According to Rick McKinney's statements on Carbon Tech's website an aluminum arrow can and will lose its spine much quicker than an all carbon arrow under normal conditions...which would include the actual hitting of the target and pulling of arrows. I do agree. He also states an all carbon arrow can lose its spine after hundreds of shots while an aluminum/carbon arrow can lose its spine quicker........again under normal use. If an archer is conscienous of what he shoots and pulls his arrows with at least some decent degree of carefulness, I am not sure I agree that an a/c shaft will degrade in spine any quicker than a good all carbon shaft.
My only experience with a/c shafts are the now discontinued A/C Superslims.....extremely tough arrow IMO. I'm about to purchase some new shafts..........most likely ACC's, FMJ, CX Maxima Hunter, or Carbon Tech Whitetail XP. I'd prefer the new ACC Pro Hunter but I am open to your thoughts on spine degradation under normal abuse and conditions.
Part of the reason I ask is according to McKinneys' articles spine tolerances and degraduation is more important than straightness tolerances unless you are perhaps one of the top 50 shooters in the world. Trying to apply this to hunting arrows and some 3D shooting.
I'm about to go back to the old aluminum shafts myself.. Straightness and consistency is better than about anything on the market and the cost is much cheaper. Sure they bend but the inserts don't pull out like factory installed carbon inserts do,, or some shop's hired hand's "handy work" at installing them poorly.
Arrows wear out. I've never shead a tear for an arrow that died in the normal cycle of an arrow's life. It did it's job and gave up when it decided it had all it could take. Either by my shooting skills or bad luck when an animal fell. I shoot heavier arrows for hunting and don't shoot far when I close the deal,,, and quiet is all the rage now adays..
What ever you choose will work fine
I've certainly thought about returning to XX78's for hunting myself. I have never bought a dozen arrows of any kind that was as consistent as XX78 or XX75 shafts, no matter if I prepared them or a pro shop prepared them.
Like TFOX,I'd disagree w/ Rick re: the ACCs as well. The real problem with "degradation" (whether straightness or spine) in "all carbon" arrows IME, seems to be the biggest issue with composite shafts- i.e. pretty much anything Easton makes, as well as some of the Carbon Express shafts like the Terminator series.
But I also have to agree with Russ- I don't expect my arrows to last 4 years and each to withstand severe shooting and take 5 deer and hit a rock and ricochet off the barn like some people apparently believe carbon arrows should be able to handle. I see this all the time , and frankly it's a very unfair attitude for archers to take- you get pounded with 60- 90 FPs of KE a few hundred times a month and see how you last If arrows last me a season/year, I'm good- If I kill a deer, the arrow and broadhead is retired regardless of condition.
For 3D shooting of course the greatest durability is desired as the arrows are hitting a pretty tough target medium day in and day out (which def wears them out quicker) AND they are getting tagged by other people's arrows at times.
Bottom line- nothing is perfect and nothing lasts forever- You've got 4 of the absolute best choices listed in your initial post Greg I don't think you can make a bad decision. When I find myself waffling back and forth like this (and I do it all the time because , ya know, I'm OCD) I pick the known quantity- and If it's not known to me, then I listen to my gut instincts-about the only time it fails me in regards to arrows is my gut instinct has told me a bazillion times to not buy Goldtips , but I did it anyway
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Shoot what you like and have confidence in - don't get wrapped up in popularity contests
I disagree,not only have I found spine consistancy better with ACC's,I have also found them to hold their spine practically forever.
A big reason for my skepticism of McKinney's statements.......a line of Carbon Tech arrows with his name on them.
If name on something was cause for skepticism then there are Matthews bows, PSE, etc. I take a different perspective, name on something means they are proud enough of the product that they want to put their name on it.
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Nature does nothing uselessly.
- Aristotle -
Yeah, I wouldn't be too tough on Rick's statement (or the man himself) - it's has some merit. Nor would I be too skeptical of any marketing "spin". If Rick was trying to BS his way to sales, he would doing his manufacturing process much differently and producing the the kind of volume (and crap) we see out of many other manufacturers. Instead, he produces only moderately sized and not terribly frequent batches of his product.
Also you have to remember he is the world champion archer who was in Easton's pocket for many years and left them to start CT because he wanted (and felt he could make) a better product (pretty ballsy, if ya ask me). As far as "all carbons" go, IME, he's surpassed Easton's consistency except one area, durability. Rhinos are extremely tough, but the Whitetails are somewhat, and the Cheetahs are quite, brittle compared to most Easton/Beman composite shafting (barring a few like lightspeeds, etc).
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Shoot what you like and have confidence in - don't get wrapped up in popularity contests
ACC's, FMJ's vs all carbon
