arrow spine consistancy

[Sirius Black]

Of all our carbon arrow choices out there, which do you think have the better spine tolerances? Comparing Easton to GT, to Carbon Express and so on. I know all these arrows from these companies offer varying straightness, but I'm focusing on just the spine. You folks with spine testers I'm sure have done much with this, I would like to hear some of your findings.

[Orion]

I don't shoot a lot of brands, but my Easton Axis seem pretty consistent.  So much so that I don't bother spining them anymore.

[Sirius Black]

Great to hear that, Orion. Are you using the 50/75gr brass inserts in those? If so, are they a pain to get? Some vendors, including Easton themselves, seem to be out of them sometimes.

[McDave]

I only use two brands: Gold Tip and Victory VAP.  Of the two, VAP is more consistent in spine, straightness, and weight.  VAP puts a mark on their shafts and aligns their nocks with this mark to help achieve consistent spine from shaft to shaft.

[Orion]

I use 100 grain brass inserts as well as the 70 grain that can be broken off to make 50 grain inserts.  Bought them several years ago.  Wasn't a problem getting them then.  Don't know about now.  Occasionally use the supplied aluminum inserts as well, depending on the head I want to use.  

I install with hot melt glue. I don't foot them.  Plenty strong except a direct hit on a concrete wall (when my tp acts up in my basement) which might mushroom the end an eighth inch or so, but easy to splice in a new piece. I like them.

[WVbowhunter]

Having shot Easton, Carbon Express, Gold Tip, and Victory over the past couple years the two that stand out head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion are Easton and Victory. I use the standard inserts and can usually get all the arrows in a dozen to react the same from the bows without nock tuning. Carbon Express I can usually get 9 out of the dozen without nock tuning and with Gold Tip it varies sometimes 10 or 11 sometimes 7 or fewer. Not trying to bash any company or start any arguments, just my experiences. As a note I want to add that if you nock tune them all the companies I listed will have all of the dozen reacting the same.

[BWallace10327]

I believe aligning all nocks with spine is important for consistant arrow flight.  I havn't used a spine tester, feeling the spine is pretty easy if you know what to look for.  Bend the arrow and turn it and bend and turn until the stiff side is identified.  I don't know if the orientation matters, maybe some light can be shed on this, but it can't hurt if each arrow's spine is matched.

[M60gunner]

It’s been awhile when a group of us spined our carbons. Even back then Easton’s were the most consistent. So I spine my carbons if nothing else to align the nocks.

[Matty]

Being an arrow junkie and having tested this all in the past. I have found that eastons hands down have the best tolerances. I do have a spine tester and have found serious fluctuations in GT CX and even Grizzly Sticks. Now granted, these companies offer high end high dollar shafts which you do get what you pay for but for me average trad guy on somewhat of a budget the GT blems that big jim sells and surewood Doug fir work just fine I just run everything through the spine tester and grain scale. I and a few other guys have other threads on here discussing the topic.

[snag]

Every carbon has a slightly thicker wall or side. Thicker generally means stiffer.  If you can plug each end with the same weight plugs....they make rubber plugs for such things. Then float them in water. The thicker, stiffer, area of the shaft will roll down.

I switched from GT XT Hunter shafts to Easton FMJ shafts because the GT’s had a HUGE variance in spine (nearly .100” from weakest to stiffest) and the FMJ’s are all within .010” of each other!l

Bisch

[JR Williams]

Same as Bisch, I switched to Easton as my GTs spines all over the place. Funny thing was, not one out of the dozen was spines as marked, they were all much stiffer.

The Easton’s were very consistent around the shaft.

[JR Williams]

Same as Bisch, I switched to Easton as my GTs spines all over the place. Funny thing was, not one out of the dozen was spines as marked, they were all much stiffer.

The Easton’s were very consistent around the shaft.

A really anal guy here tests all of his carbons with his spine tester.  He doubles the weight on his spine tester to get more reaction.  Then he rotates the shafts and marks them to get a consistent spine for the entire set.  He claims that like fiberglass, many carbons have a strong and weak side.  He also talked of batch to batch variance issues. He did my Alaskans and found that they had a very noticeable strong and weak side. I could feel it myself doing the old bend and hold on a table roll, but it is sometimes hard to tell with that method.

[Tedd]

The worst spine consitancy shaft I have is a set of Easton Axis Traditional. You don't need a spine tester to feel it. Just roll them flexed. It feels like a tire with 2 flat spots.  I indexed the nocks with my spine tester. But I don't trust them and have no confidence shooting them and have un explained flyers. Bummer too because I purchased two dozen shafts and did a nice fletchlaq dip and crest to all 24. I did kill two deer with them this year using grizzly single bevels. Penetration was incredible. I made a bad shot on a buck, the arrow went in the rump at the worst spot and traveled forward through the deer and existed at the base of the neck. It was a heavy animal too.
Tedd
   

[Sirius Black]

Thanks everyone for your responses! Keep them coming. It's great when we can learn from one another.

[Orion]

Tedd.  Every carbon I've tried has had a stiffer side(s) which you can find by rolling the shaft with one end on a hard surface and the other in your palm and about a 45 degree angle on the shaft. I align my nocks so the stiff side is against the side plate of the bow.  

Your's couldn't have been too bad if you managed to kill a couple of critters with them.  If you have no confidence in them, why did you shoot them?  

[Tedd]

Orion, good question. It was kind series of things. My new Kanati longbow arrived 2 weeks prior to a western hunt. (the bow I was using had a crack I was starting to worry about) The 2 doz arrows I made for the new bow were too stiff. Almost all my bows use .300s so most of my shafts were too stiff or cut too short. I did not have enough matching .340s in the house to make a set of hunting arrows. So I had to overnight in some .340s and chose the easton axis trads. So I used them for the hunting trip. When I got home I got some other shafts.
I might try another 6  of the axis sometime, maybe I had a bad batch.  I do like the small diameter, weight and woodgrain.
As far as all arrows having a weak spot...try Black Eagle's higher end shafts like their Rampage. They are perfect all the way around. I also have a couple Arrow Dynamics that are like that. I don't know if they are older or newer because most arrow dynamics do have a weak/stiff side.
Tedd