Arrow Weight

[TheArdentOutdoorsman]

With my setup, 70lb 28.5" draw, I find 500gr to be the sweet spot. As far as building your arrows...Sirius makes GREAT arrows and they'll build them to your exact weight.

 

[doc holiday13]

I believe over the years he has backed off and come around to what is more moderate weights.

I still watch a video or two from RF.. I think he's taling about moderate weight arrows in the 550-650g space, but still pushing 300g broadheads. From what i've casually observed, once you break 175g/200g broadhead weight, you aren't getting increased cutting diameter or improved flight noise characteristics.

 

[JjamesIII]

Hey so I've been watching some Ranch Fairy youtube videos on arrow weights which got me thinking about my set up and wanting a heavier arrow.

I currently shoot an older Bowtec with new strings/rest/sight 60lb draw weight with Goldtip Hunter XT 340 spline arrows.

I knocked the insert out and found they were only 12 grains!!! My arrows are about 285+- grains without an insert so all in all they barely squeak to 300 grains and topped with my 100gr broadhead that's about 400 grains.

I'd like a 500 grain arrow so my question is can I buy a 100 grain insert for these arrows? Looking for any advice, new arrows, lighter insert, etc, thanks.

Sadly I wish I knew more about arrows before stepping foot into a bow shop looking for a bow years ago.

I just went from 70 pound limbs to 60 pounders, not by choice. When I was with 70 pounds, I loved the 500 grain arrow weight. It kept my speed controllable and forgiving for 150 grain fixed blade heads. Plenty of foc, durable, and good momentum if needed.
Now with the 60 pound limbs, pin gap needs to be considered. 500 grains is putting you down to the 250 fps, with a lot of drop. It was not acceptable to me, so I cut down the weight to 450 grains/100 grain head. Still good foc- 13%, decent speed, decent momentum. Fixed blade heads will go through anything with this modest set up. It’s a game of compromise with 60 pound limbs, or lighter.
Side note: I never understood why people add useless weight to a hunting arrow via inserts? You should throw that weight into the structural integrity of your arrow build. Use a 50 grain stouter broadhead, use the weight on a collar to beef up the front of the arrow, or even in the gpi of the shaft (jumping to a heavier spine usually isn’t an issue with a well tuned compound).

 

[JjamesIII]

Hey so I've been watching some Ranch Fairy youtube videos on arrow weights which got me thinking about my set up and wanting a heavier arrow.

I currently shoot an older Bowtec with new strings/rest/sight 60lb draw weight with Goldtip Hunter XT 340 spline arrows.

I knocked the insert out and found they were only 12 grains!!! My arrows are about 285+- grains without an insert so all in all they barely squeak to 300 grains and topped with my 100gr broadhead that's about 400 grains.

I'd like a 500 grain arrow so my question is can I buy a 100 grain insert for these arrows? Looking for any advice, new arrows, lighter insert, etc, thanks.

Sadly I wish I knew more about arrows before stepping foot into a bow shop looking for a bow years ago.

Btw- trad bows and compound arrow choices are not relevant to one another. What I use for a recurve is worlds apart from what is optimal for a compound. Don’t get mixed signals from trad set-ups.

 

[Hunt4Wade]

Hey so I've been watching some Ranch Fairy youtube videos on arrow weights which got me thinking about my set up and wanting a heavier arrow.

I currently shoot an older Bowtec with new strings/rest/sight 60lb draw weight with Goldtip Hunter XT 340 spline arrows.

I knocked the insert out and found they were only 12 grains!!! My arrows are about 285+- grains without an insert so all in all they barely squeak to 300 grains and topped with my 100gr broadhead that's about 400 grains.

I'd like a 500 grain arrow so my question is can I buy a 100 grain insert for these arrows? Looking for any advice, new arrows, lighter insert, etc, thanks.

Sadly I wish I knew more about arrows before stepping foot into a bow shop looking for a bow years ago.

I think too many people worry about the numbers side of the game and it compromises their arrow flight and grouping.

Personally I wouldn’t slam a metric shit ton of weight up front to hit that goal and call it good. Figure out what you are shooting and what spine you need. Mess around with various weight combos up front and see what you can get to fly best and group tightest. Heavier spine you go the more GPI you arrow has and the more balanced your FOC will be with said weight up front. If you’re really wanting more weight I’d say it’s safer to go with a heavier spine to achieve a few more grains than to load the hell out of the front of an under spined arrow.

This is what frustrates me with guys like ranch fairy. It works for them and that’s great. Have atter. But they lose me when they try to talk everybody into doing the same thing and calling them idiots if they don’t when the reality is everyone is different and their set up should reflect that to some degree.

 

[JjamesIII]

I still watch a video or two from RF.. I think he's taling about moderate weight arrows in the 550-650g space, but still pushing 300g broadheads. From what i've casually observed, once you break 175g/200g broadhead weight, you aren't getting increased cutting diameter or improved flight noise characteristics.

Unless you got T. rex arms and short draw, a 300 grain broadhead and moderate weight shaft isn’t gonna happen with a 28”-30” shaft length. The spine would not be stiff enough.

 

[rclouse79]

Even if the ranch fairy had some good advice I wouldn’t be able to watch one of his videos long enough to hear it. He strikes me of someone straining to do an embarrassingly awful Jim Carey impersonation.
The most important thing is that your arrows are tuned. If your broadheads fly straight and hit with your field points I wouldn’t change anything.

 

[doc holiday13]

Unless you got T. rex arms and short draw, a 300 grain broadhead and moderate weight shaft isn’t gonna happen with a 28”-30” shaft length. The spine would not be stiff enough.

UNLESS one went to a 200 or 150 spine and didn't exceed 75# draw

I personally have capped myself at 150g broadheads with my 31" draw

 

[justin davis]

440-500 grains is the sweet spot for me. Heavier arrows hit hard and make your setup quieter, but you don’t need to shoot too crazy of an arrow

 

[ElGuapo]

I think a lot of people who watch (or hate) RF get caught up in the "heavy arrow" and "FOC" part of the discussion and completely forget about the first two items on the 12 item list.
Those items are: #1 Perfect Arrow Flight and #2 Structural Integrity.

In my experience a lot of guys who are using lighter arrows still do those first two things (very well tuned bow and arrow set-ups and using quality components) and that is what is contributing to their success.

I actually run three different arrow setups on my bow. One light set up (right around 405 grains) for shooting target and 3D, another "whitetail" set up (525 grains), and a heavy set up (630 grains), for black bear over bait, hogs, and exotics over feeders. I am archery hunting elk in CO this year. I will be using the 525 grain arrows. They fly perfectly with fixed blade broadheads, are tough as nails, and coincidently have a bit higher than average FOC.

All in all, I am saying that a lot of people want to swing way too far one way or the other (RF is 100% right or he is 100% wrong). I am just saying that he does make some good points, but not everything he is saying may be good for your style of hunting. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

This guy gets it…….

 

[goathunter]

A 125 gr field tip is the easiest thing to try, unless you've knocked the inserts out of all arrows? I think a 425 GR arrow would be a great weight. With your draw weight and 340s you could probably go even heavier up front, check out the Q Spine app.

 

[Shawn_Guinn]

Add some fact weights to the back and or jump up to 125 grain tips. Or get new arrows in 300 spine and go crazy with FOC lol.

 

[dirtshooter]

I'm on days off and home shortly here, I am thinking of grabbing the GT stainless 50gr inserts and starting there. If anything they'll at least be better than the aluminum ones. Might try the fact weights after. Knocking the inserts out is fairly easy (drill bit down the shaft, swing for the starts till it comes loose lol). Is there any special epoxy to use with inserts?

Thanks

 

[galamb]

There is - Easton makes a "hit insert epoxy" that comes in a little single use pouch - will do a dozen arrows.

I use a (non-epoxy) "insert iron" from Bohning - not a super glue or anything, best to leave it for 3 days for max hold, but never lose inserts but will come out by a applying a little heat if you need to remove.

 

[Billy Goat]

With a longer insert, I'd use hotmelt. That's mostly what I use on everything anymore.

When you change your mind, you can remove it without damage easily. The drill bit trick will remove carbon on the inside of your shafts, not likely enough to matter, at least if your new insert is longer than the old. I wouldn't want to knock out a long insert and then put a shorter insert in after with the possibility of weakened carbon that is unsupported.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

I use hotmelt on everything except HIT inserts.

 

[zman88]

What I found helpful was to buy a set of field points, 100-200 grains (every 25 grains) and shoot them through a chrono. Find the speed which you feel best about. A lot of people like the 270-280 fps range, and then you'll know which total arrow weight puts you in the range, and you can build from there.

 

[Latebloomer]

Watch something else.
What are you hunting?
How far are your shots?
400 is fine
I did an arrow overhaul and mine now weigh around ~500gr. I’m pulling 70lbs at 29”. Also with and older Bowtech. You will have a more significant drop at farther distances. Especially at 60lbs. If your shooting well now I wouldn’t worry about it. I have my setup dialed in and shot my ~500gr arrows at TAC last year and did well but I think ~440-450gr would be ideal for me.

What is your velocity at 500 gr now?

 

[Latebloomer]

Troy is one of my best friends, and he’s the salt of the earth… Reach out to me or him directly and he can help. I shoot a 500 Gr arrow, like you’re looking for. I had to go to 300 Spine, with 100 Grain Brass inserts, and 125 gr Heads. Shoots awesome, and I’ve given up nothing for range.

Ask around any meat cutter in the west, and ask how many Elk they’ve cut broadheads out of that someone killed with a rifle, or another bow hunter. This is the dirty secret that everyone that says….. Awww whatever arrows you want to shoot are just fine. Either it hasn’t happened yet, or they just don’t talk about those.

What’s your thought on the easton steel 75gr half out for additional weight. Just added them to a dozen of my 300 spine 5mm axis arrows.

 

[Jbxl20]

What is your velocity at 500 gr now?

278fps out of my Vxr28
276 fps out of my invasion cpx
286fps with a 460gr arrow.