Well I finally got around to shooting my Vortex thru the chronograph today and much to my surprise it shot 310 w/150gr points 317 w/125gr and 322 w/100grs . I was using the firebolt and had a fff string set about 2 string widths above the front rail mark. I weighed the bolt w/150gr point and the total bolt weight was 416, w/125gr 391 and w/100gr 366grns. I'd say with a little tweaking on the brace height and get the bolt weight down to 350gr it will hit the advertised 330fps. I will be staying with the 150gr and refletching w/Blazers to try with the boltcutters I bought. Just thought I would post the results for anyone interested in a Vortex
hey thy are a great bow thy got the speed for all of the ontario game you will ever want to hunt .i love the 200lb bows as i can load them by hand from my tree stand .the 225lb bows are a littel to much for loading by hand so if you are like me and forget things .your hunt will not be over if you find you forgot your string loader .DUTCH
I've found they all get their advertised max fps w/ the min arrow weight and FFF string. My observations have told me to either use heavier arrows or a dacron string for more pleasant shooting, YMMV.
yeah that's what they are using a 350gr arrow for there ads....the firebolts with the 150gr bolt cutters came in at 375gr on my scale and didn't fly worth a darn....the main reason i built my arrows in my signature to 550gr, i'm just waiting to see a fly on my target bag throught the scope ........bob
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exocet 200. STS dampers.
boo string and trigger work.
munch mount quiver mount.
125 gr slick trick magums.
2" blazers on 2117 XX75 w/ brass inserts.
I shoot 370 gr out of my Phoenix and like the performance they come in at 291 fps.
I am building some 350 gr to try and see how they work if I like them it will mean all new tips and broad heads as to get this weight I have to go with blazers and 125gr tips on GT lazer II's.
Couldn't agree more, bstout. My Phoenix and Vortex both like the Gold Tip Lazers with 110gr brass insert, 2'' Blazers or Fusion with RH helical (EZ Fletch) aluminum nocks and 100 gr Slick Trick mags. Get me to 405 gr and 290 and 320 fps respectively using self made Flemish. I can come close in weight using Thunderbolts with 125 gr tips but don't fly exactly the same.
PS LOVE hunting, but 'gear-messin' is right up there too.
I'm a tinkerer, but I'm also cheap, so I read lots of posts here and did lots of chatting back and forth with Awshucks. It didn't take much convincing for me to not bother wasting money minimizing the weight of my arrows, at the loss of FOC. I built for a ~400gr arrow with lots of FOC.
GT Laser II shafts with 110gr brass inserts and aluminum nocks, glued up with Gorilla glue (w/o water) and fletched with 2" blazers with a RH helical (EZ Fletch) glued up with Gorilla Glue Super Glue. (Tried Goat Tuff first, and dang, that stuff was messy.) Anyhow. Glue, tips and all I'm in just over 407gr with a 100gr tip, IIRC, and even the first arrow I made with gobs of glue on the vanes and one vane 1/4" farther back than the other two, They're still hitting a 1" dot at 40 yards in my Vixen Deluxe
I've got an 18" square target face with 9 target dots and I stack 6 arrows in there before taking a walk down range. When I assemble the other 6 of the 12 shafts I bought, I won't hesitate putting 9 in that target.
At this point, I've got a real deer killer. had lots of plans for tinkering, but I'm going to have to reserve my tinkering for other things than arrows.
My speed ring on my Varizone is only in the 275 FPS area, but I'm not willing to sacrifice accuracy for speed.
I personally prefer a mid-weight arrow. I believe I can see the advantages of both... Going light for a flatter shooting arrow which makes range estimation a bit less critical. Going heavy has its own advantages as already opined. I personally don't know nor have I met any competitive target shooters who shoot heavy arrows; fat ones yes but still light as they can reasonably get them.
Almost made it a yr. lite or heavy, for who wants to know, go to [pass thru's] Aug 4- 09, one is no more accurate than the other if your bow is set up for which your shooting, every thing I've ever seen is border line of a dry fire at 3d shoots as far as weight goes. To each their own it's what ever your geared for.
my arrows i use and are listed in my siggy as most here have read bout have 21.4% FOC and "ARE" deadly out to 50 yds....the two deer i shot so far with my exocet have been at both ends of the distance meter at 10 yds and 49yds with blow through's not just pass through's ....1st deer at 49 yds i found my arrow bout 15 yds past where it was standing, 2nd deer at 10 yds the arrow was 25 yds past it buried under at a distance of 3 to 4 feet of crusted snow 6" deep....i had to pull up chunks of frozen snow following the bloody path of the arrow till i found the vanes 3/4 feet away from the entry hole in the snow with just one vane tore off from the hard snow....same arrow was used for both deer and is ready for deer number three now with a refletch job on it ....my arrows cost bout 15 bucks each to make in materials alone , but i know where they are going to hit out to 50yds with those 125gr slick tricks too ........bob
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exocet 200. STS dampers.
boo string and trigger work.
munch mount quiver mount.
125 gr slick trick magums.
2" blazers on 2117 XX75 w/ brass inserts.
I did not mean to start a debate about arrow weight but was posting the speeds of the Vortex as a reference for anyone wanting to know the real world speeds I was getting. I refletched with the 2" blazers and it brought my weight down to 407 grs for the total weight. I had to realign my scope but it will consistently hit a 1" dot at 50yds with the boltcutters , and am close to 88lbs of k.e which is plenty to punch through the deer around here. I too am a tinkerer and will be trying some 2219's just for kicks and might even switch to them if there is a great big difference in noise and they hit as well as the firebolts. I am not a speed junkie, I just want accuracy and if I can improve on that I will. To each his own and good luck with whatever you choose
I call B.S. on bstout reporting 308 fps w/ a 454 gr. arrow = 95 ft. lbs energy, and I call B.S. on bob1961 295 fps w/ 550 gr. arrow = 106 ft. lbs energy.
If these are 200 lb bows then the discrepancy is appalling! My own Vortex shoots a 418 gr. arrow at 307 fps. for 87 ft. lbs energy.
This either means our chronographs are all over the map, OR Excalibur has a problem with quality control in limb manufacturing. I know my own chronograph is spot-on, given other controls I know for a fact are accurate.
Yes, I'm anal about speeds. I'm also anal about truth!
. I was using the firebolt and had a fff string set about 2 string widths above the front rail mark. I weighed the bolt w/150gr point and the total bolt weight was 416, w/125gr 391 and w/100gr 366grns. I'd say with a little tweaking on the brace height and get the bolt weight down to 350gr it will hit the advertised 330fps. I will be staying with the 150gr and refletching w/Blazers to try with the boltcutters I bought. Just thought I would post the results for anyone interested in a Vortex 
........bob
, but i know where they are going to hit out to 50yds with those 125gr slick tricks too 
, and am close to 88lbs of k.e which is plenty to punch through the deer around here. I too am a tinkerer and will be trying some 2219's just for kicks and might even switch to them if there is a great big difference in noise and they hit as well as the firebolts. I am not a speed junkie, I just want accuracy and if I can improve on that I will. To each his own and good luck with whatever you choose 
