Expensive Arrows, do they work better?

I've been using the same carbon arrows i bought at Wal Mart for $3 a piece since last September. I recently purchased a 6-pk of carbon express mayhem hunters, I notice no difference at all, except I nearly immediately had to replace the fletching on the mayhem's, and they they cost 4x as much. I would appreciate honest answers from a non sponsored source lol. Hopefully I don't aggravate anyone.

 

More expensive arrows should be should be of much better quality in that their spine around shaft and spine consitency should have a very small variance. The same would be true for weight consitency. These consistencies should hold true for many, many shots. 5000+ shots.

This is not always true, more expensive does not necessarily mean better quality and less expensive does not necessarily mean lesser quality.

You may not notice the difference. Some folks do, some don't. Buy what makes you happy and shoots well for you.

 

I have experienced the same thing with Carbon Express : fletchings and nocks , I switched to Red Head Carbon Fury and have no probs and can get a doz. for same if not less price:now I shoot alot and hunt with them only , dont do 3d target shoots, these are very knowledgable folks on here so i'm sure they can help as well.

 

You pay for the quality as Bruce stated. It's all about tolerancing. The consistency. It costs more to produce something with a much tighter tolerance.
If you shoot around your back yard at 20 yards occassionally you won't notice a difference (not assuming you're in that category).
when you start shooting more, and at further distances you'll notice a huge difference. Shooting the $5 walmart specials out of my new bow did work, but it was obvious they were the weak link. After switching to the carbon express blue streak, I could have touching groups at 60 yards. Something that simply wasn't possible with the other arrows.

Don't skimp on arrows. They must match your bow perfectly. They are critical in your setup.

The redhead carbon fury are made by carbon express. I sold a friend my blue streaks and he bought some of the fury. They are identical.
I loved my carbon express. I only moved from them because I wanted to experiment and they did not a weight that would meet my weight goal.

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

arrows are not the most important part of your equiptment, that is you. but arrows do make a difference, ill always shoot easton arrows and ill trust them in any hunting situation.

 

I can tell you this much about those Walmart arrows. I have personally weighed them and have found 40 grains of difference from lightest to heaviest in the 8 I have.

 

It may be that your groups are so wide that the fine difference from premium quality matched arrows are lost up your groups.

The difference is usually closeness in being matched with each other.

You can figure that out on your own by re-shooting your el cheapo's to see if they will group with the others at all.

If not, throw the deviant arrows away.

Eventually you will end up with the better ones that group best together.

 

Thanks a bunch for the replies guys, I always learn something when I ask questions on here, and i'm very grateful. I'm thinking bowhunting is just like everything else in the context of you can spend as much as you want or as little... I shoot a much older bow than most of the people on this forum(PSE Polaris Gamesport Series 70#, 29" RH), and truth be told im a HUGE cheapskate... I'm always looking for the best value and was hoping someone would say they are just as good... lol!

 

Arrows are a peculiar subject with me these days. I've been doing a lot of reading and research lately on many of these issues.

Probably the single biggest misconception or "marketing ploy" is arrow straightness. The difference between a .001 and a .003 shaft is the width of two human hairs. Do you honestly think that an arrow that is flexing wildly as it comes off the bow is going to be adversely affected by the width of of two hairs worth of wobble? The sad part is, we pay $30 or more extra for that straightness tolerance. The issue with broadhead flight, and having heads that may wobble is not because the arrow is a .003 straightness, its because the insert isn't square with the shaft when it was inserted. Easy fix is the use an ASD from G5 to square the insert after its installed. Broadheads should spin as true as you can get them after doing this.

The biggest issue with carbon shafts is spine consistency. Spine consistency has more affect on accuracy than anything, from arrow to arrow. For example, if you buy a dozen 350 spine shafts and half the batch is either closer to 340 and the others are leaning on 360, this will affect accuracy because they're all flexing differently. Now, keep in mind you can remedy this usually be rotating the nocks until they all group together.

There was a guy on AT who did a big write up on arrow spine indexing. He tested several arrow brands and models, from cheap Gold Tip Expedition hunters (.006) to the high end stuff like the CX Maxima blue streaks and others. By indexing the nocks, he was able to get the cheap arrows to group as tight as the high end stuff. Now, he did mention he had to index more of the cheap ones to get them to shoot that well, but the point here, is that straightness has a lot less to do with accuracy than spine consistency.

For hunting situations and short range 40 yards and under, you don't need to spend a fortune on arrows. Arrows are very important and you should buy the best arrow you can afford. Do that and spend some time tuning your bow and arrows and go hunting.

 

I have shot aluminum arrows and I recently purchased carbon arrows. I noticed the carbon arrows are a lot more forgiving and I get a boost in FPS.

 

When i purchesed my new PSE EVO i bought a 6 pack of CX heart attacks 350's for $29.98
After getting my bow tuned properly i been able to shoot great groups ( i normally dont shoot groups) but when i do...


this is at 60yds

Arrows do play a role... but tuning your bow is the biggest factor.

I recently purchesed some new easton's bloodlines and havent noticed anything worth the extra 30$

 

On some better quality arrows you may not seem to notice a difference but it can show up after thousands of shots. Along with spine consistency on better quality arrows you will get consistent spine longevity. That means you will maintain a consistent spine around shaft over 1000's (some arrows I know of were tested with over 10,000) shots. That may or may not be important to you(anyone).

 

All i can say is WOW, Dogfish. That's amazing. I don't shoot farther than 30 yards, I can't see myself in a situation to where I would need to or want to take the risk of taking a shot that long but BRAVO! I'm always impressed with long range shooters. I just shoot to hunt and my area is so dense that I can't see farther than 50 yards. Muzzyman, i've read alot of your posts and you're always so well informed, I appreciate your reply, and the nock position is something I'm going to try now on Saturday. Thanks again guys.

 

praticing at 60+ yards makes 20-40yd shots a joke almost.

 

Arrows vary a lot in consistancy, straightness and durability. If you are going to shoot 20 yards in the back yard your needs are very different from a guy shooting in Vegas. Buy the best that you need and can afford. I buy most of my arrows used from guys like me that are trying different set ups. Right now I am selling GoldTip Ultralight .300s and ACC 3-71, having just sold my FMJ .300s. Even with that, I still have a bunch of aluminum to send on to a new home. I understand that some guys are really opposed to buying used, but I have never had a problem and the savings always lets me to shoot much (durable) better equipment

 

How many shots with the carbon express arrows when problems appeared?

I have been shooting Carbon Express Maxima's and they have performed flawlessly. Wish I could say the same for myself. These arrows have upwards of 200 shots each. Recently replaced the nocks with Accunocks as a result of the loud click the originals made going on and off string and really like the Accunocks. I tore a Blazer off of one arrow shooting groups, but refleched it and it continues to perform as well as I can shoot. No fletching issues other than those self inflicted.

 

My experience... el cheapos usually aren't the best choice. The most expensive ones are nice but completely unnecessary to be a competent archer. That leaves the middle of the road, consistently spined and properly spined for your setup. Get that and you'll be fine. By the way, you don't have to buy a complete dozen until you know which ones you like best. I really love the Beman arrows.

 

Oh Man! I'm in love! I sold my carbon express arrows and replaced them with some middle price gold tip velocity hunters, it's made a huge difference! It's like they're on a string to the target! I think I answered my own question yesterday.

 

I'm finding that the expense comes in when spine consistency is guaranteed. Most companies do not list a +- on spine consistency. The ones that do, usually are higher dollar shafts.

I was shooting the GT Pro Hunters for years. Great, durable shaft and I was able to shoot well with them. Since I bought my new bow, I needed to move up a spine size so I started researching and shopping. I was just going to get a 7595 spine, but they're a .340 spine. I needed something closer to .370 spine. So... I went with Carbon Express Maxima Blue Streaks in a .350. Not to mention I found a killer deal on them at the same price as a dozen GT Pro Hunters.

I am not sure if I'll see any difference in my accuracy with them. I do know they have a spine variation listed and do know they've been known for spine consistency, even grouping them in match dozens. Time will tell.