Do Your Bow A Favor

[hoosieroutdoorsman]

I had a guy bring me in his Mathews Legacy, he had talked about being dissatisfied with the local shops and wanted someone he could depend on. He had gotten my name from a friend of his that I had made new string and cable for and decided to give me a try. He came by the house with his bow and his sons bow and I looked the bow over and I could tell the cam had been rolled back to begin with. His draw length was way to long part of the result of rolling back the cam toooo much, he shot the bow on my chrony and had a nice reading of 295 fps. He said the bow was set on 68 lbs. shooting a 344 grain arrow so he was ok there, he had asked about switching to a 85 grain tip from a 100 and asked if it would flatten out his tradjectory and I agreed yes it would help. I told him it would also gain him a little speed and put a 85 on his arrow and let him shoot it through the chrony. Same reading 295,, he shot 2 more times and 295 both times?? This told me something was wrong,,it should have gained even if only by 5 fps it should have gained.So I told him I would give it thorough once over and call him, I got to looking at the bow and pulled the string off and checked the length and it was about 3/16 long. SO I built a new string to specs and took the cable off as it needed to be reserved by the loop from MAJOR wear. Once I had the cable on my jig and got ready to remove the old serving I decided to check the length against the sticker,,,,,,, 3/8 short ! ! The bow was actually set on 60 lbs forgot to mention that,,the limb bolts were backed out almost 3 full turns,,so the math of a 60 lb. draw with a 340 grain arrow and a suppossed 28 1/2 inch draw didn`t equal 295 fps in my book. What the shop that did the string and cable went stupid trying to roll back the cam for the short draw and if he had kept shooting it he would have ended up with a bent axle or cracked limb. So I called him and explained all this too him and told him that the 295 was a fake reading, when you roll back a cam too far it messes with the nock travel and causes the arrow to pass through the chrony at an up or down angle and will give a fake fast reading. Some guys do this to make their customers think they have a high speed bow when they have a medium high speed bow.I explained that his true speed should be in the high 260`s to mid 270`s,, with his shorter draw that would drop his speed,, the bow only has a 308 IBO,,he was worried about being string jumped and I explained my philosphy and remedy for that and will save that for another post. Do your bow a favor and don`t let these guys try and talk you into doing something like letting them get stupid and run the risk of ruining a good bow. If your draw is over 29 inches and your bow has a good IBO then yes you can get very close to it and be safe with the bow,, if you are under 29 you can gain a few fps from factory specs with SLIGHT modification but don`t let some self proclaimed bow hot rod tell you or try to make your bow 300 + with a short draw,,it is just not going to happen and be healthy on the bow.You can roll the cam back SLIGHTLY and be safe,,a cam is just like a tire on a car,, you don`t buy new tires and don`t balance them and get a smooth ride do you? The same goes for the cam on a bow, it has to be balanced or you will have problems. That is where factory specs come in,, you can fudge them a little but never like this guy had done to his bow. Take it for what is worth,,it is your bow and you can trust who you want to trust,, I just wanted to pass along what I had a first hand dealing with.

[ScottC]

Thanks for the info. Good stuff to remember.

[lterry]

Many new archers run into this problem. They really don't know what DL or poundage they need...so they go to a shop and get talked into buying something that not only doesn't fit them..but has been altered to the point that it isn't performing propery and the next thing you know he/she is discouraged and decides that this isn't a sport that they feel comfortable with.

Take the time to educate yourself about a bow and what makes them perform propery. Learn about draw length and poundage...then look for a bow. If a shop owner tries to talk you into a bow that you don't think will fit you...go somewhere else.

Another thing...if a shop doesn't carry a bow that you are interested in...let the shop owner know it. Depending on the manufacture...they may be able to get what you are looking for into their shop on a consignment from the manufacturer if a dealer isn't within a certain radious of the shop you are in.

[admin]

Good Job Tracy.

[michihunter]

Tweaking a bow is something a lot of people try to do. It's as if they feel they know better than the engineers and designers what will work best for that particular equipment. It doesn't take much logical sense to realize that every mfg in the industry is already tring to get the most out of each particular piece of equipment they sell. And these are trained professionals. I'll stick to the mfg specs everytime .

[hoosieroutdoorsman]

Thats a good practice to have michi,,you can tweak one SOME but you can`t get radical and think ok I have a 28 inch draw and am shooting IBO weight and arrow and I can overcome my short speed drop with simple adjustments or alterations. The fact is you can`t,,you can gain some of the loss back but putting the bow in jeoparody over 15-20 fps isn`t anywhere near smart or even economical. Thats is one thing I like about the Storm,,the P38x cam is almost idiot proof,,you have about an 1/8 inch to play with without getting major handshock and making the bow a dud,,in my opinion the 1/8 inch isn`t worth messing with,,it shoots great straight out of the box.

[michihunter]

And don't forget, 10fps means absolutely nothing with todays bows. You might get an inch drop at 30 yards going from 280 to 270fps. Not enough of a difference to take a chance on hurting your bow.

[hoosieroutdoorsman]

Zackly right,,but trying to get people to understand that is like trying pick dust mites off of fleas. I hate to say it but manufacturers and bow shops pushing for the manufacturers is the blame for all the mis-info out here. They know the general publics weakness for speed and they play on it.