Thinking of going back to aluminum shafts....

Wapiti1

WKR
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A need for a 525gr arrow just appeared in my hunting plans. My current arrow comes in at 480grains. I'm not a huge fan of adding component after component to a light arrow to make it heavy. It seems like that usually ends up with some instability issue.

Any reason not to just go old school with a 2317 aluminum shaft plus a 150gr broadhead and other accoutrements?

Jeremy
 
No reason not too. There are heavy weight carbons available if you want to go that way.
 
23-15 will put you closer to your mentioned desired weight than 23-17....and they worked great for me for about 2 decades or more. Good luck!
 
I really enjoy my Easton FMJ’s. I’m sure you’ve heard of them but give them some thought. I’ve been shooting them for years. They come in a bunch of different spines. 250, 300, 340....for the heavier spines.
 
I really enjoy my Easton FMJ’s. I’m sure you’ve heard of them but give them some thought. I’ve been shooting them for years. They come in a bunch of different spines. 250, 300, 340....for the heavier spines.

What do you see as the pro's verse the old XX75? The FMJ is a little lighter per grain, until you get to the gold plated Dangerous Game shaft. I'm open to options and thoughts.

Jeremy
 
Just remember aluminum bends. Doesn't matter if it has carbon with it or not.

But if your chasing weight I wouldn't be opposed at all to using all aluminum. Of course it's a larger diameter.


But XX75 gamegetter shafts @ $43/12? You can bend a lot before you get to carbon prices.
 
It's easy to gain 50-100 grains by using poly rope to fill the cavity of the carbon arrows you already shoot.
 
I've been very pleased with the FMJs, I shoot the .300 spine @ 12.0 gpi and if you use the 50 or 75 grain inserts or insert/collar combo you can easily get to 530-550 grains.

I've bent a few, but they aren't as fragile as you'd expect. Overall I'm very pleased with their durability and consistency.
 
What do you see as the pro's verse the old XX75? The FMJ is a little lighter per grain, until you get to the gold plated Dangerous Game shaft. I'm open to options and thoughts.

Jeremy
The pros for the fmj than just going straight aluminum would be a smaller diameter shaft per gpi comparing the xx75 and fmj. Plus with the carbon inside it won’t bend as easily. I really have only had 3 out of 48 fmj’s bend. Yes they do splinter sometimes on hard impact due to the HIT insert. But I really enjoy the fmj’s. Also the reason why I have so many fmj’s is from changing my arrow setups like gpi and stiffness of the spine.
 
Just remember aluminum bends. Doesn't matter if it has carbon with it or not.

But if your chasing weight I wouldn't be opposed at all to using all aluminum. Of course it's a larger diameter.


But XX75 gamegetter shafts @ $43/12? You can bend a lot before you get to carbon prices.

Oh, I remember aluminum bends. I don't think I had a straight arrow after a week when I first started shooting. With field points at least they sort of grouped. Being completely new and not having any clue or help, the first broadhead I shot on one of my tweaked arrows planed up about 10 feet over the target and ended up in the river behind the house.

After that, I kept my practice and hunting arrows separate.

Jeremy
 
Poly rope is a new one. I've used various other fillers, but not rope.

Jeremy

i just like it because it's quiet and the rope compresses towards the front of the shaft and stays put. Nothing wrong with aluminum, though, if you go that route.
 
I really have only had 3 out of 48 fmj’s bend.

Have you ever put them all on an arrow spinner and checked how true they spin? That was my problem with FMJ's, the last 6-8" on the point end would wobble like crazy........and it didn't take much shooting at all to get to that point. You couldn't see the problem "until" spinning them. They started out great, but when the groups started opening up I knew there was a problem.
 
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Have you ever put them all on an arrow spinner and checked how true they spin? That was my problem with FMJ's, the last 6-8" on the point end would wobble like crazy........and it didn't take much shooting at all to get to that point. You couldn't see the problem with spinning them. They started out great, but when the groups started opening up I knew there was a problem.


When they are on a spinner and they come to a stop and rotate back to a different spot you know you have a problem.

I shot them about 2-3 weeks and gave up. They just didn't work for me.
 
I can see small diameter FMJ's being potentially easy to bend when pulling from a target. Stiffness and bending calculations are driven by the outside diameter of the tube.

I have no experience with FMJ's, though. They never made it on my radar as an appealing option until now.

I'll pick up a half dozen 2317's and see what I think. I have a lot of time to figure it out.

It will be nice not having the stand on my target to pull out that one really stubborn carbon arrow.

Jeremy
 
You might look into Day six arrows if you want to go up in weight and stay carbon, they are pretty heavy gpi and they have different weight options for the components. Very tough arrows. Aluminum is one way to get to your desired weight, but aluminum does bend, not the end of the world just have to be conscience of it.

I'm shooting the day six 300 spine with the 50gr components cut at 28.5" and a 125 gr head and my full arrow is right in that 520gr range depending on what fletching I'm running.
 
Like someone else suggested, a Easton Axis in 260 spine cut to 27.5 with a 75 grain insert and 125 grain head should get you to the weight that you're looking to achieve. It's hard to beat those Axis arrows; straight, skinny and durable.
 
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