How low can you go?

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When lowering your poundage, how low would you think you could go before you start experiencing really bad string oscillation. I remember Dudley mentioning bottoming out your bow, for example, taking a 60# bow and lowering ti 50#, would cause bad string oscillation and thus inconsistencies. Curious if there's a threshold if anyone has any experience or knowledge.

My bow maxes at 58# and I have some 70# limbs I want to try, but I don't think I'll be able to pull more than 65#. Would 65# be getting too low?
 
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Absolutely not, especially if you’re shooting a parallel or beyond limb bow. My bows usually end up 2-4# under peak draw weight by the time I’m done with everything and have never had one not be able to bareshaft at 40 because of the bow not being maxed.
I’ll say this as well. If you want to keep your limb bolts maxed for vibration reasons, you can always untwist your cables to get your peak draw down. Doing this leads to a bunch of other things happening, and if you’re not familiar with them DONT worry about it. Refer back to just backing out the limb bolts to get to your desired draw weight. The only reason I mention untwisting cables is to remind you if you have experience tuning bows and using a press. If you’re not there yet, you’ll be just fine and it will come with time.
 
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I'm curious about this supposed "string oscillation" issue at reduced draw weights. Sounds like a fictitious concern to me, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bow anywhere within the manufacturer's stated draw weight range. The low end of that range is usually 10 lbs less than the nominal weight of the limbs.
 
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I'm curious about this supposed "string oscillation" issue at reduced draw weights. Sounds like a fictitious concern to me, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bow anywhere within the manufacturer's stated draw weight range. The low end of that range is usually 10 lbs less than the nominal weight of the limbs.

I’m in agreement. The environment changes when the arrow is gone. Anything that happens after the arrow is gone, as long as it’s not damaging to the bow or shooter, shouldn’t matter. Maybe it’s uncomfortable or loud. I’d have to expect oscillation would occur after the arrow is gone, and therefore wouldn’t impact arrow flight or impact.

I’ve been wrong before though. :)
 
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I'm curious about this supposed "string oscillation" issue at reduced draw weights. Sounds like a fictitious concern to me, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bow anywhere within the manufacturer's stated draw weight range. The low end of that range is usually 10 lbs less than the nominal weight of the limbs.
About 1 min in he talks about it:

 

wapitibob

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Depends on the bow. I'm shooting a 60# Reckoning at 52 and it's tighter than a 2nd skin. 10# off on an old mathews c4, not so much.
 
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I have backed 60# bows down to 45-49# pounds for indoor. I never noticed a difference in accuracy, they were better than I was.

I can't see how it can be any different than just having 50# limbs. It used to be bows were more accurate with the limbs bottomed out, but the newer limb pockets are a lot better than old and I think that problem is gone.

Could be something to it, but I have my doubts.
 
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About 1 min in he talks about it:

I watched the video, and I'm not convinced that what he's describing is actually potentially detrimental to accuracy. I agree that decreased string tension would theoretically allow the nock to pull the string slightly further forward as the arrow decouples and would cause slightly more string oscillation after decoupling, but I'm doubtful that either of those effects would be noticeable. Also, is it even true that string tension would be lower with 70# limbs backed off to 60# vs. 60# limbs maxed out? In one case the limbs are stiffer but backed further away from the riser and in the other case the limbs are weaker but snugged up to the riser, but the string and cables are the same lengths in both cases. I honestly can't say which case I think would yield higher string tension or why.

Granted, John Dudley is an elite archer and perhaps he truly can perceive some difference in accuracy with backed off vs. maxed out limbs that an average joe like me would never notice.

Not worried about noise - worried about accuracy
I'd wager that over-bowing yourself would hurt your accuracy more than avoiding the supposed issues caused by "low" string tension would help it. I wouldn't push my comfortable draw weight limits trying to stay in the upper end of a given range based solely on an offhand remark, even if the remark did come from an accomplished archer like Dudley.
 

Zac

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I watched the video, and I'm not convinced that what he's describing is actually potentially detrimental to accuracy. I agree that decreased string tension would theoretically allow the nock to pull the string slightly further forward as the arrow decouples and would cause slightly more string oscillation after decoupling, but I'm doubtful that either of those effects would be noticeable. Also, is it even true that string tension would be lower with 70# limbs backed off to 60# vs. 60# limbs maxed out? In one case the limbs are stiffer but backed further away from the riser and in the other case the limbs are weaker but snugged up to the riser, but the string and cables are the same lengths in both cases. I honestly can't say which case I think would yield higher string tension or why.

Granted, John Dudley is an elite archer and perhaps he truly can perceive some difference in accuracy with backed off vs. maxed out limbs that an average joe like me would never notice.


I'd wager that over-bowing yourself would hurt your accuracy more than avoiding the supposed issues caused by "low" string tension would help it. I wouldn't push my comfortable draw weight limits trying to stay in the upper end of a given range based solely on an offhand remark, even if the remark did come from an accomplished archer like Dudley.
Dudley like any human has some suspect theories. He had a video on fixed blades where he stated that he didn't care if his field points and his broadheads impacted in different locations. He also tunes broadheads by moving his rest away from the direction the broadhead impacts.
 

H80Hunter

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Due to an elbow injury I'm shooting a VXR 31.5 with 60# mods backed out to the max. It's 45 lb and I have my bareshafts with my field points at 40 yards and have perfect arrow flight. I suspect this is a myth. At the very least, if you have to ask, you aren't good enough to notice. I don't mean that as an insult, I don't consider myself good enough to notice.
 

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