Help with Arrow Weight

[Trenton G.]

Hi guys,
I want to buy some new arrows that are hopefully a bit better tuned for my bow. I have a 62@30 Steve Abbott longbow that I hunt with, but want a heavier arrow than what I have. My draw length is around 29 inches. Right now I'm shooting Goldtip Traditionals, 500 spine with a 100 grain point. This seems totally wrong to me, and I have a feeling that the place that I went doesn't know a whole lot about traditional bows and tuning arrows for them, so I thought I would ask here. Anyone else have the same bow? Even if you don't could you make some suggestions for arrows? I'd like an arrow that I can hunt with and have enough weight to get good penetration. Thanks guys.  

[bowberry]

well, I'm no expert, and I don't know about carbon arrows. That being said, I am a big fan of the "Ashby reports" on arrow penetration. Im shooting a 55# longbow,probably 58-60# at my draw. Im shooting an 800 gr.arrow with 200gr. up front. My bow seems to like the weight and its whisper quiet.

[bowberry]

also, 500 seems kind of weak spine to me, but again I'm not a carbon guy.

[AZ_Longbow]

at the moment I shoot a McBroom longbow, 55#@28" I pull 29ish" right now I am shooting GT velocities cut to 30.75" insert to nock grove. I am using a 5' wrap and,4" feathers. Standard inserts with 300gr points. and a 1" aluminum footer.the weigh in at 570gr. that's with a 27.8%foc.

[newhouse114]

My bow is about 65 @ 29" and I shoot a 34 inch 2419 aluminum with 250 upfront for a total arrow wt of 820 gr. They fly like slow rockets!

[jess stuart]

How are your arrows flying?  I would guess to lite in spine but, you never know the proof it in the shooting, not a spine chart.  You can easily add some weight to the shafts with weight tubes or, my favorite 3/16" nylon rope.

[Looper]

That is really light. You're less than 8 gpp, which is pretty rough on you and your bow. You could go with some 5575s (.400 spine), use some 175-200 grain heads, and be pretty close. Then you'll be up around 9.5-10 gpp. That combo would shoot through anything on this continent.

[Trenton G.]

Thanks guys. I was afraid that I was way on the light side. I don't really want to change what I'm shooting in the middle of season since they seem to be flying good, but I will definitely be shooting a heavier arrow for next year. With an arrow as light as I'm shooting right now out of a 62# bow, will I still get good enough penetration on a deer?

[Longtoke]

I think the largest thing that will determine penetration is how well your arrow is tuned. After that I certainly think a  slower heavier arrow would penetrate better than a lighter faster one, depends on if you favor KE or momentum.

One benefit of shooting heavier points is that you will have a larger broad head selection to choose from, another is the high amount of FoC your arrow will have.

[Trenton G.]

I want to try and tune my bow a bit better by buying a spine test kit along with a field point test kit. I've always shot Goldtip Traditionals, but it looks like the heaviest spine is only 11 GPI. Is there a different spine test kit that you guys would recommend? I see there are several available on 3rivers. This kit will be for the bow mentioned above, but I might use it on some of my lighter bows as well. Thanks!

[njloco]

Nothing tells or shows more information about your set up than paper tuning ! Try it before you waste a lot of $.
Good luck and happy Thanksgiving.

[Eric S]

Those really are too light. I understand not wanting to change up in the middle of the season but it's not worth possible damage to your bow. I have found carbons to be very forgiving of too much point weight.  They don't tolerate too little very well though. Maybe try some 200 gain points and see what happens. If they are too weak after that, maybe you could shorten them up?

[Trenton G.]

Yeah, I realize that they are to light. I've been playing around with the Stu Miller Calculator, but the only arrows that I have been able to get close have been either to light, around 7.1 gpp, or pretty heavy, around 11 gpp. I want a heavier arrow, but I don't want to sacrifice to much speed by shooting such a heavy arrow. It estimates that my arrows will fly at 168fps if I draw 29. I really don't know if that is considered fast or not. Any suggestions as to an arrow shaft to try?

[Longtoke]

11 gpp is a nice weight imo, not too heavy.  I would not worry so much about speed as finding a trajectory you are comfortable with.

I have been shooting 11.5 gpp arrows and they work just fine for me. Wish I could tell you about the speed, but i dont have a chrono.

[Tajue17]

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[Sam McMichael]

Tune, rather than weight and speed, should be paramount. If the arrow performs well from your bow, then you are good to go. Don't start mountain climbing over the mole hills.

[Trenton G.]

Originally posted by Tajue17:
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The only problem is that I don't have any bareshafts. I'm trying to decide which bareshafts to order to see if they will work. Maybe it's like Sam says, I'm making a bigger deal of it than it needs to be lol. If 11gpp isn't to heavy, maybe I'll just go with that.