Compound bow loadouts, shared
A community for sharing complete compound bow setups — bow, sight, rest, quiver, release, arrow. hunting-first.
What's here
Build a complete loadout slot by slot — bow, string, rest, sight, stabilizer, release, quiver, arrow, point. Save it. Share it. Comment on other archers' setups, vote, and see what real hunters are running this season.
Builds are public by default and stay live at a permanent URL likebowbuilds.com/builds/your-build-slugso they're easy to share on forums, social, or with a buddy.
Tools
Free, no-account-required calculators and helpers for the recurring questions every compound shooter has.
- Paper tuning
Diagnose paper-tear patterns and dial in the rest, nock point, and cam lean on a compound bow.
- Broadhead tuning
Diagnose broadhead-vs-field-point impact patterns and the rest, nock-point, and cam-lean adjustments that bring the two groups together.
- Arrow lab
Calculate arrow FOC, kinetic energy, momentum, and recommended spine from your bow setup and arrow components.
- Sight tape
Generate a sight tape from a small number of zeroed pin distances. Trajectory math from your real numbers.
Guides
Long-form references that pair with the tools — what the numbers actually mean and how to read them in the field.
- Paper tuning a compound bow
How to read every paper-tear pattern and the rest, nock-point, cam-lean, and spine adjustments that fix each.
- Broadhead tuning a compound bow
How to read every broadhead-vs-field-point impact pattern and the rest, nock-point, cam-lean, and spine fixes for each. The last tune before hunting season.
- Arrow setup for compound bows
Spine, total weight, point weight, FOC, kinetic energy, and momentum — what each is, what it does, and the numbers worth caring about.
- Compound bow sight tapes
How sight tapes work, why they matter for hunting, and how to generate one from your zeroed pins.
- IBO speed vs measured speed
What IBO speed actually means, why every advertised number is optimistic, and how to read the gap between spec and chronograph.
Field reports
Original data we collected and published — measured numbers, not manufacturer specs.
- IBO honesty — brands ranked by advertised vs measured speed
Independent ranking of 12 compound bow brands by the gap between advertised IBO speed and chronograph-measured reality, from 55 at-IBO datapoints.