Converting to high FOC arrow set up.

Wondering how many of you archers have gone through the process to convert to high FOC arrows?

I’ve been following the Ranch Fairy on YouTube and what he says makes a lot of sense, but then The Hunting Public joined him and got set up with high FOC builds last summer. Watching The Hunting Public vides this season and they are just stoning those deer with those high FOC setups.

The difference is very evident, they are just tipping deer over this year. It really got me thinking about getting the RF test kit and starting to develop a HFOC setup this winter.

I guess my main question for those of you who have done it is do you really notice a difference? The idea really appeals to me, I have to admit I just think it may give a much quicker kill and that is appealing to me.

What did you convert from and to and how do you like it?

Grouse

A friend of mine has some results from this summer.

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I shoot a 475 grain arrow with about 13-14% foc. For me what a really notice with more foc was the wind doesnt effect the arrow as much. I have shoot 2 deer and a near with this set up. All three complete pass thru.

In my opinion, everyone should be shooting at least 14%-15% minimum FOC. I’m a design engineer for a larger archery company and have done extensive accuracy and ballistic testing with hundreds of arrow/broadhead combinations. The increase in penetration, as well as the drastic improvement in arrow flight past 40 yards are the top reasons to build your arrows as such.

Lots of guys in the past have touted the light arrow setups because they see speed increases, and holdovers are easier, but once that arrow contacts game it is a completely different story.

Feel free to PM me Grouse with any questions.

It seems according to the Ranch Fairy, the benefits of high FOC really kick in at 18 to 20. That at least is where he claims the sweet spot is as far as hunting and improved penetration.

Not sure how many of you have tuned into his channel but it’s pretty amazing to see the pictures of full pass through shots at hogs and deer and then the arrow sticking through a 4-in sapling besides.

Grouse

I’ve been a big RF fan the last few months. I bought the test kit and did the bare shaft tuning and settled on a 660 grain setup using the 200 grain single bevel broadheads by bishop archery.

http://bishoparchery.com/200-grain-non-vented-proprietary-pipeline-sr-stainless-steel-scientific-method/

All the stuff I needed didn’t arrive in time this year so i’m pretty excited to start using it next year. However i’m still a little suspicious. For instance there’s a good argument on why complete pass-throughs are not ideal because you want to dump all the energy into the animal. Whereas dumping that energy into the dirt after it passes through the animal does nothing for you. I’m using 375 grain setup now with old reliable fixed blade Muzzy’s and can’t really say I’ve had a problem with them. If I get a good hit they have always done a quick job of it. If I don’t get a good hit that’s really where i’m hoping to see some improvement? I kinda feel that I may have some unrealistic expectations.

In any case it’s really got my interest up and it’s pretty fun testing new combinations like this. Good luck to you if you end up trying it out too.

waldo9190 wrote:

In my opinion, everyone should be shooting at least 14%-15% minimum FOC.

I’d love to hear more about this, Waldo. It is something that I have never heard of before, so I did a little reading and ran a quick calc on my arrows. Based upon the calculation shown on Easton’s website, I’m looking at about 11-12% FOC using 100 gr Killzone broadheads. Since I have had this setup, I’ve shot 4 deer with it. One doe was a complete pass through at 10 yards and died after 30 yards. Lost 3 bucks at varying ranges from 20-35 yards. Shot placement was questionable on 1, but the other 2 I felt like the arrow didn’t hit them square, thus I had poor penetration. Could this lack of front weight be a potential issue? I’ve never been real impressed with how the arrow smacks a target either. Have been considering heavier arrows for the last few seasons, but haven’t spent the time to do so. Maybe 125 gr heads would be a better place to start…

FWIW, my overall arrow weight is ~375 gr and I draw around 68# on Matthews Creed w/26 1/2″ draw length.

jake47 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>waldo9190 wrote:</div>
In my opinion, everyone should be shooting at least 14%-15% minimum FOC.

Could this lack of front weight be a potential issue? I’ve never been real impressed with how the arrow smacks a target either. Have been considering heavier arrows for the last few seasons, but haven’t spent the time to do so. Maybe 125 gr heads would be a better place to start…

FWIW, my overall arrow weight is ~375 gr and I draw around 68# on Matthews Creed w/26 1/2″ draw length.

Your setup isn’t that different than myself, and us smaller guys have a bigger hill to climb to gain penetrating ability. I’m currently shooting a Bowtech Realm SR6, 26″ draw, 25.5″ arrow length with a total arrow weight just under 470 grains with a 100 grain head and lighted nock.

Naturally, once one understands how FOC works, the obvious answer is to just add more weight to the front of your shafts, but doing this you could potentially cause an under-spine situation. Rule of thumb is that adding weight to the front of your arrow will decrease spine, whereas adding weight to the rear of the shaft (lighted nock) will increase your spine, so if you wanted to add a significant amount of weight to your arrow setup you will want to step up a spine class (most likely).

The first thing I would do if I were you would be to shoot a higher GPI arrow with a steel insert/outsert and see where that gets your FOC.

This is a MUCH easier conversation to have over a couple beers somewhere lol.

This is a MUCH easier conversation to have over a couple beers somewhere lol.
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Fully understand! Thanks for the info. I’ve watched a few Ranch Fairy videos and now have and idea what it’s all about. Putting this on my winter “to do” list, along with reloading.

jake47 wrote:

Fully understand! Thanks for the info. I’ve watched a few Ranch Fairy videos and now have and idea what it’s all about. Putting this on my winter “to do” list, along with reloading.

Ranch Fairy recommends following the Playlist on his channel. You start with I believe a 100 and 200 spline arrow and then a weighted field point kit that he sells. The idea is to punch paper until you find the spline/weight combo that gives you near-perfect flight with your bow.

The whole thing really makes sense to me from a hunting angle to get more killing power from mass and maximum penetration.

Grouse

I’m hooked on the Fairy Dust! Check out Average Jack Archery on YouTube as well. He is a great teacher of archery.

I learned a ton of technical aspects about archery the last few years that I never even considered before. I went through the process last summer and got close to dialed in on a few different weights that flew well with my bow. But I never got it perfect, IMO. Up here there’s no trust worthy archery shop to tune my bow and I also have a cheap QAD arrow rest with no vertical adjustments. I was hitting the mark, but felt like my groupings could have improved a lot. I feel like I may have a timing issue.

I found a that most weights flew pretty true out of my set-up and I had a few different set-ups I was testing. I settled on a set-up that was around 600gr total, 18% FOC

I unfortunately never got a chance to put one through a deer though. But am confident it will do the job.

Going into next year I will be upgrading my rest, taking my bow to a trusted shop to get it tuned up, and going through the process all over again.