Wound up or Wind down

[MarkH]

Here's my conundrum...

Currently shooting a Nexus w G3 34# @27" to throat of grip. Scales say 35.5#at the clicker with limbs wound right up to the stops. OK, I was returning to archery and didn't want to overbow or hurt myself, but after 9 months this is now rather light.

Time to upgrade to more weight. As I want 38# do I go for 38# limbs or 40# wound right down? Now really I need to get down to my local (or not so local) shop and try them out, but I'm interested in peoples opinion as to whether people prefer to shoot a limb wound down, mid range or cranked right up?

PS Looking at cx900's as replacement for G3's

[Jerry Tee]

It depends on whether or not you are going to settle at the poundage of the new limbs wound fully in for max poundage. If you feel that you may need more poundage in a while it would not be a good idea to buy limbs that are right now but maxed out.

[MarkH]

Thanks Jerry Tee, at my current rate of around 18 dozen/week I don't expect to go above 38#. I was really interested to know if there is a preference by archers for their limbs to be wound down, up or set mid range.

[mf78]

I adjust my limbs to tune with the arrows I'm using and dont worry too much about the final poundage as long as its still easy enough to shoot with and high enough to get my arrows to 100 yards. If you get hoyt limbs again i think they mark their limbs at the poundage it would be with the bolts wound half way in, so some 40lb limbs wound all out would probably measure about 38lb @ 28" to give you an idea.

You wont regret getting 900cx's by the way, ive had both and the 900's are faster, smoother and feel lighter than equivalent G3's.

[Tropicalshot]

my limbs measure 38lbs @ 28"
i have my limbs only wound in about halfway and i am reading 40lbs AMO (28")
so with my draw i am obtaining 44lbs on the fingers.

fortunately i have found a set of hoyt carbon plus limbs measuring 40lbs @ 28"
so i will try to tune these in to the same set up i have now and ease some of the excessive force on my poor old 38Lbs limbs. but in saying that the limds i have now are not stacking in any way.

[Desert Archer]

I think the key should be the pre-load on the limbs that produces the best force draw curve at your draw length. In my case, because of my un-naturally long draw (32.75") I find it best to have the limb bolts out as far as they will go and still tune the arrow for good flight. Those I've talked to about this with 28"-29" draws seem to do best with the limb bolts in about the middle. Short draw lengths (under 28") may find they get the best force draw curve with more pre-load built in, i.e. turning the limb bolts most of the way in.

Trouble is, limb length and riser length go into this as well as personal preference (some like a smooth draw, some like a harder draw). I don't know of any formulas beyond the very general guideline given above.

Dave

[JohnK]

Wound down IMHO. The more you wind the limb bolts in, the less stable the limbs. You can test this by trying to move the string up and down.

To complicate matters, some limbs are more stable than others. However, as a general rule it's better to keep the bolts wound at least most of the way out if you can.

[Stretch]

I'd agree with JK - I've always found that my limbs (70") are always more stable when wound up as little as possible. If I ever had to go past mid point on the riser I'd consider getting heavier limbs. But I've had plenty of people disagree

I had a set of WINNEX that worked out light at full-draw (hey that's what you get when you buy off ebay!) when wound up all the way they still gave me less weight than my G3 but were harder to shoot. When wound down they shot very nicely - just not quick enough

YMMV

Stretch

[MarkH]

I will admit that, years back, I would shoot my preferred poundage at the bottom of the limb range.
My options are 38Ib shooting mid range on the 38Ib limbs or 38Ib on the 40Ib limbs wound down. Most comments appear to agree with my feelings of 40Ib wound down for 38Ib.
Many thanks folks.

[speed]

Originally Posted by MarkH

I will admit that, years back, I would shoot my preferred poundage at the bottom of the limb range.
My options are 38Ib shooting mid range on the 38Ib limbs or 38Ib on the 40Ib limbs wound down. Most comments appear to agree with my feelings of 40Ib wound down for 38Ib.
Many thanks folks.

Sounds logical because if you start finding 38lb is easy and you need more poundage then on 38lb limbs you will be getting close to max them out and they become less stable, but 40lb wound down to 38lb will be nice and stable still and give you hopefully the option to go upto 42lb without loosing any stability, after all do you really want to be looking at buying another set in 12 months time or less?

My old Merlin/Border limbs 38lb would wind upto 42lb on my Axis riser but anything over 40.5 lb and they started to loose stability which signifficantly affected the shot. I was in the same position as you and decided on 44lb Winex wound down to 42lb to start with and slowly increased poundage to 44.5lb and could go to 46-47lb if needs be without loosing any stabilty but could max out close to 49lb but will probably loose stability somewere along the way.