Moving to carbon - CONCLUSION

[adirondack46r]

Originally posted by Red Beastmaster:
Is it me or do carbon arrows require a lot of "tinkering"? I gave up all that hassle when I sold the compound 20yrs ago.

Sitka spruce or cedar arrows in the same spine wt as my bow draw wt and they fly perfectly. A little straightening now and then is all that's needed. Nothing but wood for me!

And although sniffing broken arrows may seem silly, I do it every time! LOL

Honestly, I'm not much of a tinkerer myself, and finding the right carbon seems to be alittle more involved than I expected. I'm thinking that once you find the right combination your probably ahead of the game - at least that's why I'm willing to give it a go for a bit longer.

[katman]

I also struggled with it the first time or two and got frustrated but persisted, keep it up it is worth it IMHO. Building out the rest will definetly effect the spine.

O L says to pay attention to the impact point of fletched and bare shafts, don't wory to much about nock position, get them to hit/group very close with bare shaft slightly to the right of fletched (right hander), I like about 1 inch at 20 yards. I use gap shooting with the point set on an object in front of the target to tune, can get very tight groups with this, go out to 25 yards and make sure you are still tuned. If you are in tune then changing the rest will take you out of tune. If your in tune then adding mass to the arrow should quiet her down.

[katman]

For a quick trial just tape a matchstick to the rest and shoot, it is a easy removeable way to check if that helps.

[adirondack46r]

Originally posted by katman:
For a quick trial just tape a matchstick to the rest and shoot, it is a easy removeable way to check if that helps.

Good tip. Thanks.

[wahoo]

I tried a couple carbons and they shot real true but the bow was noisy and there was hand shock so I thru them away. The bows were talking to me and I listened.

[flatbowMB]

Adirondack,

I'm sort of going in the opposite direct as you.  I won't totally abandon carbon arrows, but up until about 2 months ago I was using carbons  exlusively for the previous 3 years.  These were Beman Max 4 340s with 100 gr brass inserts & 125 g points/BHs for a total arrow weight was right at about 600 grains.

Without question carbons tend to be alot less hassle than wood once you've figured out the right setup with your bow, since it's easy to make exact duplicates from the magic formula.  

However, about 2 months ago while at a 3D shoot, a friend handed me 6 of his cedar shafted arrows to use because he wanted me to shoot with him in the longbow category.  I was a little dubious about using them and took some test shots and found that they were flying quite well from my bow and at under 20 yards were hitting the target the same as my carbons did.  The cedar arrows weighed about 50 grains less than my carbons so as you can imagine they did not drop nearly as quickly at 25 and 30 yards.

What blew me away however, was how much quieter and how much less handshock there was with the lighter cedar arrows than the heavier carbons.  Now for the last 2 months I've been monkeying around with cedar shafts & different fletching patterns/sizes to see what is optimal for my bow.  I'm not quite set up to hunt with the cedar shafts yet, but probably will be for the fall season.

[adirondack46r]

First of all, thanks for all of the input. Here is the scoop.

As is often the case there are/were multiple variables contributing the noise related to my carbon shafts. First I increased the brace height another 3/8 of an inch. I'm now just shy of 8 inches. That made a difference in the noise level of both the carbons and the wood arrows. Second, I ordered some 3 GPI weight tubes from 3Rivers and installed them in the shafts. This also reduced the noise level of the carbon shafts. The weight tubes, however, seemed to change the spine of the arrow slightly, so back to the bare shafts for a little more work. Building out the rest seemed to remedy that. I believe someone had suggested that earlier in this thread.

I have yet to mount and shoot broadheads on the shafts but I will probably tackle that this weekend. In the end, I think I have gained the following:

1. a slightly lighter, flatter shooting arrow - I went from approx. 600 grains to approx. 550 grains total arrow weight.

2. a more uniform shaft (obviously)

3. significantly higher FOC (good?)

4. cheaper - I don't have the time to make my own arrows, and I broke 3 wooden arrows made for me by whispering wind last year - great arrows, but cost about $12 a piece

5. better penetration? evidence from others seems to suggest this will be the case

So was it worth the time? Yes, but not because of the benefits listed above. I have a lot better idea now of what variables affect arrow flight and performance.

In fact, in the end I may stay with the wooden shafts. Not because of how they smell when they break, but because I have a better idea now of how to get the most out of them.

Thanks for all your help.

46r