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Carbon Express CX Hunters

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Carbon Express CX Hunters

Old 05-02-2002, 10:58 AM
  #1  
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern PA USA
Posts: 1,398
Default Carbon Express CX Hunters

I was looking for birthday presents last week to make me feel better about turning 50! I was interested in the McKenzie targets with the easy pull foam, and Carbon Express arrows with the finish that, according to advertisements, are easier to pull out of foam targets. Anyone who has shot carbon arrows into a McKenzie HD target (especially a new one!) knows that making them easier to pull would be a good idea. Now that there is evidence that pulling ICS carbons out of foam targets can bend or damage them, it seems even more important to me. Well, the local shop had no idea when the McKenzie targets would be coming in, but I did get to try the Carbon Express Hunters.

Carbon Express CX Hunters with Buff-Tuff finish.

The first thing I did when I got them home was to weigh each shaft to check for weight variation. I only got a half-dozen, but the weight variation was 3.1 grains. Interestingly enough, 3 of them were within .1 grain, and the others were within .2 grains, just that the two groups were about 3 grains apart. If you go to a shop where you could weigh them before buying, you might be able to get a dozen to very close weight tolerance. I don't have a straightness or spine tester, so I'm not sure about those important specs. They are advertised to be within .004 for straightness though.

The second thing was to install inserts, and I then fletched two of the one set of 3 that was within .1 grain. The third shaft was left as a bare shaft tuning tool. Of course I wanted to see how easily they pulled from a foam target. The only target I had was not actually a 3-D target, but a block of foam insulation board that I put together from leftovers from insulating my basement. I have a 24x24x16" block made of blue tongue and groove insulation (Dow Styrafoam). The first regular carbons I shot into this foam (without soap or lube) required me to lay the block on its back, stand on the block, and pull the arrows out with the help of an arrow puller. I guess there was a bit more melting and fusing than you get with the normal 3-D target! Soaping the arrows did have them pulling normally, with equal or better ease than a non-lubed aluminum arrow. Well, the first shot with a non-soaped CX Hunter with buff tuff finish was not what I was hoping for. I didn't have to stand on the target like before, but easy pull, it was not. I resorted to soaping them like any other carbon, and they pulled out very easily. The soaping seems to last longer than with non-camo arrows, and the streaks of blue styrafoam I was getting on them removed more easily from these arrows. I guess I would have to shoot them into a real HD target to be sure, but my advice at this point would be to soap them like any other carbon.

As far as shooting goes, they seemed to shoot really well, as far as my abilities can show. I was a little surprised that I had to re-tune all of my 3 bows to have these arrows properly tuned, even thought the other arrows that I had were rated in the same spine range. When I was finished, a bare shaft was flying very straight, and a fletched arrow was hitting virtually in the same hole if I didn't mess up the shot. I lost two nocks before I had sense enought to shoot separate spots! When I was finished tuning the CX Hunters, the other arrows I had were still bare-shaft tuned, so maybe I had them off just a little bit anyway. I was shooting three shot groups, one shot at a time into a heavy paper target tacked to the foam block. The heads I was using were Game Tracker Saber heads, which I don't use for hunting, but they seem good for this purpose. They did not always spin perfectly, but they were very close. This is a very well vented blade head of 100 grain weight. I would think they would shoot somewhat like a Muzzy 3-blade 100 grain, but I would prefer the Muzzy for hunting. I shoot 3-4" helical feathers, so the broadheads should group well. At 20 yards, they were scary good!

Viper - Average 1" group with the smallest 1/2" and the largest 1.25"

Mountain - Average 1.1" with the smallest 1/2" and the largest 1.3".

Maverick - Average 1.2" with the smallest 5/8" and the largest 1.5"

Moving back to 30 yards, the groups opened up a little, but weren't too bad considering there was a breeze (it was pretty consistent)

Viper - Average 1.75" , smallest 1", largest 2.25"

Mountain - Average 2", smallest 1.25", largest 2.25"

Maverick - Average 2.5" smallest 2.25", largest 2.75"

These are 30" CX 300's shot at 62-64#. The finished arrow weight is 390 grains. The Viper and Mountain are shooting them (based on chronographed arrows of similar weight) between 260 and 265. The Maverick (based on the previous owners information) should be putting them out close to 275 fps. Not too bad for 60 # bows. I should add that I don't think the larger groups with the Maverick had anything to do with the greater speed. I have only had that bow for 2 weeks, and I can't say that I am quite used to it yet. The arrows flew like the proverbial darts, and shot much flatter than my Nitro Traditionals that weigh in nearly 100 grains heavier.

Overall, I am very pleased with these arrows. No doubt many of you who are better shooters could shoot better groups with these arrows than I can, but I don't think they are causing an accuracy problem with broadheads. The only downside is that you will probably still need to soap or lube them when you shoot 3-D's with them.

Avoid the inevitable until it is absolutely unavoidable!
JOE PA is offline  
Old 05-02-2002, 10:12 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Carrington ND USA
Posts: 1
Default RE: Carbon Express CX Hunters

I've been shooting them for over a year now (one hunting season) and I've been pretty pleased...The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the straightness...Of the dozen arrows 6 of them spun perfectly and 6 of them were terrible...there was no in between...they were either perfect or bad...they probably averaged their advertised tolerance, but I would not hunt with the six bad ones...Last fall I used the same arrow to harvest a caribou and three deer...the arrow snapped in two on the last deer (hit a bone, the deer spun and broke it off on a tree)...Overall, like I said, I am very happy with the arrow...
NodakQ2 is offline  
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