I have A martin recurve bow and it shoots at about 182 fps. Its a 50 pound bow. I have no idea if this is a very fast traditional bow. what is considered to be a fast traditional bow?

If I remember correctly, the last time I shot my recurve through a chrony it was around 205-210 fps.

Its 60# at 26" and I have a 27" draw, so I may be pulling a little over 60#.

The weight of your arrow is going to determine a lot.
My recurve pulls 65 at 28, I pull about 28 1/2" and I am shooting a 650 grain arrow.
It clocks from 197 to 208 usually depending on how clean I release.

Most start at about 160 and go up anything over 180 is getting up there. There have been some that were 230-240 or so but it's a rare thing. Dan Quillian used to make a bow that fast. The faster bows are usually pretty twitchy to shoot and often have more hand shock.

Bucko is right (there's a first time for everything) about arrow weight. My PSE recurve actually gained a couple fps when I increased arrow weight. Bucko what kind of bow do you shoot?


The chef

Its a Dan Quillon made for archery traditions.
The 70 pound osage static recurve with sinew backing that I built shoots the same arrrow at 160 to 170.

You're lucky to have one of Dan''s bows, if you ever wan tto sell it let me know.

the chef

Actually I have two , I have the bamboo longbow as well that I actually shoot more.
I am not thinking about selling them, but if I ever do, sure I will let you know.

Thanks for your info on bow speeds I now know where my bow stands in terms of speed.