Slowest arrow speed

Jc213

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Aug 23, 2017
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Hi everyone,

I’m just finishing up my new bow build, a prime ct5 at 29” DL and 63lbs. Super happy with it and I’m getting some gold tip kennetic kaos built. I weighed all the components today and it’s gonna way 505gr with a 125gr broadhead. I really think this is gonna be a great hunting setup, but is there a minimum arrow velocity I should be shooting for? Just wondering if this shoots under a certain speed if I should go for a 100gr broadhead instead.
 

JD619er

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Heck no. Trad bows have been killing animals thousands of years longer than the wheeled things we have now. Shooting around 170fps. Your arrow weight is awesome I wouldn't worry about speed in the slightest....just me though
 
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Jc213

Jc213

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Heck no. Trad bows have been killing animals thousands of years longer than the wheeled things we have now. Shooting around 170fps. Your arrow weight is awesome I wouldn't worry about speed in the slightest....just me though
That’s a good point! I’m just gonna go with it. Thanks for the input.
 

RosinBag

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I personally think your arrow weight is high for 63 pounds. I guess a lot has to do with what type of hunting you are planning on doing. But just a rough guess but you will probably be under 260 and closer to 250 FPS at best.
 

OXN939

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That’s a good point! I’m just gonna go with it. Thanks for the input.

How easily an animal can jump the string is one thing to take into consideration. A bow that hypothetically does 200 FPS will give an animal 150% the reaction time of a setup doing 300 FPS. Depending on the ranges you plan on shooting (read: past 50 yards), this can be a significant factor.
 
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Jc213

Jc213

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How easily an animal can jump the string is one thing to take into consideration. A bow that hypothetically does 200 FPS will give an animal 150% the reaction time of a setup doing 300 FPS. Depending on the ranges you plan on shooting (read: past 50 yards), this can be a significant factor.
Yeah I’ll take that into consideration.
 
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Jc213

Jc213

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I personally think your arrow weight is high for 63 pounds. I guess a lot has to do with what type of hunting you are planning on doing. But just a rough guess but you will probably be under 260 and closer to 250 FPS at best.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I have been contemplating and expect my arrow speeds to be. Which I think will make me get a little better at stalking or I just need to shoot more and work up to 70lbs.
 

JD619er

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You shouldn't be shooting at an animal at 50 that is on edge in my opinion. That's a long shot with any archery tackle. If your talking elk hunting, then an elk at 50 yards that doesn't know your there and is calm is not going to jump the string. Plus at fifty with a heavy arrow like that out of a 60# bow is going to be pretty dang quiet relatively speaking.
 
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Wouldn't think elk would be an issue if staying within reasonable range and as JD said, they are unaware and at ease. Whitetail are a different story, spookiest animals there are beside Axis. If it is primarily a whitetail rig or plan on whitetail hunting, I'd want a little more speed. I shoot a Halon 5 and get around 315 fps with 450ish grain arrow and have had unaware whitetail jump the string at 30 yards.
 
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Jc213

Jc213

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Wouldn't think elk would be an issue if staying within reasonable range and as JD said, they are unaware and at ease. Whitetail are a different story, spookiest animals there are beside Axis. If it is primarily a whitetail rig or plan on whitetail hunting, I'd want a little more speed. I shoot a Halon 5 and get around 315 fps with 450ish grain arrow and have had unaware whitetail jump the string at 30 yards.
Thanks for the input! Will just be elk and mule deer this year. Possibly coues this winter if I can find the time! Which I imagine will be similar to whitetail.
 
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I'm a believer in the arrow is what they jump. Not the bow. I have done a lot of work to make a quite arrow. Shot several groundhogs in food plots this year. One I shot past a deer standing at 40 yards and hit the groundhog at 68 yards. The deer the arrow went over didn't move. To me it boils down to reading animals body language. If an animal is relaxed 85-90% of the time they won't "jump" the string. Different species of course react differently. Whitetail can be very jumpy. But while relaxed grazing you can get by with a lot. Elk seem to be pretty relaxed and not very jumpy in general. If I had a whitetail over 30 yards away that was alerted to me before I took the shot I think it would be very difficult to place a good shot on it. I'm referring to Eastern whitetail. That's a species that varies a lot.
 

Austink47

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Dance with who you bring. You should be fine until something goes wrong, then you change something just because. Sounds like a good setup to me.
 
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Jc213

Jc213

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First real post on here, appreciate all the insightful feedback!
 

Muley15

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Really depends on what your effective shooting range is and what your hunting. If your range is under 40 it will suit you well. My general rule is to shoot the heaviest arrow I can and still get around 280 fps. This for me is a good happy medium of speed and weight. I am shooting the CT5 as well at 28.5/71lbs - 450g arrow - 287fps. This is my mule deer/whitetail set up. I have seen this weight/speed ratio work very well. I wouldn't hesitate to use this on Elk but would probably be closer to 500-550 if I was only an Elk hunter.
 
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WoolyBugger

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I've been shooting about 250-260 fps the last couple years with various bows and have not had a problem with whitetails jumping the string. I used to shoot Hoyt turbo series bows and shoot an arrow weight that would give me 280 fps but those things just weren't fun to shoot. Anyways, I wouldn't think twice about your setup, great arrow weight.
 

Wrench

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Your bow is likely in stealth mode pushing that much weight. If you hunt like a bow hunter you'll be shoving arrows through whatever catches them.

One bonus is that you're pins are not stacked so tight.
 

coyyota

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Good episode on Kifarucast w Tim Gillingham about speed and weight. Worth a listen.
 
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