Which arrow?

[Kai Truax]

New to to shooting a trad bow. I need help with arrow suggestions. I have a 26 inch draw length I believe. I’m pulling 30 pounds but I’ll probably go up to 40 pound limbs. I am shooting my compound arrows currently. What kind arrows should I get? I’ll be hunting with them hopefully in the next year or two. So should I get carbon or aluminum? Thanks.

 

[Sheepdog]

Are your compound arrows long enough to shoot safely? If so I’d say shot them for a while working on your form. Your compound arrows are going to be really stiff unless you go through and tune them by adding weight upfront to weaken the spine till they tune correctly.

Me personally would wait on the new arrows till you switch limbs and are getting closer to wanting to hunt. Arrow weight and length will be a lot more important then. Also you’ll need to figure out if you like split finger, three under, are you going to string walk, shoot a fixed craw; do you have a good repeatable anchor, form and position? All of those can/will effect how well and arrow is to tune.

For example my position and anchor got changed last week after a shooting lesson. I’d shot for a long time with a repeatable anchor and position but I wasn’t all the way into my back tension properly. So I’m going to need new arrows for my bows once I get this all burned into my muscle memory.

 

[Beendare]

I can tell you the way I go about deciding on an arrow.

key is to have the right stiffness, spine for perfect Arrow filight. I use the Stu Miller free calculator, the same calculator is on the three Rivers website. These calculators will get you pretty close but you have to input the data of your bow correctly.

I run through different scenarios with different spine and length arrows to find a combination that is close, then I use different point weights from 75 gr to 300 grto see what bareshaft flies the best.

I prefer Carbon arrow shafts for ease and durability. I am currently sShooting the Beman Centershots and the axis Trad but there are many cheaper alternatives that are very good

 

[Billy Goat]

A trad bow can be pretty frustrating without the right arrows, and as you are learning and playing with different things it will change everything. It's unlikely you will be able to use the same arrows with 40# limbs as you do with 30, unless you leave them long and cut them down once you get heavier limbs.

One thing that might help is to start with point weight around 175. You can go heavier to weaken the spine, or lighter to stiffen it.

I shoot carbon, aluminum just bends too easy for me.

 

[Deerscat]

since you asked... I’d pick carbon. Carbon arrows wont get bent up when u miss a target. And for a trad shooter that’s a good thing.

As far as spine. That his hard to just read a arrow chart and pick one. It differs from how far your riser is cut passed center or to center.

Take a look at Black Eagle vintage. They are a 34” arrow. I think they offer a test pack of different spines at 3 rivers. The 34” arrow will also give you some more play with your “point on “ if you are gonna gap shoot.