carbon arrow guidance

[MikeM]

I have never shot carbons and I know variations in bows can make a difference but where would I start with the following bows/specs. I would like to keep arrow weight between 500 to 575 grains and length 30.5 to 31 inches if possible.

Bow Morrison Shawnee
length 64"
weight 50#@30"
string fast flyte

Bow Blacktail/Norm Johnson
length 64"
weight 54#@30"
string B50 dacron

[McDave]

You should be able to shoot Gold Tip 3555's in either bow.  You should get the inserts that allow you to add weight to the front or back of the arrow.  Black Widow, and possibly others, offer Gold Tip tuning kits that include a bare shaft, inserts, various weights, and nocks.  You should be able to shoot either 125 or 145 grain points by varying the internal weights accordingly.  If I were tuning your setup, I would start with a 145 grain point and a supplemental 50 grain weight in the front, and probably expect to add more weight to the front as I tuned.

[Diamond Paul]

Everyone is different, but I have never been able to get Gold Tip 35/55's to spine out of a 50lb bow; I draw 29+, use about a 30" arrow.  In fact, they are ridiculously underspined, even with 100 grain points.  I would not see any way that they would work out of the Morrison, for sure, but they might work out of the dacron stringed Blacktail.  I would go with either a 400 series arrow (Beman, etc.) or a Carbon Express 250 or Gold Tip 55/75.  You have a very long draw, and I don't think anything lighter will work.  JMHO, Paul.

[ISP 5353]

Gotta agree with Diamond Paul.  I would look for something with a .400 spine and start with about 175-200gr up front and see how they bareshaft.  Nock fit on carbons is also usually too tight on traditional bowstrings.  Be sure to adjust the nock before trying to tune.  Good luck.

[MikeM]

Thanks for the info it gives me a good place to start.

[Mark Hedges]

I shoot a howatt hunter 50@30 and I use beman ics hunter 500's full length with 175 tips. They bareshaft great!

Mark

[Diamond Paul]

Mark, ff string or dacron?

[Mark Hedges]

Dacron.

Mark

[Diamond Paul]

That's the reason you can shoot that arrow; it would be underspined with ff string.  Paul.

[Mark Hedges]

Actually it was underspined with dacron.  I just checked my tune again and found that I was weak.  I lowered point weight to 125 (from 175) and it is much better.

The arrows with 175 tips bareshafted great at my old draw (30") but was weak after I started using more back tension and my draw went up to 31 1/2" or so.

Mar

[sweet old bill]

the 400 shaft may be the better choice, but it will be on the stiff side. You will then need to add brass up front... I use the 500 at 52lbs and the shaft are cut to 30 inches, I just use 125 gr Bh or filed tips up fron and no brass extra added. I did try some 1/8 inch ploy rope inside the shaft full length to add some total weight to the shaft. I got good arrow flight, but just could not see why I should do it, seems to me you lose the flat shooting of the arrow by adding extra weight, and with the carbon I do not see the loss of peneration due to the speed of the lighter arrow. Now I am sure there are some who will claim you need the extra weight to gain peneration, well maybe for big game like elk, but for the deer in my backyard, I never have had a arrow not got thru the deer.