Good evening all, When i got my first compound bow a couple of weeks ago i went with a bear cruzer. They fitted me with a 28.5 draw length and 65lbs. The guy told me he recommended that i get my arrows at 29.5 inches and i bought my first set of practice arrows and enjoyed shooting at that length he also told me he recommended 400 grain spines/arrow shaft not sure what the proper terminology is. I am currently looking at get my first set of "real" arrows and i am getting confused with the size and the gpi. Can someone explain to me the difference and recommend some decent arrows without spending a ton of money. Thank you.
First thing your going to do is determine the proper spine you need based on the specs of your bow. 28.5 /65 unless you shooting a very short arrow ( under 26) I think your going to be under spined with .400 's So the first thing you need to know is that you will need a .350 spine arrow with either 100 or 125 grain heads. Now you can choose a arrow based on performance, price and availability. Typically what happens on here is you will get a response like this. I shoot xyz arrows and the are great. Well that doesn't help much does it. Look for a standard diameter arrow, .246 ID that has a GPI of 7-9 grains, look for an arrow with a straightness of at least . 006. There are several brands that you can find quality arrows for fairly reasonable prices. Gold Tip, Easton and Black eagle arrows come to mind.
Awesome I appreciate that it was very helpful. I was looking at arrows online and had no idea what I was looking at.
I'm close to them specs, 28.5" at 70lbs. I would recommend starting with something like the Victory VForce V3 350 spine. They are reasonable priced and a pretty good arrow. They are 8.7gpi with a .003 straightness.
Straightness is, well, how straight the arrows are. The lower the number the straighter they are and the more you usually pay... Gpi is weight (grains per inch). ~15.43 grains =1 gram or 437.5 grains per ounce. (Gpi is a measure of the shaft. Total arrow weight is generally the shaft + insert/outset + tip/broadhead + nock + fletching/vane. Fobs, collars, wraps and probably a few other cases may alter the above...
Haha I guess the straightness is pretty self explanitory. Thanks for the advice when I got into this is didn't know this much information went into looking for arrows.
And more...we haven't even discussed FOC...Arrow weight plays a part in the all important Kinetic Energy. But digest what you've got so far...