The most important thing I can tell you is to look at the Ashby forum and library. In these area’s you will find a large collection of information on arrow weight, and weight distribution in the arrow.

In short, whatever you do, make em nose heavy.

Richie — Steve is right-on. But the short answer is that the old “10 grains per pound” perhaps remains valid for deer-sized animals but for anything bigger you need more weight to assure good penetration and as much of that weight as possible up front. In your situation I would go with heavy heads. Many in the 300-grain category are now available as screw-ins and you can get the same with glue-ons and brass inserts. Inserts come in a variety of weights, giving you more control over things. Similarly, steel shaft adaptors come in a variety of weights. The idea is to keep adding weight up front until you find the max your shaft spine can handle. You’ll be surprised how much more accurate a heavy-front arrow will fly, and how much flexibility (no pun) most carbon shafts have in point weight. When you look at Ashby’s work pay particular attention to FOC — forward of center balance. Ashby has also written about this in the magazine and maybe Robin or another member can point you to the specific issue. Thanks for wanting to get it right! Bloodless

Richie,

The 10 gpp guideline is a nice middle of the road rule of thumb, but it’s certainly not carved in stone. I haven’t hunted big game with arrows weighing much more than 9 gpp in over a decade, and I haven’t had any problem putting arrows through deer, elk, moose, et cetera.

Get it tuned, get it sharp, put it where it belongs, and you should do just fine.

Hi Richie, and welcome.

Check out this past Tip of the Week Benchtop Cutoff Saw. It is a very good, inexpensive option.