Heavy arrows for recurve

thinhorn_AK

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What weight arrows are you guys shooting? I’d like to get into the heavy foc game but don’t know exactly where to start. I was looking at getting a tuning kit from Sirius or grizzlystik. Has anybody gone that route?
 

Btaylor

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575 grains total. 160 grain head on a wood shaft so not a real high foc. What is your current arrow setup and where would you like to end up? Depending on those answers you may need to change shafts or you may not. May just need to shorten them and add weight in the front. You may need to switch to feather from vanes and ditch lighted nocks if you use them. There are a thousand ways to skin that cat.
 

oldgoat

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It's easiest with micro diameter arrows in my opinion, then you still have a reasonably thick sidewall so they aren't so fragile. It's been pretty easy for me with Victory Vaps, I used their Stainless Insert/Outsert, if I build anymore, I'll use Ethics Insert/Outserts. If you are going to do it though, you have to go whole hog with it. You have to use much smaller feathers etc, if not you won't like the results in a cross wind etc. You might already have this figured out, but in my view, one of the biggest advantages of high foc is it increases the length of the lever arm the feathers act upon, that means you don't need as much feather to do the same work, but that also means cross winds don't have to be as strong to do the same work on pushing the back of the arrow around, so smaller feathers are paramount. I use 2.5 inch Shields, Ashby uses even smaller. I can usually get an arrow in the 10-11gpp to tune with them on my Toelkes.
 
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thinhorn_AK

thinhorn_AK

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575 grains total. 160 grain head on a wood shaft so not a real high foc. What is your current arrow setup and where would you like to end up? Depending on those answers you may need to change shafts or you may not. May just need to shorten them and add weight in the front. You may need to switch to feather from vanes and ditch lighted nocks if you use them. There are a thousand ways to skin that cat.

Black widow says I should have at least 11gp so at my 60lb draw that’s like 660 at least. I’m sort of new to all of this, I shot a lot of recurve years ago then got out of it for like 15 years. Now I’m trying to get serious about it again.
 

Squints08

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I shoot about 19.5% FOC with my recurve and get total pass throughs on deer sized game. I personally found that to be a compromise between low FOC and high FOC and it works well for me. I shoot full length Black Eagle Vintage arrows with their brass inserts (not aluminum), 75 grain weighted inserts screwed in behind it and 125 grain 2 blade Magnus broadheads out of a 49# @ 28" Bob Lee. My draw is closer to 29.5" though so I'm closer to 52#. I say play around with a few quality components and see what flies well because a well tuned arrow from a low poundage bow is better than a wobbly arrow out of a heavy bow.
 
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I’m not shooting a crazy FOC (like 12-15%) but I shoot wood shafts which are naturally heavy. With a 200 grain Grizzly on the front, a glue-on nock, and 4 4” fletchings, I’m up to 620-650 grains total out of a 58-ish pound bow. No weights or outserts or anything like that.

They’re certainly not fast and you’re not going to get a lot of distance out of them, but man; they hit so hard and are so quiet.
 
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Btaylor

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I have played with hunting setups from 40#/375g to 54#/600g. Of course the heavier arrow penetrates better…and it makes your bow quieter ( an advantage)

There are disadvantages to going extra heavy, namely trajectory. It can really hurt your shot location by the tight margin of error.

In my experience heavy arrows don’t give me the advantages that some YouTube sensations claim. I don’t NEED a heavier arrow when I am blowing through animals with 9gpp and 11gpp arrows AND 2 blade heads on tuned arrows. Pass thrus…no problem…so why limit my range? heavy arrows are sold as a necessity by a few Internet influencers, in my experience it’s over blown.

I think a guy needs to evaluate his hunt style before setting up an arrow. For example, a guy that will only be shooting 15y -20y from a treestand for whitetails is much different from hunting in the west stalking on the ground in open country with some longer shots.

If your max distance is 20y, then uber heavy doesn’t necessarily hurt you But on longer shots it seriously affects shot location on animals.

Accuracy matters in our sport….

.
Completely agree. If EFOC was everything some crack it up to be, every tournament archer in the world would be shooting that type setup but that just doesnt seem to be the case at all.
 

Geewhiz

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I'm shooting an arrow with a total weight of 657 grains.
300 grain vpa up front.
Black eagle vintage shaft.

Shooting about 172 fps

Thinking about changing things up next year with a lighter arrow, more speed, flatter trajectory.
 

sndmn11

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It's easiest with micro diameter arrows in my opinion, then you still have a reasonably thick sidewall so they aren't so fragile. It's been pretty easy for me with Victory Vaps, I used their Stainless Insert/Outsert, if I build anymore, I'll use Ethics Insert/Outserts.
I am on this train as well. Ethics steel, axis/pierce/VAP tko, decide what your minimum tip weight and maximum tip weights that you find acceptable, and then shoot them. It is easiest to start full length with the light tip then move to the heavy, trim from the nock end, repeat until you get happy arrow flight. I had 670grains with most of it up front and found trajectory to not be a problem under 40 yards.
 

brettpsu

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Sep 21, 2012
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360g gold tip trad classic
150g iron will
100g insert
90g weight tube
700g total

I use to shoot an arrow that was 120-130 grain lighter, and had good results, but wanted to try out a heavier arrow this year for a potential moose hunt down the road. I misjudged my elk this year by 4 yards, he was 30 and I ranged trees close and shot him for 26. That 4 yards almost caused me to shoot under that bull. Luckily I hit the bottom of the heart and he was dead quick but my lighter arrow setup hits 2-3" higher at that yardage. Do believe the weight tubes will be coming out after deer season this year. I think that 580-620 is going to be my sweet spot but YMMV.
 
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I'm shooting around a 540 grain arrow at 54#.


I can't tell you my foc, I don't care. Good broadheads on the front are where your penetration come from, that and decent weight. But that weight needs to be balanced for trajectory.


I decide on an approximate weight, then trim the arrow to get it to tune. You can play with tip weight, but I'm just used to coming up with a desired overall weight first. Trimming the shaft keeps you closer to your desired weight usually.
 

TaterTot

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Aug 31, 2020
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I have played with hunting setups from 40#/375g to 54#/600g. Of course the heavier arrow penetrates better…and it makes your bow quieter ( an advantage)

There are disadvantages to going extra heavy, namely trajectory. It can really hurt your shot location by the tight margin of error.

In my experience heavy arrows don’t give me the advantages that some YouTube sensations claim. I don’t NEED a heavier arrow when I am blowing through animals with 9gpp and 11gpp arrows AND 2 blade heads on tuned arrows. Pass thrus…no problem…so why limit my range? heavy arrows are sold as a necessity by a few Internet influencers, in my experience it’s over blown.

I think a guy needs to evaluate his hunt style before setting up an arrow. For example, a guy that will only be shooting 15y -20y from a treestand for whitetails is much different from hunting in the west stalking on the ground in open country with some longer shots.

If your max distance is 20y, then uber heavy doesn’t necessarily hurt you But on longer shots it seriously affects shot location on animals.

Accuracy matters in our sport….

.
They don't limit your range as much as you think. Momentum matters. A lighter arrow loses momentum faster than a heavier arrow. My last setup was 598gr out of a 45 lb bow. My current setup is 686 out of a 55lb bow.
 

nevadabugle

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Depends on the game. My hunting arrow is 600 grains my 3d arrow is 475 grains. Both out of a 50 pound bow. 3d shots here are not uncommon at 50, but wouldn't shoot at a deer sized animal past 30. There are trade offs in everything.
 

Wrench

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The push / trad lab has a great podcast on this. Trad lab 004 cliff hangers is the episode.

They go over fancy shafts, broadheads, foc and fetching configuration.

Real data is given....and it is very similar to what I have found. If you are building the arrows for the toelke, they tend to like a bit weaker spine than the numbers point to. My whip at #57/29 was pushing a trad 400 at 31" with a 100gr brass insert and 175 / 200 heads.

It would also shoot a 500 spine well. My 50@28 at my 29" draw spits a trad 500 with a aluminum insert,36gr footer (highly recommended if stump shoot) and a 200 head.
 
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Jul 23, 2020
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I am using a full length BE 350 Rampage with 265 of point weight. 27.5'' draw and about 47-48#. With my fixed crawl it is a little stiff, but I prefer to have stiffer arrows for fixed head shooting so they wiggle less going into critters.
 

chinook907

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Oct 1, 2014
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I used to shoot the Grizzystik Alaskans.

When they quit making them I switched to Easton 320 6mm FMJ's.

With the heavier brass insert and 260gr Abowyer brown bear head, they weigh around 650 gr.

I shoot these out of a 60# PSAX.
 

mattflint

FNG
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Sep 9, 2021
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Location
Washington
What weight arrows are you guys shooting? I’d like to get into the heavy foc game but don’t know exactly where to start. I was looking at getting a tuning kit from Sirius or grizzlystik. Has anybody gone that route?
As stated just go a spine size or 2 up and break it down with point weight on a standard carbon shaft. I can get to 700 grains with a .300 shaft with 375 grains up front.
Think Ill be in the 650 range with my new bow.
I fix on getting some aluminums or fmjs here soon to test out if a less loaded front end brings anything to the table as Ive never done it any other way than piling a crap ton of weight on the front of a stiff arrow til bareshaft hit with fletched. Proves a real pain sometimes for me.
 
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