Wood arrow accuracy

Many people do not consider their own inconsistencies.  How one is set up makes no difference if that set up does not have some tolerances in it to forgive or comply with the shooters inconsistencies.  I have seen far more Hill style shooters struggle with carbon than with wood. It is not the fault of the arrow when someone has a short draw when shooting out of a tree stand or from an odd position, but if that person has set up the tuning so that a softer shot greatly affects the arrow flight, than the tuning was not accurate enough to fit the shooter.  I have seen bad wood shafts, from years of experience, I know how to order good shafts for the intended shooter and bow.  When I make someone a dozen arrows, I almost always have to work with the shooter to get them fixed before I can decide on what to do with the arrows.  For bows that are not center shot, I find that wood arrows can be much easier to deal with considering my parameters.  My first parameter is that no arrow should ever be more than one inch longer bop than the draw length. If I could hunt with net length broadhead wood arrows I would, the head touching my index finger is as close as I can get and makes a marvelous draw check device as well.  That is not so easy with carbon and still have an arrow that will forgive an accidental softer release.  We are not operating push button shooting machines and we not shooting machines ourselves either.

[ron w]

Originally posted by Sam McMichael:
Wood arrows, if well made, will generally shoot tighter than most any of us can hold. I wonder if anybody told Howard Hill how innately inaccurate his wooden arrows were.

I have found woodies to be totally adequate for my shooting, and I have found that they are easier for me to tune.

X2  

[Shadowhnter]

Gordon, I've now shot woods of various types, aluminum, and carbons. I have deduced that they all hit what you are looking at if you do your part. I think carbon for me on the target butt holds a smidgen tighter but its not much. I'm happy with wood or other materials equally. Honestly I dont personally think you'd gain enough by switching. The one big difference I note, is a good well built carbon takes a lot of mean punishment to break.

[Gordon Jabben]

No, I don't want to switch from wood.  I have shot them for so many years. The article in the magazine made me wonder how much accuracy I have been giving up by shooting wood and was thinking about getting a set of carbons just for an accuracy test against my wood arrows and wondered what other shooters opinions would be.

I have one active set of carbon arrows. They fly out of just of my bows.  The odd part is that I have Surewwods that fly perfect out of four of my bows including that one.  When I do things exactly right, the tapered carbons are perfect.  If I draw longer and release harder the carbon gets bad about it, if I have a softer release and shorter draw by a half inch or so the carbon arrow acts stiff.  I tried to give them to a friend that had a past center recurve, that was about 62 pounds at his draw, they flew good for him with lighter points, but they were too short.

[WESTBROOK]

Gordon, you aint missing anything!

[McDave]

Originally posted by Gordon Jabben:
No, I don't want to switch from wood.  I have shot them for so many years. The article in the magazine made me wonder how much accuracy I have been giving up by shooting wood and was thinking about getting a set of carbons just for an accuracy test against my wood arrows and wondered what other shooters opinions would be.

I don't see any reason for you to switch, if you like wood arrows.  You have no doubt hunted with them and know your effective range.  Within your effective range, wood arrows would be as lethal as carbons.  If you want to expand your effective range, changing arrows would be one of a list of things to consider.  In competitions, I only shoot wood arrows if the competition requires wood arrows, and then everyone has the same limitation.  However, the accuracy difference between wood and carbon is close enough that even in competitions where you can shoot any arrow you want, sometimes the guy shooting wood arrows will win just because he is a better shot.

The bottom line is, carbon shafts are straighter, more consistently matched, lighter, and more durable than wood shafts, so in my opinion they are better.  But they aren't THAT much better that you should switch, if you love shooting wood arrows.

[Charlie Lamb]

I've made, shot, lost or broken a thousand + wooden shafts (cedar)in my life. I'm much more particular with them these days than I was "back when". 30 years ago I'd order a hundred at a whack that were spined and supposedly weighed... maybe they were close and maybe they weren't.

I do know that my buddies and I put a lot more effort into knowing our equipment in those days since we didn't own either a scale or spine tester. We learned by shooting them and came to know their personalities by doing that. We were too poor to be able to discard any but the most weird flying of the lot.

I could go on and on about the great long shots we made with those arrows. It wasn't just luck either.

Today we have the benefit of being able to procure the most closely matched shafts ever and be able to purchase more that are very closely matched to previous sets. We also  have learned the value of owning a simple scale and spine tester just because you can never be too careful.

I shoot with confidence that every arrow I shoot will follow the one before to it's target as closely as I'm able to shoot.

My main concern with wooden shafts is the possibility of warpage and even that is unlikely with premium shafts.
   

My first antelope taken at 55 yds. Cedar shaft and Zwickey Delta. Shot was taken from the hay stack in the background.

[Gordon Jabben]

Nice picture Charlie and what a great shot.  You have a talent for taking good hunting pictures and I always enjoy them. I have kept a hunting log since I started hunting with a longbow but I regret I haven't taken many pictures of my hunting friends, game, or camp scenery.

[jsweka]

It's jut my opinion, but I say a guy has to be one hell of a shot to say that he can shoot better than a well made, matched dozen of wood arrows.  Wood arrows certainly shoot better than I shoot them.

[dnovo]

I've been making and shooting wood arrows(mainly cedar) for a long time. I do have some aluminums, but haven't shot them in years. Don't shoot carbons. A big part of my enjoyment of shooting a longbow is the time spent making a beautiful and well matched set of cedars. They will shoot with any arrows.
I think the archers ability is a factor also. While I'm not a great shot, I am above the pack at most 3d shoots. And my wood arrows out shoot all my friends with their carbons. a good wood arrow will shoot with the best of them.

[Gordon Jabben]

Jsweka, my shooting has really went downhill the last couple of years and I think I just want to blame the arrows instead of myself. I doubt that carbon arrows would help.    

[Matty]

I got turned on to surewood Doug fir a couple years ago. I have since made many arrows for myself and others spine and weight matched with insanely high tolerances. I have been so impressed. And like someone else mentioned. I don't have to figure out ways to add weight for an elk arrow. As far as accuracy is concerned, They shoot as well as carbon in my opinion.

[Charlie Lamb]

Gordon... good photos come from taking lots of them. Even the top pro's can more photos than they keep.
You just have to make yourself take the time to take them... and it's a lot cheaper with today's digital cameras.    

[MW]

I heard that compound bows are more accurate that traditional bows too!  My point is not to start fight but to point out that it all comes down to personal preference and what makes you happy.  

If I want tighter groups there are a few ways to skin that cat. More modern equipment is one, practice is another.  There is no doubt in my mind there are plenty of wood arrow shooters that have tighter groups than I would have with carbon.

Personally, for me one inch groups is not my goal right now.  I measure my traditional archery experience in smiles.  An occasional stray arrow due to a bend in my wood shaft just makes me smile.

Tight groups can get expensive and time consuming.  I have 2 dozen aluminum arrows that need repair from trying to shoot too many arrows into too small of a pile.  If I make six net length wood arrows, I try to keep it at six, that means i am shooting each arrow at a different spot.  The easiest thing there is to hit on a target is a brand new wood arrow a they quite often end up with more than just a cracked nock.