What's your preference? Right now I'm shooting all aluminum myself, xx75 1816, 1916, and 2016 depending on the bow. I did just snag some 500 spine Easton carbons I'm gonna try. I grabbed some 100 grain brass insert for them as well. Thought about wood but for the $ I can't justify it.
Aluminums...1916,2014,2114,2016,2018...depending on the bow. They're consistant in weight and spine and so much easier to tune. Plus the cost factor. I stopped shooting woods about 10yrs ago,tried carbons ,now back to the alums
Alums for fiberglassed bows, and cedar for selfbows. You just can't beat aluminums for tradbows. Only issue is with selfbows you usually need 10lbs less spine and only 1816's fit the bill for 50-55lbs selfbow. And they bend easily. I went down the carbon route and won't go back.
Bigcountry, why do you like aluminum arrows better for trad bows? I am currently shooting Beman Bowhunter 400's. They shoot just fine. I bought a dozen carbon raw shafts for $45 and do not expect any problems from them for years. To me, that is some great value.
Usually they are too light and too hard to tune. I went down the GT trad road for years adding the wieghts to the front and back. Got the weight I want, but too much a pain. I still have dozens of those brass wieghts.I hate weight tubes, but they do work. Just too expensive. Then it dawned on me one day, that there are perfectly good arrows out there that wieght 10gpp, straight and don't cost too much. Aluminums. I myself won't hunt trad with less than 10gpp. I own like 5 - 8 trad bows, and if I stay with the 10gpp, I usually hit good with them all. You start shooting different bows and arrow wieght, it will mess with your shooting. Right now, with selfbows it messes iwth my shooting because selfbows don't have near the performance as fiberglassed one.
Thanks for your explanation. I would like to beef up my carbons by 50 grains so that I am right around 9.5 gpp. Right now I am around 8.6gpp. If you want to get rid of some of those brass weights at a decent price send me a PM. I can either send you a check or can make a fair swap with something archery/bowhunting related. Let me know. Brett
Yea I can do that. I even got the long hex wrench 32". Are you sure those GT wieghts work with your arrows? I also have the nock adaptors. Let me see I got and I can pm you.
A little combination of both (Aluminum and carbon). Never did I think I'd say the word carbon when talking arrows that I shoot. The arrows I shoot are 340 FMJ's. There's carbon In the Inside with the outside of the arrow wrapped In aluminum. So far I love these things!!! Before I shot these I shot aluminum's (2216's). I can't say a bad thing about aluminum's either. Reason I switched up was to try and get a higher FOC then what I was getting with my 2216's. My 2216's were right around 7% FOC when I 1st checked. After some screwing around with adding weight I got my 2216's to 12% FOC. My arrow flight was still good at 12% FOC but I wanted to get It higher then that. I talked with a friend on here and he helped me out some and I took It from there. Right now I'm at about 17.5% FOC with my 340 FMJ's. It's not where I want It yet but It's better then I had. I want an FOC In that 19% range and up. My total arrow weight Is either 680 grain or 700 grain depending on the broadhead I'm using. Fathers Day weekend me and a bunch of friends went to a traditional 3-d shoot. One of the guys with was shooting cedars. They weighed right around 580 grains. His arrow penetration was better then all of us. I think the reason was because of the wood and that It slid better Into the targets (less friction). I wonder If this holds true on animals too being there's less friction with wood?
I have been shooting carbon for awhile now and really like them. I used to build wood arrows alot but breaking pretty arrows and their lack of duribility led me to carbon. For weight and FOC I came up with this cheap weight system using lead split shot. http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=088413;p=1
BC I just sent you a PM. Let me know if you got it because I am having some real problems accessing this site, the site is acting possessed!
I started out using aluminum, switched to wood using it until the prices doubled. At that point I started experimenting with carbon... spent forever trying to get satisfactory arrow flight, still not totally satisfied. For the money and durability factor carbons rate high. With addition weight added they can easily be brought up to 10 gpp.. but.. erratic arrow flight in cross winds have put doubts in my mind.. Chris
I switched from carbons to douglas Fir shafts and never looked back! I made up 2 dozen arrows, the grain difference was within 6 grains, pretty awesome! The cost is pretty good to, 2 dozen were under $100!!!!!
I've shot some carbons out of my traditionals, and with some other bow owners bows as well, where they just flew like darts. But I'm still shooting my 2020's, 2018's and 2117's just fine.
Well I just built some carbons up for the long bow and all I can say is Wow! These arrow shoot awesome out of my bow plus they hit a ton harder than the 2016s I was shooting. They are Easton C2s in 500 spine. They are set up with 100 grain brass inserts, a 125 grain head, and an extra 30 grain on the nock end, I just took the standard aluminum inserts and cut the ridge off and glued them in down past were the nock seats. Also put a wrap on them. Total weight is 532 grains, 30" finished length. I'm pulling about 47 lbs. They fly great and hit hard. :D
How do aluminum shafts hold up to stumping and such? I have always been leary of buying any because I figured they would bend to easily
my first year I bowhunted, I shot aluminums, since then I have switched over to carbon express arrows, went to the maxima's when they came out and now to the hunters. I love these arrows they are accurate and very strong.
I stumped with aluminum's for 20+ years. Here and there I'd bend one up but for the most part they did the job for me just fine.
What about river cane??? I love good cane or wood arrows. Ive gotten old and lazy, so ive got away from making cane and wood arrows. I now use pretty much all aluminum. I like the weight. Carbon is great and I do use a set of carbons on one of my longbows.
