What kind of arrows should I get?

[Trev2010]

Hi everyone!  I’m not a bowhunter yet but my dad recently handed down my first traditional bow and I would like to become proficient with it.  It’s a longbow called the “The Stick” by Martin.  I’m going to post a pic below.  It looks like what I imagine a plains Indian bow must have looked like, very minimal.  I had it weighed at my draw length and its 48# @ 27”.  I would like to get some good arrows for it but it seems like the more I read the more confused I get.  I never knew there was so much to know about arrows!
 
I have a little bit of money to spend on some quality equipment, but I don’t have a bunch of money to spend trying a lot of different shafts, so I would like to get the right shafts the first time.  Anyway, this is what I’ve been thinking about getting:

Gold Tip 1535 traditional shafts cut to 29”

5” left wing feathers (because I’ve read that left wing feathers give right handed shooters a little more clearance)

100 grain brass inserts and 100 grain points.

How does that sound?  Would anyone recommend anything different?  What would you get if you had my setup?
   

[MarkE2006]

I would suggest downloading and playing with Stu Miller's Dynamic Spine Calcultor.    http://heilakka.com/stumiller/

I would also suggest stepping up you spine weight to get total arrow weight up a little, and increasing your screw-in point weight to 125 gr. or more to increase your options for a good 2-blade broadhead.

[Trev2010]

How much total weight do you think I need?

[Ragnarok Forge]

You need to do a lot of reading on here and decide what weight arrow you want. I reccomend at least 10 gpp.  55lb bow = 550 grain arrow.  Do you want to go traditional and shoot wood?  Or do you want to go modern and shoot carbons, etc... lots of research needed to pick arrows.

[jhg]

As a newer archer I could have saved a lot of money in the beginning using carbon rather than the aluminums I bought. Until my form settled I broke a lot of arrows in the dirt/rocks and on the target frames. Footed carbons are much tougher and I don't think I'd have broken more than one. You can always switch to another shaft material later. Just sayin'

Joshua

[Rob DiStefano]

welcome to trad gang, trever.      

though yer not yet a bowhunter, are you a trad archer?  if so, for how long?  if not, are you sure that 48# of stickbow is something you should be starting out with?

if yer a total newbie, learn with synthetic material arrow shafts (carbon is highly recommended) and forego using wood.  as you progress, you want to know that yer arrow is missing the mark because of you, and not because of an inconsistent arrow (as woods can surely be).  

 this article  on trad tackle may be of some interest to you.  good luck!  have fun!

....

[Jake Fr]

i think i would do what ever rob here sugests first then read read and read some more lots to read and digest then make your own opinion i learned a lot from here and read hitin like howard i dont know how many times and it finaly came together so good luck and welcome to the gang

[Trev2010]

No I’m not sure 48# is something I should be starting with.  I guess if I’m having trouble learning to shoot it I can get something lighter, but for now this is the bow I was given so its what I’m starting with.  And I don’t have any trouble pulling it back and holding it a few seconds.

Anyway I’ve been fiddling with the dynamic spine calculator.  For the bow inputs I put Self/Longbow for bow type, rated weight of 48#, rated draw of 27”, my draw of 27”, shelf location center cut of 3/16, and B50 string material.  That produced a required arrow dynamic spine of 41.6#.

I tried 2 different arrows:

Gold Tip 3555 Trad. cut to 30” with 4” feathers, 105 gr. Inserts, & 100 gr. points.  That produced a dynamic spine of 42.1# and a total weight of 481 gr.

I also tried Gold Tip 1535 Trad. cut to 29” with 5” feathers, 100 gr. Inserts, & 100 gr. points.  That produced a dynamic spine of 41.4# and a total weight of 441 gr.

The 3555’s are heavy enough but they’re longer and slower.  The 1535’s are shorter and faster, but their a little light.

Hmmm…..

[Rob DiStefano]

trever, looking at your bow and shooting data, i'll offer an opinion on arrow choice.  

imo - it's best to choose carbon shafts that are lower in spine than the manufacturer charts suggest, and piling on front end weight will make arrows track better/faster, without perceived weakening of spine.

matching arrows to bows means also matching the bow and arrow to the shooter.  this is often overlooked, and no charts or formulas will help there except you doing the trialing and testing and 'seat of the pants flying'.

stay as close to 10gpp as possible.  a heavier arrow will yield a better and more complete transfer of limb energy to the arrow.  10gpp equates to a 480gr arrow, but a 500gr arrow (or more) would probably be better.  20-30 grains more won't make that much shooting difference.  

here's an example arrow build that uses inexpensive beman ics bowhunter 500 shafts (these are the same shafts i use, cut to 29"-29.5", out of my 48-55# bows).

 

the above image is a capture from my 'arrow building' spreadsheet.  

the first line indicates a 255gr weight total for a 29" beman ics bowhunter, with the supplied alum insert and nock, and four 4" 4-fletch banana low profile feathers.

i'm using a 125gr steel adapter (cheaper than 100 grain brass inserts) epoxied to a 125gr point (field, judo, broadhead, blunt, whatever) for a total point weight of 250grs.

the total arrow weight is about 505grs, with some pretty high foc, as you can see.

hope some of this helps rather than confuses.

[Kenneth]

Welcome to Tradgang Trevor!  Rob is giving you some great advice!  If I were you I would give Big Jim a call 229-344-1616 and see if he can set you up with a half dozen GT blems (3 of the 1535 and 3 of the3555) with 100gr. inserts in them and then you can play with different weight heads to see what works for you.  I believe the 1535's with 200+ grains up front would work best out of your set-up.  I use them out of a 45# bow with 275gr. up front and they shoot really well for me.

[Trev2010]

Hi Rob, thanks a whole lot for your help on this.  I want to make sure I understand what you're saying.  You said:
 

imo - it's best to choose carbon shafts that are lower in spine than the manufacturer charts suggest, and piling on front end weight will make arrows track better/faster, without perceived weakening of spine.

As I understand it the lower the spine the stiffer the shaft.  So you're saying I should get stiffer shafts and then offset the stiffness by adding more weight to the front?

[mnbearbaiter]

Shoot wood with that bow, itll look way cool and perform fine! Get a 3Rivers Test Kit, spine charts are great but form is a large factor in determining arrow spine!!!

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Trev2010:
Hi Rob, thanks a whole lot for your help on this.  I want to make sure I understand what you're saying.  You said:
 

imo - it's best to choose carbon shafts that are lower in spine than the manufacturer charts suggest, and piling on front end weight will make arrows track better/faster, without perceived weakening of spine.

As I understand it the lower the spine the stiffer the shaft.  So you're saying I should get stiffer shafts and then offset the stiffness by adding more weight to the front? [/b]

sorry, by 'lower' i meant 'weaker' - significantly weaker.

[BOWMARKS]

I would say if you have a bow shop or club or maybe even a TradGanger around your area try to get there and learn face to face with another Trad Archer . You picked the right way to go good luck and enjoy the ride.  

MARK