Shooting with an Overdraw
Whitetail Deer
I posted this on a couple of different hunting forums and got a lot of good feed back... I recently purchased a new Bow.. Draw length of 28" at 62lbs of Draw weight... With previous Bow I always shot 28 1/2" arrows...340 spine... I could not get my new bow tuned right.. I was going out of my mind trying to get the bow shooting right... Referring to a spine chart it recommended that I shoot an arrow with 400 spine.. I had always shot a 340 because I like a stiffer arrow and never had an issue with tuning before... The other day while working to tune my Bow with a buddy I grabbed one of his arrows to shoot..it was a 400 spine but it was only 27" long... The arrow stuck out a half inch past my rest... The arrow shot great and I continued to shoot them... Within an hour I was grouping my broadheads with my field points and the bow was shooting great... My buddy recommended that I stick with the shorter arrows...after researching this I found that it was called shooting an overdraw... I've read that a lot of competition archers use this method... Do any of you guys shoot an overdraw? Pros? Cons?
SLIM
I like my broadhead ahead of my hand at full draw. Reading your post I think the real issue is arrow spine. Why don't you try a heavier tip with your 340 spine arrows to see the result? An actual overdraw moved the rest back allowing shorter arrows. They were once very popular.
Slim, a lot of the popular arrow rests today are actually technically an "overdraw" in the sense of what an overdraw was 10-15 years ago. A lot of the rests sit off the back of the shelf rather than directly out of the plunger as was common when I first started archery 25 years ago. A heavier head on your 340's would help or just continue to shoot the 400's. Either way as long as everything is shooting great I wouldn't sweat it!
I use a QAD xl drop away and it does sit behind the shelf...arrow with broadhead on it sits just at the front edge of the shelf...right above my hand... Here's a question for you... If I were to use the 400 spine arrow but went back to 28 1/2" would that extra 1 1/2" really make that much of a difference? It would only be adding about 15 grains to the total weight... Would the arrow really fly all that different? I just picked up a dozen shafts but haven't had a chance to cut and fletch them ( Easton Full Metal Jacket)... I'm really undecided on what to do with them
Something else to blame here rather than too stiff of a spine. I wish you were here so I could see, and watch you shoot.
The shorter an arrow is, the harder it is to get it to fly correctly(assuming all else equal). So shortening arrows and using an overdraw would be counter-productive for tuning ease.
Are your "new" shafts 340 or 400? If they are 400's I'd start at 28.5" If they act too weak, you can shorten them an inch, which will stiffen them up.
If you bought 340's, I would start at 29.5" and see how they fly.
Remember, the shorter you go, the stiffer the arrow.
I thought over draws where a fad of the 90's, and most people stoped doing it becaue of bows blowing up(under weight arrows) and hands getting sliced, get the right arrow and shoot the right weight points. 2117,or 2018 or 2016, try 30" arrows, dont cut unless they need it.
X-man the new shafts are 400's and I think I am going to cut them 28 1/2" ... This overdraw is new to me... I shot the 27" arrows on a whim... It worked ..so I have been going back and forth on what to do.. Just was curious.. Thanks for the feed back
Testing is the answer. You can read and watch and listen to as much advice as you want, but in my experience, there are too many dynamic variables today that contradict software programs and spine charts.
I am an advocate of arrow testing as much as i am of bow tuning. Shoot what works for you. Now, on the overdraw point, here are the results of my testing lately.
I set up my Chill X with the Vapor Trail Pro V, which has an overdraw containment cage. I shoot Quick Spins on the back of a 400 spine gold tip fletched with max helical on the Arizona mini.
At 65 lbs, the 400 might seem underspined. My d.l. is 28.5 AMO. So, me and my buddy cut the arrow to 25.5 inches. My Easton Pro Spine tester tells me I am more in the 300-340 spine range, and that is probably the biggest point, find the spine that works with different arrow lengths and poundage. I am getting fantastic long range groups.
But the suprise of the test is that the short arrows perform better than any other that i have tested in the wind. I have not, however, done much testing with micro diamater arrows which by all accounts are awesome in the wind.
So, testing can find that spine sweet spot for you, the short arrow overdraw option is one to look at, and i might add that i always borrow arrows from friends and keep testing until you get what you are after.
Just a note-I shot Groves Recurve Bows in the 60s & they had over draw & the window had a cut out so your broadhead had room to come into it. Shot a Bear with it. Overdraws been around a loooonnnngggg time.
Thanks Cambow.... Let me ask you this because I've had guys tell me this.... Does shooting a shorter arrow pose a risk of the Bow blowing up? A few people have said that if you shoot an arrow shorter than your DL the arrow can not handle the energy created by the bow and it can cause the bow to blow...any truth to that in your opinion...
And like I stated my bow is shooting these shorter arrows great
