I have a self bow with a 58# draw wt...what wt of broadhead should I shoot, Have 125's currently and they shoot fine but have been told to use much heavier ones.....
You will have to experiment to see what works best for you. I shoot 125 commercial broadheads but I use tapered shafting either natural or home made tapered ash shafts and all are weight forward because of the taper. If your arrows fly well and are heavy enough your set up should do all you need it to do.
I like the heavier heads and tune to shoot them. Good arrow flight trumps all that other stuff.
If your arrow weights are roughly 10 grains per pound, and the arrows fly well, there really isn't any reason to change things up.
Those adhering to the extreme FOC school will say the head is too light, but the heads sure killed a lot of animals before anyone said they were too light.
Guy
As Guy said, heavy arrows and 125 gr heads have been killing things for a LONG time. That doesn't mean we can't do better, tho. We put a lot of effort into getting the most out of our bows, yet many bowhunters are afraid/refuse to look at optimizing their arrow performance as well. The arrow/broadhead package is what does the killing and is far more important than the bow.
Dr. Ashby's research with several thousand well documented impact shots have clearly shown that higher FOC's directly relate to increased penetration performance as long as the arrows are tuned to shoot the heavier front weights. Tuning an arrow to shoot a 200 gr broadhead is the same as tuning to shoot a 125, it just takes a little more spine.
When everything in the shot goes like it's planned, most any reasonable setup will do the trick. It's when something goes a little wrong that the extra really helps. Don't be afraid to try it; you might find you like it. I know I do.
That was very diplomatically put, Rick. Thank you ;)
My beef is with those individuals who are in the sudden belief that no arrow will kill a deer unless it's tipped with 300 grains, and who then tell anyone who will listen that their set-up is just all wrong and won't work.
Performance and efficiency are another matter.
Guy