How do you tell the difference in carbon arrows? Some are 39 dollards a dozen, and some are 97 dollars a dozen. I am trying to find the fastest arrow that I can to hunt with.

You should also be looking for the straightest and most consistant spined arrow.

That is where the $ comes into play.

IMO don' t buy anything with more than .003 straightness

It seems with the lower cost ones, out of a dozen the weight of them will vary as much as 15 grains between them. Also like rack said the spine can vary also. the straightness figure is also less. The more they cost the more these factors get equalized.

What they' re trying to say, without actually saying it, is the cheap ones are pure junk. The more expensive ones are a little better. The very expensive ones are fairly decent.

Most carbons shoot pretty well with field points and mechanical broadheads, but put a fixed blade broadhead on them and you' re lucky to come up with one or two out of a dozen of the cheap ones that shoot straight. There, in a nutshell, is the sole reason mechanicals have gotten so popular (even though some guys will try to say otherwise).

Take R-a' s advice. Don' t buy any that are advertised to be over +/-.003 straightness for hunting.

Take a look at the Beman ICS Hunters. They fall about in the middle of the road as far as price (~$57/doz) and have proven themselves year after year as being tough, light and accurate. I have shot them for the last 2 years and have no complaints.

Don' t be so speed minded that you ignore everything else.....speed means nothing, accuracy means more and speed will actually hurt if the setup is inadequate and too loud.

Thanks for the help. I did look in the Cabelas archery catalog though, and most of the arrows in there are .005, or .006. I didnt see any that were .003. Can you give me the names of some good arrows to look at?

Aluminums...Easton XX78' s. For me I find too many variables in the carbons.

I' ve switched back to aluminum from carbons! I' ll be using the Easton XX78' s!
Speed alone is highly over-rated! Speed is so popular these days, the guy at my bow shop thought I was crazy for going back to aluminum arrows!
With my setup, I could be shooting 300 FPS, but I' ll gladly sacrifice 40 FPS for the added accuracy and quietness that I' ve got now!

" GOOD" carbon in the .003 range or better would be Carbon Express CX PSE Carbon Force, and many others. The BEST carbons usually have something in the name like 3-D or Pro i.e. Carbon Express 3-D select or PSE carbon force competition pro.
Look around, you' ll find quite a few that advertize .003 or better...and 3-D or Pro arrows at .001 to .0015