Speed or Power

[dxthunter57]

there are some people who like speed in there arrows the more speed the better
there are some people who like heavier arrows for more force into the animal
which one do you like

[JPH]

Both.

I avoided carbon arrows when they were skinny and extremely light. But now they have a little more mass, but are still light enough to zip faster than aluminum. I like to have the best of both worlds.

[Southern Man]

I'll choose heavier arrows over speed......to a point. I once shot a 3D shoot with some friends that all shot super light arrows for max speed. Several times during the shoot they glanced an arrow off a branch or whatever and the arrow always disentigrated...grins. Too light for the force they were weilding. On another occasion I hit a buck too far forward right into the shoulder blade. It passed through both shoulder blades and was laying on the ground. I couldn't believe it. I was shooting 2216 aluminums 28" long topped with a 145gr broadhead. Grins ...logs I'll tell ya. I'm not that bad today but, I'll sacrifice a little speed for solid arrow flight and penetration. Easier to tune, not as many problems.

[Highlander Archery]

Speed only benefits trajectory. Kinetic energy benefits penetration and bow efficiency.

Bow efficiency benefits noise reduction and retained energy at range.

There are no points for the first arrow to the target

A 300 fps miss is still a miss

There is an optimal grain to weight ratio that is a more significant consideration.

[Woods Walker]

My priority for a bow/arrow set up is as follows:
 
#1.  QUIET!
 
#2.  Mass/penetration.
 
 
 
 
 
#3. Speed 
 
My goal  when I match an arrow to a bow is to find the quietest, heaviest, arrow that shoots well from the bow. Only then does speed become a consideration.
 
Speed at the expense of penetration and quiet is irrelevant, because until they make a supersonic arrow, odds are you won't hit the deer where you want to anyway, and if you do, poor penetration will further decrease you odds of a clean kill.
 
I'd rather keep my shots closer, but then know that when I do hit a deer, I'm getting the maximum potential from the arrow.

[vipermann7]

http://www.bowhuntinginfo.com/KineticEnergyNew.htm

that link takes you to a kinetic energy calculator to play around with.

after checking out that calculator and plugging in my personal set up, i have to say that adding mass is the way to go, for me at least. best case scenerio is to add mass without sacrificing speed. however, if you just add mass to your arrows and do not change your bow, you will lose speed, thus decreasing your potential final kinetic energy. however, i plugged in values for my set up and compensated for loss of speed, and came up with better kinetic energy by just adding mass to my arrows. adding mass decreased my velocity, because i did not figure to change my bow. however, adding mass added kinetic energy, even though i lost some velocity.
on the other hand, the only way i have to gain speed is to lose mass in my arrows. losing mass requires a significantly large amount of speed gained to make up the kinetic energy. if i used an arrow that only wieghs 7 grains per inch, which is very very light, i would pick up speed, and so my kinetic energy could increase. but i would have to pick up a lot of speed. i would need to pick up about 30 fps just to break even on kinetic energy. if i wanted to gain kinetic energy, i would need to see more than a 30 fps increase in speed. would i get that? i dont really know, i would have to get a chrono graph and test it. however, just based on estimation, for my set up, i would conclude that adding mass is the best way to go. if you can add mass and add velocity at the same time, that is ideal. or if you can just add velocity some how without giving up mass, i would do that as well. with a fast shooting bow, the best compromise is probably right around that 9.5 to 10.5 grains per inch of arrow, or maybe even a little heavier. however, I shoot maximas, which are light by hunting arrow standards, and get 75 foot pounds of kinetic energy with my set up. thats good for deer.

[mag30079]

Speed is nice, but todays compound bows are blazzing fast anyway. A heavier arrow will do 2 things for ya.
 
1. a heavier arrow equals more KE which gives deeper penatration.
 
2. The extra mass eats up vibration, equaling less noise from the shot.
 
Don't over do it though to much mass will throw off dynamic spine and your grouping.

[ranwin33]

I wish I could get enough speed to hunt one pin out to 30 yards.  But with a short draw length and a 58 pound draw weight, speed and power are pretty much going to be what they are - I don't worry about either.  I keep my broadheads sharp and have never had an arrow not pass through.

[PrairieShadow]

I used to shoot 2216's. always had a clean pass through with them.
 
I cannot say the same with my carbon arrows though.
 
I'm moving to a heavier arrow next year.

[mag30079]

I can't use one pin out to 30 either ranwin33, I'm at 60lbs with 29 in draw. Look on the bright side with the shorter draw, bow selection is easier.