What Arrow?

[South Fork]

Hello All,

     Brand new to this forum and bow hunting ( duck hunter ). Well I just bought my first bow, a used proghorn and am trying to figure out the arrows and what I should be shooting.

     The bow is 60" with a 57# @ 29". I tried researching what arrows to use, but got confused. The charts say either 340 or 400... what's the difference? Also, what's the difference with arrow spines etc...? I did a search on this forum and found guys saying that they liked shooting slightly heavier arrows etc... what's the advantages and disadvantages to this? I found all these physics charts comparing kinetic energy etc... and really got lost.

     So my goal is to primarily hunt deer with this bow and I would really like to hunt with wooden arrows. Should I practice with wooden arrows as well or is it fine to shoot the cheaper carbon ones so long as they match in weight and specs?

     Thanks for the guidance and I'm looking forward to archery and figuring this stuff out. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Take care

Dillon

[South Fork]

Sorry, but forgot to ask about length. For a 29" draw what length of arrow? I was reading online that newbs should have arrows approx. 3 inches longer whereas experienced archers are good with 1 inch longer.

Thanks again...

[shortstroke 91]

The arrow will depend on you as well as the bow. What's your draw length? What weight head are you looking to shoot, there are many options. If I were you I'd go with carbons at first just for durability sake. Once you're comfortable enough to go with woods I would suggest getting a test set of arrows and points from any of the reputable suppliers out there. This will give you multiple sets of different spines to see what your bow likes.

Guessing you draw somewhere close to 28" I'd go with the 400 and start with full length shafts. Don't worry so much with perfectly tuned arrows at first, just work on good form. When I started out my form was terrible and my anchor and shooting style varied so much from session to session that I was fighting my arrows to keep then consistent.

Where abouts in TX are you? If you can find some trad knowledgeable folks near by it will help the learning curve immensely.

[mahantango]

Is your draw length actually 29"? That's the most important thing. If so, a 30-31" arrow is plenty. Your probably looking at a .400 carbon or a 65-70# wood.

[Wheels2]

If you are looking at shooting carbons or aluminum, contact Lancaster Archery.   They sell shafts individually.  This allows you to try several different ones.  If you want wood shafts, I contacted Tommy at RMS and got a half dozen shafts that came in pairs of three different spines each.  If you don't make your own arrows, Three Rivers sells trial packs of made wood arrows.  They contain different spine arrows in the pack.  You pick the poundage range.
If you are really going to hunt with woods, I wouldn't bother with the others.  The different diameters and weights could mess you up.  
I can shoot a 400 grain carbon and a 565 grain cedar from my bow.  That's a lot of difference in impact at 25 yards.

[German Dog]

first of all welcome aboard!

The first thing I'd do is find what your draw lenght is....take one arrow and measure from the nock groove to the end of the arrow and put a mark starting at 26" and make a mark every inch after that till 29" or so. Then practice drawing a few times and have someone make a note of which mark is even with the target side of the bow. This is your draw lenght. Then add 1" or more(most people do about an inch) to it for the lenght of arrow.

For first time starters i'd get some gold tip traditional shafts.   http://www.shop.bigjimsbowcompany.com/Gold-Tip-Carbon-Shafts-BLEMS-GTBLEMS.htm  
  They are the best looking carbon and carbons are easier to mess around with. However, wood arrows are fun so if you want go with them or wait till you get use to the bow and so on until you try woodies. Gold Tip arrows are in spine range of 15-35, 35-55, 55-75, 75-95.  I'd take a guess and say get some 55-75.

Stu miller spine calculator website is a good place to play around and get an idea on spine to match your bow.

also read this to understand arrow tuning...   http://www.acsbows.com/bareshaftplaning.html  

Good luck!

[damascusdave]

In general a new shooter is going to be overbowed with a draw weight of 57 pounds...that can lead to some bad habits that will take a long time to correct...how did you determine that starting with a bow with that heavy draw weight would work for you...just under the Little Crow Custom Bows logo a the top of this page click on Trad Archery for Bowhunters...some great information for both newbies and experienced archers to check out

DDave

[South Fork]

thanks to all for the help and guidance... it's much appreciated.

Well just got back from Cabelas and picked up some carbon spined 400... Can't wait for the bow to come in tomorrow and begin shooting. Already hooked and haven't even started.

Thanks for the help as to where to begin with links and what not. To answer you Dave, I picked that bow to be able to hunt everything with it. Deer will be the primary game, but I'll also plan to hunt elk etc... with it. From what I was able to research a 55-60# bow will suit those needs. I hear ya on being to heavy and that was one concern, but after trying some out the guy said I wouldn't have any issues learning with it. Don't intend to sound arrogant or cocky, but I'm a strength athlete who dead lifts over 500 pounds etc... Strength wasn't an issue when trying bows and draw weight, but I didn't wanna get something to heavy for the sole purpose of having difficulty holding the weight and not being able to focus on shooting fundamentals.

Thanks again to all and really looking forward to learning this sport. Oh yeah, really getting excited about making my own arrows. I carve and paint duck decoys and would really enjoy getting into making arrows as well... keeps getting better and better.

Take care and God bless all...