Whats Your Arrow Setup?

[Yankee]

Maxima Hunter 450's, 4-fletch Blazers, 125 g G5 Stryker.

[Katmai Guy]

2413 XX78 Super Slams with (3) 4" NAP Quickspin vanes and 125gr G5 Montec.  Flies straight as an arrow.

[Torrent50]

I'm pretty new to bowhunting and want to get some input on my arrow setup.  My gut tells me that something may be not quite right.  I am shooting 67lbs and have FMJ 400's cut to 27 3/4 with a slick trick 100gr standard broadhead.  Just weighed one and it was 432 grains.  I am getting about 270 to 275 fps with them.

I was told that I was right on the line between 400 and 340 but would lose about 10 fps if I went to the 340.  I am wondering if that is really a big deal or not.  Do you think I should go to the 340?  I am working on the tuning with the ones I have now, which is all new to me. 

[Russ McDonald]

I'm pretty new to bowhunting and want to get some input on my arrow setup.  My gut tells me that something may be not quite right.  I am shooting 67lbs and have FMJ 400's cut to 27 3/4 with a slick trick 100gr standard broadhead.  Just weighed one and it was 432 grains.  I am getting about 270 to 275 fps with them.

I was told that I was right on the line between 400 and 340 but would lose about 10 fps if I went to the 340.  I am wondering if that is really a big deal or not.  Do you think I should go to the 340?  I am working on the tuning with the ones I have now, which is all new to me.

Looking at the FMJ website the 340 is 11.3 grains per inch and the 400 is 10.2 grains per inch.  I am not that savvy in arrow set up but if your looking for more speed I don't think you will get it with an heavier arrow.  You will get more kinetic energy with a heavier arrow I would believe.  I maybe also talking out of my butt but logically looking at weights that is what I think would happen.

[Torrent50]

Not really looking for more speed.  I don't think that losing 10 fps would be that big of a deal, but maybe I am wrong.  Seems to me that energy is more important than speed, but that's coming from a gun background.  Just want to make sure I am shooting the optimum setup.  Since I don't know much about tuning a bow, I am guessing that having the wrong setup will make that much more difficult, if not impossible. 

[Russ McDonald]

Not really looking for more speed.  I don't think that losing 10 fps would be that big of a deal, but maybe I am wrong.  Seems to me that energy is more important than speed, but that's coming from a gun background.  Just want to make sure I am shooting the optimum setup.  Since I don't know much about tuning a bow, I am guessing that having the wrong setup will make that much more difficult, if not impossible.

I would think you have a good setup  but other guys can chime in since I am not an expert  just know enough to be dangerous.

[RadSav]

Not really looking for more speed.  I don't think that losing 10 fps would be that big of a deal, but maybe I am wrong.  Seems to me that energy is more important than speed, but that's coming from a gun background.  Just want to make sure I am shooting the optimum setup.  Since I don't know much about tuning a bow, I am guessing that having the wrong setup will make that much more difficult, if not impossible.

Newer bows I would always error on the stiff side.  10 fps only matters if you are measuring your manhood.  When it comes to killing stuff you have plenty of energy if you are on the edge between 400 and 340.

Of course if you are hunting elephants, cape buffalo or Hippo it's not enough energy.  Might not be enough energy in North America if you are trying to shoot Walrus.  Beyond that, sounds like you have plenty

[lamrith]

Torrent,
With 432grn you are over the Min required weight for hunting in WA.  Your Min weight is 402grn.  You are shooting 270-275fps, while not the cutting edge fastest it is plenty.  In fact it is higher than the norm 5-10yrs ago and people been killing big game for centuries with slower.  That speed and that arrow weight you have good KE going on.  In term of your killing power, you have all you need for sure.  Faster can be nice as it can result in a flatter shooting arrow which in turn in theory would be more forgiving of ranging errors.

The real key though is how does your existing set-up shoot for you.  Have you shot it with both BH and field tips?  Is it consistent, and accurate?  If so, I would leave it alone and just keep shooting and become one with your set-up.  There are literally pages of threads here and on sights like archery-talk with people that changed a good running package in the search for "more" and spend weeks/months trying to get it dialed back in.

Like Russ I am not an expert on this stuff, and Arrow spine is still a bit of a mystery to me.  If the 400's are shooting good I would not mess with anything.  But be sure to shoot with both Field Tips and BH now so you know how it works with both.  That way if there is an issue you know now and then can make that change to 340 if needed with plenty of time before hunting season.  Or possibly look at having a good bow shop do a tune for you and adjust to how you shoot before changing arrows, a good tune does wonders.

I had minor point of impact change between fields and BH, but the consistency of the shots did not change so I stuck with what I had and just bumped my sight to compensate for the drop change.

[Torrent50]

Well, I have no plans to shoot walrus, though maybe they would be more my speed.  The elk have managed to elude me thus far.  I'm a bit paranoid since the arrow setup is the last remnant of my original bow purchase and setup at a large sporting goods retailer who shall remain nameless.  I later found out that they not only gave me the wrong bow, but had it all sorts of screwed up. 

I just got done doing some more shooting and am feeling better about what I have.  Maybe there is something to be said for believing in what you are shooting after all. 

I really appreciate the input.  One of these days I might actually feel like I know what I'm doing.

[lamrith]

No worries, I went thru much the same last year, so I feel your pain and apprehension!

Just stay at it and keep throwin splinters.   Reminds me I need to get mine out and get shooting again, I have not touched it since Nov!

[Rainier10]

Well, I have no plans to shoot walrus, though maybe they would be more my speed. 

Awesome statement.

[RadSav]

I'm a bit paranoid since the arrow setup is the last remnant of my original bow purchase and setup at a large sporting goods retailer who shall remain nameless.  I later found out that they not only gave me the wrong bow, but had it all sorts of screwed up. 

I just got done doing some more shooting and am feeling better about what I have.  Maybe there is something to be said for believing in what you are shooting after all.

My first bow was purchased at a Western Auto store 35 years ago this year.  When I shot my first deer I had a Bear quiver that had arrows from Western Auto, True Value and Payless Drugs.  I knew them as the Black ones, the Brown ones and the Green ones   My broadheads were Satellite, Bear and Bodkin.  All in the same quiver while hunting my first few years.  I didn't know any better, but I thought they shot great!  And since my first two deer went about 10 yards COMBINED...they probably weren't all that bad 

My third year bowhunting I got a new Bear compound bow from the True Value store.  Along with it I got a completely matched set of Nirk cedar arrows.  I got six WASP Cam-Lok broadheads and six Zwickey Delta broadheads.  Rotated them in the quiver so it was WASP/Zwickey/WASP/Zwickey/WASP/Zwickey....I had loads of confidence in that 65# bow.  And I felt as though I might even be breaking the unthinkable 200 fps threshold   That year I filled all three of my tags with a blacktail buck, a nice bear and a spike elk.  After the first few years I was disappointed the deer went a long way after the hit.  I bet it went 30 yards with a liver shot.  The bear went maybe 15 yards and the elk was shot in the leg with a WASP at 20 yards and made it 60 more yards before a Zwickey went through his liver and diaphragm.  An hour later I found him about 40 yards from where that second arrow hit. 

It was years later when I went to work in an archery shop that I found out that I couldn't kill anything with those early setups.  That no one could shoot them accurately and that I was just roaming the woods leaving a trail of wounded animals in my wake.  It wasn't until I went to shoot at the Kenmore range that the experts told me everything I shot was crap and that I paid too much for every piece of garbage I owned.  And it wasn't until I shot in and won my first 3-D tournament that I learned that my equipment didn't measure up on the big wiener stage   All this time I thought filling the freezer and killing what I aimed at was all that mattered...guess I was wrong all those years 

"Maybe there is something to be said for believing in what you are shooting after all."  To that statement I 

[Jellymon]

This is my arrow after a passthrough on my bull elk. That's the WDFW trying to weigh it. They didn't believe it weighed at least 420gr. 

[coachcw]

I'm pretty new to bowhunting and want to get some input on my arrow setup.  My gut tells me that something may be not quite right.  I am shooting 67lbs and have FMJ 400's cut to 27 3/4 with a slick trick 100gr standard broadhead.  Just weighed one and it was 432 grains.  I am getting about 270 to 275 fps with them.

I was told that I was right on the line between 400 and 340 but would lose about 10 fps if I went to the 340.  I am wondering if that is really a big deal or not.  Do you think I should go to the 340?  I am working on the tuning with the ones I have now, which is all new to me. 

your set up is fine  at your draw the spine should be fine . If it shoots  paper and Flys a broad head the same as a field point stay with it. If you go heavier my guess is she will fall off the table down range. The whole wdfw rule on arrow wieght is a joke , should be a minimum ke not arrow wieght rule .

[RadSav]

KE in archery is a fallacy.  We have a minimum draw weight limitation.  That should be good enough as it is for nearly all the rest of the NA continent.  The problem with the minimum arrow weight rule when one first arrived was that it discriminated against women and children.  Then they changed it and it helped women and children, but punished adult men.  Are there fewer animals lost in Washington compared to Wyoming or Montana or Colorado?  What about British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba?  These rules were initially set by traditional archers whose fear of technology led to rule changes to assure limited success camouflaged under the guise of penetration and humane harvests.  Glenn St.Charles personally attempted to recruit me for support of this back in the late 80's after Easton started their "Super-Lite" advertising campaign.  It had absolutely nothing to do with kinetic energy or penetration.  It was all about assuring archery's long seasons and doe/cow harvests by limiting bowhunter success.  If they really were interested in assuring penetration they would have tried to outlaw four blade broadheads, vented blades or anything over 1.25" cutting diameter.  That would actually have made a bigger difference!

I see that advertisement that got Glenn all worked up quite often as I work around the office.  Now that I want to make a copy to post I can not find it   I'll post it up if I remember next time it surfaces.