Short or long arrows?

[BowPlinker]

Just wondering as I play around with my arrows because I have gone back and forth..which do you prefer and why..?
Longer arrow with less wight up front or shorter arrows with more wight up front..
Ive found the longer arrow has worked better for me..
Your opinions  
Ken

[Spectre]

I would much rather substitute shaft weight for weight in steel up front. So shorter arrows for me, it allows me to use the big heads if I want to.

[Orion]

I want my arrow to extend one inch beyond the back of the bow plus the length of the head, regardless of whether I'm shooting high or low weight arrows or high or normal foc.  Pretty easy to do with wood.  I don't like my arrows to be any longer than necessary for two main reasons.  First, in a bow quiver, the arrow nocks often stick in the dirt and fill with dirt when one leans the bow against a tree, for example.  More importantly, longer arrows reduce maneuverability.  It's amazing how much an extra inch or two of arrow length will result in not being able to maneuver the bow with arrow nocked in tight quarters, say in a tree or blind, including ground brush blinds.  On the practice range, of course, length makes little difference.

[huntin_sparty]

Shorter for me.  Higher FOC with more up front but also less arrow to get caught on stuff as I move through the woods with a arrow nocked.  I am using AD Hammerhead lites cut to 28.75 I draw 27ish on the longbow with standard insert and 180 up front, 4 4 inch parabolic on the feather end with a reflective wrap.

[sawtoothscream]

my arrows are long and have a good amount of weight up front. only way for me to get a good weight arrow that flys good.  unless i use weight tube which i dont want to

[BowPlinker]

I hunt mainly with carbons.. Axis
Best tuned ones i have are 29 inches with 175 grains up front..
Doing up some Beeman classics 28.5 inches with 225 up front..
Everytime I use the STU calculator been right on the money every time thus far  
Should add my draw is 26 inches..

[JRY309]

Shorter arrows can be a problem on some bows.I bought some used carbons a few years ago.They were 1" longer then my draw and showing stiff.So I thought I could add more weight to weaken the spine.They got worse the more weight I added.They were in effect bouncing off the riser instead of flexing around it.This was on a longbow not cut to center.Now I prefer to start full length and trim and tune.I let my tuning determine my arrows final length.

[Bowwild]

I'm with Orion. I like my arrows 1-1.5" plus broadhead/field tip past the back of the shelf. I may vary it a bit for tuning purposes, but not much.

My draw length is 26" so I shoot 27" 500 spine MFX Classics and 27.5" 600 MFS Classics depending upon whether I want a 415 or 505 grain arrow and more weight up front.

Some folks like a longer arrow (nearly full-length) especially if they use the "point of aim" method. The longer arrow makes their "point on" range really close to 20 yards which is a great hunting distance.

As you can tell from my pint-sized draw length, I like to cut full-length arrows in half to get 2 dozen for the price of one.

[KodiakMag]

Shorter. I'm a hunter not a target shooter.

[awbowman]

I like shorter for hunting, but not too short.  Easier not to bump limbs etc. when in a tree.

Longer for 3d. I just find I shoot them a little better.

[Night Wing]

With my 30" draw length, I prefer my arrows to be cut 32" BOP (back of point).

Since I shoot off the shelf, this gives me 1.5" of clearance between the back blades of a scapel sharp broadhead and the knuckle of my left index finger which sticks out in front of and under the shelf as I grip my bow.

This keeps me from getting a cut knuckle (again) if I over draw and then settle to my anchor point.

I've learned the hard way that "Pain is an excellent teacher".    :eek:

[hvyhitter]

I tune the arrow to match the broadhead and the bow, and dont really care about length other than to write it down for the next set of arrows.

[BowPlinker]

This is interesting.. I was worried I needed a bit more wight up front until I watched my arrow go clean through a bear in June..
Im going to see how the MFX classics work at 28.5 inches...  Im shooting a 56 inch Acadian Woods tree stick..  roughly 57 lbs

[joe skipp]

I've always found my arrows fly best when they are 1.5" longer than my normal draw. Old school theory was 1" longer for broad head clearance. Now Carbons, they need to be longer or increase the weight up front.

[Rob W.]

I like my arrows as short as possible. Long arrows seem to distract my focus.

[Friend]

#1… Whichever arrow length tunes w/I my over-all desired range parameter.

#2 …Prefer a shorter arrow due to using a high anchor. Many prefer longer arrows to close their site window while I am trying to open mine.

#3… Prefer shorter arrows for tight quarter clearance

#4… Prefer shorter arrows since I dabble with Ultra-FOC arrow designs.

**Would not be surprised that there just as many or even more valid justifications in order to meet others specific needs.

[mikebiz]

Originally posted by Bowwild:

My draw length is 26" so I shoot 27" 500 spine MFX Classics and 27.5" 600 MFS Classics depending upon whether I want a 415 or 505 grain arrow and more weight up front.

Hey Bowwild.  We shoot similar arrows and have similar draw lengths. I shoot CE Heritage 75s and CE Predator II 20/40s. I'm in the process of tuning some arrows now and I'm really nervous about cutting them down, but they aren't flying quite right at full length.  What draw weight(s) are you shooting and what type of bows do you use (longbow, hybrid, recurve)?  Thanks.