Hello all. I'm planning on moose hunting this fall, but I don't know what kind of arrows/broadheads to use. My draw length is 29" and draw weight is 65. Thanks for any comments/suggestions in advance.
There are several good arrow manufacturers that make arrows that'll work fine. I personally like GT (Gold Tip) and Easton. I honestly haven't used Easton since I was using aluminum arrows, been all GT since going to carbon. GT makes a tough arrow, I shot 3 elk with the same arrow a few years ago in back to back to back seasons. Found the arrow after the first two and simply cleaned it up, inspected for damage, and put new broad head blades in. With your specs and wanting penetration through a moose I'd go with a 250 spine arrow around 500-550 grains. If you don't want to build a whole dozen arrows you could just do a half dozen. I'd use a fixed broad head. G5 I think would be a good choice, the Striker or Montec comes to mind. Here's an arrow I threw together for you using the GT website FOC (front of center) calculator. XT Hunter series. 250 spine. (10.6 grains / inch) 29" long. 3 2" vanes. 50 grain insert with a 20 grain F.A.C.T. weight added to the back of it. 125 grain broad head. GT nock. This arrow comes out at 535 grains with a 13.5% FOC. I'd personally be very confident to shoot a moose with the above arrow. It is only one example of what would work. I will say I'm not a fan of buying GT arrows already fletched. I'd buy them as bare shafts, trim both ends to get them to 29", and then bareshaft nock tune them. Make marks for the indicator vane position after they're all flying to the same spot and have a shop fletch them up for you if you don't have fletching equipment.
There's a lot of great arrows on the market these days that will get the job done on a moose. My dad used to shoot them with 2317 XX75's and a 2 blade Zwickey back in the day. If I was going after moose this fall I'd be looking at something like an Easton FMJ 5MM with a brass insert up front and a good, sharp fixed-blade broadhead. At your draw weight and length you're probably a 340 spine, which is still an 11.3 grain-per-inch arrow. You may be able to get away with a 300 spine with the added weight up front. Assuming a 28.5" arrow (322 grain shaft), 75 grain HIT insert, 100 grain broadhead, wrap/vanes (40 grains) and a lighted nock (22 grains) you're looking at around 550-560 grains total finished arrow weight. That should get the job done without an issue.
I like the above thinking of both. Fmj jumped to mind, but several good and relatively heavy gpi shafts on the market. I might consider an insert /sleeve combo too too help front weight (iron will or ethics as examples). I like a fixed, but want an opening, 2 blade with bleeders, 3 or 4 blade... Nothing less than 500gr, and would be looking for closer to 550gr. @trial153 may have shared his setup before. He'd be one guy if he checking with...
Thankyou guys for the imput. It sounds like I need at least 500grs in my arrow, I'll look at both the setups, but first I have a question, I know there's not one good answer, but when my draw length is 29", how long should my arrow be? I mean I could use a 25" arrow, and it would still have about an inch overhang on my rest.
That comes down to preference mostly. I like an arrow length that keeps the broad head blades a bit beyond my hand. Some will leave some "extra" length to gain overall arrrow weight as well.
Here’s the GT spine chart so you can adjust according to what arrow length and tip weight you end up choosing. Remember to add in the insert weight along with your broad head weight when factoring the "point weight". Example: 50 grain insert, 20 grain FACT weight, 100 grain broad head 50+20+100 = 170 grains of point weight.
This. Going to my archive...somewhere around the 80s/90s, in the days before carbon, speed was the rage and short arrows the ticket. Overdraw setups would have broadheads behind the riser. Plenty of carbon shaft through hand pics floating about, but I want broadheads in front of my riser. One of my old Oneidas with overdraw...
I had an overdraw as well, before reflex risers. Ran one on an old Alpine Tomahawk, and on a "Noel Feather" special addition Silverado as well. I was running Easton aluminum 2213's XX75's at the time. I also was clipping to the string, hadn't even heard of d-loops.
