G'day everyone I am very new to this forum looking forward to learning some more about recurve/longbow/trad bow hunting. My first question is about a takedown bow I have. It is a Samick mind 30, 58" bow and states it is 55lb on the limb. The problem is I dont remember what draw length the 55lb was at. So I draw to around 28.5 inches and when I use some little electronic scales I have it only goes up to 42-44lb. Maybe it could be the scales but I have never had a problem with them as of yet... just wondering if someone could help me out. Cheers.

First off, welcome aboard pat.  This is a great site full of great people with a wealth of information to be shared by all.
Their are a couple options I would try, 1) take your bow to a local bow shop and have them check it on their scale, I doubt they would charge anything. 2) if you have a digital bathroom scale you could weight yourself first and then hold something approximately 20-30 lbs and subtract the difference between the two. Then suspend that weight from your scale to see if your scale is the same.
  Wes

Welcome to trad gang.

The standard for bow weight is measured at 28 inches.

How's it feel when you draw it back?

You gain approximately 2 to 3 pounds for every inch past 28.

Quote from: Steiger3208 on January 24, 2021, 06:10:17 AM
First off, welcome aboard pat.  This is a great site full of great people with a wealth of information to be shared by all.
Their are a couple options I would try, 1) take your bow to a local bow shop and have them check it on their scale, I doubt they would charge anything. 2) if you have a digital bathroom scale you could weight yourself first and then hold something approximately 20-30 lbs and subtract the difference between the two. Then suspend that weight from your scale to see if your scale is the same.
  Wes

Thanks mate! Glad to have joined this forum!

Quote from: Roy from Pa on January 24, 2021, 06:32:23 AM
Welcome to trad gang.

The standard for bow weight is measured at 28 inches.

How's it feel when you draw it back?

You gain approximately 2 to 3 pounds for every inch past 28.

Cheers mate! When I started shooting it felt pretty hard to draw and hold. Now feels quite easy to hold for about 5-8 seconds at full draw before my hand begins to get a little shaky...

That's because you are building up your muscles drawing it.

5-8 seconds is a long time to hold at full draw.

Have fun..

Quote from: Roy from Pa on January 24, 2021, 07:21:58 AM
That's because you are building up your muscles drawing it.

5-8 seconds is a long time to hold at full draw.

Have fun..

Yeah I will do! Cheers

If the brace height is way low it is going to scale at a lower draw weight

Quote from: mec lineman on January 24, 2021, 07:44:22 AM
If the brace height is way low it is going to scale at a lower draw weight

Yeah mate brace height is slightly higher than recommended. By about 1/4 inch.

As it has been stated bows are measured from a 28 inch draw length. Samick is fairly well known for incorrectly measuring/labeling the poundage on their bows. Sounds like you got a 40 pound version marked as 55

Quote from: JonCagle on January 24, 2021, 10:33:53 AM
As it has been stated bows are measured from a 28 inch draw length. Samick is fairly well known for incorrectly measuring/labeling the poundage on their bows. Sounds like you got a 40 pound version marked as 55

Haha probably 45lb scales measure between 43-44 and mine draw is only .5 inch longer than the stated 28inch draw. Cheers.

My 45# sage actually pulls 40# @ 28" draw. Most of the budget bows I have don't pull to their marked weight. I picked up a spring bow scale and weighed my dumbells and bar weights to check for accuracy. Once the spring scale was broke in and loosened up a little it reads right on.

Quote from: Joedirt199 on January 25, 2021, 08:24:54 PM
My 45# sage actually pulls 40# @ 28" draw. Most of the budget bows I have don't pull to their marked weight. I picked up a spring bow scale and weighed my dumbells and bar weights to check for accuracy. Once the spring scale was broke in and loosened up a little it reads right on.

Ah okay I've got mine figured out now it pulls around 48lb at my draw length.