Trad . arrow weight

[justyhntr]

I picked up my new longbow last Friday and based on what the builder recomended I went with a 400 spine arrow at 31 inches , using 5 in feathers , 125 grain tip and shooting off a rest not the shelf , I'm shooting the bow at 59 lbs. . It shoots great , when I bare  shaft shot it the arrows went right were they where suppose to go . Tonight I put them on the scale , 438 grains . I think this is no problem with blacktail but would this be considered to light for bear or elk ? I intended to go with the Woodsman 3 blade broadhead but at this weight would a 2 blade be better ?

[moocher97]

Would be a tad slow for my taste but I guess it would be do able if your shooting good groups and you aremconfident in your shot I dont see a problem.

[scotsman]

438 grains seems very light for a 59# longbow. Virtually all the trad bow makers I know recommend 8 to 10 grains per pound. That would have you in the range of 485 to 550 - 575 grains. One thing I'm sure you will notice is that the bow will be a steadier in the hand upon release and a lot quieter.

That said, if you get good accuracy from the light arrows they will be great for 3d and deer. But for harder to kill critters, especially big boned elk you want heavier arrows for maximum potential penetration.

For Broadheads I use and recommend Magnus Stinger 2 blade with inserts. They fly like darts and have cut on contact penetration.

[justyhntr]

Thanks scotsman , I did a bunch of research last night and today and found what you said is what I need , about 10 grains per pound . It apears this is a problem with a lot of carbon arrows for traditional shooters unless you want to spend cash for the heavy trad. shafts . I did find that 3Rivers sell a shaft insert that are 3,5 or 8 grains per inch . I ordered the 5 grain per inchto give them a try , that will give me a 587 grain arrow . Still lite compared to what some guys are shooting but I think that will give me the punch I need for a bear . I thought about using the lighter arrows for 3d but I think I will stick with my hunting arrows for everything just to keep everything the same.

[scotsman]

Good job doing your research. I think you will be real pleased with how 550 - 590 grains will work. They should still shoot fairly flat to 20  - 25 yards and get you Point On gap sighting out to 55 - 60 yards.

[Tracker0721]

The weight tubes from 3rivers are awesome! I put the 5gpi tubes in my carbons and jumped up to 175grn heads. Had to get new arrows and chop em short but having 615grns with a 55# bow makes for some quiet hard hitting arrows. I'm planning a switch to woods though but still shooting for 600s.

I prefer 2 blades of heavier weight, read Ashby's reports and it makes sense. 10gpp is good for us with traditional set ups too.

[justyhntr]

When you guy talk about 2 blade have any of you used the beveled ones and what's your opinion ?

[Tracker0721]

I've used Grizzly's(185 grain) and they're pretty sweet. And I've used zwickey no mercy(165) and those worked pretty well, don't seem as strong as Grizzly's. Only issue is sharpening them. They're a pain to do with a file which is all I like to carry when I hunt so I'm using deltas and simmons now and carry a ceramic rod. Shot a grizzly into a tree and it took a lot of time and effort to pull it but it sharpened up well and works awesome still

[Payne]

tagging... love this stuff! 

[Tree Killer]

I shoot 630 grain arrows out of my 60# recurve and use the 125 grain Woodsman's.  They penetrate fine, never had an issue.  Shot 2-blade heads for 20 years and killed plenty of deer and elk, but some of the bloodtrails were not what I'd call impressive.  The 3-blade Woodsman leaves no doubt if you put the arrow in the heart/lung area..."there will be blood"!

[clayton95]

I think you will be fine with your total weight around 587 grains. I shoot really heavy arrows from my longbow, 785 grains from a 67 lb. bow, and they are quiet.

I like the original Zwickey two blades, they are really easy to sharpen. I have not had any problems with blood trails from them. I have also used muzzy 4 blades and like them though they are not really a traditional type head. I have some Grizzly single bevels but have not shot anything with them. They are harder to sharpen.

[justyhntr]

The extra weight did quiet by longbow by quite a bit . I also played with the nock point and quieted more . One issue I'm having with the incerts is when I shoot hard targets the recoil of the incerts kicks my nocks out . I'm going to try gluing the incerts and see if that helps . I'll let you know.

Another broadhead question , with a 2 blade are you guys lining them up with the string or at a 180 degrees to the string ?

[Tracker0721]

I glue all my nocks since those weight tubes will shoot em at you. Just takes a dab or 2.

I've heard the broadhead can tune your flight by changing its angle but I honestly just try to get it inline with the string because it looks better to me.

[clayton95]

I had the same issues with weight tubes and glued my nocks with just a little glue, it works. I never worry about broadhead alignment, but I shoot instinctive and don't use the arrow point for reference. It looks cool to have them all lined up the same but I don't think that it has any effect on arrow flight.

[justyhntr]

So i've been shooting my longbow for a few weeks now and thing are going pretty good . Yesterday I got a wild hair up my --- and decided to figure out my FOC  . Not good , 9.3% , I was looking to be a bit over 15% . Went from a 125 grain tip to a 200 grain and shortened my arrows to 1 in. beyond the riser . Puts my arrow at 638 grains  and a FOC of 15.9% . I was worried that this would change things up a bit on my shooting but last night my wife and I went up to the club and I shot great . I had no wild flyers like I did with the lighter FOC arrows . They do sound like a sledge hammer when they hit the target butts . I will say though that I took a 50 yard shot and I was able to catch a quite nap between the time I shot and the time the arrow hit the target .