I've always shot aluminum arrows on my compounds, which I've always shot fingers and instinctive. I recently bought a Martin Cheetah, which has sights and I'm also using a release. I've also bought carbon arrows to go along with the new setup. What are you guys and gals opinions on carbon vs. aluminum? Thanks.
Carbon is definately a better choice. Carbon arrows are lighter and penatrate more. I dont know if they flex less on impact which would transfer more energy into penatrating or if it's that they are just a smaller diameter so that helps them penatrate. They are also a fair bit more durable. The only issue is that they are pricey.
Carbon. period. I've shot wood, aluminum and carbon arrows. I had horrible luck with aluminum. Dings dents you name it. When I take the lifespan into consideration, carbons are much cheaper. If there were no more carbon arrows and I had to choose between wood and aluminum, I would choose wood. JMO
A Carbon arrow in my experience is either BROKEN or straight, and aluminum arrow may start out "straighter" but one bent, you may NEVER get it STRAIGHT again. I've been shooting Carbons since they first showed up in the local K-Mart Store a bunch of years ago....
This is my current dilemma. At first I was going to stick with aluminums because I had read all of the horror stories of arrows through the hands and such. Eventually I realized that most of those accidents happened with either older carbon arrows or the cheap carbons made today. I was looking at the aluminums and realized that the only aluminums that are cheaper than a decent dozen of carbons are the Easton XX75's and I don't want the bottom of the barrell arrows to shoot out of my 1k bow. I then looked up to the XX78's and realized that they are nearly the same price as a pretty good dozen of carbons. I think I have made my decision and I am going to go with the Gold Tip XT Hunters 5575's. They seem to be of high quality and aren't really that expensive. My only gripe with carbons is the lack of weight. I don't want super light arrows. I would rather sacrifice a little speed for some more penetration down range. I would like to get them up in the 410 grain range so I may have to add some weight somewhere... The only problem with that is the only way I see to increase them is to use weight inserts. That messes up the FOC and jacks it way up above 15%... who knows... lol Can't go up to a heavier spine because they won't fly correctly out of my bow without adding a super heavy broadhead (thus making them weight too much.... lol The archers pickle. If it isn't one thing, it's another.
There is nothing wrong with a FOC above 15%. IMO, a good FOC for a hunting arrow is 12%-15%. There is also benefits to extreme FOC above 21%.
Have you went to gold tips sight it has a calculator to help you to figure up what you need. I dont know your poundage but I shoot 55/75 gt with large vanes at 27 in and 125 gr head, they weigh 402 grains.
Yeah, I am looking at it right now. I am going to need about a 27.5" shaft. After calculating it with the 125 gr tip, 3" Duravane Fusions, nock, insert and shaft it would come out right at 400 grains so I am very close to what I wanted. It puts me with a FOC of 13.3 Also, I didn't want to get into too high of a FOC because my bow isn't the fastest out there (Bear Truth II, 60#, 28.5") and I didn't want to run into nose diving at slightly longer distances.
Nosediving won't happen. I shoot a 605grain arrow at 233fps with a 21%+FOC. No nosediving, that is a myth.
WOW... that's one heavy arrow. :0 Sweet. I am glad to hear that. Thanks for the info. Guess I won't worry too much about more than 12% FOC. :D
If you're worried about that "arrow through the hand" phenomenon, one surefire way to prevent it is to keep your arrow long enough that it's tip stays out beyond your hand. And check arrows often. FOC can be quite high before "nose-diving" becomes an issue, but what you also gain with FOC is an arrow that flies like a dart (a real dart) vs. a plastic dart. If you've ever thrown darts, real vs. cheapie light wt. plastics, then you should have a good understanding of FOC, watching how the flight of the heavier darts is far superior to those JUNK plastic things. As for penetration issues, if you're really concerned, you can always look into a thinner shaft like an Axis, as they tend to have a little better penetration due to less drag and the mass of the arrow being "more concentrated."
What's FOC? I've been out of the bowhunting scene for almost 15 years. When last in, when I went to buy arrows, I just grabbed some out of the box. I didn't worry about weight, length or anything else. This time around, I took my bow to B&B Archery, right outside of Lees Summit, MO, and had them set me up. Great guys BTW.
FOC is "Forward of Center". An arrow with an FOC of 0% would be perfectly balanced in that the weight is even on the tip and tail of the arrow. The higher the percentage of FOC, the farther forward the balance point is due to the tip being heavier than the tail.
That is a good point. Never thought about it like that. It was just a concern I had and wanted to clear up before purchasing arrows. I figure I could either purchase blind and hope for the best or annoy everyone on the forums with tons of questions and end up with a decent setup.
#4 12-03-2009, 09:26 AM OHbowhntr Senior Member Semi-Hardcore Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SE Ohio Posts: 472 A Carbon arrow in my experience is either BROKEN or straight, and aluminum arrow may start out "straighter" but one bent, you may NEVER get it STRAIGHT again. I've been shooting Carbons since they first showed up in the local K-Mart Store a bunch of years ago.... An untrue statement, carbon arrows may be cracked and whole and dangerous to fire. Modern alloy shafts are guaranteed spine and straightness for two years (Easton XX78). Flight contests of late have PROVEN an arrow with a high to extreme FOC (19% or greater) actually shoots farther than shaft conforming to the current “State of the Art”. Testing has also shown that high to extreme FOC arrows penetrate better than those using current popular thinking. Carbon does have the advantage of having a wider range of tip weights, draw poundage, and draw lengths within a given shaft spine. Carbon has also been proven to penetrate better (all things being equal) due to less flexing of the tail end of the shaft on target impact. Arrow speed alone is insufficient for adequate penetration. One must choose his preferences. Will he be shooting at 3D targets at 70 yards (that have no feeling) or will he be shooting at live game at reasonable ranges? A modern compound bow can cast a “heavy arrow” – 600 grains, with high FOC, to 50 yards and have devastating penetration.
I personally, prefer carbon over aluminum. Carbon is light and fast. I've always been told that carbon arrows are either straight or broken but never bent. I believe there is some truth to this, you can flex a carbon arrow and it goes right back to the way it was. If you flex an aluminum arrow you're gonna bend it. Now if I was going to hunt big game like moose or bear I would consider using aluminum arrows simply because they're heavier but for deer and turkey (which is all I hunt with a bow) carbon works fine for me. I shoot 60lbs so I use the 7.3gpi shafts so I can get a little speed from my rig. What I don't understand is why hunters pay so much for carbon arrows because one is .006 and the other .002. Unless your target shooting or shooting game thats 50 and 60 yards away, your not going to be able to tell the difference in the way they shoot. Here in Kentucky, I hunt the thick woods and a 30 yard shot is about as long as your gonna get. Bow hunting is about getting close, if I want to be able to shoot deer at 60 yards I'll hunt with my rifle. People can waste money if the want to but I'm perfectly happy with my .006 shafts, so I'll save my money for the Taxidermist. Good hunting and Be safe.
This has been a very informative thread. I'm going to be doing some arrow shopping....so thanks for the info
