Heading West, wanna add some extra pins...

[WestMetroSlayer]

I am making a couple trips out west for Mule Deer/Elk this fall. I shoot a Mathews DXT 28.5" draw, with a single pin Impact Archery sight. My question is... I wanna extend my range a little bit, I used to have a 10-45 yard range sighted in with my sight. The Impact NI 200 is great sight but has a limited window for range adjustment. I thought by eliminating my 10 yard pin and starting at 20 yards at the top, and increasing my draw weight from 62 up to 70 lbs I would be able to increase my range at least up to 60 yards... So far, not the case, with 20 yards sighted in at the top, I am only able to get out to 50 yards being at the very bottom. Used to have a 35 yard variance, now increased to 70 lbs I have a 30 yard window...? Doesn't make sense to me? Is it that maybe there isn't much of a difference in the 10-20 yard range and the increase in weight gained me an extra 5 yards of distance? Any Thoughts? Thinking about switching to a traditional 5-7 pin sight for my long range shooting? Any Advice, Thoughts...? I wish I would have chrono'ed before and after, but there is a noticable difference in speed, I am definetly shooting 10-20 fps faster now that I am at 70 lbs.

[Code-Man]

I have the Drenalin and just switched limbs from 60's to 70's. I have a 5 pin sight and with the 60's I only used 4 pins since I went 20, 30, 40 and 50. I still had PLENTY or room to put a 60 yard pin but one thing THAT'S A LONG FLIPPING WAYS! haha I just put the 70# limbs on this spring and kept my 20 yard pin up as high as possible and have slowly worked out to about 40 yards but I have a feeling with my set up I could put my last pin about 70 yards, will I? HAHAH NO! but I could. I have noticed that my pins have gotten a lot closer together which is nice since I'm shooting flatter and faster but I don't know why you are not able to gain more yardage. My 10 yard and 20 yard shots are almost identical so I don't waste time with a 10 yard pin. I'm not a big fan of the single pin sights and this might be one of the disadvantages of them.

[sticknstring]

I think 50 yds will be plenty. If you really want 60, practice gap shooting and learn where to hold above the target at longer distances. With a little practice, you'll get comfortable at longer distances with the sight you have. There's always the fun option of buying a new sight as well! Get a larger pin guard, a 7 pin sight, or adjustable single-pin slider.

[mrklean]

+1 on the single pin slider

[Powerstroke]

You've got a great bow that is plenty fast. I wouldn't go changing your draw weight just yet unless you have to.

After looking up that sight I see it is a single pin slider but it is a much smaller range of adjustment than the ones that adjust from the rear.

SO I ran it through OnTarget2, which is an archery software and it says if you've got 1.5" of sight adjustment on your slider you are only going to get a tape that goes from 20-55yds. Your bow, with your draw weight at 62, and an arrow of around 420grains should be flying at 266FPS, which is plenty. When you bump it to 70lbs it gets you to 283, which is getting faster, but with the limited amount of adjustment you have, it won't change your sight. There's not enough room.

And by the way, the difference in trajectory from 10 yds to 20 yds is less than one inch. You are 1/10th of an inch high at 10yds, 2/3" high at 15yds and dead on at 20 when sighting in at 20yds. You should not notice any difference without a 10yd pin. I got this from the ballistics table on the software.

[Powerstroke]

Since it was mentioned, your 50yd pin will hit 15.75" low at 60yds with 62lb draw weight versus, hitting 13.8" low with 70lb draw weight.

Either find a sight with more adjustment, or work with what you got. I say leave your bow at 62 and work with what you got.

Since I'm playing with the software I ran some other things. Keeping the 62lb draw weight, if you sighted in at 25yds you are never more than 2" high or low out to 30yds, and if you sight in to 27yds, you never get more than 3" high or low all the way to 32yds. Since you have a little more room to adjust at the top of your sight you maybe able to move the entire sight to a different mounting hole to gain more adjustment. I would rather aim a couple inches low at 20yds then aim 15" high at 60. Thats my opinion.

[Scoot]

I much prefer to have a pin for the yardage I'm shooting. For me, there's only two options I'll consider- a five pin fixed sight or a slider sight. I currently shoot a three pin slider, which I think is the best of both worlds- 20, 30, 40 yard pins and a tape that goes out to 60. I really like this setup.

Related to this- a very large percentage of bows are set up with the first pin being for 20 yards. I'd guess about 90% of the guys I know set their bow/sight up this way. Not saying that's correct, but it's what most I know do.

One word of warning- don't get too stuck on shooting at 60 unless you can shoot very accurately at 60. Lots of guys think they "need" to be able to shoot at distances that they're simply not able to shoot accurately at. Also, be aware of the fact that at 60 yards, the arrow is in the air for a long time- if the animal moves, you might hit where you aimed, but the critter may have moved several feet by the time the arrow gets there. That's fine if it's a clean miss, but not so fine if it's a gut shot... Just something to think about.

Good luck with the sight selection.

[WestMetroSlayer]

Hey thanks alot guys for all your advice. I decided to buy a new sight, going with the G5 Optix XR. It's a hybrid with 3 fixed (20,30,40) and a 4th floater pin on the bottom wich can be adjusted for farther distances. I have always been an ethical hunter and am not the type of guy with the "if it's in the air, you've got a prayer" attitude when it comes to archery. I always try and make sure I can make a clean kill, or I don't even draw back. I shoot year round and would consider myself an above average shooter. I plan on shooting 3-5 days a week this summer. I wanna shoot out to 70-80 yards not with the intention of taking a 70-80 yard shot, but after shooting well at those distances your 30-50 yard shots are a lot easier and your groups get a lot smaller. Thanks again for all your advice, PowerStroke, where did you get that OnTarget2 software? That is pretty neat...!?

[Powerstroke]

If you search the Ontarget2 name you'll find it. That is the full featured program. They also have 2 other programs with fewer features at lower prices. You can try each program for free on a trial.

The program is awesome and can really help you save some time and steps in getting your bow setup.

I did a review of the product in the reviews section on the top forums section.