MOBIGBUCKS wrote:Excellent info Uncle Lou. Have you tested any bows with a string stop versus bows without one? Seems like all of the manufacturers are now putting these standard on bows, so there must be some industry testing to back up the effectiveness of them.
I have not. I just received a new mag the other day -ArrowTrade-. This mag usually has multiple bow reports, I always glance through the tables looking for the dB. The very usual range of bow noise is 78-87dB. Here is what I find interesting with bow noise. Here is some info on the Strother Hope (Women's model) 50 lbs and 26 1/8" draw
Arrow Weight Speed Noise output
250 grains 284.7fps 87.2dB
300 grains 243.5 fps 85.7dB
350 grains 245.1 fps 79.5dB
450 grains 218.1 fps 78dB
Early on in this thread, I tried to make the point that no matter how quiet you get your bow, it will still be heard by a deer within shooting range. 80 dB +/-, or in the above case 78-87dB, is going to be heard to some distance, well beyond 20-30 yds. Whether or not the deer reacts to the sound is to be determined by the deer.
Now I would still want to try to take 9 dB off my bow if I could (partly because I am a quiet freak) and also because I think noise is wasted energy that harms my bow. I found it very interesting how a heavy arrow set up drains noise, although it does sacrifice speed. But like I mentioned earlier, the speed of sound is much faster than the fastest arrow.
Slightly off topic but if I had the above info as I was selecting and setting up this bow, I would go with the 350 grain set up. In addition based on other information presented in the chart by choosing the 350 grain arrow compared to the 250 grain arrow, I lose ~40 fps, but gain kinetic energy (46.7 vs. 45), momentum goes to 12.3 from 10.2, and the dynamic efficiency goes to 83.2% from 80.2%.
I don't want to get to technical here, but Rancid did a great post on bow efficiency, I think in Equipment thread if you want more info on this.