Kegan — Yes and yes. What Sap and Ray said. I have destroyed several carbon shafts on purpose with this sort of test, shooting into pine trees straight on and at a sharp angle. Mostly with field points as broadheads are almost impossible to pull, but I have shot a few expendable broahs in these destruction derbies as well. For angled shots I do believe the longer brass inserts help prevent the front of shaft and head from breaking off. For for straight-in shots the head gets jammed back into the shaft and splits it in several places when it gets jammed back. In that case an aluminum collar–I use 2″ to 3″ lengths–cut from an alum shaft seems to help prevent splitting. But then, this shouldn’t be too big a worry with quality carbon shafts and brass inserts (and steel adapters if you’re using glue-on heads) shot at animals, even with heavy bone impact at an angle. What Ashby’s research shows is that aluminum adapters and insert readily break, bend and fail. Avoid those and we’re pretty much over the hump. I built up some alum sleeved wood arrows in an ongoing search to find ways to prevent shaft breakage just behind the head which magnifies with heavier heads and esp. with WoodyWeights (in my limited testing). They were great in every respect exectp the clunky way they look. So far as I know only KingWouldBe uses alum sleeves over carbon shafts. Maybe if he reads this he can offer some knowledge as he’s been shooting them into all sorts of big critters for years. Good luck, dave
