Arrow Shafts

[shaneharley]

#6599

So I’ve started to read the Ashby studies on here last night at work but have graveyard brain so I’m going to cheat and ask you all what you use for arrow shafting.

I’m thinking about going to the 300 grain tuff head. Now that said what arrow material would you recommend?

I have a 51 pound longbow at 31 inches if that matters at all to you.

Oh and has anyone tried the heavy hunter arrows and have an opinion?

Thanks in advance!

[Doc Nock]

#52946

Another GREAT question t hat should generate a lot of responses.

I’m a carbon fan for the ease and consistency. Having said that, I am oozin away from the heavy shaft, and gravitating toward very light target style shafts. When I add 300-350 gr.s up front, I don’t want to start with a heavy shaft and end up trying to shoot rebar sticks outa a sub-50# fast limbed bow… just not necessary, IMO.

Using lighter GPI shafts, they have thinner walls, so I over-foot with aluminum pieces 2.5″ long to provide some extra impact strength behind the point.

Have fun. Remember, cut once, measure 2x! 🙂

[James Harvey]

#53129

Shane, the Doc said in terms of durability ‘good’ hardwood shafts were the standouts, with forgewood and tapered hickory as the two standouts. Apparently there was daylight between those two and third place, laminated birch. Which is a pity as lam. birch is pretty readily available.

The numbers were something like 30% failure on heavy bone strike for C shafts vs 3% for the hardwoods.

However, for achieving high FOC, low gpi carbons like easton powerflights or bloodlines are obviously very appealing. My small experience has been that investing in robust internals pays dividends. Brass single piece adaptors/inserts are available from the tuffhead shop and other trad shops in a range of weights. I have also started using Al footings recently (again from tuffhead shop) and as yet I haven’t had any failures from brass internals with Al footing, but it’s early days I guess.

Jim

[David Petersen]

#53193

Ausjim nails it. I have spent a lot of money and time trying to get a good wood shaft behind a Tuffhead 300 that offers optimal weight and EFOC. And I’ve about given up. Lighter shafts are weak, and heavier shafts are so heavy you wind up with too much total weight and low FOC. So for practicality and simplicity, I recommend carbon. Even there I keep it simple as possible. I shoot a #52 r/d longbow, so close to you, and have excellent luck with cheap CE 300 shafts that weight about 350 grains, with steel internals, netting around 28% EFOC. For elk I like around 750 grains but usually wind up closer to 800. This setup is more than you need for deer, but as Doc Ed says, there’s no such thing as overkill when your top goal is a fast (in sight) kill, guaranteed recovery and max humanity and respect for the prey. Many ways to skin this cat but I’ve played around a lot and this has been my go-to elk setup for years.

[shaneharley]

#53218

Thanks guys that’s what I was wondering!

[shaneharley]

#53238

Dave, steel internals you mean steel inserts? Please forgive me for all the questions I’m new to arrow building) What weight inserts do you recommend?

When I started this traditional journey I talked to a lot of people and used what they recommended. But since reading your ‘Going Trad’and starting to read the Ashby studies I’m rethinking some of the advice I’ve gotten. Not that they are bad people who gave me advice but I find myself liking the overkill approach.

Thanks again for everyone’s help!

[Ed Ashby]

#54088

Shane, use of a steel insert with a steel screw-in broadhead adaptor is a big improvement, but use of a one-piece steel insert/adaptor is much, much better. Whenever you have the choice, opt for the one-piece insert/adaptor.

Ed

[David Petersen]

#55163

Shane, Ed is right of course, and one-piece “internals” are becoming easier to find. So far as internal weight, that’s another area you’ll need to experiment with. First, you need to determine preferred broadhead weight, shaft weight, and the max total weight you feel confident shooting. A bit of simple math will then tell you about internal weight. Obviously, the lighter the shaft and the heavier the front weight, the higher the EFOC and the more deadly your setup. But weight definitely comes first in my experience. Right now it’s popular among carbon shooters to use all manner of internal weight setups in order to make up for lower head weights. I see that as a mistake, since in general, using the Tuffhead as prime example but many others as well, the heavier the head the more mass it embodies and thus the more strength. I’ll take my front weight, as much as possible, in the head, not internals. It’s also simpler that way, and simplicity, as per centuries of scientific endorsement of Occam’s razor, is almost always best.

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