Broadhead Weight

[Bowhuntah]

Man, this is confusing trying to figure out what weight set up I should go with. I am new to the Trad Bow world and I thought I kinda had it figured out til I noticed that some archers are using such heavy tips arrows! I have a Howatt Mamba 55# recurve, and I pull 28 inches. I have just begun getting into making my own arrows. I already made a few 55-60 cedar shafted RW 5" 3 fletched and tipped with 125 grn field points. They seem to fly pretty good but I want to make some for hunting now with broadheads and I know thats a whole different story. If I go with glue on woodsmans or snuffers is 125grn going to be enough?

[wapitimike1]

You want more wieght toward the front of the arrow then the back. This allows the arrow to  fly better and it increases penetration. The heavier front pulls the shaft through the target. Otherwise upon stiking the target the arrow flexes wildly loosing penetration. This is called Front of Center or FOC. Try and get it up to at least 15%. The way to check is balance you arrow point (field or broadhead) included. Mark the balance point then messure how much foward of the middle of the arrow that point is. If it's not at least 15% use a heavier point (You'll most likely have to cut your arrow a bit) to get there.     Good Luck

[killinstuff]

Millions of animals of all sizes have been killed with that same set up. If that arrow flys good out of your bow, why change.

[Don Stokes]

Bowhuntah, don't worry too much about how much weight-forward you have. As long as the balance point is closer to the broadhead than the nock, the arrows will work just fine.

You'll probably have to go up in spine at least 10-15# for your broadhead arrows. Nearly all recurve bows need more spine in wood than the bow is rated, because the original scale was based on all-wood self bows. Shaped recurve fiberglass stores more energy than straight wood, so your spine has to increase accordingly. Field points may look OK in flight, but when you put the broadheads on you will see what's really happening.

Like killinstuff said, "Millions of animals have been killed with that same set up." Archers somehow managed to muddle through for all those years without going to extremes with point weights. Find a spine and broadhead weight that shoots accurately and groups with your field points, and you're ready to hunt!

[Bowhuntah]

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Apex Predator]

If you were shooting 40-45# and were after something larger than average hog or deer, then I would worry more about high FOC.  It really makes a big difference, but isn't needed in many cases.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Originally posted by killinstuff:
Millions of animals of all sizes have been killed with that same set up. If that arrow flys good out of your bow, why change.

I agree.