Arrows... heavier, quieter, slower or lighter, louder and faster?

What do you think?
I quite often think what if I was shooting lighter arrows... would that deer I just shot say yesterday at 40 yards, have jumped the string had I been shooting a lighter louder quicker arrow due to the extra noise or would I maybe have made a better shot due to the extra speed of the arrow not allowing for that deer to drop as far?
I for one prefer the heavier arrows because in my book there's no substitute for the kenetic energy created by a heavier arrow as far as a quick humane kill goes (given shot placement is good of coarse) especially once you pass the 30-35 yard marker. Again this is my thinking... but maybe I'm wrong. "What do you think"?

 

I use whatever the Easton Arrow chart indicates from my use. I like when the Arrows fly fast with the right Broadhead it's a good penetration never have to worry about losing a deer. I do think heavy or arrows find their mark better than the lighter ones though

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I like my arrows on the heavier side with a higher foc%. It makes me feel more confident and they fly like a dream.

 

I will always shoot the heavier arrows just for the kentic energy. I would rather have a good pass thou with a heavier arrow than a lighting fast arrow that only penetrates 10 inches. Plus the heavier arrows being quieter is a bonus.

Shawn
Jennings ProGold
Easton Storm 279 grains
NAP Spitfire DoubleCross 100 grains
2017 Team 3 Shed Hunting
2017 Team 6 Turkey Hunting
2017 Team 5 Deer Hunting

 

I agree. I buy the easton bloodline brass inserts to help with foc weight. The bloodline shaft is 10.5 grains per inch from the start.

 

I just got the Easton FMJ 340 spine 11.3gpi. Next year im putting on the HIT inserts adding another 75 grams.

Shawn
Jennings ProGold
Easton FMJ 339 grains
NAP Spitfire DoubleCross 100 grains
2017 Team 3 Shed Hunting
2017 Team 6 Turkey Hunting
2017 Team 5 Deer Hunting

 

Going to a lighter arrow won't increase your speed enough to make much of a difference in that scenario. The deer react to the sound of your bow going off and the speed of sound will always be faster than your arrow can fly. Quiet your bow down and you might be a little better off but the trade off of a lighter arrow is not the answer. Just my opinion.

 

Right down the middle. I was shooting GT Velocity XTs with my new lighter poundage (62) set up. I wasn't sure about penetration so I quickly changed to the GT Kinetic Pierce Platinum which has that brass outsert thing. Incredible change in penetration. I lost a few fps from the 290 was getting but I feel good about the performance I'm getting. Now to try it on flesh.....

 

I like the heavier arrows. I want a pass through to better aid in tracking in case of a bad shot.

 

Sounds like you're talking about the spine of an arrow, which determines arrow flex and recovery back to straight rate or ability. What I was wondering was your opinion on arrow weight as in how many grains per inch the shaft weighs, and the added weight of either a brass or aluminum insert as well as weight added by the many different vane or feather sizes. But you're right spine is also important when it comes to consistency and accuracy. Arrow weight translates to kenetic energy which effects penetration. Weight also effects arrow flight or drop.

 

I love my 475 grain plus arrows quiet bow and more than enough KE to deal with marginal bone shots, I learned my lesson a few years ago with a rage titanium and a mature bucks shoulder blades got thru both and recovered him because of heavy arrows and draw weight. Hit the deer as hard as you possibly can.

 

Ok yea I think I'm at 8.2 grains. Maybe I have this wrong but I shoot 60lb Bear with 70% let off. I use a 400 arrow @28 inches. Back in the early 90's. I was using a 85lb 27 1/2 aluminum. I just recently went back to the sport since my kids are raised. I'm still confused with all this carbon arrow stuff lol

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A 400 spine Easton arrow is fine form about 55 or 56 lbs draw up to about 63 or 64 lbs of draw weight. However 8.2 grains per inch arrow weight is border line too light for at pull weght. I would suggest an arrow weight of 9.0 grains per inch as arrow weight converts directly into kenetic energy (penetration) and at 60ish pound draw you need all the kenetic energy you can get to ensure a quick and ethical dispatching of your quarry. Wouldn't go over 10. Grn /in though as it will cause greater arrow drop. Added arrow weight will also help quiet your bow through more resistance to the string. Hoped this helps. Another thing I'd suggest is make sure the arrows you select have a staightness variable of between a .0001 & .0003 maybe 4. .0005 and .0006 are pretty much junk. This variable converts directly to straight and consistent arrow flight. I know these things because I professionally assemble and paint arrows for people around the world. Or at least I used to. Now I do them for only a few long time customers. If I can be of any assistance please let me know.

 

Very interesting subject!!! So about 2 weeks ago I spent more then 50hrs reading and watching things all to do with this very subject and this is my thoughts on the subject. So first of all KE is way over used these days based on the bows we are now using (compound only) almost all bows with draw weight over 40lb will have enough KE. If you work on my stats 60lb - 28”DL - 29”arrow - IBO 326fps
And put that into a online calculator you can work out what KE you will get based on arrow weight and fps,
ARROW WEIGHT - FPS- KE - MOMENTUM
350gr 289 64.8 0.45
375gr 281 65.6 0.46
400gr 272 65.8 0.48
425gr 264 65.7 0.49
450gr 256 65.4 0.51
As you can see from this chart the KE does not really change and in fact I get peak KE with a 400gr arrow and when you take into consideration that according to every article I’ve read you only need between 25-41 KE to ethically kill a deer, 42-65 to ethically kill elk and 65+ to ethically kill moose I have more then enough KE no matter what weight I shoot. Also take into account that you loose about 2lb of KE for every 10yds of travel. So then we move onto the real subject which is momentum and as you see on the chart it keeps going up with the heavier arrow and If I remember correctly it keeps going up until I get to about a 650gr arrow while the KE keeps going down. Now to date no study has been done to see how much momentum is needed to ethically kill a deer or if you hit a shoulder and as you can see there is no correlation between KE and momentum. Now let’s look at speed, the faster the arrow travels the flatter it will travel which gives you more room for error with yardage compared to a heavier arrow which dips faster meaning the yardage has to be more accurate. Last is sound, there is no bow fast enough to stop a deer from jumping the string because of the sound. In my opinion the current bows are very quite and I don’t believe that taking off 100gr of weight is going to make any difference to a deer. A deer that is on alert is going to react the same no matter if it’s a 350gr or 450gr arrow coming towards it.
Conclusion - I now shoot a 400gr arrow which I feel is a happy medium between a flatter shooting arrow and what I feel is enough momentum should I hit a shoulder. The doe I shot last week was a clean pass through and the arrow was buried 3” in the dirt on the other side at 20yds. It’s down to what you want from your arrow. Whichever arrow you choose practice and know the deers anatomy.

 

Kinetic energy is more a factor at further distances when the so called speed arrows she'd their velocity. But I'm guessing you enjoyed the read though.

 

But at the distance that you are talking about no one would ever take. My arrow still has 42lb ft of KE at 130yds with a 400gr arrow which is at the top end of a ethical kill but no one would ever take this shot. If you look up what is the average distance a white tailed deer is killed it’s about 20yds so you are not looking at the real world scenario. At 40yds which people do shoot I still have 58 of KE which again is enough to kill an elk!!! If you do your research you will see that everyone is now starting to talk about momentum and there is no correlation between the 2.

 

Simply put KE is how hard a object hits. Momentum is how far the object will penetrate.

 

Wow thanks Randy for the info. Seems alot has changed in the world of archery in the last 15 years. I went to Cabela's store and purchased the 400 spine arrow as per tech but you seem very knowledgeable. So in order to catch the 9 grains should I switch to the 500 arrows?

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I understand that analogy but I think it’s blown up on a epic proportion. With using the same bow and me going from my 400gr to 500gr I would be shocked if it went down by more then 30db and to put that into perspective that’s the same as a whisper. So let’s say it takes of the 30db I’m only reducing my sound by a whisper and I don’t feel that in the grand scheme a whisper is going to make any difference to how the deer will react.
For me it’s about keeping enough momentum to kill a deer at 30yds (my max) if I was to hit bone, while keeping as much speed as possible and I feel I have that with my set up. Now if study’s are done and they show I need more then I have then I would be happy to up my weight and loose some speed.