
Pick your parts. Build your bow. Share it.
A community for compound bow setups — every part of a build listed and discussed, plus free tuning tools and guides. Hunting-first.

Build a bow
Pick a bow, then every accessory, slot by slot. Your draft is saved as you go.
Browse builds
Complete setups shared by other archers, with every part listed and discussed.
Tune your setup
Paper and broadhead tear diagnosis, an arrow lab, and a sight tape that prints at 1:1.
Learn the why
Long-form references behind each calculator, written for hunting setups first.
- 3,363
- catalogued parts
- 205
- manufacturers
- 55
- chronograph measurements
Pro setups
What known archers and bowhunters shoot, part by part, from their own videos. Start a build from any of them.

“Levi Morgan: 2026 hunting setup”
Mathews · ARC 34 Compound Hunting Bow
His hunting bow since fall 2025: a Mathews ARC 34 with a 15 in down-angle Bridge-Lock bar out front, a five-pin Axcel Driver slider sight, a QAD Integrate MX2 rest, and Altra .166 arrows with Swhacker LRP broadheads.

“Cameron Hanes: 2026 hunting setup”
Hoyt · AX-90 Compound Hunting Bow
His 2026 backcountry hunting bow: a 90 lb Hoyt AX-90 shooting four-fletched Easton X10 Parallel Pro arrows of about 480 grains with Grim Reaper Carni-Four broadheads. Hoyt built the AX-90 after he asked for a 90-pound bow, and its Keep Hammering Edition carries his name.

“John Dudley: 2026 hunting setup”
Hoyt · Carbon RX-10 Ultra Compound Hunting Bow
His 2026 hunting bow, a custom-painted Hoyt Carbon RX-10 Ultra at about 73 lb, set up for spot-and-stalk: a 2-pin Boonie, a short front bar and no side rod, a 3/16 in peep, and Easton 5.0 arrows with Nockturnal lighted nocks and G5 T2 broadheads.

“Mike Schloesser: 2026 target setup”
Hoyt · Concept X 37 Compound Target Bow with Standard Limbs
The Hoyt Concept X 37 he shot to win his third Vegas Shoot title in March 2026, with Easton X27 arrows, Axcel Acclaim bars and an Axcel Achieve XP Pro sight. Outdoors on the World Archery circuit he shoots the same bow with X10 arrows.
Recent builds
The newest setups shared on the site. Click through for every part and the discussion.

Start with your bow.
Select a bow to begin
“Escalate Future Build”
Bear · Escalate Compound Hunting Bow

Start with your bow.
Select a bow to begin
“Escalate”
Bear · Escalate Compound Hunting Bow

Start with your bow.
Select a bow to begin
“2026 whitetail”
Mathews · Lift 29.5 Compound Hunting Bow

Start with your bow.
Select a bow to begin
“Untitled build”
Hoyt · Alpha AX-2 32 Compound Hunting Bow

“Roe deer & boars”
Bowtech · SS34 Compound Hunting Bow
Tuning tools
The calculators behind the guides. Bring your own numbers.
Sight tape generator↗
Print a calibration-fitted tape from your zeroed pin distances.

Archery form check↗
Upload a full-draw photo; get your form rated and what to fix first.

Draw cycle explorer↗
Turn, draw, and release a 3D compound bow. See the mechanics in motion.

Paper tuning helper↗
Pick your tear pattern, get the rest, nock-point, and cam-lean fix.

Broadhead tuning helper↗
Bring broadhead and field-point groups together before season.

Arrow Lab: arrow build calculator↗
Spine, FOC, kinetic energy and speed for a whole arrow, all at once.

Arrow spine chart & calculator↗
The spine your bow needs from draw weight, arrow length and point weight, with the full chart.

Arrow speed calculator↗
Real arrow speed from your bow's IBO rating, draw, arrow and string, step by step.

Arrow FOC calculator↗
Front of center from your components or a measured balance point, and the point weight for your target.

Arrow kinetic energy calculator↗
Kinetic energy and momentum out to 60 yards, against the minimums for deer, elk and bigger game.

Draw length calculator↗
Draw length from your wingspan or height, and the arrow length that goes with it.
Tuning guides and field reports
What each number means, how to read it in the field, and which adjustment fixes what.
Compound bow shooting form
Good form at full draw, point by point, with the fix for each fault.
Guide02Target panic and the release
How each release fires, command vs surprise shots, and the drills that fix target panic.
Guide03How to set up a new compound bow
Install the rest, sight, nock point, D-loop and peep in order, then shoot the first arrows.
Guide04How to tune a compound bow
The full tune order, the checks before it, and nock tuning your arrows.
Guide05Paper tuning a compound bow
Read every tear pattern and the adjustment that fixes it.
Guide06Bare-shaft tuning a compound bow
Read where bare shafts land against fletched arrows, and fix each offset.
Guide07Walkback tuning a compound bow
Set the rest's left-right position from arrow drift between 20 and 60 yards.
Guide08Broadhead tuning a compound bow
Every broadhead-vs-field-point impact pattern, diagnosed.
Guide09Cam timing and cam lean
Check timing and lean at full draw, and correct them with yokes, spacers or adjusters.
Guide10Arrow setup for compound bows
Spine, point weight, FOC, KE, and momentum for hunting arrows.
Guide11How to sight in a compound bow
Which way to move the sight, then each pin in order, from 20 yards out.
Guide12Compound bow sight tapes
How sight tapes work and how to make one that prints true.
Guide13IBO speed vs measured speed
What IBO ratings mean and how to read the spec-vs-chrono gap.
Guide14IBO honesty field report
12 compound bow brands ranked by advertised vs chronographed speed.
Field report · original dataFrom bare bow to tuned
Pick your parts
Start from the bow. Add string, rest, sight, stabilizer, release, quiver, arrows and points, one slot at a time.
Save it, then share it
Your draft stays in the browser until you publish. A public build gets its own page, a photo, comments and votes.
Tune it
Read your paper tear, walk broadheads into field points, then print a sight tape calibrated to your real marks.

Start with the bow.
Drafts save in your browser. An account is only needed when you publish.
What Bowbuilds is
Bowbuilds is a community for archers to design, share and discuss compound bow builds. A build lists every component of a setup — bow, sight, rest, quiver, release, arrows and points — as its own page with discussion and votes, so someone with the same bow can see exactly what works with it.
Alongside the builds, the site hosts free tuning tools and long-form guides: paper tuning, broadhead tuning, arrow setup and a calibrated sight tape generator. They need no account and are written for hunting setups first. Bowbuilds is independent and has no affiliation with any manufacturer.
What is a bow build?+–
A complete compound bow setup listed part by part: bow, string, rest, sight, stabilizer, release, quiver, arrows and points. Each public build has its own page with the parts, a photo, comments and votes.
Is Bowbuilds free?+–
Yes. Browsing builds, the tuning tools and the guides are free and need no account. An account is only required to publish a build, vote or comment.
Which bows are supported?+–
Compound bows. Recurve and traditional are not covered yet.
