can out of our arrow.

Arrow weight? I've been shooting 400-500 gr. arrows out of my 40-45# bows. They've been slicing into and through the center mass of some pretty big deer for about 5 years now. The previous 20 years? Well, I was shooting 55# bows and didn't really pay a lot of attention to tuning (well, not as much as I do now). As long as they "looked like" they were flying well, good to go. With the lower poundage I'm shooting these days, I don't feel like I have that luxury anymore.

Just a thought.... it isn't so much the weight of the arrow, but how true it flies with as little effort as possible.

[meathead]

Sure works for me.  670-690 grain arrows out of 67 lbs.  Good speed and quiet bow.