Ain't camp clean up in the spring such fun?
Helluva lot better than sitting inside, though.
The plan to give the stuff to the nephew is a great one. He'll love it, and you'll be fresh and clean looking for new gear. That plan never fails.
Just doing a little spiff-balling give what you've been saying earlier, I came up with this.
Let's ASSUME a few things (yeah, yeah, I know...)
Put the IBO of the Oneida of yours at 305 fps at 70#, 30", and 350 grain arrow. Now, up the arrow weight to 420 grains for a hunting arrow (fairly reasonable), put the draw length at 28" for your use of a release, and back the weight down to 60#. Odds are that you're shooting that set up at about 235 fps. Yes, I know that sounds slow, but you're giving up speed with the decrease in poundage, draw length, and the increase in arrow weight (along with putting stuff on the string that makes it huntable). Four hundred and twenty grains at 235 fps ain't no slouch, and it don't bounce off.
That calculates out to 51.5 ft.lbs., and .44 lbs/ft of momentum; PLENTY for deer, and given the age of the bow rather efficient (for that era, especially). I suspect that your hunting set up is pretty danged close to this, and to completely truthful, it's pretty danged close to what I was shooting prior to getting a new bow. I know, for a fact, that this is PLENTY for deer. There's been PILES of venison put in the freezer with performance that looks a lot like this, and there is again every season.
To get or beat 51.5 ft.lbs. and .44 lbs/ft with a 420 grain arrow, you're going to need to equal or beat that 235 fps, right? Looking at a 50# draw weight, figure on needing something with an IBO rating of at least 320 fps, and preferably 325 or better. There's a LOT of really great bows out there that will do 325 fps or better these days. Some that will exceed that threshold by a lot, in fact, but there are plenty that met or exceed that minimum to get your where you want to be in both draw weight and performance to allow you to choose between several different manufacturers and models.
Me, personally, I like Prime; absolutely feel in love with their bows when I shot them. Elite makes really great stuff as well, as does Mathews, and Hoyt, of course, and I'd have been quite happy with any of them. Obsession shooters rave about those bows (just didn't do it for me, though I found them to be very well made and quite nice). All of those bow manufacturers have very "smooth" drawing bows, something you're used to with that Oneida and something I suspect you'll be looking for. Every one of them has several bows that exceed the 325 IBO speed floor you're probably going to be looking at, and easily at that. Don't overlook Bear, either. I did shoot a couple of their new bows and was rather impressed. Again, they draw in a cycle that you're likely going to be looking for and have the speed you want as well. I left Parker out, unfortunately, because I don't think they go below 60#, and their draw cycles aren't as refined. PSE is still making great bows, but they've just never done much for me. YMMV, of course.
I'll give you an example off my bow from just this evening. I recently got some new arrows in and will be tuning up the bow for them. With a 125 grain head, the total arrow weight comes in at 503 grains. They are a high grain-per-inch, low-diameter arrow designed to penetrate like mad (and the do; I bury them to the fletchings on every shot into a Block target).
I cranked the bow up to 69# and then back down to 61# (I don't like really bottoming out the screws, nor taking them all the way out) and draw at 29" using a release. This is a bow that has an IBO rating of 340 fps (70#, 30", 350 grains). With the 503 grain arrows and my bow set up for hunting, I'm getting 270 fps at 69# and 256 fps at 61#. That equates out to 81 ft.lbs. and .60 lbs/ft, and 73 ft.lbs. and .57 lbs/ft, respectively.
Now, to match even the lowest of those numbers with the same arrow, your Oneida (or either of my older bows - and I've chronoed them to know their speeds) would have to be drawing roughly 85#. My shoulder says "OUCH" just thinking about that, how about yours?
I don't really care where in the poundage cycle that bow tunes in those arrows; the performance is WAY MORE than enough for anything I'll ever hunt with a bow. All it really is going to do is just bury my arrows deeper into the ground (or trees) on the offside of whatever I shoot. In fact, I think you can see why after I'm done with these arrows, I may very well put a set of 50-60# limbs on that bow, or maybe even 40-50#ers, and be plenty content shooting deer without straining my shoulder, elbow, or other things that go "pop".
