Measuring bow draw weight

Ian

Member
AIUK Saviour
After so many years of shooting I should probably know this but as long as I have had a comfortable draw I have never really worried about the exact draw weight of my bows at 28" until now.
Where is the measuring point for the 28"?
Is it the back of the bow,the belly of the bow,the plunger button hole,the point where the arrow meets the arrow rest?
I now have a set of scales and I would like to weigh my limbs as the difference between the 32`s and the 36`s seems a lot.
 

bimble

Well-known member
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
AIUK Saviour
the grip, plus 1.75" (which should take it to the back of the bow). So at the top of the grip it would be 26.25"
 

dvd8n

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
What bimble says is correct, and you should do this, but you should probably measure at your draw length as well, as if you are perceiving a bigger difference than the 4lb you may be running into stacking or feeling a difference in the draw force curve. Or it may just put your mind at rest that there is just a 4lb difference.
 
Last edited:

Ian

Member
AIUK Saviour
That`s good to know,thank you.
My arrow length is 29" and the point is at the back of the bow at full draw so that should add a couple of pounds to draw weight.
 

bimble

Well-known member
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
AIUK Saviour
though if I recall, Stylist measure to the button hole, so it's not a hard & fast rule across everyone (just in case you, or anyone else reading this shoots a Stylist)
 

Stretch

Well-known member
Stylist was 28” to the button hole and that was in the highest weight setting (zero packers as it was). So my 44# limb rated 70” Stylist was approx 41# minimum weight at 28” to button and about 44# at 32” to roughly back of the bow At minimum setting. Loved the bow, hated that! Very confusing for buyers.

Also worth noting that Hoyt limbs are weighed mid range with +/- 5%. Most other manufacturers are at minimum weight with +10%. So 32# Hoyt limbs would be 6# lighter than 36# most makes.

Stretch
 

Whitehart

Well-known member
Today limbs are manufactured and measured to 28" on AMO standards and measured to the centre of the closest button hole (which in some cases is the throat of the grip as Bimble has already said) plus 1.75". (so 26.25" to button plus 1.75" = 28")

The marked weight on the limb can be +/- 1lb

The limb bolt position is different from riser to riser as the manufacturers mess around with the ILF technology and limb pocket for Hoyt/Gillo/Fivics/uukha/Core/Kinetic/Spigarelli mid position, W&W/ WNS 6 Turns out from fully in.

Also how a limb rests in the pocket can also affect this measurement compared to what is marked on the limb.
 

Stretch

Well-known member
Thanks for the clarification Whitehart. So I think you are saying that limbs from the first list will typically weigh approx 2lb less than W&W etc when put in the same riser? Didn’t realise so many were using mid-point. Samick definitely in the second list and I think Border, MK and PSE too (And all the older W&W sub brands). But I also had a set of 36# Winnex that only yielded 40# at 32” when fully wound in... (and I dropped to 36# as I expected them to be equivalent to 38# Hoyt... lesson learned).

I’m a bit surprised by Spigarelli- when I tried one of their risers (2001 I think it was called) my draw weight was about 3# heavier than in my Hoyt. But I had previously shot the 1300 and the original DMS without noticing any significant difference. (Didn’t like it much anyway ;))

Re your last point, yes definitely. I have seen SF limbs in a budget Hoyt riser that basically became unadjustable because the butts were so blocky.

Stretch
 

Whitehart

Well-known member
Win win limbs weigh up correctly at limb bolts 6 turns out, so with a W&W & WNS you can only ever increase the weight.

Yes theoretically working out draw weight when mixing and matching even new and old products from the same manufacturer can be difficult, especially as riser manufacturers are constantly tinkering with the ILF geometry. They can only tinker because the band that ILF works in is quite narrow and if you push it too far bows become very unstable.

Risers like the Hoyt HPX are more reflexed than other Hoyt risers to improve speed but at the mid point they weighed 2lb heavier (I guess this is how they got the speed :)). W&W changed their detent fitting from the Inno Max which initially made the limbs weigh up heavier by up to 2lbs because the limb no longer rested on the edge of the limb pocket.

Then you have to factor in the manufacturing tolerance of +/- 1lb
 
Top