# Sight Pin Yardage



## HardCore (Apr 6, 2008)

So I have been doing this a while, but I am thinking of adjusting my sight pins a bit. I have 5 pins, and have always done the 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 yard pins. I'd like some input on what yardage you have your pins at and what the advantages/disadvantages are to it all? I was thinking maybe going 20/40/50/60/70..... Thanks for some input.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I go 20-50; now that you have asked for input I'm sure that you will get it, most oppose shots >50, which I concur with particularly the term "just hold a little high"....
o-|| o-||


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## HardCore (Apr 6, 2008)

I agree that shots >50 yards are beyond what I would want to shoot an animal at. However, I think there is also something to be said for the arguement that if I practice in the 60 to 80 yard range, won't the 50 and below shots seem so much easier and actually be more accurate? That's what I am going for. I'm sure there's a lot of different opinions out there on that matter.


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

15, 30, 40, 50, 60

I want a 30 yard pin because that's my optimum shot. There's not enough difference between 20 and 30 to warrant an additional pin, so the first is at 15 (midpoint).


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

I have shot with my 5 pins at 20-60 for many years including my Hoyt "Rambo" years. My groups have dramatically changed in those years and I personally don't have a problem with someone having a 75 yard pin. Personally, i have my pins set at 20-60 and then they are on a slider that will go out to 120 yards. In all honesty, I can hit as good now at 120 than what I was hitting at 60 with my Rambo. I love shooting long distances. I practice at them very often. It is amazing how much more steady that you have to hold at those distances just to hit the block. I am not however saying to hunt at those distances. I am an advocate of closing the distance. On the other hand, If I have an animal that is wounded and I am trying to sneak in on him to get another arrow in him, that may be quite difficult. I want to know my bow and abilities well enough to maybe push a further distance to finish the job. If you need to shoot at 75 yards and you only have a 60 yard pin then it becomes an educated guess depending on how much practice that you have done. I would rather see the guess work done at 20 through 30 and have a pin that you can focus on for the longer shots. Again I do not promote shooting animals at great distances but do realize that their are certain circumstances that allow it.


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## truemule (Sep 12, 2007)

15, 25, 35, 45, 55 meters. Don't ask me why meters. Its just what I prefer on my bow. The last two pins are really useless in the field if you ask me, I have never had to use them. The only thing they are good for is practice.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

If you shot a recurve you wouldn't need sight pins. :mrgreen:


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

30,40,50


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

TEX-O-BOB said:


> If you shot a recurve you wouldn't need sight pins. :mrgreen:


Your right Tex!!!! At that point, all that you would need is a NEW BOW! :mrgreen:

I have to admit, recurves are a blast to play with.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

20-60 on my five pin. I do shoot longer distances just so I know where to hold in a league... but I wouldn't take a shot longer than 65 yards, and probably wouldn't even shoot that far.(thats about the farthest I can reliably still get a good grouping at this point).... if I can't get closer than that, then I'm not doing my job as a BOW hunter to seal the deal. If I wanted to shoot further than that, I'd take up muzzleloaders or rifles. 8)


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

My 5 pin is set up at 30,40,50,60,70. The two longer pins are for pratice only, I won't take a shot past 50 yards. I don't use a 20 yard pin as my bow is pretty flat out to 30, I just need to hold a bit low on the under 20 yard shots.

Mark


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

20, 30, 40, 50, 60. I never know when a yote will be at 55 yards. 8) I have a 20 because I expect callofthewild to call a big stinky withing 15 yards for me this fall on the Dutton. -()/>-


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## wapiti67 (Oct 2, 2007)

20,30,40,50,60,70...just because the crazy people in the STOB league love the L O N G shots...won't shoot at anything beyond 40...


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

truemule said:


> 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 meters. Don't ask me why meters. Its just what I prefer on my bow. The last two pins are really useless in the field if you ask me, I have never had to use them. The only thing they are good for is practice.


So what is the weight of your bow, in kilos and what is the draw, in centimeters? You have tio be consistent to shoot well under pressure. :lol:


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

Huge29 said:


> truemule said:
> 
> 
> > 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 meters. Don't ask me why meters. Its just what I prefer on my bow. The last two pins are really useless in the field if you ask me, I have never had to use them. The only thing they are good for is practice.
> ...


          not quite a :rotfl: but nevertheless a


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## Elkoholic8 (Jan 15, 2008)

Two years ago I fiddled around with my pins trying to simplify things. I bought a 3 pin sight and set it for 30, 50, & 60. I wanted to have a close, far, and maximum pin. I don't shoot super fast (275fps) and that fit my trajectory pattern. That gave me a window of +- 2" point of impact difference. It worked out ok for the 3-d range, but if you were just trying to hit golf tee's on the bag range it was pretty hard to be consistent. As for the hunting situation, that was ok but you really have to practice to get that old way of thinking (20,30,40, etc) out of your head. I ended up getting 2 shots that year and got 2 misses. One was due to a tree deflection but the other was a quick, suprise shot and I just reverted back to the old system and I shot over (12 yard shot). You'll be amazed at what you can miss up close!!!!
Practice, practice, practice, that's the bottom line.


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## truemule (Sep 12, 2007)

Huge29 said:


> truemule said:
> 
> 
> > 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 meters. Don't ask me why meters. Its just what I prefer on my bow. The last two pins are really useless in the field if you ask me, I have never had to use them. The only thing they are good for is practice.
> ...


Draw weight is 23.7 kilos, Draw length is 72.4 cm, It shoots at about 8.38 mps (meters per second). If you like I will let you know what each pin is at in yards if you really need to know. I perform well under pressure weather it is metric or standard. :twisted:


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## NoShot (Nov 23, 2007)

I've shot the 20-30-40-50-60 since I first drew a compound bow. after 10 or so years and the purchase of a new bow, the flatter trajectory gave me the idea of switching to 25-35-45-55-65, seeing how 0 to 30 yards was "almost" flat. The problem as mentioned already was the first shot I had that year was at about 13 yards, shot over the buck, couldn't figure out why, I think it was 2 days later had another shot at about 30 yards, and guess what, shot over it again... What it came down to was the years of shooting even number yards and still thinking that way on holding my pins. If you decide to change, shoot *A LOT* and keep thinking about your pins yardage, it'll be a brain game for many arrows released...

(after the second miss, I spent the next few days re-sighting in my pins for 20-60, killed an Elk the next weekend with the first arrow)


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## idiot with a bow (Sep 10, 2007)

TEX-O-BOB said:


> If you shot a recurve you wouldn't need sight pins. :mrgreen:


Another 65 mph fast ball put right over the plate for tex, and another cut to send it deep. Well done tex, well done.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

65 mph isn't that fast...

But, I guess we're talking recurves here aren't we...  

I'm going to make a new western movie. "The Slow and the Dead" 8)


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I have three pins: 30, 50, 70

The difference in my groupings from 15 - 30 yards is almost negligible. I found no reason to have a pin < 30. I didn't have room to place a pin between 30 and 50 yards -- my arrow drop from 30 to 50 yards is about 2 inches. Same thing with 50 to 70 -- simply no room on my site between those two pins to place one at 60. I don't see much reason to have another pin beyond 70 yards. Thus, three pins: 30, 50, 70.


One big factor in shooting at animals vs. targets is distance. You typically know the distance to your target. Most of the time with animals, you are guessing. That's the whole trick with hunting archery. Hitting a target that you know the distance is easy. Hitting a target that you have to guess the distance is the hard part.


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

PBH, I don't want to slam you in any way what so ever, I have a great love for peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but you are either shooting a 105lbs bow, or your stats are a bit off, and with todays technology, if you are taking a shot at an animal with out knowing the distance, you are being a naughty boy.


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

PBH, what set up do you have that you only have a 2 inch drop from 30 to 50 yards? :? I think your math is a little fuzzy!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

EPEK said:


> PBH, I don't want to slam you in any way what so ever, I have a great love for peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but you are either shooting a 105lbs bow, or your stats are a bit off, and with todays technology, if you are taking a shot at an animal with out knowing the distance, you are being a naughty boy.


Is it possible for a person to shoot at targets so much that they develop an eye for distance?? Not saying I have that kind of judgement, far from... just curious if folks can develop that out to 40 or 50 yards so that if they limit their shot distance, they can be relatively comfortable judging distance on the fly without whipping out a rangefinder? I know I'm getting fairly comfortable because I shoot that distance pretty much every day for an hour (winding down from a busy job) but thats on flat ground. Can Joe whoever shooting stumps all summer long in the mountains get a feel for things that way too? Granted, this is only a CAN you question... not a SHOULD you. 8)


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## coydogg (Oct 6, 2007)

Riverrat77 said:


> Is it possible for a person to shoot at targets so much that they develop an eye for distance?? 8)


I had the same thinking when I started last year. I was pretty good (for my experience) at guessing the yards when I was shooting a block target from 15-50 yards on flat ground. I was usually within 4-8 inches away from my mark between 30 and 50. As soon as I got on the mountain it all went out the door. I would guess spots at like 35 yards and they would end up being 50 (haha hopefully I can afford a range finder this year). Anyways, the only way I think target shooting would help you with yard judgement out on the mountain is if you were actually shooting a target set up IN the mountains. Normal target shooting has too much of a controled environment for me to be able to make a good judgement out hunting.


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