Arrows for AFB

[Seanmgn]

I plan on shooting my new AFB "from the shelf" ie without an arrow rest- the missus has some crazy idea about not shooting it till Christmas. I already have six wooden arrows with feather fletchings that are spined accordingly but most of my practice is in my garden and I really don't want to break em when they hit each other (its not a big garden and I've already nicked one shooting my longbow).

I'm contemplating getting some carbon practice arrows to shoot with it.I also read somewhere that shooting without an arrow rest means I would need to have feather fletchings rather than plastic vanes. Here comes with the questions bit.....

Is that correct, arrow rest = feathers or vanes , shelf = feathers?

If so, do carbons and feather go together ?

Where can I get decent quality carbons spined for a 45# bow pretty cheap?

How do you get a "wood" finish on a carbon arrow, as I understand some do?

What will the lottery numbers be this week?

Thanks in advance.

Sean

[robtattoo]

If it's just for the practicin' a far cheaper option would be cheap aluminiums XX75 or XX78s, somewere near a 1916 should suffice. If you're after Carbons Carbon Express Heritage shafts are the business 35/55s should be fine for you. Carbons LOVE feathers! but remember to give the shaftment a really good clean off with acetone before glueing them up. You'll also need to mess around with pile weight to spine them correctly & fit weight tubes. If you shoot the carbons without any additional weight in them, you risk damaging your bow. You really want to be aiming to get 8+ grains of arrow weight for every # of bow weight (ie; 50# draw weight AT YOUR DRAW = 450gn arrow weight)
The only down side to practicing with carbons is that they're soooooo tuneable & you can get perfect flight,
A) Your more likely to bust 'em than woodies
B) You'll never want to shoot woodies again!
The only way I know of to get a grain effect on carbons, is to buy 'em like that! And certainly not in the UK (actually, thinking on...Get in touch wth Tony Weston at The Archery Company. He'll probably have something similar)
3-Rivers in the US sell a VAST range of carbons to suit all pockets & styles + all the different pile weights, inserts & weight tubes.
If you try & shoot a flatbow off a raised rest, there's a ggod chance somebody will come round to your house & slap you! They're designed & tillered to be shot off the shelf. If you're shootng ANY bow from the shelf (or off your hand for that matter) you'll need to shoot feathers. Plastic vanes can't fold out of the way when they contact the riser & kick your arrows all over the shop.

[Seanmgn]

Thanks Rob, much appreciated. I don't want that slap which is why I plan on shooting from the shelf!


Feathers it is!

Just one more question though, did you say woodies are easier to break?

Thanks for all the advice.

Sean

[robtattoo]

Worl, it depends what you do with 'em! Whack it into a tree/rock/innocent bystander/passing car & yep, it'll break where a carbon probaly wouldn't. However....
If you bust one up, it's a couple o' quid, tops.
Carbons (once tuned & fiddled with) are waaay more accurate so there's less chance of clattering one into the scenery. The downside is, tuning can take a while & in that while, you'll miss. Quite a bit. And that gets 'spensive. Trees also like to hold on to carbon (don't know, but maybe it's a 'you used to be one of me' thing) & you don't have a lot of 'wiggle room' before they shuffle into the past tense.
Personally I'll stick with wood & ally, pro-tem.

ps. If'n you're shooting NFAS field, you'll have to shoot woodies, so why not practice with what you'll be shootin'?

[Macbow]

Carbon Express Heritage 150 with 175 grains up front will be perfect from a 45# AFB. Leave them at least 29" and order the 50 grain brass inserts. You can find them on 3 Rivers website but order from Tom Rhude (see my links page on my website) as he charges actual postage. They are incredibly tough - one set of these will outlast many dozens of woodies or aluminiums - and very consistent. They weigh 10 grains per inch which makes an arrow very close in weight to my pine woodies. I cut my woodies to the same length as the carbons so I can use the same sight marks for both sets of woods and carbons. Up to 50 yards there is no difference but at the longer ranges the carbons will travel further, possibly because they are skinnier at 5/16 and because they have come out of paradox far earlier than wood so retain more energy. For sticking on feathers wipe with acetone (nail varnish remover - this will also remove the logo markings on the shafts which I don't like anyway). I use AAE Fastset glue and have never lost a feather. Cut the shafts with a dremel tool and appropriate cutting disk. I cut mine from the nock end in order to keep the insert end completely true.
The only thing I disagree with Rob on is the tuning as my CE Heritages have been the easiest arrows I have ever tuned. They bare shaft perfectly out to 40 yards and the same set of shafts fly great from all of my bows (42-52#) with nothing more than a change of point weight. With the current exchange rate these are cheap as chips and a great investment.

[Raedwald]

Don't know about woods being "easier to break". Sometimes, that "natural flexibility" that wood has is useful. Managed to put a POC into a tree from about 10 yards on Sunday (target was positioned between 2... I hate course planners!). It bounced back a good 7 yards and was perfectly ok. The 3 longbowmen in my group also hit various trees and branches around the course, and not one broke an arrow.

Even so, as Rob says, a POC arrow costs at most a couple of £ to make (and maybe twice that to buy), so a broken arrow doesn't break the bank.

[bkupris]

Originally Posted by Raedwald

Even so, as Rob says, a POC arrow costs at most a couple of £ to make (and maybe twice that to buy), so a broken arrow doesn't break the bank.

Arrows are like golf balls. So I keep telling myself....

[Seanmgn]

Lots of advice there, thanks thus far .

I'm very much a novice here, until Rob explained it I didn't really know what the grain of an arrow was all about! Thanks for explaining that one Rob.

Changing my original question a little, and I suspect I am opening a big can of worms here, what are the relative advantages of wooden , carbon and aluminium arrows? I've tried the search function but can't find what I'm looking for.

Thanks again for the advice so far.

Sean

[Raedwald]

Not really a can of worms (more like a pit of vipers..... )

Seriously though, on one level it comes down to what style you want to shoot. If it's AFB under EFAA/NFAS rules then it HAS to be wooden arrows (just checked!) - no option. Otherwise it's probably classes as Barebow or something like that.

[Macbow]

WOOD - Traditional heritage. Other than the trad factor and being slightly quieter to shoot no advantage over aluminium or carbon. Some say wood has a soul so if you count romantic notions as an advantage over soulless tubes go for it. In some trad competitions only wood is allowed.
ALUMINIUM - More accurate than wood and certain aluminiums like Easton Superslams are stronger than wood. Manufactured to exact tolerances. Cheap for the performance. Very versatile and easy to tune - huge choice of shaft sizes, weights, inserts and points available. One set of arrows can be fitted with field points, blunts or broadheads in a few seconds. They can be bent but don't need the constant straightening that wood does.
CARBON - Totally consistent and in archery consistency is a major plus. Lose or break one and you can buy another one exactly the same. Far stronger than aluminium or wood so cheaper in the long run and they're probably cheaper than a matched set of woodies. More tolerant of spine, more forgiving to shoot and for bowhunters better penetration. Never need straightening - if it does it's broken. Some look like wood if aesthetics matter to you and once again very versatile. New technology is constantly improving the accuracy and durability of carbons.