Not to bust on you IL_BOW_MAN, but speaking in general terms - Anybody that blindly buys the arrows a shop recommends is a fool. When I first decided to try carbons I was totally unfamiliar with their spine ratings. Whether by accident or by ignorance, the pro shop sold me arrows that were two sizes underspined for my bow. Considering that most carbons cover 20 pounds of spine range, that' s unforgiveable. But.... it was my own fault.

I went into the shop on a whim, unprepared, without knowing what size arrow to take home and wound up paying for those arrows, plus arrows to replace them. I hear similar stories so often that bad arrow recommendation must be an epidemic in our pro shops! When I bought the second dozen (at a different shop, of course) , I had done my homework and knew exactly what I wanted when I walked in the door.

The tough part about aluminum arrows is you don' t get that 20 pounds of slop like carbon arrows. You' ve got to get within 5 pounds, and that doesn' t give much leeway at all to an ' archery pro' (who, too often, is only a semi-trained monkey that happens to work behind a counter in a bow store). Learn to use arrow spine charts and arrow weight calculators. Keep notes on what arrows shoot best for you. Then you can make your own choices. And always check the numbers on the shafts before you carry them out the door. Sometimes the guy behind the counter can take a grab for one size shaft and wind up with a different size.