I've had my bow now for almost a year. Lots of changes in the last couple months, most notably, we changed my DL on the bow to match what it should have been all along (was running 1 inch too long) and I moved to a thumb release from a wrist strap. Just those 2 changes have made a world of difference in my shooting, though I still think I could go .5 shorter on the DL. With those changes, I've been wondering if I need to consider changing the length of my arrows. When at full draw by arrows hang out past the riser by close to 4 inches. They seem to shoot fine, but general consensus is that they should really only be 1-1.5 inches past the riser. So it would appear I am slinging some extra weight (arrows are measuring 456 grains). The issue I have going shorter is that I am planning an elk hunt in the fall and know that 450-525 is the recommended weight for an arrow for elk hunting, so I'd be dropping weight in changing the length. Any thoughts on changing the length? And, if so, where do I get the extra weight from to stay in the 450-525 range? Tips are 125 grains.
Great questions and congrats on getting her dialed in. It's a dance, but once you get in the sweet spot you will be good . I totally agree that you should not be hanging out past the riser that far. An inch should do. I keep my shafts tight and add weights behind the outserts. You can find them on Amazon or at a local dealer. I found that with my rig it shoots best at 550 grains. You do have to decide on pin Gap. As the heavier you go and the higher FOC the bigger your gap shall become for Whitetail out to 40 it won't matter. But if you go west you need to bring it into the conversation. Just please remember if you increase your FOC you will need a stiffer spine by 1 degree. (ie 300 When you had a 350). You will be able to tell through the normal calculations or once you begin paper tuning. Good luck and we are here with any other questions. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I would just keep it. Cutting your arrows shorter will stiffen the spine, so you may get away with adding some extra weight to the front of your arrows to get the total weight back up to were you want. But like Fix said above, there is a chance your extra weight on the front will weaken the spine too much. Then your options would be just shoot with what you have or buy new arrows with a heavier spine. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I was shooting a PSE Response at 65 lbs and 29.5” draw with a Gold Tip Hunter XT .246 dia, 28 1/4” (Carbon to Carbon) 515 gr arrow 14% FOC. 267 fps with PSE. Now I am shooting a Matthews V3X at 70 lbs and 29.5” draw with Altra Centrum .246 dia 28 1/4” (Carbon to Carbon) 507.4 gr arrow at 14-15% FOC. Both setups shoot darts roughly same large kinetic energy and big momentum. Both have 100 gr broadheads, 50 gr brass inserts and 50 gr FACT weights behind it. Total of 200 grains up front. I have not checked Altra’s with chronograph, but my 515 gr were 272 fps with the Matthews setup. Hope this all helps. Hit me up if you need more or I just confused everyone. Sent from my Lone Wolf treestand using Bowhunting.com Forums
you don't give anything for us to figure your GPI out; but if you chop 2" off your arrows you are probably only cutting 15ish, maybe 20gr total weight off- so not much. Under 30-40 yards, it's not that little bit of weight up front getting chopped that will make any real difference in flight- it's the resulting change in spine. But unless you were already near overspined, you will probably be fine. And if you are a bit overspined after chopping off 2", and/or if you are concerned about total arrow weight, you can always drop 25 or 50gr inserts in. I would anyway just to up the FOC (esp on elk) but I also prefer a heavy arrow setup so you could say I am biased. FWIW, before I was evangelized into Dr. Ashby's cult, I did put a 31" 435gr total weight arrow all the way through a cow elk from behind her near shoulder out her offside ham. So it can be done with a light-ish set up. Just make sure to pick your angles better than I did.
It hurts absolutely nothing to shoot an over length arrow. If they are the weight you want and they broadhead tune fine, I wouldn't worry about a thing. If the arrows are 4" past the riser after the change, before the draw length adjustment they were 3" past the riser. Pretty insignificant change. But to directly answer your question: If you cut the arrows shorter, you gain the weight back by re-fletching the arrows with heavier vanes, using a heavier nock (only option here really is going to a lighted nock if you happen to not be using one currently, lighted nocks are around 10-15 grains heavier than "standard" nocks), using a heavier insert, or by adding Gold Tip F.A.C.T. weights to the back of the new insert you glue back in. FACT weights come in 5g, 10g, and 20g options. Adding weight to the tip of the arrow weakens the spine, and adding weight to the back of the arrow stiffens the spine. Cutting the arrow 3" shorter will stiffen the spine, and you can likely just use FACT weights to add to the insert and get the weight back. Example: Say your arrows happen to weigh 9 gpi (grains per inch). You cut off 3" and they lose 27 grains of TAW (total arrow weight). You add a 20g and 5g FACT weight into the back of the new isnert you glue back in, so you gain back 25g of the 27g you lost. You cut the arrow shorter and increased the spine but then added more weight to the front than you had before and so it likely went back to about what spine it was before. The only time you'd really have to worry about refletching is if adding all the weight back to the front of the arrow weakened the spine enough that they won't tune. But I don't think you'll see an issue since you're cutting 3" off the arrow first.
I can't offer much else in the technical arena that hasn't already been said. Playing around I found a combo I liked and have stuck with it for a few years, but it's counter to most thinking. Albeit, I'm not shooting competition or making my living in archery... I was willing to sacrifice speed for mass, for elk hunting, but it was also quiet...so I just keep my deer shots a bit closer. I added about 2" to my shaft length, stepped down from 350 to 400 and went from 111gr up front (insert + pt/bh) to ~170gr and 3 blazers to 4 AAE in the back. ~510gr Yeah, these arrows hang a few inches of the front. I don't care. My bow doesn't care.
I cut my arrows so they are 1"-1.5" in front of the rest prongs when in the full up position, always have always will, even for customers when I managed bowshops .. ... so for me, 30in draw/28" Goldtip Velocity XT .. no reason to be out in front of the riser with modern bows and capture style rests ..
