Winding limbs up and down in poundage

[PorlyP]

Hi All,

I've been away for a week, hence my lack of postage, but I was talking with Tarkwin at SoSo about my first pair of limbs, mainly about the poundage of them.

Now, as you can wind them up and down in poundage, I was wondering if I could firstly buy a pair of limbs at a higher poundage than I actually need and wind them right down (is it by a max of 10%?) to the poundage I'm gonna shoot at for the next 6-8 months, then wind them back up again as time goes on?

Are their any quirks involved in this, ie: Are some limbs suited more to winding down than up, or vice versa, or are all limbs windable in both directions?

See, I was thinking of getting some 30lbers, and taking them down to 27/28, as my draw length of 29'll puts another 2lb on the fingers, right?

Thanks for any advice!

P

[Random_guy]

I've just wound my limbs up recently to improve my 90m sight mark. Basically it depends on the limbs. If your limbs are made by hoyt, the poundage marked on them is weight when drawn to 28" with the riser at the centre of it's weight adjustment (i.e. the bits that move in the limb pockets are in the middle). If you have win & win or samick limbs, the marked weight is the poundage when drawn to 28" with the riser at it's lowest setting for weight adjustment (i.e. when the limb pockets are at their furthest away from the belly of the bow). So if you wanted limbs which when wound up would be equivalent to 30lb limbs you'd probably need 28" limbs if they're hoyts or 26" limbs if they're win & win or samick (others i'm not sure on but someone on here should be).

Also, the actual weight of limbs varies a fair bit, and may be out a bit, so the above is really just an approximation.

[PorlyP]

Cheers Random, I had a feeling it would be varied depending on the maker of limb.

[Witchie Poo Cat]

Hi Porly

Im no expert on these matters but I went to buy new limbs on saturday and my coach just so happens to work in the archery shop. I asked him this exact same question and his answer to me was that the poundage marked on the limb was the MINIMUM i.e. you cannot "wind down" (which I thought you could) you can only increase the poundage.

Of course, this does not take into account the difference caused by using long limbs on small risers etc etc.

Ive got 24lb limbs but when my draw length was measured it was only 26". This means Im actually on drawing back 22lbs. He assured me this was fine as my draw length will increase once I start shooting regularly and so will get the "mileage" out of the them.

Dont know if anyone can confirm this "cant decrease only increase" statement but its certainly what my coach, told me when I visited the archery shop he works in.

Regards

Witchie Poo Cat

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by Witchie Poo Cat

Hi Porly

Im no expert on these matters but I went to buy new limbs on saturday and my coach just so happens to work in the archery shop. I asked him this exact same question and his answer to me was that the poundage marked on the limb was the MINIMUM i.e. you cannot "wind down" (which I thought you could) you can only increase the poundage.

*snip*

Dont know if anyone can confirm this "cant decrease only increase" statement but its certainly what my coach, told me when I visited the archery shop he works in.

This is actually wrong. As Random Guy said, Hoyt limbs (on Hoyt risers) are made so that the marked weight at 28in is achieved with the limb bolts in the middle of the adjustment range, so in reality with an all-Hoyt set up you get + or -5% on the marked weight.

Once you start mixing limbs and risers, things change. However, I can say that both sets of my Border limbs weigh up as marked on my Intrepid with the bolts all the way out, and on my Helix with the bolts halfway in.

Another oddity is that Samick limbs reputedly weigh in higher than the marked weight.

In other words, as there is no recognised and published standard for limb pocket design and geometry, you get variations. Caveat emptor, and all that.

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by Random_guy

the actual weight of limbs varies a fair bit, and may be out a bit, so the above is really just an approximation.

Which is what I discovered when I wound my limbs down recently. They were actually 4lbs heavier than I thought! You really need a digital bow scale to be more accurate.

[Witchie Poo Cat]

John - thats very interesting. I have a Hoyt riser and Kap Challenger limbs. The pockets are set to their "lowest" and Im pulling 22lbs at 26" and thereofre 24lbs (their marked weight) at full draw at the lightest setting. Perhaps this is what my coach meant, he knew hoyt limbs were out my price range so probably was speaking directly in reference to the KAP limbs.

Incidentally, hubby has just bought Samick limbs for his Winstar riser and they do feel heavier to him than he was expecting.

I guess the moral of this story is if your mixing and matching then go to the store so you can try the limbs out before you buy.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[JohnK]

My pleasure. That's what this place is about, after all.

[highway-star]

I really admire you people where you can just walk down a pro shop, actaully try out the stuff before you buy and there are people there to guide yoiu. Over here, you just got pray that when the stuff arrived, it is what you want and it works the way you expect.

Recently I read about Fiberbow and was quite keen to try out, that means I got to buy one and ship over here, thats goes the same for a pair to top end limbs and sight where I think might works with my setup.

I appreciate forum like this where people share their experience and knowledge freely.

[reckless]

Originally Posted by highway-star

I really admire you people where you can just walk down a pro shop, actaully try out the stuff before you buy and there are people there to guide yoiu. Over here, you just got pray that when the stuff arrived, it is what you want and it works the way you expect.

Recently I read about Fiberbow and was quite keen to try out, that means I got to buy one and ship over here, thats goes the same for a pair to top end limbs and sight where I think might works with my setup.

I appreciate forum like this where people share their experience and knowledge freely.

personaly i woild never buy something as important as limbs and riser over the net, now ti get to my pro shop means takeing a full day out to get there try them out and get back, but i think its more than worth the effort as your puchase is well informed and you get a chance to try before you buy, same goes for arrows, recently changed riser, limbs the same, but arrows were now way to stiff,, nearly broke my heart trying to tune, went to the pro shop tried different arrow combinations and now have a set of acc that just fly out of the bow, the net for the small stuff sure, but the important stuff, take the time and go to a shop with a reall good rep. also if you but a hoyt riser over the net it invalidates the warrenty, or so they say..