Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: TSchirm on March 18, 2010, 04:39:00 PM
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Any thoughts on best aluminum arrows? I 'm budget limited and set up to work with aluminum arrows, but haven't bought any in many years due to a shoulder injury keeping me out of archery for awhile. I like th look of Easton XX75 legacy's, but wonder if the bushing nocks type arrows are better. Suggestions are appreciated.
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I've used both with and without the uni nocks. If you put the standard nocks on straight - no difference. The XX75s are a good shaft. The XX78s are better but more $$$. I shoot way more Legacys than XX78s. H
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I like the thicker walled aluminum shafts (like the xx75). I also prefer the tapered shafts that you can simply glue the nock of your choice on (like the xx75).
My favorites are:
Easton autumn orange...they quit making them
Easton classics 2317...they quit making them
Easton 2419 (any color or pattern)...they quit making them
Thankfully I have a supply that should last me a while and I also shoot cedar.
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I like xx75. I recently switched to lighter draw bows and carbon because of my sholder. I will shoot ya a pm and see if I have something left for ya.
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xx78 where you can adjust the knock for arrow flight.
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XX78 has a "stronger" wall than the XX75 not thicker. XX78 is 7178-T9 alloy, XX75, Classics, GG II, and gamegetter are all 7075-T9.
PSI strength of XX78 is 100,000 psi, XX75 camo hunter is 96,000 as is the GG and GG II.
Straightness of XX78 is +/- 0015", XX75 is +/- 002" and GG and GG II is +/- 003.
You can also find uni nock bushings for most shaft sizes.
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Like Barney correctly stated XX78 are the Top Alu.I used them since they were out,simply fantastic shfts.Now I use Carbons anyway.
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I don't use aluminum any more but 20yrs ago the Easton alum.Gamegetters(dark green in color) were the bomb!They were tough as nails.IMHO
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I like the Legacy's but I cut the nock end off and put unibushings & uninocks on my Legacy's.
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Thanks to all for your input. Like you bearsfeet, I had a shoulder injury (non archery) shortly after I got into Trad archery in the 90's. Due to circumstances, I was not able to get a lighter bow until this winter. I am excited to be back in trad archery, but am budget limited. That is why I am probably staying with aluminum. Cheaper,and I have the tools to cut and finish the aluminum shafts, but not carbon. I have some old legacy's, but they are a little short and a little high on spine, I think. I will be bare shaft testing shafts next week with a bowyer to see what I need. Thanks again.
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Autumn orange. The very best by far. I aint kiddin. Too bad they quit making them.
My lamentations
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Maybe the folks at Easton should see this thread. They also quit making the Super Slam XX78s in 2016, my personal favorite and the toughest shaft out there.I have a small stash of them, but I can't find anything as tough to replace them when they're gone. :help:
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Besides being too light for my taste, the problem that I had with XX78 is although they are stronger, they seemed more brittle and would shatter rather than bend like the XX75. Was it just in my head or did anyone else notice that?
I have a good arrow straightener and don't mind having to check them once in a while, or even having to work a while on one that looks like a banana. Nothing I could do with the cracked, split, or broken XX78s.
I realize that when they have been bent badly, they are easier to bend again, but I would save the worse ones for small game, especially grouse in trees or running hares. They still shot well enough.
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X7's are the top aluminum arrows (for hardness and straightness), but they are more for target shooters and aren't available in the heavier mass weights. They will still work for hunting for most draw weights though.
In shafting designed for hunting, XX78's are tops. XX75's work just fine also, especially if you hit the target and not rocks, trees, etc. Thicker walled shafting (the second number) will be stronger and heavier in a particular shaft, i.e. a 2016 will be stronger and heavier than a 2012 (don't know if either of those are available now, just using the numbers for a comparison).
Chad
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I appreciate this thread. I see I have alot to learn about aluminum shafts.
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i've used alums since way back in the early 60's, starting off with 24srt-x shafts (you looked at them too hard and they'd bend and dent! what junk, but boy could they fly great out to 100 yards), then the excellent xx75 (i won a bunch of shoots with these shafts), and the best all alum shafting is still x7 (the best of the best!).
the good thing about alums is that there's just one main company to deal with: easton. and the shafts are super consistent and available anywhere in the world and easy to get to tune and fly really well. the downside is that alum is 'durable inferior' to carbon, and will bend and dent far too easy when roving or hunting. if yer just punching paper or foam, no problem-o.
carbon won't take a bend set or dent, but will snap if hit on something hard and at the wrong angle. still, lots more consistent and accurate than alum, imho. tuning carbons is no big deal, once you realise to go weaker in spine than the charts recommend - and load up the front end weight.
i think we're in the day and age where i'd consider easton aluminium shafting to be 'historic traditional'. :D
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Look at my signature. Two of my bows shoot a light 8.8 grains per inch XX78 X7 Eclipse 2212 target arrow. But, I shoot low poundage bows and I have a long 30" draw length. I shoot my arrows off the shelf too. I like to shoot 32" long (BOP) arrows and that gives me about 1.5" of clearance between the back of a very sharp broadhead and the knuckle on my finger that's in front of the shelf's riser. Since my arrows are 32" (BOP) and with my 30" draw length; that light 2212 target arrow, with a 180 point weight (2 blade STOS 145 grain broadhead glued to a 36 grain screw-in Zwickey long broadhead adapter) has an overall arrow weight of 526 grains. Now, my light target arrow grains per inch wise becomes a heavy hunting arrow with regards to grains per pound.
For my 41# longbow with a dacron bowstring, this gives me 12.82 grains per pound. For my 37# recurve with a Dyna97 bowstring, this gives me 14.21 grains per pound. In retrospect, both bows out to 20 yards shoot a flat shooting heavy arrow.
As for the .012 wall thickness, yes, it will bend if it doesn't get a complete pass through on a deer or a 150# feral hog if these animals fall on the protruding arrow. But, after I kill a deer or a 150# feral hog, I retire the arrow even if the arrow makes a complete pass through. I can always re-cycle the uni-bushing, point insert and broadhead (glued to the long broadhead adapter). So; I'm generally out $7, but if I can't afford another $7 to make another arrow, I should quit bowhunting. That's how I look at it.
BTW, One of my friends shot a feral hog just shy of 225# with a 2216 arrow and it didn't get a complete pass through with his arrow. The hog fell on the arrow when it died since it was partially sticking out of him and.....bent the 2216 arrow. All aluminum arrows bend no matter what their wall thickness is. If they bend in the situations I described, just make a new arrow and enjoy bowhunting.
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I have shot Legacy"s for as long as they have been out. I shoot them for target competitions as well as 3D.They have always been dependable and would not change.The shoot great from my White Wolf TD.
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Another vote for the Autumn Orange I didnt lose as many. :knothead:
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xx75 w/the swadged nock end and a speed nock and if your an overachiever a can of yellow krylon spray paint you'll break um before you loose um.
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I like the Easton "Blues" in 2016. They cost just about the same as good wooden shafts nowadays.
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I like a thick wall and smaller diameter for an aluminum hunting arrow.2018,1920,2020.
Too bad more sizes arent avaiable to fit this criteria.Especially for lighter poundage bows.Thier used to be a few more sizes that were great that are discontinued.An 1818 or 1918 etc. would be nice.
The 2018 and 2020s are my favorites that are available now.
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I need to count up all the aluminum shafts I have and sell them really cheap on hear to you guys because I'm done with them.
They just will not hold up to stump shooting which I'm always doing when in the woods. They served there purpose for many years for me but I hate to know how many I wasted along the way.
I can buy carbons for the same price and the only way I waste one is if I lose it. Like Rob said easy to tune also.
Tracy
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I shoot an 1816 arrow and occasionaly a 1916. I shoot the blues shafts for 3D and stumping and all around usage. When I hunt I use XX75 Camo Hunters.At the price of the blues you can't go wrong. If you fellas are looking for a place that has I good selection of arrow shafts,carbon or alum, look at Bowhunter supply. Good people and good selection and prices. :archer:
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None. Widow
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Hi,
Super Slam XX78 camo are my fav alu arrows.... I use 2216 or 2114....
Carlo
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They're all pretty good until you hit something wrong with them.
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I don't like the new sizes. For longbows the narrow heavy sizes work best, like 1818, 1820, 1918, 1920, 2018 and 2020. 2317s do make nice replacement tent poles for my dome tents, they were too stiff for even my heaviest longbows.
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Shoot mostly wood arrows now but aluminum is my second choice. The 2114 shaft was Jack Howard's
favorite and I have always been pleased with their performance in my bows. Just hard to find them today. Tody, the 2018 Legacy shaft is my first choice because of the shortage of 2114's.
Shot Tradtional Lites for a while just never could get into carbon.
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I used to be indifferent about swaged (legacy) versus uni-nocks, but I have to say that the swaged arrows are less likely to be ruined on nock hits and robin hoods that the uninocks.
Hits to uninocks sometimes hit the bushing and tear the shaft, whereas swaged arrows just deflect. Not a huge difference, but it's saved me at least a few arrows.
Solid color arrows are always nicer than camo, especially autumn orange.
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Originally posted by Spectre:
Autumn orange. The very best by far. I aint kiddin. Too bad they quit making them.
My lamentations
I love those Autumn Orange arrows.
Dan