cedar arrows

[JJEYSAMAN]

im a beginner to trad archery and i was wondering is there a big difference when it comes to cedar arrows having a 10 inch taper or not.  thank you.

[ChrisM]

Rear taper will always make arrow flight better as long as you can get the weight you need.

[Jim Wright]

Jeffery, I may be wrong but I suspect you will not get a large response here with a poll. Your question is pretty general in nature as well.
Generally speaking, the advantages of a tapered wood shaft are realized most in a bow which is cut a long way short of center such as commonly found in many self bows. I shoot mostly wood, some Sitka Spruce and Cedar and a lot of Douglas Fir. I have not found any advantage with tapered shafts even in my Toelke Super D Hill Style longbows which are cut a little shy of center. If anything paralel shafts seem to me to stay straighter and shoot better than the tapered shafts I have had made.

[JJEYSAMAN]

thank you for your help

[Blackhawk]

I'm with Jim on this and I believe the extra coin for tapered shafts is mostly wasted.

Was this just another marketing gimmick?  

It will be interesting to read the comments from the arrow-making experts.

[Bjorn]

I use hunting tapered arrows, and like the look; but the difference from a functional view is wasted on me.

[David Mitchell]

I tried one dozen tapered shafts a couple of years ago, but they were not any improvement over my usual parallel shafts, so I stayed with the less costly ones. Your poll questions need to be more of a clear choice yes/no sort of thing.

[legends1]

I have 6 tapers and i see no difference in them over the parallels.I wouldn't get tapers again,but like you i wanted to see.Save your money.Nothing better than a well tuned parallel.

[Zradix]

I like the tapers.
If nothing else it gives me a mental edge.

I know it has to help lighten the rear and increase the proportional load up-front.

Don't know if I've truly noticed the difference but it has to be there.

[snag]

If you are talking about an 11/32" shaft back tapered to 5/16" (10/32")you are only removing 1/32". What this amounts to is by the time you crown and crest the shaft you are probably back to the original diameter...or you now have a true parallel shaft! The main thing with this diameter shaft being back tapered is that it probably straightens out of paradox slightly quicker. No scientific evidence on this. You also have slightly more weight forward. These are very small differences. But some people want every little bit of tweaking with their equipment. Where others just want to cut and taper and put a point on and shoot that arrow! Whatever works for you.
But if you want to shoot 23/64" tapered down to 5/16" that will make a difference in the fletching clearance and more weight forward.
I have found that by doing a breasted taper I get the best arrow flight overall. (11/32"-23/64"-5/16").

[rustyspike]

Usally spend the extra... But really about the same. The real thing is getting your setup right.

Tuned right.


Rich k.

[cedar]

I have shot 23/64 back tapered to 5/16 for 15 years.  Last year I decided to try a 11/32 parallel dozen due to increasing costs I guess, no other reason because I was satisified with the flight of the tapers.  I could see no difference in flight between the two.  Most of the shooting was done at 3D and most to a max of 30 yds.  I know this was like comparing apples to oranges due to the difference in diameter, but I was only interested in flight within 30 or 35 yds.  When I have more time, I intend to shoot out to 80 yds to compare but for now, I plan to make up some parallels for my general shooting and spend the extra savings on something else.

[Fletcher]

I prefer tapered arrows and checked  both your poll boxes.  However, there is not a way to answer them "no".

[Larry m]

I'm with Snag on the "breasted taper". I get my best flight on this setup. I also shoot barrelled 11/32 tapered to 5/16 on tip and nock out of a self wood and seem to get better flight then the parrellel, both at the same spine. Could be my imagination but certainly seems that way.

[hvyhitter]

The only time I "seem" to notice a difference is with non centershot longbows shooting broadheads......tapered just seems to be a bit more forgiving on less than perfectly released arrows.........YMMV