Fast bows vs Slow bows?

[DaveT1963]

I like a well tuned bow that shoots my arrows where I naturally aim - quietly.  How fast the arrow gets there is relative to how heavy an arrow I want to shoot.  For a difference of usually no more than 1-10 fps speed is just not a big deciding factor to me.

[Chromebuck]

I have a high member number question    

I'm working up in weight and have ordered another JD Berry Taipan.  The bow will be virtually identical to the one I now own, but will be 60#@ 28".  Seven pounds heavier than my current set up.

Is there a known formula for calculating how many FPS will increase per pound?

~CB

[joe skipp]

My arrows weigh 9-10 gpp for each of my bows. One dz hunting arrows are 12 gpp. If my bows shoot these arrows between 185-192 fps....I'm very happy.
That's enough speed for me with the arrow wts I shoot plus my bows are quiet with this setup.

[Blaino]

Originally posted by centaur:
If I was looking for speed, I wouldn't be in love with Hill bows. I like a quiet bow that will send a relatively heavy arrow with authority, and Hill styles do that very well. I don't have a clue as to what arrow speed I am shooting, but it is enough to take game when I do my part, and I won't be shooting past about 20 yards at game, anyway.

x2 and my Hill lets me enjoy the mystical flight of the arrow a touch longer!

[overbo]

Sorry Stumpkiller but you are putting words to my response. Never said anything about wanting a slower bow. If you shoot well w/ an extreme design, then you are in a minority and I applaud you for that. Everyone has their own standards to adhere to. I for one have difficulties shooting these extreme designs w/ great repeatable accuracy. I also have been to enough shoots to see a lot of shooters have difficulties w/ what ever design. From my experience a good number of those shooters are new to trad. archery. Couple a newbie w/ an extreme design and you see a trad. archer that's struggling to accomplish repeatable accuracy a lot of times. It's been my observation.

[Knawbone]

Originally posted by KeganM:
A well designed bow is an efficient bow. Look at the Bigfoot bows. Some of the fastest bows around, and all that stored energy goes into the arrow, so no extra noise, and no handshock. With slower designs, you almost have to shoot a heavy arrow just to quiet it down and get the handshock manageable.

I think 3Arrows put it best, do you want to do it the easy way, or the hard way?

If I wanted to do it the easy way, I wouldn't be using a stick bow in the first place!! JMO and isn't it great we have a preferred niche for everyone? What slower designs are noisy?

[Orion]

Chromebuck, a pound of draw weight translates into 1-2 fps increased arrow speed, all other things being equal.

Take the top bows in terms of hunter preference, not necessarily design, and run them through a chronograph shooting the same gpp, and you'll see that they're within about 15 fps of each others. (Review Black Schwartz's tests, for example.)  Some say that's not much of a difference.  It's actually a huge difference.  The equivalent of 7-8 pounds of draw weight.

It's not just the newbies who prefer speed. I'm getting a little long in the tooth.  Been shooting sticks for more than 50 years.  Used to shoot bows in the low-to-mid-60s.  Now, by shooting fast bows, I can get the same arrow speed with a bow in the high 50s.  As has already been pointed out, faster bows enable one to drop down in bow weight without losing performance. What's not to like about that.

Of course, it's a myth, or maybe just sour grapes, to say that that faster bows are noisier than slower bows or imply they're less accurate. Lots of things contribute to making a bow noisy, and speed can be one of them, but there are lots of others things that have equal or greater impact -- string material, arrow weight, tiller, bow design, etc.  And accuracy, of course, rests with the shooter, not the bow.    

[kagross]

I think a slower trad bow fits more with your brain as a ballistic computer.  Faster modern bows are way faster than anything "natural", and you might not even see the arrow.  With a slower bow, you see the arrow, and your brain reprograms your ballistic computer to this arc.  After a bit, it's just like throwing a ball.

[Uncle Buck]

all other things being equal, I prefer a little "arch" in my archery. There is just something about a heavy arrows trajectory that I enjoy. Super fast bows or ultralight arrows don't interest me

[Sixby]

The idea of a super fast bow is the ability to maintain or even drop poundage and shoot a heavy arrow just as fast as most bows shoot a lighter arrow. At least that is how I look at it. None of my bows are noisy and they are all considered to be fast.The idea is to have a bow that is an all around hunting bow. means it has to be effiecient, quiet and smooth to draw. Those are actually compatible and harmonious and are really what most of us want.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want a slow bow or an ugly wife or a donkey instead of a Lincoln. A slow bow is simply put, an inefficient bow, utilizing the energy of the poundage you are pulling.

When we hear that a bow is slow but casts a heavy arrow well we are hearing this. The bow is more efficient because the arrow weight is absorbing the normally lost energy.

A more efficient bow is always more efficient. It will cast that same heavy arrow faster and further than the inefficient bow. However as they are both imparting the same poundage force or attempting to. As the arrow gets heavier to absorbing all of the energy of the 50 lbs the speeds will get closer.
There is never a point though where the less efficient bow will outperform or perform as well as the more efficient bow.

Hope this helps.

God bless, Steve

[Otto]

I propose it's a moot argument.

There ain't enough difference between the fastest and the slowest for me to worry about.