Wood Arrow Spine Question

[Sam McMichael]

I have a 1959 Redwing Hunter drawing 46#, but I only draw 25" so I am shooting a bit less. I need help figuring out a good spine. I have tried 50-55#, 55-60#,60-65#, and 65-70# arrows cut at 29" with 125 grain points. They all seem to be weak, shooting consistently to the right (I am right handed). I think the bow is center cut or close to it.

Do these spine weights seem out of line? I am used to my longbows with spine weighted arrows much closer to the stated draw weight of the bow?

[rscornutt]

Just a general suggestion, but I have shot Gold Tip XT 35/55 with 125 gr. field points at that weight range. I have also found heavier points shoot well.

[Orion]

You're getting a false weak, maybe in part caused by the overly long arrows.  You're probably drawing about 40#@25 inches.  A 45-50 or 50-55# spine with 125 grain head should fly good for you if cut the arrows to the proper length, about 26 inches back of point for a 25-inch draw.

[MnFn]

I had the same problem.  I am shooting a 53 lb recurve at 28".  I was shooting arrows up to 75/80 pound spine, and could get weak indications.

Orion may be right, but in my case it was a form issue.  I think it was worse if I tried to "swing draw".  

I was working very hard to get ready for a spring bear hunt, by concentrating on my form, and finally figured out my draw length isn't as long as I thought.  Someone posted about that recently, maybe Kirk, about how people over measure their draw length and when are actually shooting, they are much shorter.

When it was all said and done, I ended up shooting around a 63# spined arrow that is about 28" long with a 160 grain two blade.  Can't tell you how much money I spent on arrows that were ultimately too stiff.
Keep  after it, you will get it figured out.
Good luck,
Gary

[MnFn]

Sorry, double post.

[slowbowjoe]

I'm thinking most of those spines are too stiff, and something else is up, kinda like Orion says.
But a 45/50 at 26"BOP with a 125 point is gonna run about 55/60 dynamic spine, which I think is going to be at the upper (dynamic) spine you'll end up with.

And I'm assuming you're shooting a Dacron string.
 Also, what arrow length do you want to end up with?

[Pat B]

I cut my arrows to 30" for my 26" draw so overly long arrows shouldn't make a difference if you calculate the excess over 28" @ 5# per inch. Your arrows cut to 29" with a 125 point should shoot like an arrow that is 5# lower than the marked spine.

[Sam McMichael]

I will cut some arrows down and see what happens. On all my longbows, I shoot the long arrows with no problems and was expecting the same with the recurve.

For years and quite a few deer, my wife shot an older redwing that was about 40 pounds at her draw, maybe a pound less if she drew a bit short.  That is about what you are getting.  40-45 tapered Rogue River, now Wapiti Archery, is what she used with 125 Zwickies, cut to 27" bop.  The older ones were not quite cut to a pure center.  I feel that leaving a lot of extra length on wood arrows can cause a hard to predict variable that can react differently to different releases on the same bow shot by the same shooter.