What weight broadhead/tip?

[TubbsTru]

Hey all! Just wondering what weight broadheads guys are using for whitetails? My bow at my draw length shoots about 50# and I'm wondering if it would beneficial to load the front-end of the arrow with some good weight. I'm looking at going with carbon arrows. Anybody know enough arrow "theory" to help me select what would be best in terms of grains? The way I'm looking at it is like this: if I use a lighter carbon arrow I should probably have some weight out front to help with penetration. Am I right on this? Thanks!

[parshal]

I'm interested to hear as well.

[JimB]

There is no perfect weight.I would suggest a minimum of 125 grs as smaller are usually not as strong or may be narrower.I would also start with a standard weight like 125-145 or so and learn how to tune it to perfection.With a 50# bow,that will blow through any whitetail.

[Roughrider]

My wife shoots 42# @ 25 1/2" with a Easton Full Metal Jacket 500 cut to 28" and 250 grain Wensel Woodsman.  Has had great performance on deer, pronghorn and bear.  Don't be afraid to try head weights up to 300 grains - with the properly tuned arrow, you'll like the flight and penetration.

[Orion]

With a carbon arrow spined for your 50# bow, you're going to need about 250 grains up front through a combination of broadhead, insert and/or adaptor weight, to give you about a 500 grain arrow, which is about 10 grains per pound of bow weight, a good ratio, and a pretty good weight for whitetails as well.  

Wood arrows of the appropriate spine and weight and 125-145 grain points will get you in the same overall arrow weight range, though FOC will be less because more of the arrow's weight is in the wood shaft vis-a-vis a carbon arrow. They all work.  Good luck.

[TubbsTru]

Thanks for the help everyone.

[Rick Richard]

X2 what Orion said.  I believe it is more about total arrow weight than just broadhead weight.  I try to be around that 10 GPP number.

It takes a bit of experimenting with carbons to get the spine right.  I have seen more often that not, guys going from wheels to trad getting the arrows too stiff and having to start over with full length shafts, I personally hate full length shafts, I guess that is why I only use carbons on my heavier bows and sweet minimum length tapered cedars on my lighter bows that come in right around 520 grains with 160 grain points and with 5 pounds less spine come to 470 grains with 145 grain points. Either way they all zip right through Iowa and Wisconsin  whitetails.

[John146]

Gold Tip 3555's with the weight system will work well for whitetails. This allows you to cut your shaft the length you wish and choose whatever broadhead you wish to shoot and then you can just keep adding weight up front until you end up with very good bareshaft flight. After that add your fletching and it will be even better.
A side note is that with this system if you ever hunt something bigger you just get some nock adapters that let you add weight and you can add weight front and back and get a heavier arrow if you want without having to buy new shafts. Hope this helps.

[Safari Scott]

125 is a good number, super versatile that way. 100gr brass insert means you'll have plenty up front but more options.

[Deeter]

Well I am using a Beman Centershot arrow 500 spine 75 grain insert and 135 grain zwickey braod head.  Thats launchin off a Bear Kodiak Mag 50#@28.  There are thousands of configurations you could go with.  Just got to expierment and find what works and feels best for you.  Good luck.

[Shawn Leonard]

Whatever point weight your arrow shoots well. If you shoot 175 grain point weight than same weight broadhead. All the info given by everyone is worthless without a lot more info. I mean if you are shooting a selfbow that is not cut close to center you may need a .600 spine with 275 grains up front or more. Also 8.5-10 grain per pound is more than enough for whitetails. I shoot 8.5 gpp. and it is more than enough out of my bows. Shawn

[Macca]

Your arrows seem like a very light weight shaft indeed. If you are not shooting long distances why so light? Another factor is the poundage, being 50lb combined with light arrows may spell disaster if you connect with a bit of bone along the way. I would think with the light poundage to go with 12g / lb for a minimum 600g overall, with 300 - 325 point weight. I have not hunted whitetail but I dont even like 600g on our feral goats and they are smaller than whitetail, thinking out aloud.

Good luck with it, cheers Macca.

[JimB]

If you want to get in the 10 GPP range,I think you would need to start with a .400 gr shaft and work out the length and point weight that tunes best.Wood grain on a shaft can add 1 or more grains per inch if you need it.

[Fletcher]

I like the way a heavy pointed arrow shoots, so I shoot as heavy a point I can shoot while keeping my arrow weight in the 11-12 gpp range.  I shoot wood arrows and that generally means a 200 gr point, altho I have been able to go up to 250, just not many points available in that range.  You still must spine and tune to your point weight.

[TubbsTru]

Fletcher- your response gets sort of to the heart of my question: do we begin with point weight and then deal with arrow spine (the 3rivers spine chart to function this way)? Or do we start with bow weight, pick a spine, then worry about point? I'm beginning to see that I need to almost think about what weight point and go from there. Thanks for everyone's response!!

[threeunder]

I mostly shoot heads in the 200 gr range.  VPA Terminators, VPA Penetrators, Simmons Safari and Tree Sharks, and Snuffer 160's with 43 gr. adapter.
That's the weights I have the most of...but I do have heavier and lighter heads.
Personally, I try to tune my setups to keep with that 200 gr. weight when I start looking at hunting.
99% of that can be accomplished in arrow choice.  I've got AD Trads and Trad Lites that I do the vast majority of my shooting with.  They are extremely forgiving.  For times I need something "in between", I turn to CE Heritage 150's, 250's, 350's (rarely).
My way is backwards from what a lot of guys do.  But by keeping all those arrows at 30" and having a good choice of head weights (if needed), I can usually get to where I need to be without cutting my arrows to different lengths.
If my goal is to shoot 200 gr. VPA Terminators, then chances are, I have an arrow (that is same length as every other arrow I shoot) that will tune with a particular bow.
That's just the way I do it.

[Shawn Leonard]

You should pick an arrow that is gonna be close in spine with a particular weight, say 175 grains, than fine tune the arrow by adding or reducing weight. I myself shoot a 29.5" arrow as I draw 28.5"s and I do not want more than an inch or so of shaft hanging out past back of bow. I than, from experience pick a shaft that I knwo is close in spine for my bows poundage, say .500 spine for bows from 48-56#s at my draw. I than fine tune that arrow by adjusting point weight accordingly. I find most modern bows that are cut to center or past of weights that I mentioned above will tune with a .500 spine carbon arrow. It is just a matter of picking the length I want the arrow(29.5"s for me) and than tuning it with point weight. Most of my bows are 51-54#s and I shoot point weight from 175-250 grains on these bows depending on there performance and how far they are cut past center, etc. etc. Shawn

You should strive to get your total arrow weight around 10gpp of draw weight. If you are drawing 50# at your draw length, then you should look for a total arrow weight from 475gr to 550+gr. Adding weight to the front, either with heavy inserts, heavy points, or both is the easiest way to up total arrow weight. When you add weight to the front though, you effect arrow spine. If you want to add a lot of weight up front (I add 250gr up front on my arrows) you have to start with a stiffer shaft to make it tune correctly.

Bisch

[JimB]

That is exactly what I do.1" over draw length and tune with point weight.It can go very quickly once you get the hang of it.