Dumby needs help picking a carbon.

[Caleb the bow breaker]

Hey all and thanks in advance,

Like many I am curious about carbons and EFoc but dont know where to start and dont have the money to try everything under the sun.  Also I dont have access to a good archery shop so all supplies have to be purchased mail order and thus arrows really need to be pre-cut.

I shoot a Chekmate Hunter II 55# at 30 inches AMO with a fast flight string.  My Draw 30 inches AMO and thus arrow lenth is usually around 31.25".  I used to shoot 2216's and got fair flight, currently shoot 75-80 ash shafts with fair flight.  Both with 125 grain heads. But have never been able to achieve the "perfect" arrow and am jealous    .  I also think that my marginal arrow flight has limited my ability to improve as a shooter somewhat???

I would like some of the carbon experts to weigh in and tell me where to start.  I dont mind messing around with point weight and inserts but it is not really practical to change shaft length because I dont have an arrow saw available and dont want to buy multiple dozens at different lengths due to cost.

Caleb

[jhansen]

The good news is that carbons have a pretty wide range of spine in a single shaft.  You also have the fact that the CM Hunter is cut pretty close to center and as such is spine tolerant.  I'm at work and can't send photos but if you have a dremel-type tool you can easily make a jig to cut shafts to length using a cut-off wheel on the dremel.  That is the best way to solve the problem.  You can start full-length and shorten a bit at a time until you find the sweet spot.  Otherwise you have to have the shafts cut to length and then are limited to experimenting with point weights to alter spine.  Good luck!

John

[jhansen]

Oh, and for your draw length and bow weight I'd start with full-length 250's or the equivalent by other makers.

John

[BobW]

Not taking into consideration E-FOC, the Carbon Express Heritage 250 is likely the shaft (or similar by others) for a conventional arrow.  I'm at a full length shaft (32.75") on a 32" draw and 225g on a 56# bow @ 32.  I have shot the same arrow out of a Hunter-II that is right around the same weight.  The 350 is a really stiff arrow, and is still showing stiff for me on a 59@32 Shrew with over 300g up front, and it is supposed to like stiffer shafts.

jhansen:  if you get a chance, can you post some pics for that jig?

BobW

[Glenn Carl]

My advice would be to order half a dozen arrow Dynamic Trad. Heavies with 100 grain inserts. Leave them full lenght and just change the point weight until you get the arrow flight you are looking for. Hope that helps   Glenn

[BobW]

absolutely agree - they are supposed to be quite tolerant.  They fall off my radar since they don'y make them long enough.  I wish they made them longer...    ...

[Caleb the bow breaker]

Are those AD's going to be similar to Grizzlystiks and if so how do they compare?

C

[BobW]

check the link in the sponsors section, and do a search here.  Terry may also have some answers for you, I know he likes them very much.

[fatman]

the AD's are only tapered at the rear, parallel the rest of the way...Grizzlies, I believe, are full-length tapered...you should have good performance with a wide variety of point weights.

I've had good luck with the AD's in a wide variety of bows...you will not go wrong  

[rxhntr]

I have shot both Grizzlys and AD's----This is only my opinion, but I have gone with the AD's only now. The Grizzlys used to be very tough, but my last batch wasnt as good. The AD's will spin better, but that being said, they both fly excellent for me. The AD's are a wee bit cheaper also. By the way I shave them down to 31.5in place a brass insert and a 125 gr tip. My bow is 54# at 30in shooting this 600gr arrow at 180fps. The flight is great. One last thing I found--do not use the plastic snap in nocks---get the alum inserts and glue them in, this seems to me to make the shaft more durable. Hope my experience helps. Ben