arrow wieght

pitahall · 04-12-2008, 08:43 PM

I have a new firecat that by my calculations should push a 360 arrow at around 315ish fps. I live in the west and will be mostly hunting elk. My numbers for this setup is somewhere around 80+ ke and .50 momentum. This is about twice the numbers I had last year with the browning I borrowed. However my friend and the local shop have this hang up about you can't shoot an arrow under 400gr at an elk or it will just bounce off like a bouncy ball. I am just looking for new opinions and not old opinions passed on as fact.

Pitahall

J.C. · 04-12-2008, 09:00 PM

I've never hunted elk but 80 ft/lbs of k.e. will kill anything walking on this continent.

pred8er · 04-13-2008, 05:54 AM

Maybe his friend has dull broad heads or was using judo points

Chris · 04-13-2008, 08:04 AM

We just had a customer who elk hunts buy a 82nd airborne set at 70# 29" draw. It shot a 415gr arrow at 314fps. It calculated at about 90ft/lbs of KE.

I would stay 400gr or above for elk. But bounce off, not if you have 80ft/lbs of KE.

TEN RING · 04-13-2008, 08:46 AM

http://www.huntersfriend.com/2007-Ca...ion-guide5.htm

jdawg240 · 04-13-2008, 09:48 AM

Your at 79.34 pounds of KE.

If you went to a 400 grain arrow and dropped to 300 fps your KE would be 79.96.

pitahall · 04-13-2008, 04:24 PM

My friend will be shooting a 101st this year with about the same stats. I think that the extra .60 ftlb of ke is not worth the loss in speed and arrow drop. Also everywhere I look at recomended energy is 65 for elk and I am 20% over that. I figure that is a pretty good safety factor. I have just about given up and just tell them to do what I want or I will build my own arrows.
even with judo I would bet it would make it part of the way through. I think this year I will shoot g5's or atoms.
Pitahall

vmabuck · 04-13-2008, 06:11 PM

I was reading that link you posted Tenring. I am a novice at best when it comes to tuning a bow. I was fitted by a good shop in NC when I started and that setup has never failed me to this day. I still shoot the same rig and it still remains very accurate.

This leads me to my question:

My bow was set at 70# and I shoot Carbon Express CX 300 arrows, 4"veins with a 100gr tip and a draw length of 28". Is there anyway to guestimate how many grains that arrow is? The bow is Fred Bear Vapor 300 if that plays into it.

I would be interested in knowing if I have enough oomph to take on an Elk. I have always gone clean through any whitetail I have shot and many pieces of plywood have met their demise while I was learning to shoot. The arrows seem to have quite a punch.

I don't have a scale to wiegh my arrow though so I was just curious if you can kind of guess what the total arrow weight would be given the above data.

TEN RING · 04-13-2008, 06:50 PM

I think your arrows are 8.6 grains pre inch x 28 = 240.8 about 90gr. for vanes nock & insert plus 100gr tip about 430 gr give or take

vmabuck · 04-13-2008, 07:14 PM

I found a great chart for my arrows:

Carbon Express Arrow guide

According to this chart, with everything minus my fletching weight, I came to 346.5

They gave my nock 8.7g and my insert 11g. so if we take that away from the 90 you were guessing for the nock+insert+fletching it would mean that my fletchings weigh in at 70.3.

Is that about right?

TEN RING · 04-13-2008, 07:26 PM

About, all depens on the make of the vane I was using aae's

vmabuck · 04-13-2008, 07:33 PM

I think they are AAE.

I took all those numbers and my ke came up to 51 for my setup. Wich was a bit lower than I was guessing, but I think it would still work for elk.

I am also guessing the velocity at around 235 fps for the math. last time I chrono'd my bow was in 2004 and I don't remember last week, so...

pitahall · 04-13-2008, 10:55 PM

thank you guys for making me think that i am not just nuts people have been shooting elk with less for 20000 yrs. I am glad to have found this site! I am glad there are not too many people on here that would just tell me I am new and have no idea what is good for me.

thanks agian
pitahall

vmabuck · 04-14-2008, 07:47 PM

I'm with you on that Pitahall!

I didn't know this site existed until a few days ago. I have already had all my fletching questions answered in a day. This place is great.

I hope to learn a lot here, and maybe someday I can pass on a few tips to others...

jdawg240 · 04-14-2008, 08:00 PM

I love 420 to 430 grain arrows out of a 70lb bow..they seem to papertune like a dream..Also a nice heavy weight for hunting...

vmabuck · 04-14-2008, 08:13 PM

It seems like I fall into that category Jdawg. I have always been happy with the performance of my setup and it has been rock solid for a few years.

I am sure I am coming to a point though where I will have to make changes. I used to dread that prospect but now I am actually looking forward to it.

I think I will learn a lot going through the process...