Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleSS
I shoot a 538 grain arrow @ 285 fps out of an 80lb bow with a fixed blade broad head. This gives me 97 pounds of kinetic energy. I am able to shoot this setup all day long and after sitting in -30C for hours on end and I can do it accurately. I have shot many 3D shoots with this setup as I don't have a 3D setup and have done well.
I start with this statement because I feel that the most important part is being able to shoot your setup under all conditions accurately and with confidence.
I have chosen my setup for the worst case scenario where the shot may not be the best placed shot or it might have hit a large bone. With this setup a complete pass through on a bull elk at 50 yards is not a problem. I have also found elk shoulder blades are not a problem but the joint where the leg connects to the shoulder blade is a problem.
For me I put more value in hitting power than high speeds and a tight pin gap; but that is just me.
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I shoot a similar rig, 530 grains at 292 fps and it goes through just about everything I plan on hitting. Tune and broadheads choice are also very important but arrow weight plays a large part on potential and actual penetration.
I've shot through the leg bone on a bull elk below the joint with 630 grains, it gave me enough penetration to get both lungs (he was bedded). In testing to get through the actual knuckle consistently (in testing) I had to use my 790 grain arrows with 150 grain vpa penetrator broadheads (the ones I used in Australia for water buff).
If we take lefties elk, lightweight arrows and big mechanical broadhead, low momentum and an irrelevant KE calculation leads to poor penetration on even the thin scapula. The only place a setup like that has any value is thin animals, perfect shots OR a bad shot to far back like liver or guts where a big cut may help you recover the animal. It's the last arrow I would want to take against bone or a quartering shot where I need 3' of penetration. The flip side is you probably won't get much penetration on a bad bone hit and the animal will probably live to be shot another day (unless you can get a second arrow in him).
OP you'll have to pick your poison, if your hampered by shooting low draw weight or short draw length you might want to keep the weight moderate to help with trajectory. By moderate I'm talking 450ish, for my money I'll stick with 500-550 as an all around arrow and go heavier when I start shooting bigger animals.