my question is based on everyone's experience if a bow is 50/60 how much do you think it could be lowered to the absolute maximum,,, I am recovering from shoulder surgery and I really would love to get the bow to about 45# maybe 40# (the Massachusetts legal Min)
I'm going to bring it back and ask if they can really try to go as far as they can I'm just curious if its worth it..
Then when I had a stroke seven years ago, I needed a maximum draw weight reduction in one of my bows to use it as a rehab/training device. I had an older Browning single-cam backup bow that I was very willing to risk doing some sort of harm to, but didn't expect any. Cranked it down until I could easily draw it with almost NO strength in my left arm to resist the draw and hold the bow at arm's length. Actually had that 70# bow down to a peak of 19# at breakover when I began using it do draw only, indoors in wet weather.
As the weather improved, and I took the bow out in the yard to begin actually shooting it, I discovered that it would "unstring" itself very often upon release, but otherwise there were no dramatic or ill effects. Arrow cast was very slow, of course, but I used my regular hunting arrows and after cranking the peak weight back up to 27# the string stayed in place on the cam at release and practice at 20 yards resumed.
By late summer I was back up to 43# peak, and limping slowly a short way into the woods to sit in a brush blind carrying my newer Mathews at that weight, also down from 70#. Full confidence in the bow having the necessary performance if the shots were limited in length and close enough to help insure good placement. No shots that year, but it felt good to be back in the woods anyway.
Now back up to near the factory recommended minimum draw on the Mathews, and have been shooting practice and 3D these last few years with gradual increases in draw weight, a few thousand shots with no ill effects seen to the bow. Getting pretty easy to pull again, and will likely be back to something closer to the max again before this season.
Main problem has been a long battle with target panic as I tried to get used to using a release (long-time finger shooter). My reduced arm strength made that battle harder until I had enough reserve strength to hold more comfortably while concentrating on form and squeezing off the shot.
I have always been a tinkerer. Never a "pro" bow mechanic (or pretended to be), but I have seen LOTS of warnings about the limitations on various devices through the years and found most of them to be prompted by liability lawyers and companies who would really rather you "just buy the lower weight limb$ and have your dealer in$tall them" than actually give you useful advice on how to avoid those costs during your rehab.
Of course, you should take reasonable care in reducing draw weight to insure that there are sufficient threads left engaged in the limb nuts at the reduced weight you desire to shoot, but aside from that all the other forces are reduced as the peak weight is reduced, so there's little else to fear. Even the self-unstringing I mentioned above that occurred when I shot my Browning at 19# was easy to fix. At that peak draw weight, the weight at rest was nearly nil, and the string could be easily slid back onto the cam with fingers, no pressing or tools needed.
Good luck with the rehab.
The safety hazard isn't the limb bolts coming out. The safety hazard is the string de-railing on the rebound .
My advise for shoulder surgery recovery has been to buy a good used Genesis bow to build up repetitive strength. You will be able to sell it for what you bought it for in most cases. The Genesis Pro will go up to 35# and has draw stops. The no let-off of the Genesis bows helps with rehab as well.
