RIP XV Rabbit Hole

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Jul 23, 2020
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433
In my search for a perfect arrow of high FOC, speed, durability and accuracy I have probably bought, broke and lost a few thousand arrows. The next step in my evolution was to try a stupid low GPI arrow, (RIP XV) and attempt to build up the front for more durability. In this step of stupidity, I figured my Venn-diagram would be FOC>Speed/Accuracy>Durability. In order to make myself feel more comfortable with their thin, brittle walled nature, I ordered the Ethics front component insert/collar. I used the AL system and left it whole for 80g of components. I wanted to use fix blades this year, so I opted to go for a 125g tip. with 4 of the small Gas vanes and a wrap, as well as opting to use an X nock, I had a TAW of 452g or so. (205g total front weight, 199.5 shaft. 35g vane/wrap, 7g nock, and 4/5g in glue/variance)

The arrows fly like darts. I mean they are badass. I am shooting a 70# Bowtech at 28.5'', and the 300's do not show weak. I do have a bit of a nock high tear, however the extreme weight forward is probably to blame and the arrow has zero issues correcting itself in flight so I opted to not concern myself with a 1/16'' nock high tear.

Over the course of a month I half broken half of these original dozen arrows, 3, have had hard impacts and mushroomed out the tail end. 1, I closed into my car door like a moron, and snapped off the last 1/4 of the arrow. 2, I purposely shot into a stump and a 2x6 after adding the victory unibushings and an F nock. (this reduced accuracy, I believe the bushings were not perfectly square and I am suspect of all F nocks). While the ass end remained intact, The AL collars do not hold up well to the twisting and turning in wood and start to bend and eventually shear off with the point. However, the insert and shaft appeared to be intact. While attempting to reinsert the inserts after squaring the ends of these last 2, the mushroomed end of the insert split the front of the shafts. My fault ? Or a micro split of the carbon? Beats me. I could have probably left the inserts in and just replaced the collar, but I get carried away easily.

This morning I have ordered gold tip, Kinetic unibushings (metal ones) and Easton G nocks. 1 of 3 things will happen. 1) I will have a well rounded arrow, for what is possible for this build, that is still extremely fast, moderately to extreme FOC for a compound, extremely accurate and durable arrows that survive the abuse of weekly spring league and back yard shooting. 2) I will have the aforementioned arrows, sans accuracy as the unibushings do not provide the accuracy as the standard X nocks are currently doing and will have to lose durability for accuracy. 3) I will lose accuracy and not gain durability and simply have wasted another $30 for the hell of it.

I am hoping for the former option. They will need to have a far lower attrition rate to make it for this years hunting arrow. I will be using them in 2 weeks to shoot a Texas Nilgai, so if they survive shooting one of those, I would feel confident in them working for elk and whitetail. If I am still seeing a high attrition rate, I will probably sacrifice some of the unnecessary FOC for more durability and switch to RIP TKO's, or even possibly GT Airstrikes. (Probably RIP TKO because the weave looks SICK). Either way, I am going to get another half dozen of the RIP XV's and fit them with the unibushings and G nocks with the ethics components and send it. I will know by May/June whether or not they are the ticket. Any questions, comments or concerns I am open to answer, as well as criticism.

*Note: I am not an EFOC/Ashby jihadist. I wanted to use a durable front component system, without risk of shear points from over levering the front due to a small insert and collar so I used the full ethics component system. I also wanted to use a 125g head for better fixed blade durability and selection. I am using Cutthroat 3 blades. I simply arrived at 20%, not sought it. The last 2 years I have been around 10-12%. Which, again, is arrived to, not sought.

**Note2: I have wasted a lot of money and time.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
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Finding the right combination of accuracy and durability is a tough rabbit hole to start with, but throw FOC into that mix and you can really drive yourself crazy.

The only reason I'm trying the RIP TKO Elites is because of the weaved carbon......which I've found to be much more durable. One of the quantifiers of going this TKO route is a much lighter GPI arrow shaft than I am used to......just under 9gpi with the 250's. My first thought was "how is 9gpi in a shaft going to be tough enough". And in order to get it up anywhere near to the 500+gr arrows I'm used to, I have to use 75-100gr inserts and 125's which also increases FOC. The FOC I could care less about......the last 13 years my arrow shafts have been 11+ gpi from the start.

I'm not a fan of collars, and haven't been a fan of half-outs or outserts so have always used HIT's in my .204" arrows. I figure if the arrows can't survive some hits through 2x6's, 3/4" plywood, and into some rebar in 3D targets on their own......then I'm using the wrong arrows. I have high hopes for these, but if they don't work then I'll use the Sirius Apollo's I'm testing.

I have no doubts at all that they will work fine for elk hunting, which is ultimately what they're used for........but the other 11 months out of the year where I'm shooting them into and at whatever I feel like is where the problem could lie.
 
OP
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Finding the right combination of accuracy and durability is a tough rabbit hole to start with, but throw FOC into that mix and you can really drive yourself crazy.

The only reason I'm trying the RIP TKO Elites is because of the weaved carbon......which I've found to be much more durable. One of the quantifiers of going this TKO route is a much lighter GPI arrow shaft than I am used to......just under 9gpi with the 250's. My first thought was "how is 9gpi in a shaft going to be tough enough". And in order to get it up anywhere near to the 500+gr arrows I'm used to, I have to use 75-100gr inserts and 125's which also increases FOC. The FOC I could care less about......the last 13 years my arrow shafts have been 11+ gpi from the start.

I'm not a fan of collars, and haven't been a fan of half-outs or outserts so have always used HIT's in my .204" arrows. I figure if the arrows can't survive some hits through 2x6's, 3/4" plywood, and into some rebar in 3D targets on their own......then I'm using the wrong arrows. I have high hopes for these, but if they don't work then I'll use the Sirius Apollo's I'm testing.

I have no doubts at all that they will work fine for elk hunting, which is ultimately what they're used for........but the other 11 months out of the year where I'm shooting them into and at whatever I feel like is where the problem could lie.

That is my thoughts as well. I like the RIP TKO's as well. .4gpi difference between them and airstrikes is about 12g at my arrow length. But I, like you, do not like the the victory components. I ran Rampages last year and I don't know if I broke a single arrow, only a couple wobbly inserts after smoking a target stake. For the price they are super hard to beat. I could probably run them again and be super happy, but I might try the airstrikes next and see.

I've ran with 10-13GPI on several builds before, so now I am just playing with the other end of the spectrum in an attempt to find a perfect middle ground, which will probably be a Rampage/AS/ RIPTKO with a HIT and collar/footer like IW makes. With the heavier GPI I won't need as much up front to weigh my arrow down so it will bring it to a more reasonable number on the FOC too.
 

three5x5s

WKR
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Well how's the RIP XVs doing. I'm wanting to try them. I think the 3DHVs are the same shaft but come with a unblushing and AAE nocks. Are you using the Gas Pro 187s for the 4 fletch??
 
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OP
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Well how's the RIP XVs doing. I'm wanting to try them. I think the 3DHVs are the same shaft but come with a unblushing and AAE nocks. Are you using the Gas Pro 187s for the 4 fletch??
They are. I did not like the victory components at all though. I was using the Gas pro's, yeah. I am back to a BE Rampage arrow with a bunch of random components thrown on and having great luck. My only gripe is the learning curve or getting the Ethics collars on and off.
 
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Joe Holden

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 14, 2019
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For getting components out, try hot melt, or buy 1 Easton 2016 and cut into a 8-9" piece. This will slide over the Rampages you're using and you can heat the aluminum up to break down whatever glue you're currently using. Only issue is that you'd need to clear vanes off to slide up front.
 
OP
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For getting components out, try hot melt, or buy 1 Easton 2016 and cut into a 8-9" piece. This will slide over the Rampages you're using and you can heat the aluminum up to break down whatever glue you're currently using. Only issue is that you'd need to clear vanes off to slide up front.

The Ethics components are super tight tolerances. On the .204's you have to sand the carbon for the footers to fit IF you have the HIT in. But you can't put in the HIT with a footer on if it has the collar, which mine do.

I ordered a footer that is an extra .001'' bigger and it works a lot better. My biggest gripe is the footers WITHOUT collars fit on extremely tight unless you sand a disturbing amount. I had 2 slide down the shaft on foam, where they sat over the HIT. Impossible to slide back up. So I started using the Footers with collars, now I've started ordering the next size up. Much easier.

It's all an evolution.
 
OP
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I won't mess with stuff that I know from the start will bug the crap out of me. And I just know that collars will bug the crap out of me. Broken arrows will bug me less.

The RIPS bugged me. The only other time is if its in a bulls shoulder and it breaks lol
 

three5x5s

WKR
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I'm wanting to try these or the 3DXV. I'm have a 26 dl at 52-54lbs The 400s @5.5 gpi 500s @5.1 gpi give me a lot to play with. 50-75 gr. Iron Will HIT w/ 100 gr. Soild head. Can add all the rap and vanes I want and still have an 390-410 gr. arrow. Wanted to try the X-Impacts but the RIP HVs would keep me in the 204s instead of the .166s
 
OP
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I'm wanting to try these or the 3DXV. I'm have a 26 dl at 52-54lbs The 400s @5.5 gpi 500s @5.1 gpi give me a lot to play with. 50-75 gr. Iron Will HIT w/ 100 gr. Soild head. Can add all the rap and vanes I want and still have an 390-410 gr. arrow. Wanted to try the X-Impacts but the RIP HVs would keep me in the 204s instead of the .166s

I think you just lose some durability with that light of a shaft.
I do enough testing in the off-season to know that whatever equipment I use will hold up just fine to anything elk bones can do to them.

Are you running RIP XV's?
 
OP
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No, those are too light for me. As it is I have to use 75gr HIT's in the RIP TKO's to get them even close to the weight I want. Also, not sure if those XV's are weaved carbon for durability and strength.
They are not. I've been using the Rampages long enough now, I am fairly confident in their durability.
 

Laned

WKR
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Aug 12, 2018
Messages
389
Have you ever messed with Firenock CTI's? The ones that fit inside 0.204 arrows have a 0.166 ID. Playing around with that, myself, for no reason other than curiosity. Fit an Ethics outsert for a micro diameter arrow and an associated collar for the OD of the arrow shaft. In theory, should increase the durability of the front end of the arrow. Haven't shot anything yet, but just thought I'd mention it in case you might be interested in experimenting further.

Sent from my SM-G715U1 using Tapatalk
 
OP
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Messages
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Have you ever messed with Firenock CTI's? The ones that fit inside 0.204 arrows have a 0.166 ID. Playing around with that, myself, for no reason other than curiosity. Fit an Ethics outsert for a micro diameter arrow and an associated collar for the OD of the arrow shaft. In theory, should increase the durability of the front end of the arrow. Haven't shot anything yet, but just thought I'd mention it in case you might be interested in experimenting further.

Sent from my SM-G715U1 using Tapatalk

I am using Nockturnals that 'F' nock sized. They worked great at 50 yards in comparison to the regular F nocks. only about 6-7g heavier.
 
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