Fresh bow

[DC]

I was always under the impression that the first shot would be the fastest/furthest. You know fresh, stiff. I was just messing with the shooting machine I noticed that the first shot was 8-10 fps slower than subsequent shots. If it leave the bow braced and clamped to the machine for even 5 minutes again the first shot will be that 8-10 slower. I haven't shot more than 5 in a row but it would be one slow and four fast(ish). Does this sound right? Maybe the hysteresis is higher on the first shot. I'm not sure if it's just this bow or I've just never noticed before.

[mmattockx]

Maybe the hysteresis is higher on the first shot.

In TBBv1 Tim Baker (I think it is) talks about this and says that bows perform better after they are warmed up with a few draws before shooting. I don't remember who did it, but Tim talked about a study that showed wood had very high hysteresis and said the only way he could get results that repeated the study was to measure the bows cold with no warm up pulls. He said that if the test was done twice in a row the second run would show a huge reduction in hysteresis.


Mark

[DC]

This was just first shot slow and then the rest were good.

[mmattockx]

Sounds like the same effect as what Tim was describing.


Mark

[Tuomo]

Very interesting! Maybe it has something to do with visco-elasticity properties of wood? This might be important for example in flight shooting - warm up is important for the bow and the shooter! Please, keep going testing.

[Badger]

  Usually by the time I test a bow it has been to full draw dozens of times already so I never gave that much thought. I did test an experimental bow one time that had never been drawn past about 25" because I knew it was going to breakdown pretty fast. That particular bow was fastest on the first shot.

[DC]

   That particular bow was fastest on the first shot.

That's what I was expecting with all of them

[Selfbowman]

By the time I have them tillered they have been to 28 several times then they get shot a couple times for test then they go to the flight line. My 50# flight bow has been shot maybe 50-70 shots. It has probably gave me everything it’s got as far as flight . I can’t wait till I can shoot it on a regular basis and not worry about loss distance. Arvin