AD Trad or Trad Lite........Please Help!

[buxntoms]

I am grasping for a last ditch effort to use carbon arrows in my longbow and recurve    .  I have not been able to get the Beemen MFX Classics 400's to shoot even when trying weight from 100 grain to 225 grain with a 100 grain insert    .  I was told AD trad or trad lites shoot like darts and all you have to do is play around with the point weight no matter what lenght you cut them    .  My question is I have a Griffin longbow that is 50# at 28" and a Fiftyniner recurve that is 50# at 28" so should I use the AD Traditional shafts or the AD Trad Lite shafts?  Also will I need to add a 100 grain insert to either if I draw right at 28" or will I just need to figure out which point weight flys the best?    

Thanks,
Mike

[BigJim]

Mike- I wish I knew more about the bemans, but what I do know is that  yes it is true that if your shaft is a little too short or too long, you can adjust point weight to accomodate, but if your shaft length is way too long or way too short, you will not be able to adjust enough within a reasonable shaft weight. And when I say "way too" this could mean only the difference of an inch or so. Again, i'm not familiar with the bemans, but if 400's are 400 spine, I would bet that they are too stiff and all the point weight in the world won't make them fly right.

good luck, BigJim

[buxntoms]

Thanks Jim I wondered if I should have gone with the MFX 500's instead!

[owlbait]

I'm shooting AD Hammerhead lite out of those weight bows cut 29 1'2 and they seem to fly well with 125-255 up front. Without added insert weight. Good luck! I had good luck with the AD Tradlites also but liked the extra weight and toughness of the hammerheads.

[joe skipp]

AD Trad lites cut 1.5" longer than your normal draw with 225 to 250 up front will work fine.

[nate c]

I haven't been doing this very long, but I'll contribute what I can.

Beman 400s (for me) at full length worked with my bow - but only with points between 155 and 200 gr (with the heavier trips doing better).

Trads (for me) at full length worked with every point weight I tried, from 125gr to 300gr up front.

Trads (for me) don't bareshaft tune _at all_.

My limited experience with carbon arrows is that length has a drastic effect on spine - point weight has some, but much less than length.

If you were closer, I'd let you try mine.  Maybe someone in your area will chime in.

[legends1]

Most ADs lites at your draw will work fine with 200-250 up front.Thats the only shaft i shoot now.

[Paul Mattson]

AD Trad Lites will work fine.  You could go with the 100grn brass inserts if you want to use 125 grain points or broadheads.

[buxntoms]

Thanks for the responses.  Keep them coming!

[Holm-Made]

My personal longbows and recurves are the same poundage and styles as yours.  I shoot the AD trad lites and recommend them to everyone.  If you cut them to 29"-29.5" and put a 200 grain point on them, with the standard insert you will have an arrow that weighs about 550 and will fly like a dart.  You can drop the point weight down to 125 and they should still fly like a dart.  

The lites work well from bows I build all the way from 40#ers to 60#ers.  Just adjust the point weight and length to get the weigh where you want it.  My bows are cut to center as I'm sure yours are too.  Chad

[buxntoms]

guys thanks for the input.  Will have to get some AD Trad Lites and fletch them up!  Any thoughts on what style and type of feather to use?

[Paul Mattson]

My standard fletch is LW 5" shield cut feathers.  I have also used 5" Banana and 4-4" LW shield cut.

I did have one customer tell me he could not get the Banana cut to fly very good.  He switched to 5" sheilds and they flew great.

[leatherneck]

Trad Lites as others have said. I shoot 54@27 and I use the trad lites 29.5" with 300 up front.

[WAC]

AD Hammerhead lites all the way. I shoot them in all my long bows from 48# to 58# cut to 30" with standard inserts. I practice with 175 gr. field pts. and shoot 125gr BH's glude on long adapters. Everything flies straight and groups the same. Weight is right at 550 grains with wraps,four fletch, and standard AD nocks

[Ted Fry]

Mike , as you can see there are loads of ideas to work with, all good info. Boils down to just getting some and playing around with them to custom fit for what you want .
Very wide range for these arrow shafts, mostly it boils down to what you want in total mass weight and I go with the old rule of thumb of 8-12 gpi.
Trad lites will work well for you as will the hammerhead lite. I have had good luck fletching with 3, 4" feathers on close to center bows as the recovery with carbon needs less feather.

[buxntoms]

Thanks for the responses guys. Has anyone tried the Hammerhead Lites versus the Trad Lites? What's the advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? I don't shoot 3-D so what I shoot is always for deer and elk hunting! What I'm asking is would I be better suited to use the Hammerhead Trad Lites or just the Trad Lites for big game hunting?

[Ted Fry]

The idea behind the Hammerhead arrow was to put 2/3rds mass in the forward 1/3rd of the arrow , like a footing, as well as to make the front end tougher. This was achieved by beefing up the front 11" of the shaft by adding layers to the carbon wrap.
This also allowed more weight in the basic shaft without having to add brass inserts but just by changing the point weight, brass can be added instead and allow the use of lighter 125gr broadheads. This allows you to come up with a custom weight arrow that can be used from a wide range of bow weights. I would leave at least 1-1 1/2" over your draw length as Joe recomended

[WAC]

I think the hammerheads are easyer to fool with because they have enough mass wieght you don't have to put together a hard to duplicate later combination of components on the front end. there are only so many ways to push a stick with a string and there is no need to make it more complicated than neccessary. For me they shot the same as the 2117's I was shooting and I could interchange the heads between the two so it was a no-brainer.

[Gator1]

I just got in from shooting a few of my new Trad Lites:

48lb Griffin at 28"s.

30" Trad Lites, Standard Insert and a 200 Grain Field Point, they were coming out nock right, but hitting where I was aiming.  I was thinking at 30" with 200 grains, I would be good.

I'll have to do some more shooting, and see what happens...

  :confused:    :confused:  

I was expecting for them to fly like darts, regardless of point weight.

[twotimer]

i tried the ad trads and the trad lites,the trads shot ok out of my bows from 40/45#,the lites shoot out of anything from 30 to 50# for me,at the moment i am shooting black swan longbow,40#,and black widow recurve,41#,i have 6 trad lites cut 28",6 cut 29",they shoot the same out of either bow,at all distance i shoot with the same impact point.works for me.