Thread: Arrow Weights

In another thread, I had, over time, expended a lot of keystrokes, on the myriad issues of NZPost and the delays, that their marketing Foofs had tried to minimise.

On Friday the the little jeweller's digital scale, I'd ordered back on April 5, turned up. 4 months + really?

Now I can weigh my arrow shafts and points etc.

The following may not mean much, but it helps me understand how arrows fit into the consistency part of accuracy.

I'd got 3 sets of arrows:

A. 1 set of 6, 500 spine, came with the bow

B. 1 further set of 6, 500 spine

and C. 1 set of 12, 400 spine.

Whilst waiting for my scale, I'd made an arrow spinner. Rough and ready this spinner allowed me to see which arrows spun pretty well and which wobbled all over the place and were really, not straight.

Set A, only 1 of the arrows spun well, set B, 5 of the 6 were good, and set C 8 of the 12 were good. So on straightness, I've got 14 from 24. mmm, cheap arrows...

Now to the weights - all of the following are total weights, each including nock ~20gr - point ~100gr - and fletching ~10gr:

Set A - all over 528gr and up to 576gr
Set B - all 6 from 543gr to 545gr
Set C - the 12 ranged from 443gr to 476gr

Something I've read: "My personal setup now is a PSE Carbon Air set on 58 pounds at 29 inches with a 438-grain total weight arrow, which includes a 165-grain, all-steel Bipolar head and an Ignitor lighted nock in the rear.
This setup shoots 281 FPS and creates 76.6 foot-pounds of kinetic energy with awesome momentum."

I've also read that for hunting, heavier is better, for target, lighter is better: "Heavier arrows are slower but absorb more of the bow’s kinetic energy. Bowhunters often choose heavier arrows for deeper penetration and better wind-bucking traits. Because heavier arrows absorb more energy, they’re also quieter to shoot."

My first surprise was that the 400 spine 12-set, were significantly lighter than the 500 spine sets. What I've read was that they should be heavier, i.e. larger spine number = smaller grains per inch number.

The second surprise was that set B were almost matched in weight.

Not surprised that set A, that came with the bow, were the least straight and most variable

Conclusion on weights and straightness:

I've got 1 arrow from set A that I'll use for testing.

There are 5 arrows from set B that are almost matched, so I'm gonna use them for target and so.

I got a nearly matched set of 6 from set C that I'll use for hunting hares and such when I'm accurate enough. I think I know why set C are so light, no paint! Bare carbon finish. I do have some of those dinky shrink wrap arrow wraps, @ 13gr each, so I may put one of those on each of the 6 from set C, along with a heavier small game point @ 125gr which will help bring the weight up.

Grains per inch: measured without nock, point and fletching, so total weight - ~130gr in my arrows.

archery360.com - says "a light shaft weighs 5 to 6 grains per inch, a midweight shaft weighs 7 to 9 grains per inch, and a heavy shaft weighs 10 or more grains per inch."

Set A and B the 500 spine arrows are all ~ 13gr per inch, quite heavy ? or not...
Set C, the 400 spine arrows are ~10gr per inch which seems about right according to what I've read.

FOC front of centre, I read: "an FOC between 11 and 15 percent is ideal for hunting setups and will help accuracy at longer distances."

My set B is 7.5%

My set C currently is 9.1%

Now I'm wondering whether or not I get into Kinetic energy and so on. I'm also thinking that maybe I have to standardise the arrows, before I can fine tune the bow, which as noted in the Cam Timing thread, is still being adjusted

can i ask what is your opinion on EK compound bows??

Originally Posted by gonetropo

can i ask what is your opinion on EK compound bows??

Bearing in mind I'm a newbie to all of this and what research I've done, has revolved around what I've seen on the uTubery, which is all 'merican, primarily.

So if you're interested in my humble opinions, then - https://www.ek-archery.com

Netherlands based it seems, the bows look like they follow the looks and styles of the other manufacturers like PSE and so on.

If it were me, I'd prolly look at the EXTERMINATOR for hunting and the AXIS for target. https://www.ek-archery.com/product/2 the REX looks like a smaller bow, for youth and ladies?

But then I'm not going to be a target shooter so, I'm unqualified to say, just that a longer riser should be more accurate, but more easily tangled up in the Manuka.

Pricing? not sure where to buy.

This guy from Straya https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwT...wMzlIqwSrV8Mrg seems to do a 30 minute review of most every bow, I don't know if he's done EK, but after watching 10 or so of his vids, I got an idea of what to look for and think about in a bow. He can be a little whingey stryne, sometimes, but his overall knowledge is good and I've found him very useful.

i wish i had never sold my buckmaster, but at the time it was looking pretty bad that i would ever be able to shoot a bow again

"I do have some of those dinky shrink wrap arrow wraps, @ 13gr each, so I may put one of those on each of the 6 from set C,"

note: I tried one of those shrink wraps and I'm not impressed, it looks like Nora Batty's stockings.

I know I can get different weighted inserts online, but I'm thinking a couple of small washers, of the right dimensions, will do the job of raising the overall weight and FOC of the arrows.

Hi,

For inserts look here https://ethicsarchery.com

A good formula to go for is for the arrow to weigh as much as possible but still be able to move at least 260ft/s.


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Thanks for that Redaxler, that will be my, ahem, aim

"note: I tried one of those shrink wraps and I'm not impressed, it looks like Nora Batty's stockings."

note to note: Immerse the whole end with wrap in just boiled water, it shrinks luverly, all at once then...

The wraps sometimes look a bit crap. You can have custom wraps made, many places do it. A quick google search will bring many results.

The benefit of the wraps is that it makes re-fletching a lot easier when the time comes. You don’t have to scrap all the glue off the shaft.


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Spine and GPI have nothing to do with each other and you will find a few manufacturers offering a certain spine with different GPI options, some guys will stuff with GPI using inserts etc. Arrows are funny bloody things and theres no hard and fast rules. I bare shaft tuned my recurve and with a 28" draw, 30" arrow shaft and 50lb recurve I should be sitting at around 400 spine but ended up running 340 spine easton Trad Carbons, seems wrong for the bow and setup, but it works!


Must blow the dust off it actually and get shooting again!

I know some lady who harvested pretty much all her animals with a 45# longbow , she never really worried too much about gpi and foc knows what , she just shot wooden shaft or Easton aluminium shaft with a sharp zwickey and that was all.

If you haven't already check out the data/research by Dr Ed Ashby relating to arrow weight/penetration etc.

Very interesting reading. Well I think so anyhow.

@Preacher Ashby’s stuff is very interesting. Lots of data to back it up to.

I second what Preacher is saying. Ashby's studies cannot be overlooked. 27+ years of actual scientific study on the matter.

Arrow weight and FOC is where it's at. I go for 20+% FOC now (considered 'extreme' in some places), and whole arrow weight of 580+ grains. On my Hoyt Buffalo 55lb Recurve (~57-58lbs, at my draw length), I'm shooting 616 grain whole arrow weight: Gold Tip Hunter 340 spine, with 100gn brass inserts and 200gn Grizzly single bevels. FOC is at about 23%. Momentum is what you want, not kinetic energy, first and foremost. As someone once said, a light and fast arrow can be compared to a bullet from a .22 caliber rifle: it has a crazy amount of kinetic energy, but not enough momentum to burst through bone and out the other side of larger animals.

Here's an excellent video on the topic (stickbow shooter):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB73YMtw8aE

Here's another (compound shooter):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhUp...VcDEmYsTIBLFtd

Cheers,

Remote