Arrow diameters, weight and speed

[Brendan]

I get the Match grades too. I'm just saying that as far as I know companies run all of their shafts through the same electronic belt fed spine tester. More emphasis is put on run out due to most people not owning a spine tester. If everyone did I think we would see much better tolerances, and possibly a match spine sorted designation. BTW, have you put any Victories through your Ram. I have heard the spine line is a joke.

I've never shot or tested a Victory. All Easton Axis, Black Eagle Rampage, Multiple Gold Tips.

One thing I 100% subscribe to is minimizing runout. I have a dial indicator and stand from my car / engine building days, so I'll throw every shaft on a spinner and measure before cutting it down. Cut the end with more runout by 2", re-measure and repeat until you're at final arrow length. Doesn't take as much time as it sounds. Then square both ends, mark stiff spine on the Ram before fletching.

 

[Buffalomtn]

The build process that accounts for spine consistency has no relation to straightness at all. The only way the two are correlated is if the manufacturer is grouping the tightest spine tolerances with the straightest shafts. I do not believe this is any manufacturers process. I don't need a spine tester to know that these are two totally independent factors. You can't purchase a specific spine tolerance the same way you can purchase a run out tolerance. If you spine tested 100 Easton Axis shafts, half .001, and half .003. You would find the spines in both averaging the same. That is because it is a single standard for all the shafts.

Zac, the thing you are missing is that as you measure the spine while rotating the arrow on a RAM you may find an arrow that varies from .305 to .295. You could then say the average spine of that arrow is .300. You can then test another arrow and the spine may vary from .301 to .299. The second arrow could also be said to average .300 spine. The second arrow is far more consistent as to spine though.
It is often very difficult to find a spine or stiff side on an arrow such as an Easton Pro Comp (may not vary from .300 to .3005) with its’ .0015 straightness spec (although for that particular arrow the straightness on almost every single arrow out of the 3 dozen that I have measured easily beats that straightness spec). Really no point in checking those arrows on a Ram, your only option is to nock tune them and to make that worthwhile you need to be a better archer than I am. On the other hand I have tested some other arrows that have a listed straightness spec of .001 and those arrows have a very pronounced or obvious stiff side. While it is not uncommon for a few arrows out of each dozen from some manufacturers not to come close to meeting their .001 straightness spec over the best 28”, even the ones that do meet the straightness spec will often show a very pronounced or obvious stiff side when check on a Ram. I prefer to use arrows that are both consistent as to spine and straight. If you test very many you will find that combination is not often achieved by more than a few arrows from certain manufacturers out of each dozen, even out of their premium offering. Doesn’t mean you can’t end up with a good batch, you will simply have to cull more. This can vary from lot to lot.
Another thing is that finding the stiff side with a RAM is just a good starting point. If you really want your arrows to be consistent they should be bare shaft nock tuned. The dynamic reaction may not be consistent from arrow to arrow just from finding the stiff side and fletching.
For a hunting arrow to be up to the job all of this is obviously not really necessary, but if you want your arrows to be as consistent as possible from arrow to arrow then any short cut you take decreases that consistency.

 

[Zac]

Zac, the thing you are missing is that as you measure the spine while rotating the arrow on a RAM you may find an arrow that varies from .305 to .295. You could then say the average spine of that arrow is .300. You can then test another arrow and the spine may vary from .301 to .299. The second arrow could also be said to average .300 spine. The second arrow is far more consistent as to spine though.
It is often very difficult to find a spine or stiff side on an arrow such as an Easton Pro Comp (may not vary from .300 to .3005) with its’ .0015 straightness spec (although for that particular arrow the straightness on almost every single arrow out of the 3 dozen that I have measured easily beats that straightness spec). Really no point in checking those arrows on a Ram, your only option is to nock tune them and to make that worthwhile you need to be a better archer than I am. On the other hand I have tested some other arrows that have a listed straightness spec of .001 and those arrows have a very pronounced or obvious stiff side. While it is not uncommon for a few arrows out of each dozen from some manufacturers not to come close to meeting their .001 straightness spec over the best 28”, even the ones that do meet the straightness spec will often show a very pronounced or obvious stiff side when check on a Ram. I prefer to use arrows that are both consistent as to spine and straight. If you test very many you will find that combination is not often achieved by more than a few arrows from certain manufacturers out of each dozen, even out of their premium offering. Doesn’t mean you can’t end up with a good batch, you will simply have to cull more. This can vary from lot to lot.
Another thing is that finding the stiff side with a RAM is just a good starting point. If you really want your arrows to be consistent they should be bare shaft nock tuned. The dynamic reaction may not be consistent from arrow to arrow just from finding the stiff side and fletching.
For a hunting arrow to be up to the job all of this is obviously not really necessary, but if you want your arrows to be as consistent as possible from arrow to arrow then any short cut you take decreases that consistency.

Good point I never thought about it that way. What I was thinking of is the belt fed machines I've seen at Easton. It looks like to me that those machines just press straight down on the shaft and then kick the arrow on down the line. As for checking with a Ram, it makes total sense that the straightness contributes too spine consistency.

 

[JLowry]

My experience with the VAP insert/outsert on the .204 XTorsion shafts is that they were junk. They stick out so far it makes getting all broadheads to spin properly nearly impossible. I was able to get that straightened out and after shooting for about a week into a layer foam target, 9 or 12 were no longer straight at the insert/outsert. I switched to the HIT insert and they are fine.