I’m wondering what the ideal total arrow weight should be for hunting elk. I am only shooting at 60 lbs right now due to a shoulder injury. I have 350 spine maxima reds cut at 29 inches. 9.1 GPI puts the shaft at 263.9 grains. I have 100 grain G5 broadheads. I’m trying to find the weight of the insert, nock, and fletching but I’m finding results all over the place. I’m assuming I’ll be around 400 grains max. I’m hoping someone else who shoots maxima reds can help me with the weight of the fletching, nock, and insert. I’m also concerned about my arrow being heavy enough coming out of a 60 lb bow. My options would be getting my bow set back to 70 (not ideal), or increasing the weight of my arrows via having new ones cut and/or using 125 grain broadheads. What do you guys think? Is what what I have going to be enough for elk? What arrow weight should I be aiming for?
I'm shooting 60#, similar length, about 520 gr (10.3gpi shaft, half outs, 125gr bh and 4 fletch aae)... Also shooting CX, but mayhems over maximas. Vanes & nock are about usually 6 & 15ish. AL Inserts ~10, I think. Lighter nocks heavier 25-30ish.
you're asking for opinion, so here's mine- First I will preface that in 2014, I killed a cow elk with almost the same set up - 67# draw, 30'" Carbon Express Maxima Reds, 100gr G5 Strikers, standard CX nocks, inserts, and Blazers. It's been a long time but I think I was right at 420gr TAW, but that might have been with Firenocks (which I didn't hunt with in Idaho as they were banned.) All that said- your arrow set up is not only pretty light, it is also and equally if not more importantly- too low of FOC. I shot my cow at 25 yards on a very slight quarter-to, hit rib right over the front of her heart, and the arrow deflected hard inside her, ending up lodged basically 100% inside her from her nearside shoulder to her offside hip. She didn't make it very far, maybe 100-150 yards straight down the mountain. I got heart on entry yet there was almost no blood trail, and what there was was mostly coming out her nose. But as I have learned since, if I had more weight up front I would have more likely punched through that rib clean with little-no deflection. With the 350s at your current draw weight, you should have enough spine left to throw 50gr up front easy. Maybe more. Double check CX's spine chart to be certain though. ...also, maybe they are better now, but I ditched Maxima Reds a long long time ago after that first and only dozen were toast because every deer I shot with them and didn't get a pass through on snapped at either the front or back of the 'flex' zone. Most brittle arrows I have ever shot.
"Standard" inserts are usually around 12 grains. Nocks anywhere from 8 grains to 12 grains, 24 to 25 grains for lighted nocks. Most are using 2" vanes in a 3 fletch, they are around 6 to 8 grains, so say another 21 grains in fletching. I would guess your arrow around 410 grains right now, with about 8.5% FOC. Since the arrow is 29" long, I'd assume you have a pretty decent draw length, which means some good speed. If your insert is threaded all the way through, you could have Gold Tip F.A.C.T. weights added to the back of your inserts. There is a long Allen Head tool to be able to remove your nock and add weight to the back of your insert. This would be a good option, they have 10, 20, and I think 50 grain weights that can screw into the back of inserts. You could also mix/match, such as adding two 20 grain weights to the back of one insert. Adding 50 grains to the front of the arrow may start flirting with the spine being weak, but I think it would tune.
Hadn't heard of those, that's pretty cool idea esp if you hunt several different species and different environments over the course of the year. Beats having to buy two or three different types of arrow setups.
