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Increasing draw weight and tuning

slonstdy

slonstdy

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
1,377
Because deer season is too many months away and I like to tinker, I decided I'm going to increase the draw weight on my bow and am curious as to how much if any will it affect arrow flight and tuning.
If the bow was paper tuned and shooting bare shaft bullet holes at 60 lbs, would it shoot any different at 65 or 70 lbs with the same arrow? Naturally I will verify cam timing and ATA length when I do this but my thinking is that the arrow is already leaving the bow string perfectly straight so changing the force that propels the arrow shouldn't affect flight. Of course arrow spine/weight could come into play and I realize I will have to adjust the sight. Other than spine, why would I have to tune because of another few turns on the limb bolts?
What am I missing?
 
I would think it shouldn't unless you were right on the line spine wise. Just make sure to turn the cams the exact same amount so they are even. I've never turned one up, just down, lol.
 
Archer's paradox is and can be a strange bird and an increasingly dynamic variable as conditions change from your tuned setup. When you are increasing the draw weight the spine of the arrow is affected. Your given setup is tuned to the paradox of the arrow at that given arrow spine at the original draw weight. Now you go up 10 pounds and that arrow will most likely have more paradox than before because it will act somewhat weaker at 70lbs than at 60lbs. So the violence of the arrow upon release will be more than it was before at the lower poundage. This could and probably will change your horizontal tune to some extent. But you're just looking at one part of the equation. The other part is you the archer. Although a 10 lb change in draw weight might not seem like a lot for the first few shots, how you hold the bow, how your release, all of that can change because your draw weight increase and it takes more energy to draw, hold and release than it did at lower poundages. Probably a more realistic test and one that would eliminate most of the shooting variables would be to do it with a shooting machine like a hooter shooter.
 
The other thing to remember too is with carbon arrows, at a lower poundage, the index of that spine of the arrow may not be as noticeable at 60 lbs but then you try 70 and if it isn't shooting right on the stiffest part of that particular shaft, you may notice increased tear size through paper. This may be simply rectified by turning your nocks until you get a bullet hole but then again, it may not and then you may have to lower point weight so your arrow doesn't bend as much during paradox due to the great draw weight and energy being imparted to it from a heavier draw bow.
 
I'm currently shooting an Evoke 31 with 65# limbs set to 60.5#'s with a 29"dl. Arrows are GT Pro Hunter 300 spine cut to 28.625" C to C at 585 grs taw.
Only moving up 4.5#'s to max this bow out which isn't a big increase to throw things off, in my mind anyways lol.
 
Just curious. Are you tinkering just because? Or do you think a few more lbs will up your speed and shrink your gaps? Or??? I can dial my bow up some. But question is if the extra pull is worth the speed?
Following to see what you come up with.
 
Here's how it went...

Cranked down on the limb bolts 3 turns which leaves them 1/6th of a turn till bottomed out. Checked draw weight on scale and was at 66.24#'s on 65# limbs so I took a couple of twists out of each cable. Draw weight down to 65.2#'s, close enough. Put bow on draw board and cams still in sych with top cam ahead between 1/16 and 1/8".
First few shots thru paper at 14 feet was giving me nock left tears about 1 1/2" long. I varied my grip and anchor point and got a couple of shots to tear 3/4" left but I wasn't able to consistently keep them at a that. Moved the rest left thinking if the nock is being thrown left it means the tip is facing too far to the right but next shots on paper went 2" nock left tear proving my thought process wrong. Went back right with the rest about 1/32" from it's original position and BINGO! I landed in bullet hole heaven, lol.
I will say that this bow is extremely sensitive to grip pressure and anchor point location and any deviation in my shooting form will show up on paper. With my other bows I need to really exagerate my shooting form to induce a tear but on this one I can almost think about a tear and get one.
 
MattMan81 said:
Just curious. Are you tinkering just because? Or do you think a few more lbs will up your speed and shrink your gaps? Or??? I can dial my bow up some. But question is if the extra pull is worth the speed?
Following to see what you come up with.
Click to expand...
Partly to tinker yes but I also want to strengthen my bow shooting muscles with the increased resistance of the heavier draw weight. I keep myself in good shape with regular exercise already and think the increase in draw weight (which isn't much really) will do more to improve my performance than adding more time to my practice sessions. I can always "undo" this change and go back to my previous tune right before the season if I find I lost consistency or if the bow makes more noise. As far as the speed increase goes, that won't do much to change my hunting style or maximum comfortable hunting distance although I may have to bump up to the next EZ-V insert. Let me put the new draw weight through the chrono now so we can see the difference in speed...
 
I wish I had that kind of time to mess around!

As you have found, it changes a lot. I hate messing with anything when my bow is tuned.
 
I have two bows here at home, and old Hoyt set at 60, and a quest set at 70. I shoot them both all summer, it gets to the point where 70 is no problem to fling arrows for an hour straight. But come hunting time, I notice a big difference on those cool/cold October mornings when I’m in a tree, and haven’t moved for over an hour….it becomes a bear to pull back. I always the old Hoyt out for 95% of my sits just for the fact I know I’ll be able to pull her right back with ease.

Im in the market for a new bow, looking hard at the prime inline but when I do buy I’m planning a whole day at shop to shoot everything I can in case I like something better. That being said, I’m going to buy it and leave it at 60. todays bows are shooting so damn fast anyway the extra 10 pounds isn’t worth getting busted while I struggle to pull it back.
 
Chrono results are in...

With the bow set at 60.62#'s and shooting a 585gr arrow I recorded speeds of 238, 237, 238, 238, 237 and 238fps.
Now with the same arrow at a draw weight of 65.2#'s I was getting 248, 247, 247, 248, 249 and 248fps.

It seems that I gained 10 fps by adding five pounds of draw weight. I've only shot it indoors so far so I can't judge if the bow is making more noise on the shot but I will take note when I do get it outdoors. The true test of how well the bow is tuned will be when I screw a fixed blade on.

ketch22 said:
I have two bows here at home, and old Hoyt set at 60, and a quest set at 70. I shoot them both all summer, it gets to the point where 70 is no problem to fling arrows for an hour straight. But come hunting time, I notice a big difference on those cool/cold October mornings when I’m in a tree, and haven’t moved for over an hour….it becomes a bear to pull back. I always the old Hoyt out for 95% of my sits just for the fact I know I’ll be able to pull her right back with ease.

Im in the market for a new bow, looking hard at the prime inline but when I do buy I’m planning a whole day at shop to shoot everything I can in case I like something better. That being said, I’m going to buy it and leave it at 60. todays bows are shooting so damn fast anyway the extra 10 pounds isn’t worth getting busted while I struggle to pull it back.
Click to expand...

I can still easily draw the bow straight back while sitting in a chair which is how I determine whether the draw is too heavy. I have never been one to "sky draw" and I chuckle when I see the dipsh*ts on TV and YouTube doing that. I can relate to what you said about struggling to draw after sitting out there in the cold for hours as that happened to me on a brutally cold all day sit, it caught me off guard and the bow was at 60#'s!
 
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slonstdy said:
Chrono results are in...

With the bow set at 60.62#'s and shooting a 585gr arrow I recorded speeds of 238, 237, 238, 238, 237 and 238fps.
Now with the same arrow at a draw weight of 65.2#'s I was getting 248, 247, 247, 248, 249 and 248fps.

It seems that I gained 10 fps by adding five pounds of draw weight. I've only shot it indoors so far so I can't judge if the bow is making more noise on the shot but I will take note when I do get it outdoors. The true test of how well the bow is tuned wil be when I screw a fixed blade on.



I can still easily draw the bow straight back while sitting in a chair which is how I determine whether the draw is too heavy. I have never been one to "sky draw" and I chuckle when I see the dipsh*ts on TV and YouTube doing that. I can relate to what you said about struggling to draw after sitting out there in the cold for hours as that happened to me on a brutally cold all day sit, it caught me off guard and the bow was at 60#'s!
Click to expand...

im not a good enough Hunter to have a ton of opportunities so I need to make them count hahaha.
 
Glad you didn't have to monkey around too much. Sounds like your theory was pretty spot on. To gain 10fps is awesome though and your bow is approaching its max efficiency when the limbs are bottomed out.
 
I have found shooting fast bows that the angle of the cable post puts more tension to the right on the limbs when torturing down.and relaxes the limbs slightly to the left when loosend.throwing off the knock by a half hair.so I would walk back tune.and see it when I add poundage.then adjust to the right the tiniest hair. Knowing this has made all the difference.it was probably slightly knock right.and you hit it when you adjusted back.its the smallest half and quarter adjustments
 
Walk back tune.put a dot at the top of a target. Only use your top pin to shoot groups at three different yardeges.as you walk back your groups will get lower on the target.as they get lower the groups should fall strait down the target as you move back.if the lower groups are to the right so is your rest.if they are to the left so is your rest.but just the littlest bit micro adjustments.paper only gets you close to tuned.
 
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