Arrow Drop with Adult Arrow

[Rip Steele]

Bingo...... Yes. I have shot an 8.3 grain per inch arrow with a 100 grain mechanical head for at least 15 yrs. Many different configurations of bows. I am and have always been more than satisfied with the performance of my equipment.... From a 60 lb doe to a 280 lb Midwest buck. I'll change when I make a good shot and the deer isn't recovered.

You have missed the point. Most hunters make a good shot but the deer reacts to it and the shot becomes not the greatest. The heavier FOC and cut on contact head increases your chances of recovering your animal when the shot is marginal.

 

[ssramage]

My setup last year was about ~530gr. I shoot a single pin sight and found that if I set it to 34yds, I was within +/- ~4" of impact from 0-40 yds.

 

[mizzippi jb]

You have missed the point. Most hunters make a good shot but the deer reacts to it and the shot becomes not the greatest. The heavier FOC and cut on contact head increases your chances of recovering your animal when the shot is marginal.

Its not that I don't believe you..... But I personally don't feel the need for either (any more so than what I am using now). So your point is a valid one to the guy who makes a lot of marginal shots I suppose.

 

[BamaGeorgialine]

Man, nothing brings out some passion like archery! I got something everyone will agree on......Come on bow season! Went last weekend fishing and caught some red's, trout, and sheepshead and I was still thinking about bowhunting almost the whole time. I guess having an addiction isn't always a bad thing

 

[Long Cut]

Some more food for thought for bow hunters.

Notice the ~3” gap between my arrow and center of my top pin. There will be situations when you have branches and twigs up close that you’ll never see in your sight housing at full draw.

Some may argue “trim shooting lanes” but as a bow hunter we need cover to remain unseen. We also can’t always predict where deer will travel.

A well tuned (bareshaft & nock tuned) arrow will fare better in marginal situations. A heavier arrow with high FOC will also hold its trajectory better when that “ooof” moment occurs.

I’m not advocating for “X” grains or “Y” FOC for the best hunting arrow setup. It’s a dynamic situation that pertains to your equipment (draw length/weight) game you’re hunting and average distance you shoot.

Best advice I can give is to invest in an arrow spine calculator such as “OT2 Go Spine” or “Q Spine” in the App Store for iPhones.
Plug in your bow, draw weight/length and play around with arrow configurations.
Then, buy 1 arrow of each spine and add the insert weights necessary and tune them.

Regardless if you shoot 450 grains or 750 grains, I promise a well tuned 400 grain arrow will outperform a poorly tuned 700 grain arrow. Common sense

 

[Rip Steele]

I agree with your whole statement. I started this thread about speed and I shouldn't have. I should have said what works best for you? I'm interested in raising my FOC with a lighter weight arrow. I don't shoot light arrows now, but my weight is distributed through the arrow keeping me at 12%.

 

[phillips david 123]

How many deer have you had jump the string, spin or twist in reaction to the shot?

Inside 30 yards I’m confident in my abilities, but more often than not the deer has moved to some extent before my arrow ever reaches them.

If you tell me that you’ve never had a deer jump the string, I’d say you haven’t shot at enough deer with a bow.

Didn't mean to imply that i hadn't had a deer jump string. I was simply stating that if you double lung your shot it will kill the animal regardless of what your shooting. I'm like you i like shots less than 30 yrds.

 

[Rip Steele]

The results are in. I went with the Easton Axis 340 arrows with blazer vanes. Total weight on the front is 250 grains. This put me right at 560 grains. I turned my bow down to 61 lbs. This made it shoot a little better probably due to arrow spine. I'm still playing with the tuning but that's what I'm working with right now.

 

[Kris87]

I'm sure I could type out a long diatribe about some misconceptions in this thread, but I won't. Some are basic physics principles that have been stated that are not true.

That said, FOC is overrated. And although I don't always hunt with a mechanical, if I made a marginal shot on a whitetail, then give me a bigger cut mechanical over some 1" two blade head. Your odds of recovery increase with the chance to cut an artery or simply from blood loss before your deer crosses a river, property line, etc....

Just my $.02 from a couple of kills here and there.

 

[davidhelmly]

I'm sure I could type out a long diatribe about some misconceptions in this thread, but I won't. Some are basic physics principles that have been stated that are not true.

That said, FOC is overrated. And although I don't always hunt with a mechanical, if I made a marginal shot on a whitetail, then give me a bigger cut mechanical over some 1" two blade head. Your odds of recovery increase with the chance to cut an artery or simply from blood loss before your deer crosses a river, property line, etc....

Just my $.02 from a couple of kills here and there.

Thank you!

 

[Rip Steele]

I'm sure I could type out a long diatribe about some misconceptions in this thread, but I won't. Some are basic physics principles that have been stated that are not true.

That said, FOC is overrated. And although I don't always hunt with a mechanical, if I made a marginal shot on a whitetail, then give me a bigger cut mechanical over some 1" two blade head. Your odds of recovery increase with the chance to cut an artery or simply from blood loss before your deer crosses a river, property line, etc....

Just my $.02 from a couple of kills here and there.

I'm all ears to hear both sides of the story. I've took a few physics classes myself but I don't claim to know what I'm talking about. I'll add a link to where I'm getting most of my information. I know nothing more that what I'm reading. I've killed hundreds of deer but I've never tested these waters before. If I'm wrong on something I said please correct me. https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reports

 

[Kris87]

I'm all ears to hear both sides of the story. I've took a few physics classes myself but I don't claim to know what I'm talking about. I'll add a link to where I'm getting most of my information. I know nothing more that what I'm reading. I've killed hundreds of deer but I've never tested these waters before. If I'm wrong on something I said please correct me. https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reports

Not saying you've said anything incorrect. There was a statement about heavier arrows being more accurate downrange because of their mass and that's simply not true.

I have no issues at all with anyone wanting to shoot heavy arrows. At some point there is a diminishing return for sacrificing trajectory for the benefits of a heavier shaft. I think deer are relatively easy to shoot through, so a happy medium where you still have good speed AND weight is probably the best course of action. Just like you are pointing out that a heavy arrow has benefits, a fast arrow also has benefits when it comes to misjudged distances, whirling animals, etc.....

 

[Ihunt]

I'm all ears to hear both sides of the story. I've took a few physics classes myself but I don't claim to know what I'm talking about. I'll add a link to where I'm getting most of my information. I know nothing more that what I'm reading. I've killed hundreds of deer but I've never tested these waters before. If I'm wrong on something I said please correct me. https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reports

Ashby’s test were conducted with traditional archery. The FOC does help with archers paradox from arrows shot from those bows.

FOC may help but I don’t think it matters near as much with compounds as many think. I typically shoot large COC type heads and usually do not have any problems getting them to fly straight. Maybe the increased FOC helps but ......

I recently built some Easton Hexx arrows with standard inserts, 4 fletch Blazers, and a 125 grain 4 blade 1 3/16” head that also fly straight. Haven’t figured up the FOC but I’m sure it’s very low compared to some of my past setups.

Also, Ashby was testing factors that aid in penetration. For the vast majority of us, we are shooting thin skinned whitetail that don’t need 650 grains, 20% FOC, and single bevel heads.

Edit: Just went and calculated my FOC on the new arrow. It’s 11.7%

 

[Ihunt]

And for the record, I have no issues with people shooting high or low FOC or heavy or light arrows. Shoot what works for you.

If there is one benefit to FOC, it may be better arrow flight with large COC type heads. I can understand the argument about the weight on the front helping pull the arrow and not requiring the fletching to work as hard.
You have plenty of time to test this. If you do, please report back. I’m always interested in hearing what others have had work for them.

 

[Rip Steele]

And for the record, I have no issues with people shooting high or low FOC or heavy or light arrows. Shoot what works for you.

If there is one benefit to FOC, it may be better arrow flight with large COC type heads. I can understand the argument about the weight on the front helping pull the arrow and not requiring the fletching to work as hard.
You have plenty of time to test this. If you do, please report back. I’m always interested in hearing what others have had work for them.

Your correct on him using traditional archery equipment, but I figured it would help compounds that much more. I'm still in the tuning stage of my testing. I can tell you that tuning is a pain in the butt when experimenting weights. I also agree that most people shooting whitetails can probably get away without doing what I'm doing, but I have shot deer I didn't get a pass through and I don't like that. I'm going to play with the weight and see what I end up with. A 450 grain arrow might be my best flying, and if it is I'll use it. What broadhead are you using? I'm going to test the Magnus and see how it does for me.

 

[Ihunt]

Your correct on him using traditional archery equipment, but I figured it would help compounds that much more. I'm still in the tuning stage of my testing. I can tell you that tuning is a pain in the butt when experimenting weights. I also agree that most people shooting whitetails can probably get away without doing what I'm doing, but I have shot deer I didn't get a pass through and I don't like that. I'm going to play with the weight and see what I end up with. A 450 grain arrow might be my best flying, and if it is I'll use it. What broadhead are you using? I'm going to test the Magnus and see how it does for me.

A 450 grain arrow, imo, is a great weight for whitetail. I like to shoot 7-8 grains per lb of draw weight.

As far as heads, this year I will be using Tooth of the Arrow and Exodus. One is a 3 blade and the other is a 4 blade.

If you use a 450 grain arrow and tip it with that Qad Exodus, 2 holes will be the norm. Only exception will be getting into the shoulder.

 

[Kris87]

I haven't changed my primary setup in years now. 440grains at 298fps with a 1.5" cut Ramcat. I have yet to not shoot through a deer with that setup. I've mixed in a good many kills with Rage Trypans and have had a passthrough on every one of those as well.

Like I said, deer are easy to shoot through IMO.

 

[bfriendly]

I reweighed mine and they’re 438. They hit hard too! I wish I knew how fast they were going.......is there an app for that?

 

[Hunter922]

GT Velo Pros with Hypos- @ 436. No issues, pass thrus and blood trails you could follow blind..

 

[sportsman94]

I hopped on the heavy arrow train last year because I have a tendency to hug the shoulder too much and was tired of lack of penetration and thus losing deer. I’m not sure why I have such a tendency, but I have a hard time fixing it. If I remember correctly I am shooting between 600-630 grains of TAW with around 20% foc. I have two sets of arrows made up with different weight inserts to come in at the same weight whether I’m shooting 100 grain broadheads or 200 grains. Last year I used silver flame xxls, cutthroats, and vpa 3 blade. I liked the silver flames the best and they will be what my 200 grain arrows are tipped with unless I try something different. I felt like they were the best of both worlds between size and fixed COC. I am interested in using various mechanicals in my 100 grain arrows and seeing how they perform with the heavy FOC