Arrow Too Heavy?

[BWallace10327]

I was playing with some arrow shafts (30.5" CE Heritage 250) and my Black Widow PMA with 43@29" limbs.  According to the 3rivers dynamic spine chart, this shaft is perfect for this bow with a 200 grain point.  This is over 13 grains per pound.  The bare shaft shows good flight too.  The issue arises when I shoot multiples of the arrows.  It seems this heavy weight slows everything down just enough for any release of form errors to really shine.  Is it just me or has anyone else experienced this?

[ChuckC]

A question... is it the weight that is causing the intermittent issues, or is the arrow itself just barely right for the bow such that perfect releases will allow for great flight, but bad releases show up greatly ?  

I have been struggling with that issue myself and I see certain arrows fly well almost all the time, while some ( lighter spined in both cases) fly great some times and really jump to the side ( to the right for me as a lefty shooter) when my release is less than stellar.

[BWallace10327]

Thanks for the reply Chuck.  I think you raise a great point.  I try to bare shaft tune my arrows a little weak, so I never see stiff arrow flight.  These arrows are not weak, but just about perfect, so if I flub the release (which is not hard to do when dropping 12 lbs or draw weight), the arrow comes out showing too stiff, and since I'm not used to seeing that, it looks really bad and strange.

[the rifleman]

Not sure what you meant about dropping 12 pounds of draw weight.
But I had to answer this question for myself w my 42 pound bow.  When using 600 spined shafts I had to load them w 200 grains up front to tune them.  This gave me about 13 gpp.  Not much of a concern at my 20 yd max hunting range.  But at 3d I'd often get comments on my 30 yd shots like " wow that arrow was heading right for the kill and then it just dropped".  This winter I am playing w some heritage .670 spined arrows and a 125 grain tip.  The fly much faster and flatten my gaps up nicely out to 30 plus yards.  They come in around 10 gpp.  I never thought about the slower speed magnifying form arrows but it makes sense-- good point.  You might try dropping down to the 150 s. This would give you some room to play w tip weight and length.  90 s might work, but they could be a little weak.  Would like to hear what you find that works.

[the rifleman]

Chuck, just read your reply-- while playing w these lighter arrows I violated the " make one change at a time rule" and went from split to 3 under.  I have been grouping several inches to the right and started focusing on string blur to correct.  In my case I was lining up w my stance w bow shoulder to the right of the target-- rest of my form was pretty good so arrows just wanted to fly straight, which happened to be right of where I wanted to hit.  I'm a lefty too.  Now if I can just remember to keep my face square maybe my nose skin will grow back...  Good luck

[BWallace10327]

Problem solved; I put my 55# limbs back on.  It turns out I'm not quite ready to relearn 43# limbs.  I'll save those for hot summer days hiking around a 3d course.  Thanks for the replies.

[YosemiteSam]

In my experience, lighter poundage bows can be more sensitive to release and follow-through and this is simply due to the slower speed of the string and arrow.  A lot can happen in between your decision to release and the arrow getting away from the bow toward your target.  From shooting spring piston air rifles, I learned that even 900 fps pellets can wobble from barrel recoil long before they actually leave the barrel.  Air rifle shooters use the "artillery hold" to make the wobble consistent from shot to shot.  If that's happening at 700-900 fps, just imagine what's going on at 150-180 fps with your bow.  The slower the arrow, the greater the effect.  My experience shooting bows has confirmed this.  Swapping between 30# and 50# limbs with similar weight arrows provides a serious lesson in release and follow through.

[Longtoke]

I rig my 500 spines to shoot a 300 grains cut to 27.5" and 250 grains cut 28.5"   out of a 46# bow.

I notice 250 grain arrows are pretty sensitive to a poor release, the 300 grain arrows are not.  I think the 250 grains are just borderline spine or something... kinda wonder about that myself.


I will also add in I shoot 400 spine with 250 up front cut to 30.5" and they also fly great, no problems.