i just had a delima where my pro shop screwed up my full metal jacket inserts. if you dont know, the insert on these arrows goes about an 1" below the shaft tip. he glued one in too hit up and my broadhead wont seat flush, and the other 2 out of my half dozen has one insert come out and the other does not spin true at all. so 3 out of the six are great. for 66 bucks for a half dozen i feel stupid. i feel stupid because i was shooting aluminum 2315's but i thought i would come into the new age and try the fmj's. well, i was accurate with them but am more accurate with my aluminums. i just started shooting aluminums about 3 weeks ago. i love them. how come so many people shun away from them? i have been shooting for 2 years and i didnt want anything to do with them because" they bend" they are heavy, and they are old school. well, i tried them with a 4" helical feather and they are great. a little slower at about 260fps, but still dangerous with about 70-72 lbs of ke. if you read this and dont shoot aluminum, why not? i just want to know.
i let the shaft lay perfectly flat for 24 hours as recomended, i have no fault for the fmj's being messed up.
If the pro shop screwed them up then ask for replacements if he wont replace them put all 6 on the counter for a refund.
I have never had a problem with carbon shafts. If I used a composite shaft I don't think I would ever have a problem with it either. Same goes for aluminum. I shoot carbon shafts because I like them and have never had a problem with them.
This is really the issue, not carbon versus aluminum. Don't blame the FMJ's for poor service from your pro shop.
if you would try aluminums i bet youll like them. i have only every used gold tip xt hunters. and i bought a dozen cabela stalker extremes. i shot those for about the past year and they are great. i tried aluminum after a chuck adams article and i love them. i find myself with pin point accuracy. they are nice. i have never had a problem with carbons i just wanted to try aluminums and found a new piece of equiptment i cant live without.
fmj's are fantastic but they are more then twice the price of some xx75 camo aluminum arrows. they weight almost the same and the aluminum do everything the fmj's do. we could argue penetration but i think the amount of penetration recieved by the fmj's is not important enough to make them over twice the price. i dont like to be "cheap with my archery equiptment. i have found in this case that cheaper has been better for me.
I don't think aluminums will be quite as durable as FMJ's. If FMJ's last 3 times longer they may end up actually costing less.
if i could get fmj's to last about 2 years then they would be worth it, two years to be is a long time to shoot the same shafts. i like to get new shafts every year. about a month before the season starts ill get new shafts and fletch them all up and make sure im on my mark and then hunt. then shoot those shafts all year until the next season and get new ones again.
I shoot carbon out of a couple of my bows, aluminum's out of another and ACC's out of a couple as well. When it comes to aluminum, as soon as I'm done with the arrows I do have, I'm done with them and it's all about durability. When grouping, I'm creasing and slamming(bending) arrows. Yeah, it's my fault and not the arrow but it's still a durability issue. Simply put, carbon arrows just last. Even more so than my ACC's. ACC's can bend and although you can shoot carbon enough to warp them somewhat, they still seem to outlast their competitors.
what size aluminums are you using? i shoot 2315's or 2317's. i have shot them quite a bit in the last few weeks and they have shot true every time. i like carbons too, dont get me wrong on that. how much does a carbon shaft cost that has a straightness of .002 or less? aluminums are $50 for a dozen raw shafts from cabelas.(the xx75 camo hunters) for 80 bucks you can get the easton super slams and they have a .001 or less straightness. gold tip pro's have that same straightness and they cost about 105-110 bucks for a dozen raw shafts. with that difference you could buy a pack of broadheads
I am going into my third season with some of my carbon shafts. The spine is still good and they shoot great.
Durability plain and simple. If a carbon arrow is damaged, it's either broke, cracked, or splintering... each of which is extremely easy to see/feel. Hitting a target at the wrong angle can bend an aluminum shaft, period. I don't want to have to roll every arrow after every shot to make sure they're still straight. JMO.