How Fast Can A Recurve Bow Shoot?

Fact checked by Steven Lines, lifelong Hunter, and Outdoorsman.

If you are an experienced shooter, you already know the speed plays a vital role in hunting. Although high-speed doesn’t make sure that you will get a kill shot, it does help you to reach a moving target quickly.

So, have you ever wondered how fast can a recurve now shoot? Well, you’re about to find out all the facts regarding the speed of recurve bows.

On average, you can shoot a regular recurve bow from 190 fps to 225 fps range. Some advanced modern-day recurve bows also claim to deliver over 330 fps. You can increase your shooting speed by increasing your draw length and draw weight as well as dropping your arrow weight.

Higher speeds will help you reach maximum distance and create a flat flight trajectory that lands the arrow with absolute precision. So, let’s talk about speed and learn some tricks and tips to achieve the highest FPS rates.

In this post, we'll cover:

Benefits of Increased Arrow Speed

Arrow speed isn’t the most crucial factor you should stress about if you’re practicing shooting for a small game. However, speed can be handy while hunting larger targets.

You will need higher penetration power to hunt down bigger targets. Otherwise, the arrow will merely scratch or hit the target and drop back on the ground. Penetration power depends on the kinetic energy, which determines the deepness of penetration.

As a shooter, you put the kinetic energy into the arrow to define the arrow’s speed. When you put the energy into the string, it helps you improve your body muscles, precision, and other shooting abilities.

Moreover, speed comes across as particularly helpful when you’re practicing 3D shooting to throw the arrow at unknown lengths.

What Makes a Recurve Bow Shoot Faster?

The speed of any bow depends mainly on three factors: Draw Length, Draw Weight, and the arrow’s weight. Apart from the three factors, the shooting distance and the gear of the attached accessories are some other factors to consider. Let’s look at how all these can determine the speed of your recurves.

Draw Weight

This refers to the weight that archers feel when the arrow is at full draw length. At peak draw weight, the bow can sustain more energy which is transferred when you shoot arrows from the bow.

The extra energy increases the arrow velocity for reaching a target faster. Usually, the compound bow is heavier than a recurve bow and longbow. At maximum draw weight, you will be able to get the highest speed from a compound bow.

As a rule of thumb, increasing your draw weight by only 10 pounds increases the speed by 15 to 20 fps. So, if your bow says you will receive 220 fps IBO speed for 70 pounds draw weight, it means the arrow speed will reduce by 40 fps in case you use 40-pound recurves.

Arrow Speed Comparison Chart

Draw Weight	Feet Per Second	Miles Per Hour
50 lbs	305	208
60 lbs	322	219
70 lbs	338	230

Draw Length

Just like draw weights, the draw lengths are another arrow speed-defining factor. The thumb rule is, the arrow speed will increase by 8 to 12 fps when you increase the draw length by one inch.

A longer draw length means longer Powerstroke and faster speed. When you increase the draw length, your arrows hit the recurve bow from a better distance which means less resistance and more speed.

When buying a bow with a standard IBO speed setup, expect to receive 20 fps less speed at 26″ length.

Arrow Weight

Since arrows are made from various materials, the speed varies widely for different arrows. If you use the same bow to shoot both heavy and lighter arrows, you will notice the heavy arrows gain less speed and shorter distance.

That’s just simple physics; with identical amounts of kinetic energy, the arrow with a lighter mass receives more velocity than the heavy one. If you add 5 grains of mass to your arrow, the speed will decrease by 1 to 1.5 fps.

Environmental Factors

Of course, the speed of the wind and the shooting distance changes the speed of an arrow. The same arrow will gain much less speed in a windy environment than in a sunny wind-free environment.

This happens because the force of air restricts the velocity of the arrow. Due to the same force, your arrow keeps losing its speed as the distance increases.

Accessories

For improving shooting precision, archers from all over the world developed different types of equipment, including arrow rests, peep sight, scope, etc. This wide variety of tools improves shooting precision but discounts the arrow speed. As the tools add to the weight of the bow and arrow, it leads to a decrease in velocity.

Recurve Or Compound Bow: Which Bow Shoots the Fastest?

Crossbow and compound bow is generally used for achieving the fastest shot. As the compound bows are larger and heavier than received bows, they require less force to reach the optimal draw lengths. This type of bow has an average speed range of 330-350 fps.

For hunting, the crossbow is the first choice for any archer. The precise shots of the crossbow will ensure that the target is killed. Crossbows have 420-450 fps average speed. Hence, crossbows are regarded as the fastest bow.

What Arrows Make for the Fastest FPS?

Most folks use three different types of arrows for archery: carbon, graphite, and aluminum arrows.

Carbon arrows make the fastest FPS among the three types, and aluminum arrows are the most durable arrows. Carbon arrows are very lightweight, which helps them to maintain trajectory and provide much aerodynamics to take down even a full-sized deer.

Conclusion

So there you have it all. We have told you how fast can a recurve bow shoots and how you can make it even quicker. We hope this article will help you improve your hunting abilities and archery skills.

Remember that high speeds aren’t the most crucial factor in traditional archery. High speeds can lead you to unwanted accidents if you are a newbie archer. So, test your capacities first to ensure the safety of you and your loved ones.

Steven Lines is a hunter and outdoorsman from Safford, Arizona, USA. Since he was a child, he has been hunting and fishing and has over 20 years of outdoor experience. Steven works as a hunting guide in Arizona during his spare time and runs a Youtube channel dedicated to sharing his outdoor adventures with others.

Sources

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