# At 50#, could I switch to 60#?



## zephus (Apr 28, 2012)

So I'm shooting at a little less than 50# at the moment, trying to feel the bow I just purchased. Somehow though I feel like I could do more, but afraid if I do raise the draw weight, will I lose some memory on how to shoot? Will I need to adjust sight, drawing, and my muscle mass? (Don't have to answer that one :wink

And, since this is ignorance I need education about, if my bow is rated at 60#, could it be raised higher than that by a few?


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

You could try the old bowhunters test.... hold the bow out so that the arrow is level with the ground, now *slowly* draw the bow back to full draw without raising the bow. If you *can not *do that fairly easily, you are drawing too much weight.

If you really want to be sure, do the same thing while sitting on the ground, your legs flat and straight out in front of you.

Your technique should stay the same, but if you over-bow yourself, it may become more difficult to steady your aim... possibly causing trigger-punching and target panic. On the up-side of drawing more weight, your arrow will be faster with more power and your bow should be more efficient at the higher setting. The faster arrow will shoot flatter, so you will have to adjust your sights, but the gap between the pins will get smaller... more room for pins = you can shoot farther.

You should mostly be using your back muscles to draw and hold the bowstring back. 

Most bows will draw 2 or 3 pounds more than they're rated. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the brand and model.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

If I recall correctly, you don't plan to hunt. If that's the case, there is no reason to increase the draw weight. To be good at target archery requires a lot of shooting. Lower DW is a lot easier on the shoulders.

I've seen a lot of indoor target archers shooting draw weights below 40#'s. Outdoors, you need a little more, but not much.

In any case, increase the DW gradually. Your shoulders will last longer.

JHMO,
Allen


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

Ats great advice from aread...


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## zephus (Apr 28, 2012)

You're right aread I don't plan to do any bowhunting, but as mike said, faster arrow means flatter shot. Wouldn't that alone increase my efficiency with consistently shooting a target along with hours of experience?

Also, more pins equal farther shooting? Could you elaborate that concept?


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

The only venue that a faster arrow makes a significant difference is 3D competition. 3D is basically preparation for hunting, so I didn't mention it. 50#'s is plenty for other forms of target archery, even for 90 meters at outdoor FITA competition. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with faster, but healthy shoulders are more important. This is a personal choice. One indoor champion used an 80 lb bow. He claims that he didn't know better.

At some point, you may want to increase your DW to increase your holding weight. Some archers find that they shoot better with a particular holding weight / mass weight ratio. Not too many of us get to the point where that makes a significant difference. It's fun to know about this and experiment with it, but not at the expense of good basic form and execution. Also, it's kind of expensive if you don't have a stabilizer sponsor.

There are several factors that determine the range that your sight is capable of. Peep height, how far it's extended, DW, DL, arrow weight, fletching and probably a couple more things that I can't think of right now. In general, the closer your sight is to your eye, the longer the range that it is capable of. Higher peep height = longer range, higher DW and/or longer DL = longer range, ligher arrows & smaller fletching = longer range. The thing that most archers don't do is to find the optimum for each of these for their form, equipment and style of shooting. It's a lot of work and most will just follow the lead of the latest pro champion. 

At this year's Vegas shoot, the last two pro's in the championship division shoot off had similar but unusual stabilizer arrangements. Both of them had an unusually long side rod that was pointed nearly straight down with a lot of weight. This was a few weeks before the Maryland State Indoor Champoinship. In past years I had never seen this stabilizer arrangement, but this year, there were a dozen archers or following the trend. Curiously, no one shot any better than they had in past years. A couple even did worse.

JMHO,
Allen


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## zephus (Apr 28, 2012)

Allen, you couldn't have explain it better. Very well written and very understandable. Your suggestion to improve on form and education is well received by me, and by that I'll only play with my DW by +/- 5# to get a proper feel without losing my shoulder.

Your explanation on sights, arrows, and peeps are also enlightening. I'll keep them in mind when I buy my sight and arrows in the next couple of weeks.

I'll try to speak with my pro shop owner about these things, see if he knows as well as you do. Especially when it comes to stabilizer arrangements, when I do set them up I know I'll need someone to walk me through finding a good arrangement.

Thanks again, Allen. +1 for being an awesome forum coach.


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