huntman

i have a 45# Bear with a 26" draw length, yeah im a small kid, and i have 340 Carbons that im shooting with 75 grain tips, and i was told today that they arent the right setup at all for my bow. i looked on the charts, and almost nobody makes carbons that are right for my bow, but some make aluminums. So my question is, what does too stiff of a spine do exactly, and should i go ahead and switch to aluminums until i out grow the bow?

CapstoneME

huntman,

There are a lot of spirited discussions about this topic (just look through the forum for threads on arrow spine.) If you've got a "straight ahead" release, you can get by with a stiff arrow. By "straight ahead", I mean using a string loop, caliper release, shoot-through prong rest, etc. If you shoot with fingers or use a non-caliper release off the string, your setup will need a spine more properly suited for it.

I don't think you'll have to give up on carbons, but just get some that are a little closer to what you need. The numbers (340, for instance) indicate the distance that the arrow bends when loaded with a weight. 400 bends further than a 340, so is therefore less stiff. Some manufacturers designate with draw weights. Gold Tip makes 3555, 5575, 7595 shafts, meaning 35-55 lbs, 55-75 lbs, 75-95 lbs. Remember, though, that doesn't mean that a 3555 will be perfectly spined at every length for any bow from 35 to 55 pounds.

You can do several things to effectively weaken an arrow's spine. For starters, you might want to bump that tip weight up to 125 or 145. I'd certainly go at least to 100 grains. You can also shoot the arrows at full length (30-31&quot, instead of cutting them down to your draw length of 26".

Tinker around, and I bet you'll get the carbons flying like you want.