Best economy carbon shaft?

[Crested Finger]

What would you guys choose when it comes to the lower end of carbons? Beman ics bowhunter, victory V-force, or Gold tip hunter? there are probably a few more I am missing.

I have heard a few people say the gold tips are more sturdy than the bemans, I do a good deal of stump style shooting so I would like a strong arrow but I don't have any experience with carbon yet.

If you are looking to save a few $$$, then the GT Blems that Big Jim sells are about the best buy you can get!

Bisch

[Alexander Traditional]

I always try to get the Big Jim Gold Tip blems.

[Crested Finger]

Never fletched an arrow before,  is it something anyone can do? can anyone recommend a cheap jig?

[30coupe]

I usually shoot Beman ICS Bowhunters, but I ordered a dozen GT blems from Big Jim. They are butt ugly (Nugent purple stripe), but I can't beat the price at $45.99 a dozen. He may have some left, the pink or purple are seven dollars cheaper than the less obnoxious colors if that bothers you at all. I figure the critters aren't going to care what color arrow goes through them, so I might as well save a few bucks.

As far as the Gold Tips being tougher than Bemans, I haven't noticed a difference. I've broken both, but I can also say I've beaten the snot out of those Bemans and have no complaints about their durability. The finish is a little slicker on the Bemans, but again, I don't think that makes any difference to a hunting arrow.

Big Jim will ship fast and his shipping charges are as good as anyone's.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think the best bang for your buck for economical shafts are Beman ICS Hunters. You will find the spine consistency MUCH better than the GT blems. The GT Trad arrows are better spine matched than the blems. The best spine matched i've found to date are the Victory shafts, but they are more expensive too.

Buying economical carbon shafts is fine, but a lot of guys do not realize just how much spine difference there really is from one shaft to the next with a carbon shaft. All carbon shafts are not created equally.

  Just from one side to the other rotating them on a spine tester can make a huge difference on some shafts. Some of these shafts are worse than woodies....... I was shocked....  

An archer can only become as consistent as the arrows he shoots......Food for thought.

[30coupe]

Originally posted by Kirkll:
I think the best bang for your buck for economical shafts are Beman ICS Hunters. You will find the spine consistency MUCH better than the GT blems. The GT Trad arrows are better spine matched than the blems. The best spine matched i've found to date are the Victory shafts, but they are more expensive too.

Buying economical carbon shafts is fine, but a lot of guys do not realize just how much spine difference there really is from one shaft to the next with a carbon shaft. All carbon shafts are not created equally.

  Just from one side to the other rotating them on a spine tester can make a huge difference on some shafts. Some of these shafts are worse than woodies....... I was shocked....  

An archer can only become as consistent as the arrows he shoots......Food for thought.

I agree. I've often tuned carbon arrows by simply turning them to the next fletch. This will often work. Bemans tend to be the most consistent of the arrows I've tried as well. My past experience with Gold Tips was that they seemed to be stiffer than I expected for the marked spine. On the other hand, I've had people say just the opposite, so you probably have a point in terms of consistency.

I thought the blems were supposed to be cosmetic issues only. Now you have me wondering. I guess I'll know in a few days when they get here. Hopefully they will be okay. If not, my granddaughter likes purple, so she may just get some arrows from Grandpa!

Totally agree with Kirk's comments above.

Bisch

[AZ_Longbow]

i shoot GT for everything, they tough and accurate. foot them and there even tougher.
i number all my arrows, and shoot them all with BHs installed before i take them hunting.
out of 10+ dozen of arrows i have had 3 bad arrows is all.

[Crested Finger]

Well all these responses have left me with a few questions

are the blem shafts purely cosmetic or is the defect deeper than what meets the eye?

What footing would you recommend to make the shafts for stumping proof?

If the economy shafts suffer from spine inconsistency what shafts would you recommend instead still keeping price in mind. Im all about the biggest bang for the least buck.

Originally posted by Crested Finger:
Well all these responses have left me with a few questions

are the blem shafts purely cosmetic or is the defect deeper than what meets the eye?

What footing would you recommend to make the shafts for stumping proof?

If the economy shafts suffer from spine inconsistency what shafts would you recommend instead still keeping price in mind. Im all about the biggest bang for the least buck.

The blems are advertised as all cosmetic, and a lot of the guys who shoot them say they cannot find the blemsishes on the shafts. I have no experience with the blems, other than what others who do use them have told me.

There is no such thing as a "stumping proof" arrow. You can foot with a couple inch piece of the appropriate size aluminum shaft to help.

It sounds like you are kind of new to the trad game. If so, then get yourself some blems and learn. As you get into this, you will change things a lot, until you finally settle on what is really for you (bows, arrows, gloves, tabs, quivers, broadheads, you name it). The blems will work just fine. You may end up with a "flyer" every once in a while that just will not perform like the others. These flyers are the waaaaay out of spine shafts. If you want really good spine consistency, you will have to shell out 2X (or more) the $$$$ to get it.

I believe the spine consistency thing is a GT quality control issue, and not a blem shaft issue. I shot GT XT Hunter black shafts (non-blems) for years (and killed a bazillion critters with them). GT makes shafts that cost a lot more than the ones I used, and they may very well be very consistent, but I have no experience with them, so cannot comment on that. I always had one of the flyers I described above, until I started spine testing/matching all my shafts. I now shoot Easton FMJ arrows, and consistency is superb, not only between the shafts in a particular dz, but between different dz's bought at different times. The tradeoff is that the FMJ's cost almost twice what the GT shafts did (and about 3X what the GT blems would cost).

Bisch

[Crested Finger]

thanks for the info Bisch, I have been shooting woods so i figured even cheap carbons would be much more consistent than POC. Don't think I could outshoot those economy shafts so I dont really want to pay out double for quality I might not even be able to notice.

[Sean B]

I didn't read all the posts but I've used Cabelas Stalker shafts. I believe they're actually made by Easton. I killed s bear with one. They shot great. If I'm not mistaken they're about $56/doz.

[cacciatore]

Bowhunting is my life,my love and I fully respect the animal I hunt so I look for the best arrow I can use for spine consistency and Weight FMJ are been my choice.

[Longtoke]

I was also wondering about the Victory V-force shafts. I saw RMSG has them fletched for the same price as the gt hunters. anyone used them before? how do they stack up to the bemans?

[Stone Knife]

Big Jim's GT blems more than do the job for me and the price is right. The blem on theses shafts is only cosmetic it in no way affects the overall quality or reliability of the finished arrow. I have taken three does so far this season and have not been let down by my arrow setup.

[drewsbow]

GT blems from BigJim for sure

[jackdaw]

Lets not leave out the Carbon Express Predators sold by Lancaster archery. Pretty inexpensive....shoot very well. Seems to me I paid around $52-55 a dozen..??? Very good shaft..

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by Longtoke:
I was also wondering about the Victory V-force shafts. I saw RMSG has them fletched for the same price as the gt hunters. anyone used them before? how do they stack up to the bemans?

I think the Victory V-force are a step above beman ICS hunters in terms of spine consistency.....but the bemans aren't bad at all.

If you are going from woodies to carbon, you'll enjoy much better consistency in weight and spine variation right from the gate... just build them the same way you do woodies and use a spine tester.... You'll figure out real quick the difference between expensive carbon shafts and cheap ones using a spine tester.

Once you get to the stage in your shooting abilities where you are very consistently hitting your spots, and quit shooting "groups" because you don't want to damage your arrows. That's when you'll start noticing arrow inconsistencies a lot more. When you get a weird flyer and you know you did your job, you start checking your arrows closer.

 As you spend more time building your arrows to exact specifications you'll see higher scores at the end of the day, and  you'll soon quit shooting cheap carbon arrows completely if you want to get better.....

btw... guys that say they can't shoot the difference in cheap shafts vs expensive ones don't spend enough time with their bows, and most likely suffer from form inconsistency. The same guys will say a pie plate size group at 15 yards is close enough, and go hunting....

[Ryan Sanpei]

For those that have been asking about the VForce arrows, I've been using them all year. I have the "Sports" and "Elites". The Sports (.006) are their least expensive model and have been fine in terms of tuning. I was also surprised how durable these shafts were. I can't speak for any of the older models, but these shafts have been holding up well for me. I'm currently using them in conjunction with an 100gr insert.