arrow weight for elk at 50lb draw

My son is going to hunt elk this year with a hoyt ignite with a draw weight of 50-55lbs and a 26 inch draw length. His broadhead will be a coc head like a magnus snuffer ss or possibly a stinger. Was thinking of getting him some beman ics 400 or possibly some fmj 400. I am a fan of heavier arrows but wondering if this will be to heavy for his draw length and weight. Shots would not be exceeding 30 yards. Should i be looking at a different lighter arrow setup or you think this would be fine. I could go with a 500 spine but would prefer the 400. Any better suggestions? Thanks

The best setup for any big game is more FOC. You can add a 50 or 100 grn brass insert to most any arrow to get more FOC. Your son's specs are the same as mine but I shoot a recurve with CX heritage shafts, 100 grn insert and 100 grn 4 blade stingers (definitely use these) for a total of 510 grn. That arrow flying at 170 fps has completely penetrated 2 caribou and a bunch of deer (one that went 240 lbs). Where the weight it at is more important than the total, so if you want light go with very light shafts and load up the front.

My buddy killed a moose with a similar recurve setup with 1 arrow, we watch a guy with a 70# compound use 3 to kill his. But his arrows were 350 grn and he got no penetration even though he was shooting over 300 fps.

If you are not buying this search for "Ashby extreme front of center" and read his tests on African big game.

Just a reminder that if you are going to add extra weight up front to make sure the spine is stiff enough to support it.

Stick with the 400 spine, or even bump it up to 340 with a heaver broadhead and weighted insert. I would recommend doing what you can to get the finished arrow weight above 400gr. At his draw weight, around 450gr would be even better.

10 grains of arrow weight to 1 pound of bow weight is a great rul of thumb. That should give you he best performance out of bow and arrow. So around 500 grains.

elkhunter71 said:

10 grains of arrow weight to 1 pound of bow weight is a great rul of thumb. That should give you he best performance out of bow and arrow. So around 500 grains.

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that would suggest most of us here should be shooting arrows between 600 to 800 grains??

Bonedalien said:

that would suggest most of us here should be shooting arrows between 600 to 800 grains??

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I think the thing to remember here is "max shot distance will be 30 yds". I think with the lighter draw weight compounds that they should set up arrows like we trad bow shooters do. Heavy arrows and close shots. It's a deadly combination. I've shot 600 gr arrows out of my compounds for deer but I don't recommend everyone do that.

I personally shoot a 500 grain arrow at 75 lbs so not shying away from setting him up with a heavier arrow. Just picked up some fmj 400s for him and now trying to decide between a 100 or 125 grain broadhead. Starting to think a 125.

Consider 7.5 to 8 grains per lb of draw weight when 55# or less, after that you can get more in the 6-7 grain per lb of draw weight. Ones draw length can also come into play here. For your son as I did mine at 13 I would recommend a 400 spine arrow over 500 spine. The reason is that you can tune an over spined arrow but not an under spined arrow. I would have him shooting a total arrow weight of aprox 400 grains, this is ball-park! A bit more or less will not make a noticeable difference. With him in this realm he will be utilizing the bows maximum potential. I also like your choice of broadhead mentioned. Multiple bladed heads produce bigger wound channels thus maximizing blood loss for tracking! Make sure you do not hunt with either of those broadheads out of the package, razor those bad boys up to maximize cutting everything the blades come in contact with.

My son used this similar setup with a 40# compound bow with great results with a couple of bulls on the ground. Here's one of his bulls with the 40# setup, it was a 20 yard shot & it sunk the arrow to the fletchings! Bull was down inside 100 yards. Good luck, there's nothing like a father & son team, enjoy every minute with him!

ElkNut1

Thanks for the input guys. I always touch up my snuffers on the diamond stone till they are shaving sharp. Its great that he can hunt idaho cheaper than he can here in Washington. Now trying to decide whether to take him to our traditional spot in central idaho or save seven hours on the commute and hunt up in the panhandle somewhere.

Decisions, decisions! (grin) We are out of west central Idaho, what area were you considering if out in these parts?

ElkNut1