Day Six HD Arrows

[SC Bowhunter]

Does anyone have some experience with the day six HD arrows? I've seen where the Born and Raised crew has done testing on them and Aron Snyder says they are great. Have any of you harvested any animals with them?

 

[dkime]

Killed one of my bucks this year with them, 42yds quartering away with a Slick trick magnum. Broke the offside leg on the exit, no issues with the arrow at all. Recently blew threw my block target and killed my cinder block basement wall with it. Picked the arrow up, gave it a quick spin and kept shooting. Super Durable, Super tight tolerances, and are hard on basement walls!

 

[MTSabo]

I had to quit shooting them this year. Was blowing through my block 6x6 even out to 60 yrds. Same target stopped my gold tip hunter pros just fine at all yardages. Hoping the wife got me a matrix target this year haha.

 

[Zac]

I just shot a button buck with one so not sure how much that helps. I shoot the 250 spine with total arrow weight of 544 grains with the a 100 grain g5 Dead meat at 280 fps. Shot was only about 17 yards, went in behind right shoulder and exited the L scapula. Found my arrow buried about a foot into the ground on the other side of him. However the ground was fairly muddy. I would definitely look at different outsert options if you were going to purchase some. I had to take a ton of material off of the 250s to get the outserts on, and only about half of them spin straight. Ethics Archery makes one that looks like it would fit the 250 spine well. I saw Aron Snider having to sand on the 350 spines as well, and Brian told me that the outserts are all the same sizes. If you are somewhere in the middle of the OD range I would look at trying to make that Valkyrie outsert fit.

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So Brian just emailed me regarding the outserts, I was wrong about a single size of outsert, there are different sizes for different spines, he said they have a new outsert that fits the 250s very well. Nice to see a guy so in touch the pulse of his product, his customer service is pretty amazing. He’s been a great advocate as well, I sent him pictures of the shafts going through paper and he emailed me back within minutes. He’s even taken personal calls from customers after they’ve had a successful kill.

 

[BackstrapReaper]

I just shot a button buck with one so not sure how much that helps. I shoot the 250 spine with total arrow weight of 544 grains with the a 100 grain g5 Dead meat at 280 fps. Shot was only about 17 yards, went in behind right shoulder and exited the L scapula. Found my arrow buried about a foot into the ground on the other side of him. However the ground was fairly muddy. I would definitely look at different outsert options if you were going to purchase some. I had to take a ton of material off of the 250s to get the outserts on, and only about half of them spin straight. Ethics Archery makes one that looks like it would fit the 250 spine well. I saw Aron Snider having to sand on the 350 spines as well, and Brian told me that the outserts are all the same sizes. If you are somewhere in the middle of the OD range I would look at trying to make that Valkyrie outsert fit.

- - - Updated - - -

So Brian just emailed me regarding the outserts, I was wrong about a single size of outsert, there are different sizes for different spines, he said they have a new outsert that fits the 250s very well. Nice to see a guy so in touch the pulse of his product, his customer service is pretty amazing. He’s been a great advocate as well, I sent him pictures of the shafts going through paper and he emailed me back within minutes. He’s even taken personal calls from customers after they’ve had a successful kill.

Did you have Day Six cut your arrows? Did you square the ends off?
Just wondering as i just ordered up some with the 100 SS sleeves, pretty excited to give them a try, have never shot such a heavy arrow, been in the 475-495 grain range, will be jumping to 575 grains.

 

[Zac]

No I let my shop do it for me because I was in a rush, next time I am going to do the whole process myself. If your field tips don’t screw in don’t push it just try another brand, the threads are extremely tight, all my broadheads screwed in fine. Also I would use the chuck method for installing the outserts, where you place the shaft in a drill bit, I believe your concentricity will be much improved with this method. Aron Snyder uses a brillow pad for this technique so that you don’t take too much material off. I hope someday someone comes up with a carbon lathe, this would make placing outserts much more of a scientific process.

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You know I would email Brian regarding your set up before you order, he will reply very quickly and ensure that your spined correctly as well as receive the proper components, you will probably be very happy with a heavy set up though.

 

[BKhunter]

Been looking at these arrows as well. I want to start building my arrows and that is the only reason I am hesitant to pull the trigger. A dozen are pretty pricey, and I would hate to mess them up because I am not knowledgeable yet in building my own arrows.

 

[Zac]

I would just have Brian send them to you already cut and fletched, then you could use the chuck method I referenced above to put on the outserts, I’m not sure if Brian squares them or not, you can purchase the G5 squaring tool for 40 bucks and do that part yourself

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My shafts were squared when assembled, however I think some overly aggressive sanding may have been responsible for some of my wobbly outserts, although I really don’t care because every shaft will hit a one inch dot at 40 yards. This is because paradox is far more responsible for accuracy than the straightness rating on the shaft. I am also guilty of chasing that warm feeling that comes from a perfect spinning shaft. I had some BEA Rampages that spun beautifully, however they exploded when I missed the target. If your a fan of BRO, you will notice that every Rampage fired broke when shot at an elk, I do not recall any of the Day 6 shafts breaking. In closing outserts are an imperfect system due to the seam created during the manufacturing process of a carbon shaft. All outserts take work to obtain a good spin, however this may be necessary to obtain the kind of penetration that a Day 6 is capable of. I don’t worry much about spin in general because I started fletching a 1degree offset once John Dudley and Levi Morgan began endorsing such a practice to blunt the parachute effect of a heavy helical. I hope this wasn’t too much of a rant. good luck

 

[bat-cave]

FWIW, I cut and fletched my DaySix arrows myself. I didn't have to sand any to get the outserts to fit perfectly and am very happy with how they fly and the Whitetail one blew through was delicious this AM. Everyone's setup is a bit different and perhaps mine could be better still, but I am very happy with my 4 fletch AAE Max Stealth with as much Left Helical as my Bitz can give me. My .02

 

[Kucher]

I feel the same way as a guy that is just getting into building my own.

 

[Boudreaux]

I ordered some of their outsert with centerpin. I ordered them to put on other arrows, knowing the insert size was specific. They were WAY out of spec, the tolerance for the OD of the arrow was all over the place. I ordered them for a 400 spine or .238 OD the six outserts I got ranged from .236-.245.

 

[dkime]

To those of you who are hesitant about building your own arrows I would encourage you to go for it and lean on a lot of individuals in the forums, the nice thing about the tight tolerances of the outserts is that you’re able to get away with the end of the arrow being a little less square as the side walls of the outsert will keep it from canting left and right, I use a G5 ASD on my arrows and when i built my set from Brian i tested them for runout and saw no noticeable wobble or runout on my indicator. The price is steep but honestly The durability of these arrows astounds me, i go through several dozen a year normally through breaking and culling shafts, I think this dozen I have will be in my stable for a few years at this pace

 

[Joseph08]

I don't have any experience with Day Six HD Arrows. I have been using Outdoorsmen Pistol Crossbow 6.5 Arrows for quite a long time. Though i would also like to know about Day Six HD Arrows.

 

[BackstrapReaper]

My shafts were squared when assembled, however I think some overly aggressive sanding may have been responsible for some of my wobbly outserts, although I really don’t care because every shaft will hit a one inch dot at 40 yards. This is because paradox is far more responsible for accuracy than the straightness rating on the shaft. I am also guilty of chasing that warm feeling that comes from a perfect spinning shaft. I had some BEA Rampages that spun beautifully, however they exploded when I missed the target. If your a fan of BRO, you will notice that every Rampage fired broke when shot at an elk, I do not recall any of the Day 6 shafts breaking. In closing outserts are an imperfect system due to the seam created during the manufacturing process of a carbon shaft. All outserts take work to obtain a good spin, however this may be necessary to obtain the kind of penetration that a Day 6 is capable of. I don’t worry much about spin in general because I started fletching a 1degree offset once John Dudley and Levi Morgan began endorsing such a practice to blunt the parachute effect of a heavy helical. I hope this wasn’t too much of a rant. good luck

HI Zac, what do you mean when you say "the parachute effect of a heavy helical"? I've never heard this before, Ive always fletched my arrows with as much offset and helical as i can with my Bitz jig, thinking it would help the arrow recover and get spinning faster. (always looking to learn so thanks for the advice in advance)

 

[theleo91386]

HI Zac, what do you mean when you say "the parachute effect of a heavy helical"? I've never heard this before, Ive always fletched my arrows with as much offset and helical as i can with my Bitz jig, thinking it would help the arrow recover and get spinning faster. (always looking to learn so thanks for the advice in advance)

The parachute effect is just a matter of how much drag your putting on your arrow. All things being equal, the more helical you put on your vanes the more drag you create and that helps with your imperfections in bow tuning and form. For everyone there gets to be a point where the amount of helical is more than is needed to correct those imperfections and at that point all it is doing is slowing your arrow down needlessly. How much helical is really needed depends on the vane, bow setup, and archer. Those guys are supposed to be excellent archers with well tuned bows, they don't much (if any) helical on their vanes. What you need depends on you, play around and find out where the sweet spot is.

 

[Zac]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I also use a left offset. So I can't really use a radical angle because my broadhead would unscrew from the shaft when shot through an animal. I have considered using the spinning Ethics inserts, although I'm not sure if they make one for a .166

 

[NYSKIER]

Been contemplating trying these arrows out this posting may have put me over the edge to where I'm going to give them a shot

 

[BackstrapReaper]

Got my arrows in the mail, super quick too. One thing i can say right off hand is customer service is great. Brian is very responsive to emails.
I ordered 300's with the SS sleeve and centerline. Not sure of other peoples results are (but of the 14 inserts (ordered a dozen with a test kit as well))but they ended up weighing 104.9 grains, all were within +/-0.4 grains which is the best I've seen for components. the center pin was 14.4 grains. A little heavier then i thought they were ( i thought it was 100 grains total) but that's okay with me.
I did have to sand 9 of the 14 to get them to fit, i used the G5 arrow squaring device, and all of them spin really well.

Ive used the VAP elites and SS inserts in the past and usually i have to cull one or two per dozen (most likely cuz of the inserts),, but all 14 of these i would screw on a broached and shot to any range with.

 

[tlkaetz]

I am not seeing "test kits" on the website??

 

[dkime]

I am not seeing "test kits" on the website??

HD 2 Bare Shaft Test Kit



– Day Six