Help with arrow selection suggestions plz

[Jesse Jaymes]

PLease take the majority of this post semi tongue in cheek....I am mostly a bow SHOOTER. I am just barely a bow hunter. I really enjoy the 3D shooting and competition. I have dedicated 3D bows. And hunting bow(s). But I am nowhere near an archery nerd like most of the die hard bowhunters. My true loves all go BANG. I'd much rather tip a deer with a rifle or handgun and custom made ammo than a bow......I think. Simply not in a position (state) to have opportunities at multiple tags/animals to harvest per season. So I can't really enjoy the luxury or utilizing multiple weapons to harvest multiple animals.

I have a '17 Carbon Defiant incoming. Never had a Carbon bow prior. Was searching earnestly for an aluminum Pro Defiant, but "lucked" into a Carbon version. My DL is 28" Bow is 60/70 but is reported to max out at 75lbs on the scale at 28".

Having shot semi competitively....I can fully appreciate a nice, new, shiny, perfectly matched dozen tubes. I no longer run .004" garbage. And will pay for .001" tubes.

Never shot an elk with any weapon. But really have the urge to attempt archery elk this season. Which runs concurrent with archery deer.

My head has been SPINNING over the uber nerdiness of Arrow Selection. I know GPI, and FOC...and that's the end of my knowledge. Outserts, Brass....blah blah blah.....I simply can't get a handle on it.

Can I get some suggestions on decent tubes to look into? And the spine number variance between manufacturers is frustrating. Gold Tip has cut me a slight break in the past....and I have shot Hunter Pro XT for a few years. Might like to try something else. My local "crew" constantly says "VAPs" over and over again. And which video of the dude was floating around of him standing on a shaft between two chairs then it spinning perfect after that much flex? Was is Victory or Black Eagle?

Take any suggestions and knowledge drops.

 

[Brendan]

So - I had great luck with the GT Hunter Pro's. They just worked. Sometimes I feel silly that I stopped using them. Been trying the new and shiny myself since then, and am still searching

There's a lot of debate on 4mm / Micro Diameter arrows. I have used them, but I personally wouldn't recommend them for hunting. I think they're great on the outdoor target range where you need to account for wind, but don't like the components for hunting / broadheads - little bit of a pain in the a**.

For me, 5mm arrows like the Easton Axis, Black Eagle Rampage, or Victory RIP are what I'm most interested in. Good blend of smaller diameter, able to run standard thread broadheads without outserts (using Easton HIT inserts), and you can easily get inserts at 20 grains, 50 grains, or 75 grains with off the shelf components. (Full disclosure - Shot the Axis last year and so far this year, but don't have personal experience with the Rampage or the RIP, just like them from a spec perspective)

Do you have a preference on finished arrow weight / speed? What type of distances would you shoot with the hunting setup?

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I believe my state has a 6 grains per pound benchmark. At 75 DW that equates to needing a 450 grain arrow. So that muddies the waters of components, GPI, shaft length, blah blah blah.

When I picked up Archery again after a 15 year lay off (Before Target Panic had a real name....and crippled me into quitting) I ran some Axis. Familiar with the HIT inserts. Being able to adjust the weight of the insert seems handy to try different weights which changes spine and FOC and ultimately flight and tune, Yes?

I live rural and practice to 100+. But I am pretty conservative to shoot game over 40. Deer look really small from a 30ft tree stand.

I think 280fps is the magic zone...or that's what the internet says. With the 450 grain requirement...it's gonna be "As fast as they fly at 75 pounds" and live with it.

 

[theleo91386]

Yes, Washington has a 6gr/lb of draw requirement. Your draw length doesn't make it too tuff though as you could easily go with a 300 spine arrow and a 125gr point and not get caught up in exotic components. I went down the micro road once and came to the same conclusion as a lot of other guys, I'm just not much of a fan of using outserts. My numbers are pretty similar to yours except my draw length is a half inch longer. My current arrows are BE Spartan 300's cut at about 27.5" (I forget the exact measurement and don't have an arrow rite at hand), wrapped with a 4" reflective wrap, 4 fletched with 3" Fusion X-II's, and use 125gr heads. My total arrow weight comes in at 455gr making me Washington legal though I head out of state. If you go with a shaft that has a around 9 GPI, or more, you don't need to worry to much about complicated components to make your arrows legal. You can make it more complicated if you want to though.

 

[Brendan]

So - you have to pick an insert weight and go with it, unless you run gold tip which is adjustable with their FACT weight system. Then, it's either 100 or 125 grain heads after that.

You could run a Black Eagle Rampage .001" with 125 grain point, 75 grain brass HIT insert, total arrow weight around 477 gr, 275 fps or so.

An Easton Axis 300 Comp would work with 125 grain point, 50 grain brass insert, total arrow weight around 505 gr, probably a hair under 270 fps

Gold Tip Pro Hunter 300's are an easy option, want to say my arrows where 434 gr built to a similar length, so you would need to add weight to those, using their FACT system.

Lots of great choices...

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I have run screw in weights on the back of the Gold Tips in the past....BUT....I had them built at a "Pro" shop......a few weights were omitted. I do not have an arrow scale (yet).....you can imagine the Head Scratching at 100 yards with some really wonky fliers.