I have my bows set up to shoot between 11.50 and 12 grains per pound of draw weight.  I was wondering if anybody sets up their bows for 13 or 14 grains per pound or more.  I shoot 50 and 53# bows FWIW.    :eek:

Well I just did the calc and my set up is for 13gpp. I know Pete Ward who runs that site  www.peteward.com  is set up even higher and shoots 50# bows.
In my case I don't shoot at animals farther than 15 yards 'cause the stalk is my favorite part so heavier is in no way a problem. Until this year I was over 14 gpp but switched wood type mainly to shoot 3d and hunt with the exact same set up.

My African set up for this year is a 66# bow with a nearly 900 grain Grizzlystick Safari.  It flies well and should be heck on critters.  I have been practicing routinely with it and can't tell any difference out to 25 yards.  I am sure there is some, but my brain adjusts for it without me noticing.

Yep, I like to shoot around 13 grns myself. No noise, no vibration, and goes really, really deep. I don't have a care in the world about speed. I only care about quiet, deep penetration. CK

Curtis,
That almost sounds a little.......well, nasty  

Yep, I likes heavy. My hunting arrows are 800gr + out of 60# bows. Zip right through every animal I have shot.

Danny

I am set up at 13gr per. Bow is "mouse" quiet. I don't shoot past 25steps and really cannot tell any difference.


John III

The math tells me that I'm at 13.26, and I'm only shooting 45#. It's slow as h*#l, but the kinetic energy numbers tell me it's where I want to be.
Bret

Stick with the heavy arrow for hunting all the time! If you have good flight right off the bow and it shoots quiet, you're ahead of the game.

Think about it this way ... A beach ball and a bowling ball are rolling at you at the same speed. Maybe the beach ball is faster. Which one will be easy to stop? Get the picture?

Hey ... I hunt on the ground, stalking. Don't shoot over twenty yards (at big game) anyway. What do I know? ...  :rolleyes:  ... My 2 cents.

... mike ...

I am an outspoken advocate of heavy arrows for heavy game, and pretty much everything else Ed Ashby has proven re arrow penetration and lethality. Out of more elk taken with bows than dignity allows me to count, the two cleanest and fastest kills both were shooting 13.7 per (two-blade heads, slender shafts, etc.) But I'm also confident that 10 per is plenty for deer, and I don't trust my accuracy with real heavy arrows beyond 13 yards, which is pretty limiting. I would drop to 10 for trophy bucks or even 9 for young bucks, does or pronghorn, to increase range.  

Bottom line to me is that while we may miss some shot ops with heavy arrows, and sling a few low, that beats hell out of watching a gorgeous animal run off with an arrow flopping from it due to lousy penetration resulting from lack of momentum. The heavier the game, the heavier the arrow, that's my formula for no more heartbreak. dave

Traditional bows like heavy arrows.  I shoot a 50lb recurve with 725gr arrows.  I don't see much difference inside 20 yards.  Almost all of my hunting is whitetails out of tree stands inside 20 yards.  Bow is quiter and no worrys about penetration, no downsides for me.

my bows are chronoing (is that a word    ) out at 150 fps out of the bow.  Doesn't mean much to me...I was just at a place where there was a machine so I shot them.  Silence is golden...missed a deer last year and she didn't run away from the noise.  Could have shot again but passed the second shot.  Made me a believer in silence over speed.

Silence over speed anyday.

Deep penetration and a bit of insurance in case of hitting heavy bone gets a big thumbs up from me, overall for hunting purposes I don't see how you can't just love heavy arrows.

I'm limited on how heavy I can get them with woodys, but my alluminum are 880gr out of a 70# bow

I shoot 12 per right now but I have shot up to 18 per. Mopst of that weight is up front on my carbons and they hit with tremendous force and bury themselves into high density 3D targets. Whomever pulls arrows at a 3D shoot allows mentions how much deeper my arrows are in the targets.

Around 13 grns for me....for same reasons others have already stated.

Around 13gpp for me too.

Just wondering if any of you guys with shorter draw lengths ever hit your self in the foot with those arrows?  

I have stated for a long time that a heavier arrow will give better penetration because of the stored kinetic energy and have had a lot of compounders give me heck claiming light and fast was better.  My worst shots at game were many years ago when I tried the light and fast theory.  Not any more.  That is one reason I make Hickory arrow shafts.

Dennis

James,
Thankfully I have small feet  

To make it easy for everyone, if you're not having to weigh your arrows on bathroom scales, you aren't shooting enough weight.