Pile weight

[wingate_52]

What happens when you shoot 2 arrows, same shaft and fletches, but different weight piles. Does the lighter one not drop as much? Which is likelier to be the more accurate?

[SLOWHAND]

Originally Posted by wingate_52

What happens when you shoot 2 arrows, same shaft and fletches, but different weight piles. Does the lighter one not drop as much? Which is likelier to be the more accurate?

IMHO The lighter pile will impact higher in the target. As to accuracy, providing both arrows are tuned to the bow then the heavier arrow will deviate less in the wind and therefore more be more 'accurate'. Providing you do not exceed maximum FOC and sight marks are not a problem I would always go for the heavier pile for target archery. In Field archery where a flatter trajectory is desirable go for the lighter.

[joetapley]

Slowhand IMO is spot on.
For recurve target the way to get a better arrow is to make the point heavier and the shaft lighter so that the overall arrow weight stays the same.

[Rik]

Think of it this way; how many times have you watched arrows 'spiral' their way towards the target?

With a heavier pile, the centre of mass of the arrow is further forwards and the point the arrow pivots around as it spirals will be further forwards too. So, the circles the front of the arrow describes will be smaller. Hence better groups on poor shots...

[sky_high30]

Gibbon...perhaps you could answer this one...

[WhitehartFB]

I agree with Slowhand

I have shot the same shafts (ACE's) with different point weights. The lighter pointed arrow gave me a slightly better sight mark about one colour at 100yrds.

On a calm day both sets of arrows grouped well but on windy days the heavier piled arrow flew and grouped better.

[LineCutter]

Originally Posted by SLOWHAND

Providing you do not exceed maximum FOC and sight marks are not a problem I would always go for the heavier pile for target archery.

Can we define the maximum FOC in some way, or is this one of those handed down values derived from the setup of a good archer in years gone by?

[joetapley]

As regards accuracy in principle the higher the FOC the better. There are two limiting factors on FOC. First one is speed - there are a number of benefits in a higher arrow speed. For a given shaft to increase FOC you normally increase pile weight but the heavier the arrow the slower it flies. At some point the speed loss outweighs the benefits from increasing FOC (often just practicality of sight pin position or ref Slowhand for field worth sacrificing FOC for speed). The second factor is arrow structural strength. To make the point heavier you have to make it longer to keep the diameter same as the shaft. The longer the point the more stress you put on the arrow shaft (leverage) when it hits the target. So this also puts a limit on FOC. Usual way round it is to use as light a shaft as possible (barelled carbon) and/or use a denser point material (Tungsten) for shorter point with the same weight

[WhitehartFB]

Easton suggests an FOC balance of between 7-16%, but this covers all types of shafts and points.

Personally I have found that around 15% for ACE's works well for me in terms of point&shaft weight, drift in the wind and good sight marks. (ACE 520 29 1/4" 90gn point and insert)

If you go to Easton's site you can download the shaft selector program http://www.eastonarchery.com/downloads.asp which also has a calculator to work out FOC.