Ashby Wisdom is confounding me...

[Smithhammer]

Sure, if you put the arrow right where it needs to be, you can make a clean kill with a lighter arrow. But obviously many variables, both on the part of the hunter, and the prey, can contribute to the arrow not going exactly where you wanted it to in a real hunting situation. As already noted, you'll be surprised at how much you can significantly beef up your arrow's overall weight and FOC balance, and therefore your penetrating power, without significantly affecting the way your arrow will fly within the normal hunting range of a trad bow. So why not do it?

To paraphrase Ashby:

His theories on FOC are not designed for when everything goes right, but when it goes less than right. That's when it's real nice to have the extra insurance, in the form of extra penetrating power, of a high FOC setup and a cut-on contact combo.

FWIW, I wouldn't give up on trying 5575s in the future. I'm guessing that with the correct length and weight up front, they might be perfect.

(Frankly, I'm amazed at how many compound hunters ignore this, and focus purely on speed. Why not have both speed and high FOC?)

[Greg Skinner]

I shoot mostly HH bows that are cut 1/8 to 3/16 from center and in the range of 53#-57# at 26 3/4 inch draw length.  I use GT55-75's cut to 28 1/2 with 100 grain brass inserts and 260 grain points and they shoot well from all of the bows.  If I try to shoot them out of my r/d bows cut closer to center shot I have to build out the side plate to get good flight.  It seems to me that with a close-to-center-shot bow pulling 60# that you could still get the 75-95's to fly if you use 100 grain brass inserts and 260 to 290 grain points - at least that is what I would try before giving up on the ones that you have already cut to that short length.

Personally, I don't like that extra arrow length with my short draw, so I just cut them to the length I wanted and added weight until they flew right.  I had to go to 55-75 because when I tried 35-55 I couldn't cut them short enough to get good flight.

[highpoint forge]

Stu's calculator is pretty damn good....

[xtrema312]

I would add 100 gr. inserts and then work with the 250-300 gr. points to see if you can get the 5575 to work.  Best to have started with a lot longer shafts.  These would be only  about 11 gpp so on the heavy side, but not all that heavy of an arrow for shooting bigger critters.

I have been shooting the blems and using the calculator for a while now when using carbon  arrows.  I have had fits trying to tune sometimes.  I have also had some hard to explain shooting issues.  


I have come to determine that the calculator doesn’t work for carbon arrows.  At least not for HFOC.  Maybe it has something to do with the HFOC and would work better with more standard point weights.    I don’t plan to find out as I now just bare shaft.  My current spine of my arrow is around 35# where my bow is over 60# in the calculator.

I have bare shafts from two sets of blem shafts and on set of first quality shafts.  They are not the same. My old blems shot great, my first quality are ¼” longer and are too stiff, and my newer blems are ½” longer and so far a little too weak when set up the same as the others.  Looks to me so far like the blems are real close to each other but weak compared to the first quality shafts. Which also solves on mystery I have had where my Beman 400’s wouldn’t’ shot like my GT Trad blems.  I always thought the Bemans were stiffer, and I was right.  However, the Beman and first quality GT shoot the same with a bare shaft.  I am now going to be cutting and bare shafting each blem shaft before setting it up.

[JimB]

I'm sure that 400 grs up front will still be too stiff for the bow pulling 55#.I have one that is 55-56 # and it is tuned with a 30" 7595 and 400 grs up front.It would probably take 50 more grs of point weight to compensate for the 2" shorter length.It's not an exact science but figure about 25 grs of point weight to compensate for 1" of shaft length.

Those wood grain 7595 arrows would weigh about 730 grs.,with 400 grs up front.If they were black shafts,about 700 grs.They would also be about 29 % FOC.That may sound like a ton of weight but you should shoot them first at your hunting distances and decide.The first time I shot arrows like that,I was surprised how little difference there was over my standard weight arrows out to 20 yds.They drop a little after that but I have no trouble shooting them out to 30 yds.

[Jeff Strubberg]

You can shoot whatever arrow length you like.  Just remember if you remove length as a tuning variable, you have to be willing to give somewhere else (point weight).

FWIW, I've quit looking at manufacturers recommendations on spine weight (like your 75/95s).  Every one of them is ridiculously overspined.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Jeff Strubberg:
... FWIW, I've quit looking at manufacturers recommendations on spine weight (like your 75/95s).  Every one of them is ridiculously overspined.

no truer words have ever been spoken about carbon shafts.

[Friend]

Believe the following set-up would position you  w/i the ball park and commands both a viable and lethal set-up.

Victory VForce HV 400
Est -28.25”…400 up front…32.5% Ultra-EFOC…9.5 gpp…594 grains total

**Should penetrate as well as a normal FOC arrow that weighs well over 100 grains more**