If it was me, I would invest in 1/2 dozen gold tip 55-75 arrows from kustom king. Get some brass 50 grain inserts to go with them.

Bare shaft tune the arrows to make sure they are going straight. this means experimenting with tip weight to get the arrows flying off the bow correctly. Then fletch ’em up.

This can be done 1 month before the season.

I bought a few sets of finished wood arrow shafts from 3Rivers and saw about a 60 grain spread. But at 15 yds, even this large spread shouldn’t make that much difference…

For ease of use, and lack of frustration, carbon can’t be beat.

I’m making some space in the shop now and just moved a pile of aluminum shafts from the past two years of stumping. I bet there’s 30 bent arrows in that pile. I bought the aluminum shafts cheap and it was a great way to learn for me. They shot really well, very consistently for weight and accuracy.
That said, I just bought a dozen Beman Bowhunters, brass inserts and a set of heavy field points to tune with. I don’t lose many arrows, but I bend and split plenty. I lost about six to damage in the past three weeks. I’m hoping the carbons will eliminate a good bit of the damage and be cheaper in the long run.
If you’re not fletching arrows yourself, get started now. I use the tape and have been very happy with it. I can fletch an arrow in about 15 minute with the tape.
Good luck.

Sam, that’s some good advice Steve gave. In the long run you’ll be better off to get some carbons, and the Gold Tip is a good, not too expensive choice. I’ve used a lot of the GT UltraLight shafts in testing EFOC and Ultra-EFOC arrows, with excellent results. Read up on setting up high FOC arrows and bare shaft tuning them (and there are plenty of threads over on the ‘equipment’ forum) and set your arrows up. I think you will be amazed at how good they shoot for you.

DWC – If you are looking to reduce shaft damage while stumping you need to foot those carbons, either internal or external. It makes a huge difference in durability. I find the frontal impact damage is less the lighter (in GPI) I get the shaft. The lower shaft weight doesn’t ‘push’ as hard against the point when the arrow comes to that abrupt stop. However, the thicker wall shafts are a bit tougher should the shaft ‘side slap’ a hard object.

Ed

Ed,
Thanks for your note. I ordered some of the steel collars for both ends of the shaft to help reduce the damage. I’ll tune my hunting and field points without them, but will set up some stumpers with them in place.
Much appreciated! d
ps. Also, I’ve been reading your posts about EFOC and bought light shafts to work up a heavy front end accordingly. thanks! d

Sam,

If I paid for a set of arrows and they ended up with a 77-grain weight difference, someone’s phone would ring with my unhappy self on the other end. It’s no wonder wood arrows get a bad reputation when this is the level of quality some vendors find acceptable. Whatever arrow material you choose, always make sure they are matched in both weight and spine.

Nothing wrong with aluminum. Look what Wildswchein did at 30 yds. on another thread “So Dang Funny”. I sometimes wonder what all the hype is about carbon shafts ?
Bruce