RE: help with arrow grain
I guess it depends on your point of view and what you intend to do with those arrows. For 3D or targets, yeah. 350 is okay.For hunting, my personal opinion is anything under 400 grains is too light for a hunting arrow, and even 400 is pushing it.
I've learned through my own testing that the difference in trajectory out to 30 yards - reasonable hunting distance for most of us - is practically nil between a 350 gn arrow at 300 fps and a 500 gn arrow at 250 fps. For hunting, the heavy arrow hasmany benefits when compared to the miniscule trajectory benefit of the faster 350 gn arrow:
Less bow noise (no matter how quiet the bow is with light arrows, it's quieter with a heavy one).
Less wear and tear on the bow and accessories.
Less need for expensivevibration damping rubber doohickies.
Easier tuning.
Slightly more energy.
Slightly better retained energy downrange, where it really counts (a couple of ft lbs of extra energy absorbed from the bow + a couple of extra ft lbs of retained energy at the deer's ribcage... You wind up with about the same effect you'd get if you shot an extra five pounds of draw weight, just by using the heavier arrow.)
MUCH higher momentum... No matter whether you come down on the side of energy or momentum as the prime indicator of penetration potential, the heavier arrow wins.
This is an old argument and it likely won't be resolved. The speed cult loves their light little arrows too much to surrender to reason.[8D]The sensible approach is to pick something right in the middle. Not too light, not too heavy. But I prefer to err to the heavy side.