My bow is set at 62 lbs (right now) its a 70 lb Bowtech Revolt. My draw length is set at 28" Most charts recommend a 400 spine arrow. Its close to a 350 but not quite. I have and been shooting both Gold Tip 400's and Easton 6.5 Whiteout 340 Arrows. The 340's are no less accurate and appear a lot faster. Am I doing any harm to the bow or myself by running the 340's On the other hand. My wife uses 500 spine arrows through her bow and they fly horribly out of my bow. I know there is a lot of info in these pages and really did try to search them but didn't find what I was looking for and my short attention span doesn't help either.
there is very little difference b/t a 350 and a 340. Not enough that's you're gonna notice on a 28" shaft at your DW. Plus, not all spines are created equal. Same spine in a different manufacturer or heck, even different line of the same manufacturer could behave a little different. Either is fine for your set up, go with the one that you shoot better.
Good to know I’m not causing any trouble on the bow or going to have arrows busting up. I was pretty sure it was ok but its good to get some feed back. From what little I have learned “stiffer” is faster. I don’t think it’s the most important factor but my shorter 28” draw length and low poundage (60/62) could use a little help. Im 99% self taught, only recently been to range and or bow shop and gotten some real person to person knowledge. Which is awesome but hard to come by around my area. Nothing with-in an hours drive or so and free times hard to come by these days (and far from free). I appreciate the info
a 340 will be fine ... hell, Ive been running a 28" 300 Velocity XT 432 grs at 60lbs/30" draw for multiple seasons now, and they fly great ... I'd rather be a tad stiff than weak, esp. with fixed heads... my 340 Velocity XT almost the same weight-length- tad heavier inserts/ also fly great... I like around a 10-12% foc ..., no need for the heavier crap .... I may try the 340's this season out of the Ritual 33 'cause I have so many of 'em
Foc=front of center. The weight and distribution on a shaft (points, insert, fletch, nock, any wrap) alters the balance point of the arrow... Front of center. It's a wormhole / religion of sorts in archery it can have an effect as of the shaft stiffness was changed, or rather what spine your arrow flies best. One caution, you mentioned shooting your wife's 500 spine arrows... Too light has a greater potential to become dangerous... Similar to cracked/nicked arrows / nocks.
There is a few really in depth foc/high weight arrows in our archives. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
The 400 spine arrows are likely "ideal" for your setup. The 340's are a bit stiff, but not so much that they shouldn't tune fine. Use whichever you prefer and tune away. A general rule of thumb is to always go with the stiffer spine if you are on the cusp between two spines according to a spine chart (when not planning for a high FOC arrow build), but I've shot the weaker spine in that situation many times over the years and had no issues getting them to tune, even with fixed blade broad heads. Your wife's 500 spine arrows are quite a bit too weak though, they could be dangerous to shoot. That much of a weak spine could result in the arrow coming apart. On the other end of the spectrum, if you tried some 300 spine arrows I think you'd find that they were pretty critical to tune. I would bet the stiffer arrows being faster is a bit of an optical illusion. 400 spine arrows are generally a bit lighter gpi (grains per inch) than a 340 spine, so if they are cut the same length and have standard 12 grain inserts and 100 grain tips, the 400's are going to be lighter and thus a bit faster through a chrono. Arrow spine is influenced by weight, and by the length. The shorter the arrow the "stiffer" the spine, the longer the arrow the "weaker" the spine. Adding weight to the front (FOC) weakens the spine, while adding weight to the back "stiffens" it. That is why they asked above if you were using a high FOC, it has become a pretty common desire these days to load a bunch of weight onto the front of an arrow to increase the FOC to 15%-20%. Doing so weakens the spine though, so a stiffer arrow has to be selected when that is the plan. If your arrows just have a standard 12 grain insert and a 100 or 125 grain tip, then manufacturer spine charts will get you pretty close. In my experience, I start to struggle with getting good groups if arrow FOC gets much below 8%, they just don't fly very consistently. I generally target 12% or so. I too have a shorter draw length (27.5"), so I like to use more of a balanced approach in my arrow weights. I like arrows to be in the 400-420 grain range so I can be somewhere around 270-280 fps.
You are almost always better to be slightly on the stiff side of spine than weak, especially if you plan to shoot a fixed blade broadhead. Mod-it explains it perfectly. I will say that the people pushing super high FOC arrows are borderline nuts... lol. It is absolutely not needed to be in the 20% range to kill deer or any game for that matter.
After I started this post I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos on the philosophies of heavy vs light arrows. I’m not sold on either end of that debate. What Mod-it’s said makes the most sense to me out of all of it. If I’m reading it right it’s making the most of both sides of the fence. It’s balance. Balancing speed and weight to get the best out of both. Now I’ve got to find an arrow set up to reach that balance for me.
100%. Reasonable weight in the front of the arrow, so long as your spine is good to slightly stiff is what you should shoot for. I've had my best results in the 12-14% FOC in terms of good arrow stability, speed and penetration. For me, I like a 400-450gr arrow with 12-14%. I can get around 275fps out of this setup at 62lbs. That will kill anything in north america with the right broadhead.
^^^ yep, I like a mid range arrow weight and FOC ... I get good speed, flatter trajectory, bow is quiet and still blow thru most every deer/big bucks I hit, esp. with a good fixed head like the Wicked Tricks or Exodus ..
There are many factors in the whole light vs. heavy debate, and everyone needs to consider and use whatever best suits their hunting style and quarry. A very high majority would say 400 grains isn't near enough for elk (heck, for deer these days), yet I've been watching my arrows zip through broad side elk since the early '90's. Do I avoid the scapula/shoulder at all costs? You bet I do. I have two different setups I use. I have 400 spine arrows with standard inserts and tips that I use for 3d shoots, and I have some 340 spine arrows with heavier inserts for hunting. The 400's are only about 9% FOC, while the 340's come in around 12%. I see zero difference in group size between the two. There is quite a bit of difference between the two in shot noise, and the thump! into a target. The speed difference once my sight is adjusted for each is really negligible, I mainly shoot two different arrows so that my hunting arrows don't get damaged while I'm shooting in the off season.
That really sounds like what I’ve had in mind. And doing without knowing what the heck I was doing. I had/have a couple doz 400 spine arrows they set me up with at Bass Pro when I bought my Bear. Then from what little I had read right or wrong I picked up a doz Easton 340’s because they are stiffer and heavier. Part of if not most of my confusion was due to speed. When I started looking into upgrading my bow I got caught up in all the “speed” numbers not realizing how most of if not all those numbers are unattainable or necessary for my needs. I didn’t base my final decision or purchase on it but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t influence me. In the end I bought a Bowtech Resolve. Because it by far felt the best in my hand, pulled and shot the smoothest (for me) and I got a wicked good deal on it. I tried 4 other manufacturers and 6 or 7 bows at several local shops (by local I mean privately owned non corporate). Way better way to go for me than the big box stores. Now I’m looking to get the time and practice in so I’ll be ready for next Hunting season and have the best set up I can once it gets here. All the hep is greatly appreciated.
You can always go stiffer with spine without hurting your bow. And most of the time you can go lighter spine until it affects the tune of your bow and then accuracy suffers. A more important consideration with arrow spine is arrow weight. Lighter spine arrows are typically lighter in weight and you don't want to get too light on arrow weight for the draw weight you are shooting. Too light an arrow puts your bow in a dry fire condition. The bow is not pushing enough mass (arrow) to absorb the energy it produces.
