I decided to get out my old Chrony. I was suprised that my Dicks Sporting goods Cheata 55-70lb was as slow as it is. I do have set at about 60lbs and shooting a 2216 28 inch arrow with 125grain tip. It shot 211fps, 5 times in a row so I guess it's 211fps. Not that I have any issue with that it shoots great.

My martin dream catcher recurve 45lb shooting a 1916, 30 inch arrow with a 90 grain tip shot 145fps.

So I took one of my 1916 arrows and shot in with the cam bow, it picked up to 242fps. But that arrow is to light for 60 lbs. I could not help myself from trying it:noidea:


I suppose if I cranked it down to 70lbs it would pick up speed but for shooting fun, at my age, I'll keep it at 60.

How much of a consideration is arrow velocity to you?

Not a big deal to me for hunting, as all my shots are 30 or less.

"Speed is just a question of money......How fast you wanna go?"

For a hunting bow, it's not too critical for me. I'm currently shooting in the 275 FPS range. I am a fairly descent judge of yardage and am backed up by a good range finder, so accuracy is much more important to me than speed. I'm not saying that if I could afford a new speed bow that was accurate I wouldn't buy it, I just don't have the spare scratch laying around right now.:mad:

For a 3D bow I want to be above 280... Hunting it's 30 yards and under for me with at least a 400 grain arrow and the speed is not as critical...:noidea:

For a 3D bow I want to be above 280... Hunting it's 30 yards and under for me with at least a 400 grain arrow and the speed is not as critical...:noidea:

I'm set up similar: 3D - 312gr & 277fps. Hunting: 426gr & 245fps.

The NFAA Maximum is 280 FPS

"Speed is just a question of money......How fast you wanna go?"

Like the sign says, "speed's just a question of money. How fast can you go?"
--Grease Rat, Mad Max 1979

The NFAA Maximum is 280 FPS

Nobody shoot NFAA around these parts...:lol: :lol: :lol:

For me, 280 ish is plenty

Have you folks actually shot your setup across a cronograph?

The reason I ask is I have a friend that thought he was shooting 280fps, I asked him how he knew and he said it was based on arrow weight and manufacturers data. So I said, i have a crony! let's see. He was shooting about 240fps and it's still killing him:D

My XT through a chrono is getting 276fps. Not fast but plenty for me. Silky smooth quiet as a church mouse.:wave:

For 3-D I like my bow as fast as it can be. Ideally for me it would be 290 or over. It just helps make up for yardage mistakes to some degree.

For hunting it's a bit less important. I'd rather have a heavier arrow. My hunting setup is shooting a 410gr arrow, which is probably a light/intermediate arrow, in the 270's. I've shot hunting setups in the 250's and never had an issue.

My setups are speed varified via chrono.

Have you folks actually shot your setup across a cronograph?
The reason I ask is I have a friend that thought he was shooting 280fps, I asked him how he knew and he said it was based on arrow weight and manufacturers data. So I said, i have a crony! let's see. He was shooting about 240fps and it's still killing him:D

The answer to that question is yes... If I can find one at a proshop somebody hasn't put an arrow thru the front of....:laugh: :laugh:

280 fps is not hard to accomplish out of a modern bow shooting an arrow at 5 grains per pound. Now 300+ depending on your draw length is a little tougher but there are bows out there doing it...:noidea:

I do all the shooting across my crony. it's not something you lend out and get back with an arrow through it.

My numbers are from my Chrony.

I can get a lot of speed out of most bows with my 30" dl. As I shoot NFAA, IBO and ASA shoots I have tried a lot of different configurations. After a few years of experience most archers will see the law of "diminishing return" take effect.

As Hoyt's spirals the best cam for my shooting style it is not hard for me to get 300+fps without even having to shoot over 60 lbs. The thing is, that if a shooter has even average mathematical skills and has spent any time actually experimenting with different speeds they will "see the light".

"Seeing the light", is realizing that even at the max 3-d ranges (45-50 yards), the arrow shot at 310 fps will hardly ever score better than the arrow shot at 285 fps if you mis-judge the yardage by 3-4 yards.

Now take into consideration how most set-ups respond to speed over 300. Everything becomes more critical. I have over the years SHOWN many archers that were not physically capable of getting those blistering speeds that they are not missing a whole lot by observing guys who can get the speed and had separate bows for ASA and IBO.

The observation is that when many of the "speed" guys slow down their setups to go to an ASA or NFAA and they shoot their best score of the year at lower speeds.

Same goes for guys that "reset" their equipment to meet the 280 law and have an IBO the next week without time to "crank it back up". More often than not they end up shooting better than they did with all the speed.

I stand by my own experience and observations of many others that exceeding 300 fps has very little advantage and often hurts your scores. The only REAL advantage I can see from the blistering speed is if knowing your bow is "smokin' fast" gives you an attitude to shoot more agressively and confidently.

wow that cheeta is pretty slow. my wife is shooting a diamond edge, 27 inch draw length, 40 lbs, beeman ics jr arrows, not sure what the gpi is but its shooting 212 through the chrony

Last Fall my Firecat was shooting 316fps (chrony)

I'm hoping my Alien-X will come in ~340fps or so shooting at 70# 29.5" DL.
I shoot it with a heavier set of arrows to attain 280-288fps for ASA.

When I think about I may have adjusted the bow down below the lowest design range. This weekend I am going to pull it down a little at a time and see if it comes alive at some point.

I can get a lot of speed out of most bows with my 30" dl. As I shoot NFAA, IBO and ASA shoots I have tried a lot of different configurations. After a few years of experience most archers will see the law of "diminishing return" take effect.

As Hoyt's spirals the best cam for my shooting style it is not hard for me to get 300+fps without even having to shoot over 60 lbs. The thing is, that if a shooter has even average mathematical skills and has spent any time actually experimenting with different speeds they will "see the light".

"Seeing the light", is realizing that even at the max 3-d ranges (45-50 yards), the arrow shot at 310 fps will hardly ever score better than the arrow shot at 285 fps if you mis-judge the yardage by 3-4 yards.

Now take into consideration how most set-ups respond to speed over 300. Everything becomes more critical. I have over the years SHOWN many archers that were not physically capable of getting those blistering speeds that they are not missing a whole lot by observing guys who can get the speed and had separate bows for ASA and IBO.

The observation is that when many of the "speed" guys slow down their setups to go to an ASA or NFAA and they shoot their best score of the year at lower speeds.

Same goes for guys that "reset" their equipment to meet the 280 law and have an IBO the next week without time to "crank it back up". More often than not they end up shooting better than they did with all the speed.

I stand by my own experience and observations of many others that exceeding 300 fps has very little advantage and often hurts your scores. The only REAL advantage I can see from the blistering speed is if knowing your bow is "smokin' fast" gives you an attitude to shoot more agressively and confidently.
Backed off on the speed and I have been shooting a little better. Weird but true. Not sure why but I seem to settle down when not cranked up. Like you said about attitude. Now its back to those head games we all talk about.

The weather was nice so I did my experiment today. This time I decided to use a 2016 arrow, 28 inches with a 125grain point. It weighs 474 grains.

Set at 60 it shot about the same as the shorter 2216, about 218fps.
So I started down on the screws until I hit bottom. With that arrow it's 244fps. In fact 10 shots in a row with only 2 fps difference.

It's not fast but it drills the target.

Most of my big game shots are inside 20 yards, so speed is not a huge factor. Have downed plenty of animals with setups that only would clock 200-210fps. With recurve it was a lot less.

I need to be in the 270-280fps range to be reasonably competitive on the 3D courses.

i shoot a switchback xt it is a 60 pound bow and it is set at 60 and i have a 28 inch draw and using easton axis 340 they are 9.5 gpi and 100 gr tip and shooting like in the 250 fps i would like to get this bow up in the 260 270fps what would you guys suggests on doing i also shoot spots at my local shop thanks

try eastons new flatline 340's will go 8.2 gpi

easton flatlines probably 500 spine 6.5 gpi check eastons web sight and goto arrow selector all you need to use is a min. of 5 grains per pound so a max of 300 grain arrow including tip, nock insert, and fletchings...good luck

the arrow your shooting now seem a bit overspined for your rig

Only thing I like about fast is I am good from inside 10 to forty on the top pin. Spot and stalk elk and mulies it is great to just point and release.

wow that cheeta is pretty slow. my wife is shooting a diamond edge, 27 inch draw length, 40 lbs, beeman ics jr arrows, not sure what the gpi is but its shooting 212 through the chrony

True, but your wife isn't shooting a 2216.

After chasing speed for well over a decade reality finally set in and i found that at 26.5" to 27" draw 300 fps was next to impossible. Well, in 2004 I got a Martin SlayR and right away was hitting 299fps at 53# and 5gr/lb.

Now I'm shooting smoother cam bows like Moab at 6 gr/lb at 240 fps and my 3D scores are just about the same, although my skills are eroding with age, as is my eyesight.

That being said, for a hunting setup for eastern hardwoods whitetails there isn't a whole lot of difference between those two speeds. Maybe 2" at 3o yards and frankly if I can't hit within 2" of where I'm aiming on a deer then I need to stay out of the woods.