Arrow change

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Jun 18, 2020
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I have a 27.5 inch draw and was shooting Easton axis 400 at 9.1 GPI. I recently switched to Gold Tip 340 at 9.9 GPI. I shot my bow for the first time since making the switch and fully expected to make pin adjustments. The bow shot the exact same groups with no changes. Was the 45 grains I went up just not enough to change the pins? Been shooting a long time but this has me a little confused.
 
If your new and old arrows are the same length, I don't see how the new ones could be 45 gr heavier unless you also added weight somewhere else. Even for two full length shafts (usually 30-32", which would be much longer than necessary for your draw length) going from 9.1 to 9.9 gpi would only yield around a 25 gr increase (all else equal). If the new arrows are longer than the old, then yes, 45 gr heavier is quite possible. Did you change anything else about the new arrows besides shaft stiffness/density?

Even if your new arrows truly are 45 gr heavier than the old, it's believable to me that your POI change might not be noticeable at short to medium ranges. How far out did you shoot? What size were your groups? Also, by what percentage did you increase total arrow weight? A 45 gr increase would be significantly greater percentage-wise for an IBO weight arrow than for a heavy hunting arrow, and I'd expect POI shift to scale more closely with relative (rather than absolute) weight increase.

Another possible contributing factor could be differences in shaft diameter. From the specs you gave, I'm guessing that your old arrows were 5mm Axis (9.0 gpi and 0.264" OD for 400 spine per Easton's website) and your new arrows are Kinetic Kaos (9.9 gpi and 0.272" for 340 spine per GT's website). The new arrow's larger diameter will slightly alter the launch angle, causing it to start its flight pointing slightly more upward than the old arrow (same effect as shifting the rest slightly higher). The diameter difference is only 0.008" and I don't know if that would actually cause any appreciable difference in trajectory, but it might be a contributing factor.
 
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Do both arrows have the same vanes and offset ? Different vanes or offset / helical can have a much bigger effect than 45gr weight difference. How quickly the arrow recovers due to tune and dynamic spine will also have an effect on trajectory
 
45 gr isn't a big difference. You will notice the difference at longer ranges....but short 20 yd range its not going to be a lot- within a fudge factor.

Tuning could be a factor. An untuned setup doesn't milk all of the efficiency.

Your bow transfers the energy to heavier arrows more efficiently....this accounts for some of it....makes your bow quieter too.

A guy that can shoot a 2" group at 40 yds will notice the weight difference much more than a guy shooting a 6" group at 40 yds.

All factors^

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FWIW, if everyone added 50 gr to their arrow, resighted for that arrow to hit dead on at 40yds, then shot their light arrow....the difference in trajectory will surprise you...the lighter arrow has such a minor difference that its a no brainer to shoot the heavier arrow.

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If my quick math in my head is working I'm guessing you went from 100 grain head to a 125 head, this required you to make a jump in spine. So you gained 25 grains from the head, and another 20 from arrow length?

I think the previous poster hit the fact that you have a very slightly larger diameter arrow now. I'd say that you are actually hitting a little high at close range and a little low at your further distance, which I'd bet isn't past 50.

What it amounts to is you realized you can add close to 50 grains and not notice it in your pin gap. I suspect if you ran it through a shooting machine you would see the difference, but it's pretty minimal. Run them both through a Chrono, might be you have a really efficient bow. I think you will see 8-10 fps difference but again you realized that for your shooting it's not a big deal and you might find it easier to tune.
 
FWIW, if everyone added 50 gr to their arrow, resighted for that arrow to hit dead on at 40yds, then shot their light arrow....the difference in trajectory will surprise you...the lighter arrow has such a minor difference that its a no brainer to shoot the heavier arrow.

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Agreed, and if they want to jump the string they will still jump the string!!
 
Agreed, and if they want to jump the string they will still jump the string!!

I'm a believer in they jump the arrow not the string. Lots of experience with whitetail, a single noise doesn't make them duck.

Get behind something solid and let someone fire a few different setups past you, be surprised how loud some of them are.
 
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