Yes. More draw weight, means more holding weight.
More holding weight, SHOULD get you closer to groups this size at 20 yards.

 

Yes. More draw weight, means more holding weight.
More holding weight, SHOULD get you closer to groups this size at 20 yards.

great shooting man I wish I could get groups like that

 

No one should advise you about draw weight without knowledge of your specific situation. Your overall physical strength and the amount of time you can devote to shooting are essential considerations.

If strength is not an issue, greater holding weight may be beneficial… but struggling to draw and hold, or risking injury, is worse than drawing 40 pounds as you do now.

 

That makes sense and I completely agree. I don't want to hate the sport because of how I feel after an hour of it (I usually go weekly or every 2 weeks). It was a bit weird for someone to just comment on my draw weight and suggest that I add 15 pounds to it without any questions or providing any explanations.

 

I have started shooting with a bow for about 6 months, I have a Bowtech Specialist II and I'm just interested in target shooting. Currently, I'm shooting at 40 lbs and I'm getting grouping of about 2-3 inches at 20ft.
Someone commented on the range that I should go to 50-55lbs but he was unable to really explain why. Is there a reason this is a good idea? View attachment 7657326

Are you shooting at Gotham Archery in Central, Louisiana?
The picture you posted. Is that group at 20 feet or 20 yards?
If you increase your draw weight, only increase a pound at a time and build yourself up to it.

 

I'm shooting at Gotham Archery in Brooklyn New York.
Yes, it's at 20 yards. I usually mistake imperial units.

 

For best results for a target shooter, you should shoot the heaviest draw weight that you can actually handle to the last shot of the day without causing your form to fall apart. Again, to the last shot of the day. What that weight is, you have to determine for yourself.

Note that in some organizations you are restricted to 60# under the rules.

Heavier draw weight has several advantages. You have a higher holding weight meaning your release will be cleaner. You can shoot either a faster arrow for better trajectory, or a more massive arrow for less deviation due to wind. You can shoot a wider arrow for better line-cutting (higher scores).

Basically, there are no downsides to a heavier draw weight. Again, can’t stress that enough, if you can handle the weight.

 

Thanks for the explanation. The last shot of the day usually doesn't bother me at all. The arm that gets tired by the end of the day is my left arm, which is the one that holds the bow and after an hour of shooting gets shaky.

 

also more poundage means that it is less affected by the wind (that is if you are shooting outdoor)

 

With the potential nowadays of creating arrows with very lightweight shafts (grains per inch), having sufficient point weight for adequate FOC (front of center), and thus giving an overall fairly lightweight arrow, in my opinion, there really isn't much reason to shoot heavier bow weights for target shooting, unless you can completely, 100% handle it, as was mentioned, start to finish.
I only do target shooting and have been doing it with compounds for 50 years (before that with recurves). With compounds, even in my 20's and 30's, I never shot more than the upper 40's of bow weight, as that was the most I could comfortably handle for an entire, outdoor field round of 112 shots. And I only did that weight for a few years. When my age got into my 40's, I started reducing my draw weight a pound or two every few years, to maintain the comfort factor.
Now that in my late 60's (just turned 69), I'm only shooting about 35-36 lbs on both my outdoor compound target bow (with micro size arrows) and on my indoor compound target bow (with 27 size carbon arrows) and shoot quite well.
So, if you can comfortably handle more draw weight without affecting your form or accuracy, then try it. But if not, 40 lbs is sufficient to be as accurate as you can be.

 

i wouldnt add 15 lbs that fast, just go 1 full turn on the limb bolts and see how you like it, is it better or worse. if its better shoot that a while then add a little more at a time. 1 turn will maybe add 4 or 5 pounds

 

Your shaky after an hour tells me your real close to what you are physically able to shoot comfortably at this point in time. Some random guy at the range tells you you need to change something but doesnt offer an explanation ?? Nuts says holding weight and I both agree and disagree. At 6 months in the sport holding weight really is mute if your shaking so bad after an hour it affects accuracy but a year from now after you have built up some of the core muscles and have your form dialed then yes more holding weight in way of more draw weight or less let-off will help but right now enjoyshooting and dial in your form and NO more holding weight will not make your groups automatically shrink like Bolts wants you to believe.

 

PS.

There is a way to INCREASE holding weight and DECREASE the draw weight.

Your Bowtech Specialist II has 80% letoff.
So, since you are shooting 40 lbs draw weight,
then, your HOLDING weight is only 8 lbs.

There is a way to make the Shooting Weight LESS than 40 lbs
and at the SAME TIME, increase the holding weight MORE than 8 lbs.

This way, your LEFT arm (bow arm) will be LESS shaky
and your GROUPS can get MUCH smaller (easier to do) cuz the HOLDING weight can be increased.

 

Good luck and keep us posted

 

Your always going to get unsolicited advice! Your not them, you do YOU.
Indoor league I shoot 45# at 7yards to 30 yards, 84 arrows in 2 1/2 hours and am probably going to back that down. Your shooting a marked yardage you don't need more weight no matter what anyone tells you. Again you do YOU.

 

I have started shooting with a bow for about 6 months, I have a Bowtech Specialist II and I'm just interested in target shooting. Currently, I'm shooting at 40 lbs and I'm getting grouping of about 2-3 inches at 20 yards.
Someone commented on the range that I should go to 50-55lbs but he was unable to really explain why. Is there a reason this is a good idea? View attachment 7657326

The short answer is yes.

The long answer is as follows:
The peak weight of your bow, like everything else in archery, is a compromise setting. There is no more-is-better or less-is-better - there is only an optimal peak weight for what your goals are with shooting the bow.

As others have said, the advantage of higher peak weight is more kinetic energy put into the shaft. This reduces flight time to the bale as well as the effects of mistakes, etc. The disadvantage is it requires more work (draw weight * powerstroke = work done by the shooter) to draw and shoot the bow.

So, generally the best strategy on finding the optimal peak weight for you and your shooting tasks, whatever they are, is simple trial-and-error. Again as other guys have suggested, can you make it through the round without breaking down at the end of it? Specifically, is the last arrow of the round as well-controlled and painless as the first arrow in the round? Adjust according to what you find through experimentation.

As a general rule:

• virtually all compound archers are overbowed. Way overbowed. I can produce the video from Uncle Ted Nugent to prove this, if necessary.
• virtually all compound archers, when they do an honest trial-and-error experiment with their peak weight, find that they have to reduce it, if they're truly honest with themselves about what they find at the end of the experiment.
• a very, very, teeny, tiny minority of compound archers find that they need to increase their peak weight to better achieve their goals (again, only if their experimental assessments are honest).

The only way to know is to keep shooting, honestly observe your results, and tell yourself the honest truth about what you are finding....

lee.

 

If just interested in target shooting, and most likely indoors. Draw weight isn’t going to do anything. Most of these post on “ more draw weight is better”, are nothing more than what the guy at that shop told you. Not one person knows you better than you. If you shoot for an hour and either side ( shoulder and or arm) is tired, sore , shaking, then you have to much draw weight now, and certainly don’t need to go up. Guys talk about more holding weight makes you shoot better. For who. You ? Me? Them? I’ve shot same 300 scores on 3-spot and 5-spot faces with 60# and 65% spiral mods, and 48# with 90% letoff. The stabilizers and weight has more to do with this than holding weight. “Well the pros shoot more holding weight “. And, so. They shoot for hours a day , everyday to. Does the person being told to “ shoot more weight “ shoot hours a day every day?”. No, I think you said you go once a week or once every two weeks, correct? And guys are spitting out about “ add more draw weight “, “add more holding weight “. More holding weight is for the ones that need it, and can handle it. 80% holding weight or close, is fine for a bow. You don’t need to hold 25# at full draw to shoot perfect 300/60x scores. Mathews target bows offer a 70v mod. 70% holding weight.. and very very few guys and even very few of the top pros in the world, even use them. Most opt for the 80% mods. Guys would know that if they actually listened to what pros talk about. Shoot what you shoot and can shoot well. Get a bow( borrow, shoot one at a shop) with your preferred draw weight with some different holding weight options and see what you shoot better. But I can tell you by what you posted, a 65 or 70 % letoff isn’t going to do anything for you at this time but tire you quicker. But again, you can get close to the same feel by adding front weight to your bar.

 

A whole LOT of honest truth right there!

 

Archery is a virus. Meaning, what one does , spreads to another, to another until you have a wave of folks doing the same , just because they got got around someone doing something. Take Tim Gillingham, I personally think he’s a talented archer, but a nut. 90% of what he does, and the gadgets he wears and hangs on his bows don’t mean anything. They don’t help, they just get talked about. Look at the walker he has on his bow now. His scores are no better than before, but because he won with them on there , you see a lot of guys running two v-bars now. Even Levi Morgan running v-bars now. He’s the most winningest archer in history but because someone did something differently, people do something differently. The same with this holding weight. Not every archer will shoot better with a ton of holding weight. But for some reason everyone just “ believes “ that everyone that picks up a bow will automatically shoot better if they run more holding weight. If bows just automatically shot better with more holding weight, all target bows would come like that . Why spend all these millions of dollars on research and development if you could just build all cams and mods to shoot 65/70%? I pull hard into the wall. I can shoot spiral cams or 90% letoff and can’t tell the difference. When the Hoyt Podium and Prevail was such a hot topic, everyone posted” you better be a seasoned archer to shoot the spiral cams”, or “ those spirals will jump on you” not one time did that ever happen to me. And I was going back and forth between that bow and an Elite V37 with 90% letoff. If you pull 28# into the wall, doesn’t matter if your bow is set to 10# holding weight or 25#. Then the topic about string tension comes up. It’s easier to make a bad shot when you are holding 8# or so because there’s no tension on the bow string at full draw. Put a bow on a draw board, with 70% holding weight and 90% holding weight, and see how easily you move the string side to side on both. Takes a touch on either. Folks make to much of a fuss over holding weight. It’s not the same for all and one is not that much more dominant of “ better” than the other.

 

I recently jumped back in to archery after a long lay off. My bow is set up with the fact that I shoot and hour to an hour and a half 6 days a week.

 

I shoot a Supra Focus 37 SE 60# bow. I am out of spec and run my ATA ¼" long dropping my draw weight to just a tad over 56 lbs. This increases holding weight percentage. Easy draw with more holding weight makes for a super easy shooter for me. Yes, I lost speed (significant amount actually) but my scores are better. I would rather hit slower than miss faster. Right now I'm shooting a 350 grain arrow at 265ish FPS. I shoot Known 50 and the arrow hits behind the pin. Everyone I shoot with is faster. It works well for them. They are comfortable with more poundage. I am not. I wish I would have stayed with less weight earlier in my shooting as I believe I would be a better archer today. I was over bowed for years. Also, I have a short draw length. I was running more weight and longer DL to get more speed as that was what everyone seemed to believe made you a better shooter with higher scores. Simply not true. I started off with the heavy "lean" being 1½" too long running over 60lbs. Now I generally shoot at 28" (measured on a draw board and not based on mod size) and mid 50s lb range. On some bows I'm actually a tad under 28".

More poundage does not necessarily mean better. More holding weight will only keep you honest. I personally like SVX 65% cams but not at 60lbs. Generally I prefer about 70-75% and have had some great bows at 80%. 80% cams I like 60lbs. On lower % cams I prefer 55ish lb draws. In the end, the actual holding weight is extremely similar and in my opinion, comfortable holding weight is drastically more important than draw weight. Speed is not as critical as it is made out to be (in known distance shooting).

Another issue is heavy weights on stabilizers. The more weight the more stable many will say. Also, this is BS. Yes, there are a ton of great shooters who run crazy amounts of stabilizer weight. For most people IMO they are over weighted. I generally don't run excessive amounts of weight. Usually 3-6 ounces up front and 12-15 on back (depending on the bow geometry). Usually the sign of being over weighted is the drop outs and another is the last second violent shakes before release. Watch out for that.

Rant over for now

Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk

 

So long as your bow is well tuned, increased practice is what will improve your groups, and not an increased draw weight. There's plenty of exceptionally skilled and accurate women and youths shooting 40lb, so poundage is not the issue.

 

Wow... I was not expecting this. Most of you offered much more information and way better advice than I ever hoped. I collect hobbies, I have done lots of different things like hiking, handguns, benchmark shooting, cooking, PC building, reloading, slam poetry, survivalist camping, etc, and now I'm starting with archery too and I have to say that most of the time when I asked a question regarding a hobby, 75% is bull, posturing, regurgitating unverified knowledge, and showing off, so I was delighted to go through most of the post here where I could get honest true answers that are given with the intention of actually helping me. Thanks, everyone and I think I will follow most of your advice and I will keep doing what feels comfortable for me, adjust my form and see if it improves my left arm and try to go more frequently to the range. I will keep you posted on my progress. Thank you!

 

I was shooting 40# and doing very well indoors and outdoors. Ego told me I should go up. I went to 50 and just can’t do as well. I left my ego at the door and went back down. Shooting well again.

 

I strive to shoot the lowest weight I can to get the job done. One , it keeps my shoulder happy and two I can shoot longer.

 

Thanks.