Flight archery

[James Park]

I used one of John Clark's excellent long bows in the recent flight competition, and managed to shoot one of my compound bow indoor arrows (a 307 grain Safari) 275 Metres. John has mentioned it on his web site at http://www.ausbow.com.au/news.html

John has now got enthusiastic about trying to get 300 or hopefully 350 Metres with a long bow, and has made me an 85 pound long bow to try. I will pick it up during the Indoor Nationals. I look forward to trying it. At 29 inches it might go close to 90 pounds.

[OldDog]

James at our age you should have more sense

[Cameron]

Please check with the local airport before testing this bow. Don't want you to take out any low flying aircraft. :D

[James Park]

I will collect my new bow (an heart tablets) during the Indoor nationals in a couple of weeks. I will then be looking for somewhere to try it.

[Robert Halley-Frame]

Fortunate for you Jim, Aldy & myself just completed a CPR course complements of the Shire of Yarra Ranges. If you use that bow we might have an opportunity to practice

:D :P

[James Park]

How do we optimise a compound bow for flight archery? And the arrow?
Reason I ask: at the flight competition earlier this year Leigh Cornish shot an arrow 547 Metres using a High Country compound at 60 pounds, with a 1413 aluminium arrow turned backwards.
Having shot flight many times, I know that 547 Metres is a fabulous distance, especially with an aluminium arrow.
So, what do we use to try to beat him?

Similar question: Jason Goss shot 259 Metres with his PSE reecurve bow and ACE's. Can we do better than that? I think Jason's bow was 40 pounds.

[Marcus]

Good question Jim, I've been asking myself the same since the event.
I think a brace height of about 6 inches for one. Also I think a super lite arrow is also a must. While a heavier arow in theory will shoot longer due to downward velocity, I think Leigh got some extra push from his arrow perhaps floating some extra way. If you get some float you can possibly get another 50-100m perhaps.

So other than using a light arrow with an overdraw I don't think that Leigh did anything spectacular. I'ld love to try a 320fps IBO rated Hoyt HyperTec next year. Wonder if BAB will bring one in just for that. :)

[James Park]

I think one of the tricks is to use a small diameter arrow. Out of my target bow my X10's went further than my ACE's (430M vs 400M). The key here is drag - much lower for a smaller diameter arrow.

[L-Roy]

A friend of mine shoots a Hoyt Tenacity, 26" d/l, 52lbs d/w He carefully built his hunting arrows from used ACE shafts. I'm sorry, I don't know the size, but they weigh 252 grs total. 1.8" fletch. He manages pass through kills on White Tail deer with expanding blade broadheads. I don't know the speed. He has never chronographed it.

This rig will shoot in still air 459 yards. I think that is about 420M.

Is that good?

[James Park]

Yes, that is good. By my calculation that would be 305 ft/sec.

[Kuru]

I think a havoc tec with an overdraw and maybe some x10's would do fairly well, with redline cams. See if Pete will give you one of those Marcus :) Do you think spin wings would do anything over such a long distance ?

[Marcus]

Yeah I can only hope.

I would think a bare shaft would get more distance due to drag.

[James Park]

I have calculated the drag. It is dominated by the shaft surface area. The fletches are a secondary consideration (so long as they are not too large).

[James Park]

Thinking about all of the arrow types currently available, which of them would you be able to shoot the furthest?
I think it is an X10. It would be best to use a very light point - the normal point at its lightest is 90 grains, however I suspect that it would easy to cut this down to probably 20 to 30 grains. That would also let you go a few sizes lighter than normal, and probably get a weight of about 220 grains. I would use an X10 insert nock, and crossbow fletches.
I suspect that with my Quantum I could get an arrow velocity of perhaps 320 ft/sec, which would give me a distance of around 450 Metres.
The small size Carbon techs are also of small diameter, but I suspect they would not have sufficient stiffness.

[Marcus]

What about an X10 with a Pin nock in the point end?

[James Park]

Interesting suggestion.

[Marcus]

The only problem I can think of is that the pin may create excess drag due to it's non bullet shape. If you are able to plot it's course the pins weight 8 grains.