So I weighed some of my arrows that I cut and fletched myself and some are +/- roughly 5 grains. I can get pretty solid groups at around 60 yards, but will this weight difference really affect the flight of my arrows to the point where I should worry about it? Especially at longer distances?
How far do you plan on shooting? If you're good to 60 yards and that is your limit, (way beyond my hunting limit even though I practice shooting there too) then I would figure that you are good to go.
You should be fine. I would not worry unless you have some consistent fliers. Thats why its a good idea to number them as well.
In my experience, it takes more than 10 grains to make a noticeable difference when shooting at normal hunting distances and looking for acceptable-for-hunting groups. For example, most guys I know change out regular nocks for lighted nocks when hunting season opens with no need to change pin settings. A target archer would probably disagree.
I also cut and fletch my own arrows. Although I have never weighed them I shoot them and grade them. Out of a dozen arrows usually just over half will fly straight and true for me, I mark those with a 1. The remainder of arrows will usually have one maybe two that just don't fly for crap. I refletch those and see what happens. But in the end my arrows are graded from 1-3. The #1 arrows are for hunting. 2s are for emergency back ups and the 3s are left to do what ever with. Maybe I should weigh them and see if there is any diff. between the 1s and the 3s.
I usually like mine weighing the exact same but I also shoot them for competition, you should be good to 60 with those differences but you might have some flyers. This is how I do my arrows: First I take the shafts and cut a tad off the tail end then cut off the front. Then I glue in my weights and inserts and weight them to make sure they are the same. Then fletch and reweigh. First shooting them I shoot them all through paper making sure there isn't any crazy ones in there off the bat. Next I shoot a few groups to identify the flyers. Once I have narrowed down the flyers, nock tune those. Change which vane is up until they hopefully group with the others. I got 12/12 in my set of black eagles to hit true.
My opinion on it is. try and get your arrows to as tight of a tolerance as you can. tune or have your bow tuned to the best it can be. make sure everything you have is in perfect working order, and inspect it all regularly. Im very anal about all my equipment. and the reason why it. When i take a shot. on paper targets, 3d, or an animal. I want to know that my gear is dialed in perfectly, and if im off by even a small amount. I know that it was fully my own fault, and that I need to work on it, and make myself better. This way there is no excuse, no rationalizing my shot being a hair off. nothing. For me this is a helpful way to progress and improve my skills. Also when the time comes to take the shot on an animal. There is no second guessing your gear. no thinking about any corrections you may or may not need to take. It helps you keep clear headed even when you are taking a shot right at the edge of your comfort zone.
Man I've done a lot of testing on this at one time in my life. I played with all different weights, FOCs, spines, combinations... I even weighted my target nocks so they would be the exact same weight as my hunting lighted knocks and made weights for my inserts so that I was able to make arrows that were all within about 1 or 2 grains within each other, and had a high FOC, 15-16% (it's been a while). What I learned was this... those arrows would kill deer just fine and shoot out to 60-80 yards no problem... so did the arrows that I got out of the box at the shop, the owner cut and installed inserts, and I did absolutely nothing to. Also, you can buy an arrow (as long as it has the proper spine) from walmart or any local farm store and go kill a deer with it. At +/- 5 grains, if you're just going out back and shooting them, sure, no problem, you'll never notice a difference. If you're going to shoot hundreds of shots per week and compete professionally, where a thousandth of an inch will can mean winning and losing, you might want to tighten that up a bit. The moral of the story... be realistic to your needs, and keep it simple.
