The Myth of Grains per Pound of Draw Weight

It has been widely accepted wisdom that arrow weight must be a factor of grains per pound.

This inaccurate and erroneous view was further compounded by the many horror stories and fairy tales of limbs breaking and arrows exploding if this ratio was not met.

There also have been a minority of people who have held to the quantifiable and definable belief that arrow weight should be less to compensate for reduced draw weight and the acceleration properties of different bows.

This translates to stored energy, and as a safety concern, to that residual energy the bow system must absorb after the arrow leaves the string. This is the energy stored “under the curve”, which is different for various bow setups.

AMO has finally recognized this in an “official” capacity.

The AMO chart does a fine job of defining minimum arrow weights.

A PDF version will available from the HR&G website.

A caution is that the arrow spine MUST be chosen correctly.

- Joe Marzullo