Upgrading Advice

[wingate_52]

Heavier limbs, now wind them in. The Winex are a few fps faster. Then lighter arrows that spine correctly later if neccessary.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by fezza

Hi Rik,
Could you please explain what you mean by the weight of the M1 limbs? Are you referring to the poundage or weight in the hand?

I have also noticed that Bowsports is selling Winex limbs for cheaper than M1's. Must be a better buy, if they feel ok on the bow, surely?

I'm referring to poundage (weight on the fingers).
Different manufacturers weigh their limbs differently.

For example, W&W and Samick weigh their limbs at the bottom of the adjustment range, Hoyt weigh in the middle. So, superficially, if you have two sets of limbs, one from Hoyt, one from W&W, marked the same weight, then the Hoyts will generally be lighter overall than the W&Ws. As a rule of thumb, when I look at Hoyt limbs I add a couple of pounds to the ratings (so if I'm looking for a 40 pound limb, I'd be looking at 42lb Hoyts).

But that's not the whole story. Samick and W&W both weigh at the bottom of the range, but Samick limbs (the extremes, at least) tend to come up heavier than W&Ws, in a W&W handle... So, when I choose limbs I take a set of scales along with me, so that I don't have to go by the limb markings.

Ultimately, you choose the limbs, then try different pairs, until you get the weight/feel that you want.
Whether a pair of limbs is a bargain or not depends on whether they suit you. It's not something arbitrary, that a third party can say "yes, those are better for you". I suspect that any decent quality limb will do well enough for you, but it's not really possible to say which will be *best* for you.

[fezza]

Thanks guys for all your advice, it has all helped me to understand a few things.

However, on Friday night I got together with our coach and the clubs best archer, as he had some nice G3 limbs and A/C/E's, and did some experiments!

Firstly we set the boss out at 70m and I shot my arrows and bow. We set the sight mark so they where grouping at 6 o'clock black. We then changed to Jamie’s A/C/E's, which is also the correct length for me. At this point we wanted to see the change the A/C/E's made to my existing sight mark. WOW, the first arrow flew right over the top of the boss and landed at least 10m past. After a few sight adjustments I found myself hitting the centre of the target. So how dramatic was the change, well I found myself extending the sight out by 1 1/2" and raising the block by 15 increments. The change in the sight mark would have been a little more but was happy with the group I hit.

I could not believe the diffrence.

We now wanted to see if the G3's would make as much as difference as the A/C/E's and thought at 90m it would show a better difference.

We put the boss out to 90m and fitted the G3 limbs into my SF riser. Straight away we made a discovery, they where quite tight in the pocket. We came to the conclusion that maybe W&W limbs might fit better in the SF riser, something to think about! Any way we digress. We kept the sight mark and A/C/E's and started shooting, we adjusted the sight until I was hitting the boss, then compared it to my original sight marks for 90m. Once again there was a dramatic change, but there would be with both G3's and A/C/E's. We then changed to my A/C/C's and shot. They where dropping 10' in front of the boss. We adjusted and found that there was less of a change only 1 1/2 " out but a drop in the sight block of about 7 increments. I wanted the limbs to perform better than the arrows but that’s why you try these things

Conclusion

We all knew that both the carbon limbs and the A/C/E's would make a big difference to my sight marks, but found that the best value for money was the A/C/E's. They out performed the G3's not by allot but enough to warrant them the winners, and they can be bought for around £50 less than the Winex limbs. In the ideal world I would buy both of them but that situation does not happen for allot of us, so there it is my mind is made up Easton A/C/E's it is then.

Do you agree with our findings or would you have done a different test? You tell me.

Paul

[Papalazaru]

nice pink fletchings
get the heavier limbs and man the @# up.

[Nick Forster]

ACE's make a big difference I noticed the same when I upgraded from ACC's,
if you are thinking about a major upgrade though remember that on windy days a lower poundage bow will still struggle because of the higher arc of the arrow to get it to the boss.
Remember also that there are other manufacturers out there, as well as hoyt, Samick & win win.
Limbs are a very personal thing and although G3's and winnex's are proven limbs you may find that you prefer the feel of limbs made by other companies.
KG Archery make a new limb called the Xtech, its speed relates to about the same as a winnex & faster than a G3 so you will have your raised sight marks again it is a good performing traditional structure limb at about the same money as the other limbs you are looking at, and definately worth a look. KG Apexs are very quick and a little more money. Then of coarse you have Border there TXB's are an incredible buy at the moment and again have around the same speed as as winnex's, TXG's again are blinding but a little more money. buy 40lbs limbs if you feel comfortable with the weight & feel. As long as you have a reasonable draw length these will get you to 100yrds no problem and if you need to wind them up you can. BUY Your arrows to suit your bow. Limbs First arrows after.
hope this helps
Cheers Nick

[CUBowman]

I have to say, even if the arrows made more difference to your sight marks I think you would see a greater improvement in grouping by having arrows that tune, not just go fast. And to get them to tune you really need to get the limbs first, otherwise selecting a spine will be a guess and you risk having to change you arrows again sooner than you would like to. That's my opinion anyway.

As you can see, I have a similar setup to yours and I think that moving to all-synthetic limbs was a good move (I did it at the start of last indoor season and then bought my ACEs at the start of this outdoor season). Another thing is that if you know that you are going to change both in the relatively near future you can be confident that the ACEs won't change in price, whereas the Winex limbs are a limited offer and to get equivalently good limbs in a few months time you might find yourself spending quite a lot more money.

[fezza]

CU Bowman,

I can see where you are coming from, but when I upgrade my limbs I will only be getting 38 Lbs carbons, so my spine range will still be within the T5 group. My draw length is only 27 3/4" so by getting 670/620 spines A/C/E's they will cover both my current setup and the new 38 Lbs carbons. If I do get any tuning problems ill just play with the pile weight.

By the way you must have heavy limbs or a long draw to be using 430 A/C/E's?

Paul

[CUBowman]

Yep, a 30" draw, and 36lb limbs about half wound up so I'm pulling just over 40lbs on my fingers. Not very heavy, it's more the length that affects it, and having heavy piles. The Easton chart suggested that 470 was the correct spine, but they were too weak, the 430s tune nicely at every distance for me.

You're probably right and I'm sure that you'll do fine but if it were me I think I would choose the route which lead to the best final setup (i.e. bow and arrows perfectly matched), even if that means compromising a little in the sort term, rather than have arrows which are about right for both setups but not great for either.

Whatever you decide to do I hope it works well for you.

[napolienne]

Slightly off topic but..

Tab rob? Go introduce yourself in the intro section, antisocial man

Nat