I have shot wood, carbon and aluminum. In my mind there really is no choice for the guy who wants a great all-around arrow with minimal set up time. Carbons are simply great. I shoot them often, and I love the fact that in a half a day I can have a dozen carbons exactly like the rest of my arrows. But there is something that draws me to wood arrows as well, I enjoy the process of matching and building them myself, though, it is definitely more time consuming. I personally see no reason to shoot aluminum over carbon unless you have been shooting them for years and don't feel like changing what works.
There are a lot of negative characteristics about the older carbons that are not near as prevalent in todays carbons. The variance in spine was mainly because of the inconsistency in wall thickness. That has improved greatly, but it is not yet perfect.
I've seen animals shot with older carbons that splintered so bad inside the animal that a whole quarter of the animal was inedible because of all the tiny carbon splinters. Today, the change in the weave used to make the arrows has improved dramatically, to the point that this is almost a non-factor. Although, like with the variance in spine, it's not 100% perfect.
I shouldn't say this because I'm not certain, maybe somebody will know, but I believe that the Grizzly Stiks still use the "old style weave".
Aluminum arrows fatigue after hitting a target again and again, and are more prone to bending over time. Carbons never fatigue. Aluminums are straighter and more consistent, however, if you can shoot the difference you're in league of shooters that the vast majority of us will probably never see.
I have never found any difficulty in tuning carbon arrows. The methods used for wood and aluminum produce the exact same results for me.
A friend of mine gave me his test results. He just started shooting carbons and was hesitant to shooting them for all the reasons listed in this thread. He chose the Carbon Express Rebel Hunters (I have found Carbon Express to be more consistent than all the others). Here are his results.
Carbon Expres Rebel Hunter 75-90
100 grain brass inserts
13.7 GPI
Arrows cut to 29"
Five inch feathers
Arrow weitht without broadhead = 518.5 grains
Heaviest arrow = 520.1 grains
Lightest arrow = 517.2 grains
Very excited about the straightness of the arrows. Out of two dozen, 83% are less than .003! Only four were .004 and one was .005. Those arrows are now my practice arrows. As you can see, the arrows are much straighter than Carbon Express lists them as.
Topic: Aluminum vs Carbon (Read 2010 times)
