Elk arrow setup

Whats a good Elk arrow setup? Whats everyone having good results with?

I am setting up arrows for a 44# longbow and have some 400 spine beman ics hunters that shoot good with this bow. I'm at about 430 grns and want to get closer to 500 grns with weight tubes, inserts, and/or washers. How do I figure out the best FOC weight?

I can help with FOC, but I can't give you a tried and true elk arrow setup.

In terms of foc, here's how I normally build an arrow. First, I try to find out what I want in terms of a total arrow weight. Lets just say low 500grs. I'll then find the shaft that I want to use. We'll use your choice of arrow for example, 8.4 gpi. For my length arrows, that would mean 235.2 grains for the shaft. Add 13gr for the nock and about 12 grs for the feathers. Now we're in the ball park of 260gr (+/- because the shaft length may change during tuning due to tip weight).

Now here's what I prefer. If I can add weight to my carbon arrows, I'll add the weight to the tip given that I can get the arrow to tune to my likings.

My choice would now be to play with a weighted insert or heavy broadhead. It looks like you can only use a cb insert with these arrows? If so we need to go with about 20gr for this insert. If my math is correct we're at about 280grs. So now I need to find a broadhead in the 220-250gr range to get to my desired total arrow weight of low 500s. So for me, I would go with the 250gr broadhead of my choice, since they make it in that weight.

Now if you can't find the screw-in broadhead of your choice at the specific weight, the cool part is that there are many glue-in traditional broadheads with many different screw-in adapters of varied weight and size. They make these adapters in aluminum, steel and even titanium. This should make for a broadhead in your weight preference.

Keep in mind that adding this much weight to your tip will change spine, so tuning is a must. For example if your current set up has a 125gr tip with a standard insert and your arrow is already coming near to your riser at full draw, you may need to bump up in spine which will in turn add to your total arrow weight because of the change in gpi.

Given this system, I'll usually end up with a foc between 17-22%. Most of my arrows fall in the 19% range which gives me a "more forgiving" arrow. Personally, I've been seeing benefits in tuning, penetration, wind drift, etc, giving me a "more forgiving" hunting arrow.

On a side note. Given my results, it doesn't "nose dive" out of my rig. In the past, I've bare shafted out to 60yds (just to experiment).

Here's my current setup.
I normally shoot stickbows in the mid to high 50's with an arrow in the mid 500grs. But South built me limbs for a trip to Australia, so I'm going to use that bow for the rest of this year. It's 66lbs at my draw length. My arrows are 659grs with 330grs upfront. I'm getting right around 20% foc right now.

Aloha!
Ryan

Time to crunch some numbers then. I will try for the 20% first and see how it shoots. The reason I'm considering the weight tubes is because I already have the 125 gr Magnus buzzcuts. I think the weight tubes will distribute some of the added weight across the whole shaft so I don't have 60 grns up front.

Don't worry too much about foc. Just wanted to give an example of how I prefer to build an arrow and how it relates to my final foc. Yes, I do like higher foc but good tuning, sharp/strong broadhead, and desired total arrow weight first. IMHO.

Aloha!
Ryan

the rule of thumb is 10 grains per pound of bow weight to get the best performance out of bow . So in other words if you are shooting 44 lbs you would want a 440 gr arrow. At least that was Fred Bears rule and in the last 20 some odd years it has worked good for me. Also razor sharp cut on contact broad head. Rember when you add or take weight away from upfront you change the dynamics of the spine. Less weight makes it stiffer more weight weaker.

Maybe I'm just old or maybe I'm just lazy. Or maybe both. I don't make my arrows for animals. I make the best arrow for the bow.
I start thinking around 10gr per lb draw wt. for any of my bows. That's a good combination of trajectory and a quiet shot.

Then I play around to get perfect arrow flight or as perfect as my release will allow.
I've been giving 3under a try for the past month and I'm trading some noise for better right/left accuracy.

I'm no expert but I have found that the same well placed arrow will put two holes in an elk just like a whitetail.

You can't have too much FOC, more is always better provided you end up with the correct spine. I just switched to GT 55/75 trads as they are lighter than the CX so I can add more weight up front and end up with the same overall weight. The nice part about GTs is you can add screw in weights behind the inserts. I am using the 100 grn insert with a 20 grn wt, with a 100 grn Magnus stinger, total arrow weight is 520 grns (10 gpp). That will be a great elk arrow, a similar setup with the CX's (100 grn insert) passed thru 2 caribou and every deer I''ve shot, and I only have a 26" draw.

My avi pic is where I found my arrow after my first bull caribou. I spent 10 minutes looking on the ground before I saw it in the tree!

Heavier arrows are better for elk. I would go for around a 500 grain arrow and a COC broadhead.

I wouldn't shoot under 450 grains for elk.

I shooting a compound but I'm using axis arrows with brass inserts which increase FOC and overall weight

I agree with Justin....i'm shooting a 560 gr arrow in my 54# recurve...and a 500 gr in my 70#compound

Looks like I can buy the 100 gr GT inserts for my Beman's which will put me at about 520 ish. Hopefully this doesn't change the spine too much though.

Those heavy insert changed the spine a lot for me- i'm shooting 340's that have the heavy inserts in my 54# recurve, 31" arrow... couldn't get the 400's to tune.

I ended up putting the 100 grn inserts in both my 400 and 500 spine arrows. I got it all tunned and both arrows shoot good. I will be hunting with the 500 spine because they are lighter and drop less at 20+ yards. They came out to 463 grns. I wanted to use the heavier 500 grn 400 spine arrows but my accuracy with the 460grn out of that bow is just plain better

You guys should really read the below article. The Clums at Rocky Mountain Specialty Gear have piled up a lot of elk, plus talk to all of the customers that come thru the door. I like to follow the guidelines in this article for my elk arrow.

https://www.rmsgear.com/store/pc/broadhead_talking_points.asp

I tend to agree with lostarra on the building of arrows for the bow and not the animal. I am shooting a Hoyt GM II with 70lb limbs @ 28". I draw to 27" so we'll say its approximately 67lbs. I am shooting Easton Axis 400's with 100grns up front and they fly perfect. I am right over the 14grns/in and I couldn't be happier. I tried a couple of different GT setups and realized that with these Axis I can swap out arrows much easier with the group of guys I shoot with, even though they are usually shooting compounds. To each there own, figuring out your arrow set up is a large part of the fun in my opinion.