That "either straight or broken" thing is one of the biggest myths in archery right now.

As far as messing them up when shooting, no you won't dent them, but if you hit one with another arrow you can still ruin it. The bad thing is you might not know if you ruined it. Until it explodes when you shoot a few weaks later.

And almost every aluminum arrow made now has unibushings so you can index the nocks. Plus with aluminums you can just heat up the tip and adjust your inserts as well. They are not epoxied in like carbons are. I think aluminums are much easier to work with. You can build arrows with a tubing cutter, some hot melt glue and a gas stove.

Paul