Aluminum or carbon fiber arrows?

[dtrkyman]

Noob question to piggyback on to OP. The bow shop set me up with carbon fiber arrows. If I wanted to shoot aluminum, as long as the aluminum are the same weight & length as my carbon fiber arrows, I should be good? Will changing to aluminum affect (effect?) my sights & overall feel of shooting the bow?

Not that simple, an aluminum arrow will be heavier and to get the same spine I.E stiffness as the carbon the aluminum arrow will be much larger in diameter. You would have to change your arrow rest set up completely.

 

[ForkLift]

Not that simple, an aluminum arrow will be heavier and to get the same spine I.E stiffness as the carbon the aluminum arrow will be much larger in diameter. You would have to change your arrow rest set up completely.

Thank you for that. Ill stick to the carbons for now.

 

[BigCountry49]

Carbon. They don’t bend and they don’t weigh less.

 

[Swamp Fox]

Wha....?

Un-shot aluminum arrows are mostly more consistently specced than most carbon arrows. And I believe you meant to say a comparable carbon arrow weighs *less* than a 'luminum.

Not that there's anything wrong with that ...

Unless you are abusing your aluminum arrows during practice, no worries about durability. I consider them one-and-done if shot at game, though. No need to push my luck trying to recycle.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Arrow diameter will affect penetration

In theory, yes. In practice, I don't think an extra 1/16 to 1/8 inch of shaft diameter will noticeably affect penetration on animals...especially considering that the shaft follows a 1+ inch wide channel cut by the broadhead.

 

[Eastonsgrandpa]

I have 3 dozen Easton super slam 2317- 300 spine with fixed 100 grain broadheads running 650 grain. Shooting a Mathews halon 32 and my draw length is 32 and built one of the arrows seems to hit way better than my carbon express arrows. Any thoughts on this setup?

Aluminum is naturally slick and probably transfers more friction heat to make them go further into foam. But that doesn’t translate into hunting. Everything is slick when it’s coated in blood. I won’t use aluminum because they bend. You may shoot them fine and not notice a slight bend has occurred, put them in the quiver and shoot at an animal only for it to now show the issue.

70 pounds and 32 draw. Even if the aluminum was to penetrate “better,” all that means is it will bury into the dirt further because you are going to blow through anything you point it at except a shoulder knuckle.

 

[Swamp Fox]

In theory, yes. In practice, I don't think an extra 1/16 to 1/8 inch of shaft diameter will noticeably affect penetration on animals...especially considering that the shaft follows a 1+ inch wide channel cut by the broadhead.

If energy were the same,

But, like, I mean, who really nos all this stuff anyway?

Let's do a gelatin test!! LOL

 

[Roughwater]

I have 3 dozen Easton super slam 2317- 300 spine with fixed 100 grain broadheads running 650 grain. Shooting a Mathews halon 32 and my draw length is 32 and built one of the arrows seems to hit way better than my carbon express arrows. Any thoughts on this setup?

Wow. Nothing personal but I didn't even know they still made aluminum arrows. I had to go back and look at the date of your post as I thought I might be reading a post from the 1970's.

I used aluminum way back in the day but they seemed to bend a little pretty easily. Not so much with Carbon.
That said, if I had 3 dozen straight aluminum arrows and a good arrow spin tester I would probably use them till they bent. Waste not, want not.

 

[Beendare]

It seems like many are too young to remember…but there are many reasons why carbon took over the arrow industry.

#1 is carbon is more durable and doesn’t hold a bend.

The 9-10 GPI carbons are great…the lower GPI versions can be fragile For hunting.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

the not holding a bend thing is super duper important, especially with a broadhead attached. i shot aluminum walmart arrows as a kid with my brother. we thought it was normal to watch arrows corkscrew through the air (with field points) and marveled that anyone could hit a target of any size beyond about 8 yards. I can't think of a single pro for aluminum arrows at this point.