Natural deflex yew ELB 1st cast test result 140 paces?

[nineworlds9]

This post pertains to my self yew ELB (72"/64#) not my warbow-

So I posted a while back about my self yew ELB and what I mistook for stringfollow- turned out it was just made from a naturally deflexed stave. Bow is lovely and she seems to shoot very well and accurate for me. She's 72" and 64#.

Anyway, on a fellow toxophile's suggestion I tested her cast while out stumping today. I was trying to cover some ground today so I only took the time to take one shot. Drew back full draw, about 45 degrees into the sky and then paced out the distance to the arrow. 140 paces. Tried to keep my paces about a yard long. Dunno, maybe each pace was a little longer, I was trying to err on longer rather than shorter. Arrow flew beautifully. There was a light breeze/headwind so maybe that could have affected things. Sound decent for this bow? Was my 45 degree aim about right? I was told to hope for 185 yards. I know I need to go out and try again. Once isn't enough.

I also used a very light arrow for this one shot. That may have worked against me? I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I guess I had theorized a lightweight arrow would help, but I think now after the fact I made a mistake.  I had brought the light arrow with me for the purpose. It was a 30" Goldtip Ultralight Entrada with 3x5" shield cut feathers, Goldtip nock, 100g brass insert, and 125g fieldpoint. Total arrow weight approximately 435 grains. I know that's super light like barely 7 gpp.

I think I should have used one of my higher grain hunting arrows perhaps. But 140 paces sounds promising maybe?--found a chart online and if my 140 paces was close to 140 yards it looks like my bow falls into the "good" zone, not "mediocre". I hope? Going to try again with a heavier arrow closer to 9-10 gpp and see what happens.

I just put a fastflight string on the bow also, 18 strand Fastflight Plus. Holds brace height perfectly and is so lightweight compared to Dacron.

[Del the cat]

There's something wrong there...
What draw length?
I'd expect 64# @ 28" to make 180yards
Mind it's easy to pace over a yard if you deliberately take big strides, and head wind or uphill can be a killer. I got plenty of practice pacing yardage when I used to play golf.
Arrow weight doesn't sound too bad, my 'standard' arrow is 100gn on a 5/16" shaft 28" long 3" parabolic flights.
I think a 40# should make 140 yards.

One arrow is no good, it takes a while to get your eye in for 45 degrees, so shoot 6.
Why are you using 18 strands??? Are you going to use it as a tow rope too? 10 is plenty (on a continuaous loop string I lay in an extra strand at the loop, but that's still only 6 strands at the nock!).
The other killer is holding at full draw and getting a sloppy loose. A guy at our club was trying a Hickory bow, I shot the same arrows from his bow and got 'em 20 yards further!
Del

[DarkSoul]

The lighter the arrow, the more distance it will cover. It IS as simple as that, but at some point the arrow becomes so light that the wind can catch it, and it will start to wobble in mid air.

An 18 strand fastflight string is a lot. You could easily get away with 10 strands. A lighter string will increase the distance as well, but not dramatic.

Do you actually care how far the bow can shoot? Will you be using the bow for flight or clout shooting? The potential distance a bow can shoot is only worth so much to a target shooter for indoor ranges.

[nineworlds9]

I think it's 18 strands?  That's what it looks like at a glance.  I'll go count em. It's a flemish twist.  I ordered it from an online string maker that makes quality strings, just told him the poundage of the bow.  It does not seem like a thick string, actually at the serving my arrow nocks just catch enough to not fall off.  Yeah I agree in hindsight that one arrow isn't enough, I doubt my shot was "perfect" in any sense.  The arrow did not look like it wobbled at all, but that high in the air no way to tell for sure.  I wish I would have had one of those little wheel on a stick things that you push along to measure off yardage, haha.

As far as my plans for this ELB, just hunting and 3D shoots.  30 yards or less on most shots.  It certainly is accurate.  While stumping I was able to hit most of my marks.  And yes, the bow is tillered to 28", that's what I was shooting it at.  I can actually draw more like 29 or so but I didn't want to overdraw the bow.

I will shoot some more distance shots in the next few weeks and see what I get.     

[nineworlds9]

Well I untwisted a section of the string a little to count the strands.  Hard to tell cause the wax has it all sticking together but I believe I was mistaken it does in fact seem to be a 10 strand string not 18.  It's two colors and I can't count more than 5-6 of what seem like separate strands on each.  Guess that's a good thing.  I also compared it to the old 20 strand B50 warbow string I had for my warbow and it looked about half as thick.