Shaft weight differences

[Bill Tell]

I am a total newbie to Trad equipment so I have a few concerns with my arrows.
I shoot a 60" Morrison Cougar at 50#/26

I just bought a dz wood arrows from a catalog company and the weight spread was about 100 grains in the dozen.  Five of them are over 500 grains and the other weigh 448 up to 497.

First question.  Is this a normal range for catalog purchased arrows?

Next, how much will it screw me up if I shoot arrows this far apart in weight?  Won't the heavy arrows hit below the lighter ones by a couple of inches?


Third, should I be shooting the arrows below the 500 grains?  I watched a couple of how to videos and they all said shoot at least 10 grains per pound?

I think I already know the answer to this and if I just spent $70 dollars on five usable/correct arrows I will be a little upset.

Finaly could I go from a 125 grain tip to a 175 grain tip on the lighter arrows to make them the 10 grains per pound or will this mess up the spine?  They are spined for 55-60#.

Thanks everyone for any help.

[Bigriver]

The weight difference would effect my shooting greatly, 50grains means something to me. 5-10grains is hard to say.

 Some companys sell wood shafts with a disclaimer in sort of fine print that they do not grain weigh their shafts, I think 3rivers does that?

 I have no problem shooting shafts lighter than 500gr with your setup, depends on what you are hunting. Shouldnt hurt the bow any.

 If you put heavy tips to compensate for weight, you will deffinately change the spine, just as if you kept some shafts longer.

[dino]

Bill,
I don't think its a big deal unless your shooting distance (40+ yards).

Two examples:
I used to have a purple heart arrow in my quiver when target shooting.  It weighted about 800 grains.  My POC target shafts are about 500 to 550.  At 20 yards that purple heart arrow was always in the kill zone right with the rest of the arrows.  At 40+ yards that thing dropped like a rock and did hit low. I do group my POCs at that distance however.

Second, a couple of weeks ago I was target shooting, pulled out 4 CX 250s that I hadn't shot for a while.  Shot for about an hour.  At the end I was talking with a guy on the range on how heavy my shafts were.  Went to the scale and 3 were I think 550 and one was over 800.  Popped off the nock and saw that I had shoved an 8 gpi weight tube in one and forgot about it.  Shot for an hour and didn't even know it.  No shots dropping low or anything else.  

My personal opinion based on experience is that is doesn't matter as much as you might think within 20 yard distances.  But if it makes you feel better to have matched shafts down to the grain, then by all means purchase them from a company that advertises matching them to the grain. dino

[Art B]

You can heat your shafts up and rub some parafin wax in to raise their weigth to somewhat match the weight of the others. You want your wax to penetrate the wood and not lay on it's surface. I've added from 40-50 grains using this method (not tried this with stained shafts though but still might work). Wipe down with thinner and add your finished. A Tru-oil or polyurthane finish will work over the wax. Just expect your first coat to take several days to dry. Coat as usual after that. One of the slickest finishes I used. Just another option.-ART B

[Bigriver]

Yep, I`m basing on my personal experience also. When I quit compounds & first started shooting stickbows(15 years ago) I did not even concern myself with weight or spine, I was just concerned with hitting the bale at 5 yards. I found as I got better with my shooting, arrow weight & spine factored in more & more. I wanted to be as accurate as I could be.

 For an example, take 6 spine matched arrows of varying weights, say 50 grains,& shoot them at 20 yards. You shoot 3 in the bullseye, 2 go 8" low & one is 4" high. Was it you or the arrows? You wont know, so in your mind you try & compensate on the next group & you are all over the place. I have had this happen to me & seen it numerous times. If the arrows are matched real close, you KNOW it`s you.The weight of the arrows is a non factor.Now you can work on the real problem, your shooting.

 Take the top shooters with any weapon, selfbow, compound olympic recurve, rifle whatever. The best shooters will always match their projectiles as close as possible. If you took the 2 best stickbow shooters & one had matched arrows & the other had weights all over the place, who is going to be more accurate?

 Some guys just want a reasonable degree of hunting accuracy, which is great. For them, it is not going to be a great concern. Some guys like me are nutty about the little stuff. There is a name for us, but it is not nice  

[Scott S.]

My answers:
1.  This weight range spread does exist through some suppliers.  If you want a matched set, make sure the supplier specifies +/- 10gr. or whatever.

2.  I bought a set of shafts with a weight range of over 100gr. at a fundraising auction once.  I was a little dissapointed, but when I fletched them up and shot them, I did not notice all that much difference at 20 yards.  It depends on how well you normally shoot, though.  You may be able to group them into a couple of closer spread ranges (say 6 at 445-480 and 6 at 500-540) and use one group at a time.

3.  I doubt that the low weight (less than 10 gr/lb) should bother much.  Of course, if you hunt, the heavier ones should penetrate better all other factors being equal.

I have also found that a wide weight range of unfinished shafts get closer in weight after I seal them.  I am assuming that the lighter shafts are more porous and soak up more sealant.  This seems to correlate with what Art said about the parafin.