We Built The FASTEST Bow EVER (Almost Dangerous) 

So, here's the thing... Well, first off, I was (and am no longer, but was) the director of engineering at a major bow manufacturer a few years ago. To meet our spec, we would design our bows to 100 dry fires. The goal is and always will be strength vs weight of the bow components. So, we would dry fire and see what broke, cracked, yielded, bent whatever and then "beef up" that component and dry fire again etc. So, once we got to where we could 100 times out of 100, get NO breaks, cracks, yields, bends, in anything with dryfires, that would be our final design for the year/series etc. Strings break, risers bend, limb pockets twist, limbs crack and delaminate (a lot), etc. Another thing is that we would test at IBO standard of 80lbs of draw weight and 30 inches of draw. That is the criteria that we would design our bows to. You can, and we did, build some custom bows for some really tall archers, ie 36-38" draw length, and some Africa hunts we would design bows to 120lbs of draw weight. These were custom built monsters. And, of course we would "play around" in the shop with these prototypes basicially, and when you get really long draw lengths, you can get some really good speed. But, the goal was to get a 5 grain arrow at 30inches of draw to as fast as possible of course w our speed bows. 5grain/lb arrow is the IBO standard, meaning at 80lbs of draw weight, we would shoot 400gr arrows. The biggest limitation, and it's the one that EVERY manufacturer runs into is the limbs. There are VERY FEW limb manufacturers, like VERY FEW, like... one, lol. There may be more now, but I doubt it. Anyway, basically the manufacturer would send us the spec sheet on all of their materials. We would work with the spec sheet and try and design the max load per the geometry for different matrices (layers) of materials that we had available. There is only so much you can do, before you load the limbs too much and they basically just crack and delaminate in catastrophic failure. So, again we would design and push the geometry to the max tensile (top of the limb) and compression (bottom of the limb) loads possible. Then once we designed the limbs and the geometry and the cam loading profile, we would test on the dry fire machine. 9 times out of 10 the manufacturer would be very, lets say lenient, on his spec sheet, and we would delam almost always from our first design. So then we would back off on our limb geometry until we could get the 100 dryfires wo LIMB failure. Then would would check everything else. Another common failure mode was the cam axle. It would bend, and of course we want the lightest bows possible, so then the limb pockets would twist as well. So, then we would do that for every design for the year, and we would shoot 10 shots with a "normal" arrow setup (3, 3 inch fletches, proper FOC etc), and send all of that data to the marketing group. Then the marketing group would have us cut off the fletches, use the pointiest field tips, use our machine to draw and shoot 10 shots (rather than hand held releasing) to get their speed numbers for the season, and take the fastest ONE (Usually about 10-15fps faster than hand held, normal arrow) shot and use that as their number for the marketing materials. No peep, no nock, bare string, unless we could play around with some crimp on nocks and different placement on the strings to get faster numbers. Sometimes we could, sometimes we couldn't, there would be a lot of trial and error. But, anyway, the moral of the story is, don't do what these guys did. Anything less than a 5grain arrow, and its only a matter of time before your bow explodes. Based upon what these guys were doing, I would say that the string/cables would be their first failure. They are not designed to be twisted that much. Better to just use shorter cables to begin with. The next failure would probably be the a tension crack on the top layer of the limb glass. As far as cable twisting and all of that, when you push things to the limit like this, sometimes its best to just get a custom cable made with fewer strands. What you want is a little "give" in the cable/string system. With a higher number of strands, its really a hard "shock" on the entire assembly upon release. What you want is just a little "give" to help reduce the shock once the bow becomes unloaded upon release. The limbs and the cam and the draw length are all a "system." You can (in essence) make the limbs thicker to get a higher poundage ( our African bows), and you can lengthen the limbs when you add draw length etc. So this "system" is designed to put the maximum load on the limbs at every point during the draw cycle, and change any one thing, ie cable length (cable twists), and it messes up the whole system. The next thing is the spine on the arrows. We would use high speed photography and see actually how far the arrows "bowed/bent" upon release. And, the "effective" spine is very dependent on the weight of the tip. So when these guys lightened the tip (75gr) they actually stiffened the effective spine of the arrow system. You can go down to a 4gr arrow, usually, with a light tip, and get some really amazing speed. In this case when these guys were shooting 95lbs, that would equate to about a 380 grain arrow. And, you SHOULD be safe for about 200-300 (maybe as many as 500) shots, depending upon the bow manufacturers own internal design criteria. But, anything less than 4gr and you are really, really pushing it, and it's just a matter of time. So, wear safety glasses, and a heavy coat, because that thing WILL explode on you. Also, these guys, even at what they were doing, I would completely disassemble the bow, look at the axles, spin them and see that they have ZERO wobble, and also the cam bearings may "hog out" and become a little egg shaped. So, just be careful out there guys.

If anyone was wondering that arrow at 17 minutes when he upped the poundage to 90 was off camera in under one frame lol

Fun video! The set up was 3.3 grains per pound roughly in a short amount of time the limbs will give. IBO is 5 G per pound and was set a long time ago, a person would think tec advances would allow us to drop to maybe 4 to get greater speeds but ive pushed it and it doesent last long. Also, 44 years old now and use to shoot 83 lbs black night and a 80 lbs PSE for a short while and if you LOVE shooting now you will when your my age too...take care of them shoulders, no good repair surgery really available.

"I don't read the instructions, because I'm a man..." "Well everyone, it's a couple days afterwords. And we figured it out." Yep, checks out.

Two tips for the chronograph. It works by checking the time between 2 "shadows" cast by a projectile going over the top - the first at the first light gate and the second at the second light gate. So, 1: You are right about your indoor lights. They flicker 60 times a second so both gates see a shadow 60 times every second. It can't tell if that shadow is the projectile or not. The sunlight is constant so no confusing flicker. and 2: You are standing too close to it. The front gate is being triggered by the arrow but the string is still pushing it so it is still speeding up. You would see a higher and truer speed if you stood a couple feet further back from the chronograph, give the arrow time to be off the bow before you trigger the first light gate.

I built numerous bows in the 1980's that were in the 100-135# range. They were all round wheel bows back then. I was shooting 620-1200 grain arrows out of them. Still have the 135# bow, but can't pull it anymore. Fun to watch young guys with good shoulders mess around. I really enjoyed those days. Thanks for the video Chris!

If you’re going to use your ProChrono inside, you’ll need a light kit for it to work properly. Great video! Thanks for sharing. 👍🏹👊

Chris bee: 90 is so heavy Cam Hanes: 90 is a warmup

I can just see the Mathews engineers cringing when you loaded them limbs!! Your a brave man

I'm old enough to remember when Beeman started making carbon arrows. My dad was a very avid bow hunter. I remember the day he picked up his new Beeman carbon hunters.After shooting Easton XX75's for years seeing the speed and penatration of those carbons was unbelievable. It was crazy the lazer beams that Onieda Eagle would shoot lol. Blast from the past. Back when overdraws for shorter faster arrows were a thing

Jim Burnworth is on video like, 10 years ago shooting an arrow over 400fps out of a Bowtech... and he didn't even "soup up" the bow to do it.

Twisted up compound: "I just shot 380 fps" Modern Recurve Crossbow: "hold my beer"

You need natural light for that chrono, the frequency of indoor lighting in Hz is basically flickering. Therefore the projectile is passing during an absence of full light, the sun doesnt flicker, it's a constant source.

Now that's my kinda bow :)

If you want more, try the Mathews Monster Safari, 85 pounds and 350 fps out of the box If you pump it at 95# and use a lighter, shorter arrow, May be you can up to 400fps

Just started archery last week and the guy that runs my club said I should start at 40lb and work up to 50 so the idea of pulling double that seems insane!!! 40 feels easy but I guess it’s good while I learn the technique. Nearly did the macho thing and bought a 60 but the guy that told me 40 used to shoot for Great Britain (Olympic bows) now he’s moved to compound and it seemed wise to bow down to his wisdom.

Need to play with letoff adjustment , lower let off will give you higher speeds at same poundage. I also recall reading a article in the early 2000 about bows that did 400 FPS , but they did say they where specific built bows that would basically shoot a round and then needed to be rebuilt.

A guy in VA named John Moser built a pse over 10 years ago that was 148lb draw that shot a 650gr + arrow over 340 fps

You need to try APA king cobra bow it will be faster than that at that poundage by far

I immediately knew you needed sunlight when there was a problem that's how mine is, if you have it under straight fluorescent tubes it reads the frequency of the lights and throws numbers up. Can only use it during the day, but the chronograph needs a white background for best readings. A cloudy day would work too. They make indoor self lit chronographs that cost more. I chronod my V3 today and have 290 fps with a 465 gr arrow at 72 lb. Also tried a 360gr arrow and had it at 320

i love how he says its "almost" dangerous

I was actually wondering what those compound bows are capable of if one puts them through the stress you did . A really cool experiment I thought . I’ll leave the 100 pound stuff to my long bow though . A little safer lol Again cool experiment. Cheers

My tx5 at 61lb 27.5 draw 340 grain arrow 308 fps has blown through every deer I've launched it at with a grim reaper mechanical. Heavy arrow not needed on whitetails. Thanks for the videos and God bless you all

Regarding the lighting I think you've hit the nail on the head with some bulbs have/create light at a different frequency, where as good 'ol sun light is just the ticket. Cheers for a great video.

Go find a Pse full throttle and set that to 90lbs, it was shooting 362 to 370 at 70lbs. and didn't have to go bat shit crazy to do it.

POV watching Chris and wishing u could pull 70😂

High Country Archery had a bow, the X-12 I think, that advertised 400 fps with their super light speed pro arrows. I never saw it in person but I remember reading about them.

Would be interested to see Chris do a bow build on a Mathews Safari

Put a string of White LED’son top of those skyscreens. I will work everywhere.

the brace height also increased which resulted in less time of the string pushing the arrow that's why the speed not jumping up so much

I have a Bear Carnage shadow. At 80# I'm getting 355 fps. I'm not sure what my arrows are setup as. I have a 31 draw, but i use a setback drop away rest, so my arrows are cut at 30". Weird thing is, It's not violent or anything on release, the Carnage has the string stops. I backed it off to 70#'s just to make it last longer, it's still my favorite bow and I still use it.

serious question, i have the v3 31 but i hate the shallow valley "jumpy" at full draw, by adding the twist in the cables did that help at all compared to the factory cable twist, & valley?

My lightest arrow is 292 grains including 85 grain broadhead, but it's 500 spine. I don't know what the lightest arrow would be that you could build for a high poundage bow.

At my local archery shop the owner has a bow with 120 pound draw weight and he gives prizes to people who can pull it back and he tested it and it was pushing 410 feet per second

Had the same problem with the chrono as well. You need to purchase the light kit for it. That will make it work indoors.

You both are the best at shooting a bow and filming, both of you are excellent.

Maybe you should have a look at some of the "English Longbows" some of them were up to 200lbs, mines quite small at 110lds, I came down from 150lbs due to illness, these things are Awesome for penetration, I practice with arrows made from thick walled Aluminium tube because I was breaking Hardwood arrows at 70 meters, they are very heavy & they hit like a train so I do destroy targets at an alarming rate, but I don't have anywhere with more distance of my own to practice at. Some journals say that a good bowman could have 6 arrows in the air at the same time, I have managed 3 with my 150lbs & which was on my best day, these guys had massive upper body strength, I wonder what they would make of us with our D shaped/Recurve/Compound bows today? I get the feeling they would think us Pussy's then beat us in every comparison & then bring us dinner from out of the forest just to rub it in. Yet another excellent post thank you.

Chris, check out the APA King Cobra, they have had the option of 90lb limbs for a while now

There are quite a number of bows from history that are much stronger in some cases but these are Traditional bows or Compound bows like the Mongolian/Turkish/Scythian bows around 100 to 166lbs draw, it seems the English Longbow is the heaviest at 200+lbs but I don't know what speed their arrows were, that said they are usually quite heavy due to the materials used & the job they were built to do, I don't see anything nowadays that would punch through SteelPlate, but having fun with bows today is probably much easier.

When I was going to school in Phoenix Az (1993) Randy Phillips (Archery headquarters) had a custom 100lb PSE made for him. Shot fast but was really LOUD!

Im shooting 82.5lbs on a APA King Cobra, 585gr arrows and hitting 297 fps

Momentum>speed. Heavy arrows>>>light arrows.

Hey boss. You can use the chrono without the sun shade when in a darker area. Took me awhile to figure it out haha (I precision rifle shoot so it's a must that every shot counts on the chrono)

Try sticking one of those round under cabinet LED battery lights under each diffuser and your chronograph will become so much more reliable and you will be able to use it indoors !

Love the video can’t wait for more! Best RU-vid out there Chris bee

Just wondering what that dollar store book shelf bracket his bow scale is mounted to is weight rated for?? Would be terrible if that thing let go, or if the screws stripped out of wall. Instant stained underwear moment!!

That's why the xbow was invented. You can get one that shoots 500 fps,and you don't need arms like Arnold.

Geez,380 FPS is simply smokin' for a traditional bow!

I’m convinced Chris has at least 25 bows 😂

😰 Well that was nerve racking! 😰

Chronographs reads the shadow passing over the 2 front to back placed censors. You're right about the pulsing of certain bulbs. But the angle of the light and brightness is also a factor. You need more lumens if anyone is trying to shoot it indoors.

Chris what's your opinion on the BowTech BTX-31? I picked one up and averaging 351-353fps with it set on the performance setting . It's a beast of a bow . You sacrifice the let off on the performance setting. Be cool see you review it even though it's a 2016 model.

only guy i know that would test a chronograph with a 200$ release

Can you make a 100 lbs compound bow in lever action? That would be awesome to see

My buddy got his 70# PSE to 330!!! It’s bookin it! Good video for sure!!!

great video that looked like alot of fun

Imagine the d-loop breaks and Chris punches himself with 98 lbs of pressure in the face.......that would suck

josh bowmars new hunting bow being 90 lbs 😂

They make a light kit that replaces those white arcs and simulates natural light with no flicker. The chronograph doesn't work with fluorescent lighting, but works great with incandescent light bulbs overhead, because they don't flicker.

ive been wanting a chrono for ever he says ,,,,then slams the box on the table hhahahhahah lol love it

Please wear safety glasses next time, in case something explodes.

You should do a follow-up on how your shoulder feels a few days later.

Looks like you have a white ceiling in that shop, and as long as it's not really shiny, use one of those bright construction floodlights and aim it straight up at the ceiling above your chronograph. Make sure the ceiling area above the chrony is clear of anything, all white. The chrony needs a source of diffused light and the ceiling will provide that. Won't need the sunscreens. Use the sun screens outside on bright, cloudless days only. Best outdoor light for a chronograph are the full overcast days. No sunscreens needed.

"100lb draw weight compound bow" Historical archery: would you like to try my 240lb English Longbow?

Forgot to tell of the one dude from Tucson AZ shooting an "experimental bow" at a 3D it completely blow threw a brand new McKenzie deer at 30 yards. After that shot they gave his entry fee back and told him Che can't show that bow. Never got any info on the bow since it was an experimental bow. Lol..

I chipped my tooth building the fastest bow, 20 years ago

APA King Cobra is available with 100lb limbs from the Factory and has an IBO of 365fps. Would be interesting to see a comparison.

I can't believe you have never heard of the PSE full throttle that came out in 2014. It shoots 370 ft per second..

I felt my shoulder pop just watching 😂

Goes to show how inflated IBO speeds are on bows nowadays.

On chronographs the lighting is important. It use lite to make a shadow over the slots on top of the chrony to see the arrow or bullet pass over. As it passes it breaks the lite beam and it sees that and measure the break in the lite between the two slots and the light has to be almost 100% natural and unbroken. Inside lighting like any floresent light will mess with the chronograph.

I really love the bottomlands camo hat! I would get one if they were available on your website still

That’s cute my bow is 150lbs

That works out to 3.29 grains per inch. That’s crazy light even before there was a minimum GPI in the 90’s. What’s your draw length?

Cool video man! My old Destroyer 350 w/ some Gold Tips shoots 360. Seems like technology should be better in the bow world by now. By that I mean faster more efficient and eliminate cam lean and torque. We humans are smart enough

My uncle uses 100lb draw on his bow. In his 60s. I couldn’t even move it.

I sweat less after a run than i did during this video

PSE full throttle, is still the Ibo King and not at that kind of poundage, the Mathews monster safari will send a heavier arrow faster than the full throttle

I built a 90# Bowtech 82nd Airborne a while ago. She was and still is some kinda nasty. I'm starting to approach the big 50 and realize I'm not 25 anymore so, although I can still shoot the beast I stepped down to a 70# bow to hunt with.

I would imagine a 95lb draw @ 31" draw length with a overdraw rest and 27" carbon fiber arrows and 100 grain fields would push 375 +

I'm getting 349 fps with a 350 gr arrow 31 draw 70lb, revolt x.

Im shocked that shootimg 81 pounds at only 355 grains didnt damage the bow that is less that 5 grains per pound and 5 grains per pound is the minimum recommended weight

Love yur hat bro ! Great video!

Hello Chris, I've been following your great videos for a long time and now I'm wondering why you have to pull with brute force to get good speed? I shoot the PSE Xpedite with the LL modules, draw 66 pounds, draw lenght 30" and my arrows weigh 474 grains and they fly at 295 ft/sec, the 385 grain arrow flies at 328 ft/sec... and all that at 66 pounds ;- )

Joe Rogan and John Dudley watching this: "We gotta crank ours up now...damn it Chris"

Chris, try maxing the draw length out!

that was so awesome dude

Twisting the cable up shortens the cable. And twisting the cable compromises the Integrity of it. I have a PSC fireflight LC I bought in 2000, with Beman IC 340's with fixed bear broadheads and 70# it's arrow speed is 328 fps. I have taken a lot of deer with it some out to 40 yards. I retired it 3 years ago when I tore my bicep up at 60 years old. I believe draw weight has a lot to do with fps but cam designed is what really makes the speed.

Id be curious to see how much arrow diameter plays a part in arrow speed same arrow weights with different 4mm 5mm 6mm 6.5mm 🤔

Dude aren’t you pushing the limit since most bow mfg. want you to stay up at 5 grains per pound

The prochrono has an optional infrared led lighting kit for indoor use. Mine is very consistent with it in my basement.

Quite interesting. :-) It would have been fun, if you could have fired the 100# version. But ok, I understand - it's also important not to injure yourself. So what you basically did was to preload the limbs more and taking some weight out of string and arrow. Interesting experiment and interesting video. :-) But yes, of course it starts to get a bit dangerous, because you're getting to the limit of what the bow can take without breaking and without the arrow exploding at the shot. :-)

I just got new strings and watching those strings get all twisted made me feel sooooo uncomfortable

That bracket you’re using for your bow scale is meant to hold plants. Get a stronger bracket before you hurt yourself

When the Monster first came out, ther where people breakingclimbs left and right. 400 fps was rumored in Bowhunter magazine and people wouldn't weigh their arrows for true IBO 5 GPP. And there you go

The light sensors on the chronograph are one foot apart and the chronograph simply sees the shadow of the bullet as it passes and clocks the amount of time it takes to travel 1 foot so you have 1 foot in parts of a second or a feet per second. The problem is when you have multiple white sources like multiple light bulbs inside of a building you have multiple shadows cast and the unit doesn't know what to do because it sees multiple shadows pass each eye so a single light source like the sun provides only one shadow. The sky screens can assist with this and they actually make a special lighting kit that you can use indoor that provides a direct source of light to each eye . I've owned one of these chronographs for about 30 years now and I had the same issue when I first bought it along with a pellet gun that I bought at the same time and it simply would not work inside the house.

this bow combined with the "fenris" system would be better than m-16 or g-3, it´s a mad thing^^

Get your hands on an APA King Cobra TF2. They are rated up to 370. The new DG version is rated to 365. My TF2 is throwing a 448 grain finished arrow downrange at 309... imagine the possibilities with just a 70# bow...

M new to a compound bow i used a traditional bow up to last year. Im planning on go to the range my sight in. My yard has 2 spots 15 yards and 19 yards ill sight in at 15 yards and then hit the range for 25 yards most of my hunting is limited to 15 to 30 yard shots. Im using an iglow bow with walmart350 sline with 100 grain 3 blade broadheads. So i have some things things to try

Your blogs just get better and better