Arrow Weight Suggestions

[Feather Flinger]

I'm new to Tradgang and new to traditional. I bought a Bear Grizzly 55# in June and have been shooting and learning a lot. I killed a doe about a month ago with and and apparently I just got lucky because I found out since then that I should be using a lot heavier arrows/tips. I shoot 29" Gold Tip Traditional 5575 with 100 grain field tips/broadheads. My question is how much weight should I add to the tip of my arrows? I ordered an assortment of the Gold Tip screw in weights and am just wondering what combination of weight would be recommended. Thanks for your input.

[Gordon martiniuk]

10 gr lb is the standard for trad arrows more is good to a point ,, with those gold tips you have are very stiff so add up to 300 gr still may be stiff,, you should look up how to bare shaft tune your set up it is the real only fool proof way to find out how much to put up front Trad archery is way easyer to master if you take the time to tune your set up if you don't tune you may get frustrated and give up!!

[Richie Nell]

IMO, It's NOT that you should...it's that it can definitely be better for you if you add as much weight as you can up front.  Keep adding weight until your arrow begins to get weak.  If your right handed an arrow too weak will begin to kick left as it leaves your bow.

You should be able to have around 400 grains up front and still shoot well.  That will give you great total weight and 25+% EFOC.  

I made an arrow for a 55# bow today. It is a 30.5 in. GT Vapor 3555 (lighter than the Traditional GT's).  I have 438 gr. up front  making a total weight of 656 gr. and 32.8% Ultra FOC.  It shoots great.

[Mocsin1]

I shoot the sane arrow at the same length from a 55# recurve and use 200gr points and they fly like darts. Shot a small buck this year through the shoulder and stuck in the other shoulder. They weigh a little over 500gr. This should work fine out of your bow. Congrats on the doe.

[Richie Nell]

Mocsin1,
That's great!!!!
What broadhead did you use?

[Arrow4Christ]

IMO you need to bareshaft that arrow or shoot it through paper and figure out if it's weak or stiff before anything else. I don't care how heavy or light an arrow is, if it isn't tuned well, it's not going to be a good penetrator. Focus on the tuning first and figure out what flies best, then try to optimize from there. You may have to switch shafts to get what you would consider "ideal". There is some good info on paper tuning on Elite Arrows' website in the sponsor list.
You don't need a heavy, high FOC arrow to consistently kill game, especially deer...I find it more important to find the arrow weight that I personally shoot best with, then try to optimize FOC, then leave it there. I hit a doe in the spine last year that completely severed a vertebrae at an angle with a 418 grain arrow...the broadhead was poking against the hide on the opposite side! Chances are you didn't just get lucky, and your arrow weight is fine to go after deer  :D

Craig

[Richie Nell]

The higher the FOC the easier the arrow tuning process.  Try it and see.  There is not a better friend to an arrow that needs tuning than high FOC.

[George D. Stout]

Or, like me, you can decide from a plethora of sizes (spines) vs length in the aluminum shafting, then choose according to the amount of point weight you wish to use.

The bottom line is to get perfect arrow flight; that is more important than anything else, and the foremost part of the penetration issue. How you get that is part of the fun.

[Arrow4Christ]

High FOC arrows are more forgiving, but I don't think they automatically fly better...if your arrow is too weak to handle the point weight it's only going to give you poor arrow flight.

Craig

[Richie Nell]

Craig,
Yes..obviousy you can put sooooo much weight up front that it makes your arrow too weak.  

I am saying start with an arrow that is light and stiff enough that it requires a lot of weight up front to weaken it back to straight.  Then the high FOC arrow will tune quicker, fly better, shorter or less paradox, than an arrow tuned well with less FOC.

And the high FOC is heavier in total weight which is better.  There is not a downside to high FOC.  Win Win.

[Arrow4Christ]

Richie,
Yes if the arrow is stiff enough to begin with. However, I think the ease of tuning you refer to is simply  the high FOC arrow being more forgiving...and based on my experience, you don't have to put a ton of weight up front to make an arrow weak. If the arrow flies just right with a 125 grain point, then it's going to be too weak with a 150 grain point. What I do is find the dynamic spine that works best, then try to optimize with a shaft that is light and stiff enough to handle the best FOC possible using Stu Miller's Dynamic Spine Calculator and still give me my preferred grains per pound of bow weight for my optimum accuracy    
Craig

[Richie Nell]

What I have noticed as I have hand loaded a few arrows is... that the 900-1000 grain arrows with 30+% Ultra FOC seem to fly with the trajectory and fluidness(if that is a word) as the 700-800 grain arrows I used to use with normal FOC.

Dr. Ed says that he sees the same thing in his research.  Basically due to less paradox.

If that is true...how can one go wrong with opting for very high FOC... IF given the choice. Like I mentioned before I have not seen a downside to getting FOC as high as possible  

And I do understand that a lot of times the choice is not available due to finances and the availability of the hand loaded components needed.

[James Wrenn]

I killed a doe about a month ago with and and apparently I just got lucky because I found out since then that I should be using a lot heavier arrows/tips

Good thing you found out before you killed another one.  

[daveycrockett]

Originally posted by James Wrenn:
 

I killed a doe about a month ago with and and apparently I just got lucky because I found out since then that I should be using a lot heavier arrows/tips

Good thing you found out before you killed another one.       [/b]

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are.      

[Arrow4Christ]

LOL Exactly James!  

[BWD]

Are your shafts long enough trim a liitle more off if they indicate weak after you increase the tip weight?

[Gil]

Just use a heavier point.