Arrow weight help please

[jojotater]

I have two bows, and at 27 inches I'm pulling 40 pounds on each. I checked it with scales. One was an old Bear Grizzly 50 @ 28, but I guess it was marked wrong or has gotten weaker--love the bow, though.

I would like to use a Stos head, wood and aluminum shafts--maybe carbon. I want 3 5 inch feathers and reflecting wraps. I will make my own arrows.

I would appreciate help with weight combinations on shafts and head, and your reasons for the choices.

I would really appreciate your opinions

This setup will be for whitetails only.

Oh, and buying a heavier bow is not an option right now--spent too much of the budget on the Treesaddle and Lone Wolf climbing sticks.

[Shawn Leonard]

I would say a carbonwood 2000 cut to 28.5"s and a 100 grain brass insert with your stos head(depending on head weight) glued to a short broadhead adapter will give ya some good whitetail medicine. If the stos weighs 125 or so ya will be good to go. That would give ya 250 grains up front and good weight for whitetails. My nephew shoots almost the same set-up but uses a 100 grain snuffer with the long adapter for 142 grains plus the 100 grain brass insert. Kustom King a sponsor here is a greaty source for the carbonwoods. Shawn

[jojotater]

Thanks Shawn. Anyone know on wood and aluminum?

[Bjorn]

You may want to check your scale with some weights...........but for that light a hunting bow go with carbon or aluminum-forget about wood. You will need all the help you can get for penetration. JMHO

[jojotater]

Hi Bjorn. The scales are correct.  Why would wood not penetrate as well as carbon or aluminum if it is around the same weight?

[jojotater]

Does aluminum penetrate as well as carbon?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Here has been my experience with penitration using different kinds of arrow for hunting and 3D. when your point or broadhead has a larger diameter than the shaft you will definitely see more penetration due to the fact there is less drag. like dropping a one inch dowel through a
1 1/8" inch hole...The same goes for carbon , aluminum and wood. There should be no difference in penetration between a wood arrow and an aluminum arrow if the diameters are the same, and a good smooth finish is applied to the wood shaft.

Woodies are cool!...they are traditional archery at it's finest in my opinion and I'm going to hunt with them myself this year. How do they compare with carbons and aluminum? Even with pain staking effort to build woodies exactly the same. it's very tough to get the weight and spine of each arrow really close. I'm making my own wood shafts though too. But they don't compare to the consistency you get with aluminum and carbon..

The carbons are viewed by some as the best. and they are by far the straightest arrows out there. they are either dead straight, or broken. there is nothing between. but sometimes the spine in one batch can vary a lot. they are stiff little buggers any way. In order to hunt with these using a trad bow,usully requires weight tubes, or extreme up front weight throwing your FOC way out of whack. considering the short distances we shoot I'm uncertain on how much difference this makes.

Aluminum arrows can be built with unbelievable consistency in weight and straightness. it is easier to balance your FOC with aluminum than a carbon due to a lot more choices in wall thickness. Shawn may argue this point, due to his vast experience in all the new carbon shafts available out there. But you can bend aluminum, and they are very difficult if not impossible to straighten with good results.

But when it comes to hunting, i prefer an aluminum over a carbon, because they will bend a lot before they break. I do not like the way a carbon arrow shatters into many pieces, or how easily they just snap off. The first ones out and maybe some still on the market used to splinter really bad too. i believe the technology has got around that one.....

Last but not least is expense....good carbon arrows are going to run 10 bucks apiece or more. if you are going to use carbon arrows you don't buy cheap ones....They are worthless in my opinion. Aluminum is by far more economical. But wood arrows are the cheapest, but a lot more labor intensive to build and maintain.....

There is my two bucks worth.....I've harvested animals with every kind of arrow except woodies now.....look out critters woodies coming at ya this year!

[jojotater]

KirkII, what broadhead do you usually use with aluminums, and do you think it matters as far as flight? I have some 1916s. What would be a good weight head for 40#?