Anybody else going the cheap arrow route?

[cck311]

Now you can go ahead and call me a cheapskate all you want, but lately I have been getting a little fed up with the cost of arrows and arrow components. The old Gold Tip Warriors are now the cost of what the Gold Tip Traditionals were a few short years ago when I got into this traditional archery stuff, and now GT trads have gone up a fair bit since then. I can't seem to find very good deals on GT trad blem shafts on ebay anymore. I think the straw that broke the camels back was when I went into the local Sportsman's Warehouse yesterday and a half dozen Gold Tip traditionals had taken a steep $20 increase from $75 to $95 per half dozen. Hahaha yeah, get bent, gold tip.

Lately I have been seeing the posts from Beendare talking about how he has been buying Accmos and Link Boy arrows from amazon and that they have been working out really well for him. I also saw a YouTube video from the samko tradbow guy where he goes over his "poor boy arrow set up". I decided to take the plunge and I have a full dozen .500 spine carbon arrows fletched with 4 inch feathers for about $74 with taxes and everything headed my way. I'm excited to get them and try them out. I'll report back later once I've had a chance to zip a few downrange. If the arrows are as good as I hope they are I will probably set myself up with a pile of them in a few different spines and all the major arrow manufacturers can take their goofy prices and stuff it.

 

[nevadabugle]

You do you man. If cheap arrows are working for you I see no issues with shotting them.

I on the other hand have gone the other way. And I believe its cheaper in the long run. I shoot Day Six arrows out of all my bows today. And there is a cost reason for it. In many years of shooting them, I have only ever broken 1 or 2. They are so extremely tough, that a dozen lasts me several years. I have always found that cheaper arrows are very fragile and any miss will Crack or break them. The wall thickness on Day Six are way thicker than any arrow I have ever seen.

With all that said, if the cheaper arrows are working for you. Keep at it.

 

[ScottinPA]

I bought up a bunch of CE Heritage before they quit making them so I'm good for a long time. I also buy blem GT Trad or Dark Timber from Big Jim. Never had an issue with any of them.

 

[Tradchef]

If cheap ones shoot the best for you do it up. When I shot carbon I always shot Axis regular 5mm. I would square both ends and spend a lot of time with them and they shot outstanding. I also tried doing that with Gold Tip Hunter shafts. Since they were half the cost even with all the work I’d still have half a dozen that never made the cut. Still accurate at 20 yards but I would always see the issues past that. If you aren’t shooting anything past a certain distance I don’t think you can notice much. But if you are I always liked having the piece of mind with consistency and durability. Black eagle, day six, Easton, safari tuff etc… all have good stuff to use. I would try the cheaper ones and compare are decide for yourself. I shoot wood now. Not because of cost but I enjoy making my arrows and spend a lot of time matching them and get good accuracy for the distances I kill animals and target shoot. It’s all what you prefer.

 

[Beendare]

I used to be an Axis guy for decades....until they got ridiculously expensive.

A buddy that I highly respect tested the crap out of the Accmos and Linkboy shafts with straightness jigs and spine checkers. The $38/doz shafts tested as good as the $120/doz I was buying. So I switched and they have been great. I have had only a few I had to nok tune. Zero in my compound because I shoot a spine size over with those.

Yeah they are made in China or some other foreign country- so there is that. Made on the same machines with the same materials. My reasoning is the shafts are the same....and the shafts made in the US can't cost that much more to manufacture ...but we are getting gouged. My bet is some of the US companies import these shafts from China then just mark them up anyway.

I think one key factor- and this applies to any carbon shaft- is stay above 9gpi and around 10gpi is ideal. The only issue I have had with any carbon shaft was when going under 9 gpi, they just aren't that durable. The Carbon Express sub 9gpi shafts I shot for 3d from my compound for a couple years weren't very durable.

 

[Beendare]

You do you man. If cheap arrows are working for you I see no issues with shotting them.

I on the other hand have gone the other way. And I believe its cheaper in the long run. I shoot Day Six arrows out of all my bows today. And there is a cost reason for it. In many years of shooting them, I have only ever broken 1 or 2. They are so extremely tough, that a dozen lasts me several years. I have always found that cheaper arrows are very fragile and any miss will Crack or break them. The wall thickness on Day Six are way thicker than any arrow I have ever seen.

With all that said, if the cheaper arrows are working for you. Keep at it.

I think you are applying flawed logic.

Yes, the wall thickness and GPI matter- that holds for where ever the shafts come from...and I would agree that the thin walled shafts are not durable.