455 is far from heavy. Depends on what draw weight and draw length you have.

There are a million variables.

 

455 is far from heavy. Depends on what draw weight and draw length you have.

There are a million variables.

I think your setup is a good middle of the road setup. Mine is approximately 100 grains heavier and I’m looking forward to trying it out on some deer this fall!

 

you guys make me chuckle over this. There’s a whole thread of this exact thing. It all depends


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Olympic recurve shooters are shooting far less speed and hitting a 5" target at over 75yds; Longbow and recurve hunters are shooting far heavier arrows with far less speed and still killing game, so "slow" and "drop too fast" aren't really valid arguments but rather are a product of marketing hype. Learn to be effective with what you've got and you'll be successful.

 

.... shooting far heavier arrows with far less speed and still killing game, so "slow" and "drop too fast" aren't really valid arguments but rather are a product of marketing hype.

I never weighed my arrows, but I used to shoot aluminum 2219s at 31 1/2" with 175 grain broadheads. I'm sure somebody can put a ballpark figure on that.

I shot them at just under 200 FPS (I did shoot them through a chronograph once at a jamboree gathering back in the early 80s).

So you can do the math on speed, drop, energy, whatever you want.

I never had a problem, or felt the need to change anything.

 

I shot a 575 grain arrow at 60lb draw weight
The arrow drops 2 inches from 20 yards to 23 yards
But the arrow will go through anything and will fly quietly and straight in heavy wind.

 

I shot a 575 grain arrow at 60lb draw weight
The arrow drops 2 inches from 20 yards to 23 yards
But the arrow will go through anything and will fly quietly and straight in heavy wind.

you must have a really short draw length. that is a ton of drop in 3 yards at a relatively close range.

 

Practice and keep shooting that setup if it's devastating I'm shooting 552 I have a 26 inch draw and am shooting a elite Valor at 70 pounds which is far from a speed bow and have no problem on most days dropping them in at 30

 

I shoot a 455grain set up and it is devastating on white tail I even had a almost full pass through spine shot. Downside is the range has to be perfect because the arrows are less forgiving and drop fast. How light is too light for white tail hunting

Also your pin gaps will be the same with a heavier arrow do to the heavier arrow does not erode as much as a light arrow truthfully making it more accurate

 

I think what you've got is pretty good..."heavier" arrows are actually more forgiving in my opinion. They will make your bow quieter, with less vibration, and the bow transfers energy more efficiently to the arrow. If there is a cross wind; a heavy arrow wont drift as much. If you clip a small twig or branch; a heavy arrow wont deflect as much. As far as the arrow drop; yes they will drop more, but not nearly as much as you think. If you are looking at overall drop; meaning you shoot at 20 or so; then use your 20 yard pin at say 60; and compare the drops...yes the heavier one will drop significantly. BUT; you are not going to misjudge a target at 60 for 20. More likely it would be say 40 instead of 35. If you compare the drop of a 350 grain arrow vs. a 450 grain arrow between 35 and 40 its not very significant at all. That yardage error will effect both arrows; and the difference in impact between the 2 isn't that much. My hunting arrows are 510 grains; i like the penetration benefits the heavier arrow provides as well as how quiet the bow is. Just my opinion though.

 

Being the short draw hunter that I am and starting out with a 360ish grain arrow and now shooting 551 grains with plans too be at or above 650 before end of season.

You couldnt ever pay me to shoot under 500 grains again.

I tune my own bows and build my own arrows and while I killed with every weight arrow i have used and every low ke mechanical head and every fixed coc head i have ever tryed. I also know now just how marginal my lighter setups were for a quick ethical kill.

I have been lucky to never have lost a deer, came very close a few times, infact one time i gave up and in a fit of despair was just busting brush to get back to the truck and tripped over my doe.

There was a undeniable fact that when i hit 500 grains and got above 18% foc that my arrows started acting like nothing could slow them down. In fact the only reason i dont get a complete pass through now is because it gets sunk into the offside shoulder joint.

People need to tune their setups really good and test and find what they feel works best for where/how/what they hunt.

 

Without having a rough idea of your bow set up, your arrow weight is kind of meaningless. 455 could be heavy or light depending on what your bow is. It could also drop a lot or really not that much depending on what your bow is. When you get a bunch of people telling you how your arrow is without questioning your bow weight, draw a length, and preferably even arrow velocity, I would be leery of their advice

 

Mathews vertix 70lb 28.5 draw 29 inch arrow

I shot a 575 grain arrow at 60lb draw weight
The arrow drops 2 inches from 20 yards to 23 yards
But the arrow will go through anything and will fly quietly and straight in heavy wind.

And I actually thought I was shooting heavy lol

 

My current set up is a Black Eagle Carnivore 300 at 8.5gpi. Total arrow weight is 415 on the scale and shot 304 through the chrono yesterday. 125 grain head and close to 12.5% FOC. My goal like everyone else is good shot placement but I am not afraid of this arrow impacting a little off course with 2" cut up front.

 

Similar to mine except I am at 425 grains and 16% foc shooting at 290 fps. Hits like a hammer.

 

A good watch and helped me make a decision on arrow weight and speed and trying to find the best of both worlds. No wrong answers but you have to feel confident in what you're shooting. The second they come out with a bow that shoots 1 pin to 80 yards I will buy it.

 

A good watch and helped me make a decision on arrow weight and speed and trying to find the best of both worlds. No wrong answers but you have to feel confident in what you're shooting. The second they come out with a bow that shoots 1 pin to 80 yards I will buy it.

they have one it called a Ravin 500

 

Won't that change if your using a single pin sight, and like shooting farther distance for practice, I live and hunt out west and I currently shoot a single pin sight, my bow is no speed bow mathews halon 7 28 inch draw set at 70 lbs. And I find that for 60 yards I have to put my pin at 65 to hit 60 yards with a rip tko 350 arrow cut to 27.5 length, I will need to check and see if I need to maybe re twist my bow since my string is broke in and hopefully that may help with a little speed, a group of us like to shoot out to a 100 for fun when practicing and that's what I have been struggling with is closing my gap on my sight tape

 

Pin gap is going to change based mainly on arrow speed mor than other factors.

If you need to set your site on 65 to hit at 60 then you need a different sight tape unless you are hitting low at every other yardage setting. If you are using a rangefinder for those longer shots than it really doesn’t matter what speed that your arrow is traveling

 

IMO, I’d stay at the weight arrow you are currently shooting.

You have to decide if the “juice worth the squeeze “?

We have very minimal information to go off but I’ll give you an example making some assumptions.

So you current arrow is 455 grains. Let’s assume that you are shootI guess a bow rated at 310fps, 29” draw and 60#. With these assumptions we can assume your bow is shooting app. 250fps.

Now let’s say you stay at 60#, 29” draw but drop to a 355 grain arrow. Now you are shooting app. 280fps…..now you are smoking them out, right?

Not really at normal hunting distances. With your original setup your dead on 20 yard pin is shooting 3.5” low at 25 yards. Your new blazing speed arrow is shooting 2.8” low at 25 yards. Is 3/4” difference really worth giving up a 100 grains of arrow weight? Not to mention how much more durable the heavier arrow is going to be.

JMO

 

Best screenshot of the video.
View attachment 7456126
Those are significant numbers let alone adding in human error. IMO speed kills and also allows less time for things to get off or go wrong. Anything over 300-330FPS and arrowing weighing 350-420 gr is going straight through a whitetail and most likely you will have about 6" of arrow sticking out of the dirt depending on your soil conditions.

 

If your arrows weigh less than a half ton ford, your too light according to the tooth fairy and half this site.

Now, its hard to say without knowing your arrows, draw weight, draw length etc.

Too light is not good. Too heavy is not good. Get anywhere in the middle, is good.

Your probably close to being in the middle, but cant say for sure.

 

If your arrows weigh less than a half ton ford, your too light according to the tooth fairy and half this site.

Now, its hard to say without knowing your arrows, draw weight, draw length etc.

Too light is not good. Too heavy is not good. Get anywhere in the middle, is good.

Your probably close to being in the middle, but cant say for sure.

I disagree new Fords have that aluminum frame....need to go heavier....

 

I wouldn't change a thing. Just know your shot distances, and keep shooting straight. Going lighter will also have some disadvantages, #1 being louder bow noise on every release.

 

A 455 grain arrow is what I have shot for many years. It is on the heavier side, but not considered heavy- per se'. Especially when most folks obsessed with speed are shooting 50-75 grains less.

In archery hunting lethality is about deliverable energy, shot placement and penetration. Penetration is all about delivering KE. So, as stated previously, there are several factors assuming your form and accuracy is good. Lethal KE depends on the type of game you're hunting in a big way, I might add

1.Small to medium game- antelope- whitetails requires @ 55#-65#
2. Large Game - Elk Moose 65+#
3. Dangerous game 70+#

There are charts available for that information but the above are deliverable KE I'm comfortable with, though they're all a bit overkill. In my opinion, an animal can't be killed too effectively. It's all about being quick and ethical

KE Mathematics Formula:

Kinetic energy is equal to arrow weight, multiplied by arrow velocity (squared), divided by 450,800

Momentum Formula

Momentum (arrow) = mass of arrow (grains) x arrow speed (fps) / 225,400

There are charts available for that information but the above are deliverable KE I'm comfortable with.

Edit: I don't focus on FOC as much as KE and Momentum. Get your bow and form tuned to delivering the right KE and you'll drop what you aim at.

 

Here's a link to a calculator btw

Kinetic Energy and Momentum Calculator

// The kinetic energy and momentum of an arrow are both important numbers and concepts to use when understanding the penetration potential of an arrow, whi

archerycalculator.com

 

not too many yrs ago i was shooting 27.5in goldtip 400s with a standard insert and 100 gr broadheads. i didn't worry about weighing them back then but when i plug that stuff in now it comes out @380gr. i killed deer, but i had a few that weren't clean pass throughs. luckily i wasn't shooting big mechanicals back then or i imagine i would've had real issues. a buddy was shooting lighter arrows than me back then, with mechanicals, and he had some real issues. since then i've Educated myself on here and upped things to where i'm shooting 440some grain arrows now. which seem to work much better, even when i used rages a couple yrs ago because i just couldn't get fixed broadheads to fly the way i wanted. but anyway, i think the 380 i was shooting a few yrs back was on brink of being too light even with fixed, and past the brink with a mechanical.

 

OP has not posted back since making the post sounds like he is shooting a 80lb bow at 33 inches

 

Or making his 20 so he can hustle on the sale/buy section lol

 

Thank you everyone for the info I'm going to stick with the arrows I'm using and continue getting kills I was just trying to see if I would benefit going lighter.

 

I'm betting with your 455 grain arrow you're somewhere around 270 ft per second. That's going to be fairly flat and a good all-round arrow to shoot, I probably wouldn't change anything. Maybe if I broke all my arrows I might try something new, but assuming I had a set up that was flying good I just go kill things and not worry about it

I'm betting you're right, b/c I was thinking the same thing.

My draw length/weight is 28.5"/72#, shooting a 455gr arrow on a Switchback which is not a speed demon. My arrow speed is @ 258-260fps which delivers @ 66-67 #KE. That will take down most game in N America.

Brown Bear/ Grizzly and possibly Moose might be the exception. Although it is stated that 65+ pounds is enough for the larger species like these. However I would err on the side of caution.

 

Depends on how you hunt, what draw weight, draw length, what bow, what broad head, if you like a quiet bow or a very quiet bow, and many others things.

I think the biggest problem bowhunters have is thinking a bow is like a rifle......IOW a 30-30 is a 30-30 for everyone.......but a bow......not even close not even the same model. It's ALL about setup.

 

Real life results.
67lbs 28" draw 340 spine total weight +/- 385 speed 310 (If I recall correctly, but North of 300FPS) Deer was shot at 18 yards from about 30' with a "sharpened" rage hypodermic 2" and went right through but hit the opposite leg. When he ran off the arrow snapped and he was about 55 yards from where I shot him. I never want to aim for the shoulder but it will happen again and I feel very confident that this set up is capable of repeating this shot and at a minimum will definitely enter the cavity to penetrate vitals. High speed with a SHARP head can do some amazing things.

 

Real life results.
67lbs 28" draw 340 spine total weight +/- 385 speed 310 (If I recall correctly, but North of 300FPS) Deer was shot at 18 yards

This is exactly why I say it depends on how you hunt. For me I started noticing I was taking a LOT of close shots (like you did here) and not many far ones.

So a different head on your setup would have went through that other shoulder too, made the bow more quiet and the trajectory loss is moot under 30 really.

So that's what I mean about grooming your setup. Both will work fine it's if you want the little extra gains or not. In archery you can't have it all as many people like to think.......you always make choices so understanding the pros & con's lets you make the right ones for you.

You are happy and the system works for you and that's what is important.

 

The last two seasons i shot 11 deer, 10 were with a 364 grain arrow and one was a 380. Both arrows toted a Rage on the front.

 

i am shooting a 350 grain arrow this year. short draw and light DW don't give me much options but i've had a pass through on every deer i have shot with a bow (granted it's only 3)