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Arrow weight

BAMA BOW MERKER

BAMA BOW MERKER

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How heavy is too heavy in your opinion for hunting whitetail? I know you want a heavier arrow for more kinetic energy, but I think I may be sacrificing too much trajectory. I have not shot my bow through a chronograph, but I will do soon as I can. My IBO is 305. I'm pulling 69 lbs. I weighed my arrow today and it's 487 grains. I hunted with the same set up last year and had great success, but not sure if It could be better.
 
487 will certainly knock the dangit out of them, but you may be able to go a little lighter so you can pick up a little speed and trajectory without sacrificing downrange k/e�you might even gain k/e by going lighter.

There is a balance you have to find when picking which arrow to use�some people choose to go very light in order to maximize speed, yet others are shooting telephone poles(today's archers tend to go as light as possible). To light and you sacrifice energy but have a flat trajectory, too heavy and you still sacrifice energy and are shooting a rainbow�finding that balance can be a pain, but it is a necessary evil.

Give me your measurements: draw length, make and model of bow, arrow and length from tip to groove of the nock, and let me crunch some numbers and we'll look and see what comes of it.
 
I think I'm shooting about 460g. with Full metal jackets - 30 in. draw, 70lb. Just putting out about 252 fps. with a Mathews Z9. I know it will kill one but its a little too heavy for me , I like a little more speed plus my accuracy ain't what I like and I think a little more speed would help tighten my groups. That's my excuse for now anyways !
 
Don't think you can get to heavy. Now you can get your arrows to stiff but not to heavy. The heavier arrow will actually fly better. But like TNDeerGuy said there is a balance in choosing an arrow. You want to be light enough for better trajectory and help with yardage estimation but heavy enough for better penetration in case of a less than perfect shot. Speed won't tighten up your groups holding more steady will. In this game of archery and bowhunting it is a big trade off. Light or heavy arrows, more draw weight or less, camo or not. It is the shooters choice.
 
i'm holdin as steady as I can - I just can't shoot that bow worth a crap, where's my PSE ! All this stuff gets too technical for me - from my experience as long as you hit the sweetspot with a sharp blade , it gets the job done.
 
Actually, you can get too heavy, just like you can get too light. In this case by going a little lighter, 40 grains, he picks up some speed, almost no change of k/e and has a slightly flatter trajectory.



Sorry...you may have to zoom in to see the specs and changes of going from heavier to lighter
 
Based on some of my numbers you are shooting around 251 or so with 68# of KE. lets say you drop to 425 grain arrow you would be pushing approximately 272 fps if this calculator is right and hitting at around 69# of KE. basically you will gain 1# of KE. Makes no difference for me. But you will lose alot of that pin gap from 20-30 and especially 30-40. I try to stay around 390-410 grains and have had excellent luck there. I never really gained much over that.

BAMA BOW MERKER said:
How heavy is too heavy in your opinion for hunting whitetail? I know you want a heavier arrow for more kinetic energy, but I think I may be sacrificing too much trajectory. I have not shot my bow through a chronograph, but I will do soon as I can. My IBO is 305. I'm pulling 69 lbs. I weighed my arrow today and it's 487 grains. I hunted with the same set up last year and had great success, but not sure if It could be better.
Click to expand...
 
Go over to Archery Talk. Some big personalities on that forum have talked people into believing 500-600 grain arrows and direct shoulder shots are the way to hunt whitetail. My arrows weigh 380 grains going 300 fps.
 
UTGrad said:
Go over to Archery Talk. Some big personalities on that forum have talked people into believing 500-600 grain arrows and direct shoulder shots are the way to hunt whitetail.
Click to expand...

Reason #998 why I don't even bother going over on AT anymore, unless it is the classifieds. :)
 

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