Short Arrows
 

I had an interesting discussion with a fairly successful 3-D shooter last night. He recommends shooting the shortest arrow possible for the last word in accuracy. In my case, I draw 29" and generally shoot 29" arrows. But I could shoot arrows as short as 27.5" because the arrow rest is at the back of the riser. He was talking about, in his case,using short 400 series arrows instead of a longer 340 series arrow -along with 75 grain heads; to further reduce the arrow weight as well. But the short arrow thing, he says, gives the shaft a more consistent flex cycle as the arrow is launched from the bow. Anyone have experience along these lines?

RE: Short Arrows
 

Even thoughI shoot a short arrow for my DL I disagree with the guy you were talking to. i just read an article about this in a magazine and i know I'm going to butcher this. i thought about this after reading and here's my thoughts.

While the shorter arrow may flex less with the same spine. A properly spined arrow will not flex outside of what would be a stable oscillation. A longer arrow is more stable due to FOC that can be achieved. The shorter the arrow the lower the FOC gets.

I'm not sure about the flex cycle theory.

RE: Short Arrows
 

He is mistaken



However,I do like to shoot an arrow that is no more than 1" past my rest.


Properly spined arrows will flex the right amount.



His thoughts on light point weight is also a bad idea.FOC is important,especially outdoors.

If you want a light arrow for 3-d,find one that spines right that weighs less and keep foc at or above 10% and all will be fine.As the distances increase,look at going higher with foc.

RE: Short Arrows
 

-Take this as you want, I've only owned a bow for about 29 hrs.

man did I drill the proshops, question after question. We finally got to arrows as he was begining to measure them up for cutting. The guy told me how this guy came in and needed a dozen arrows set up with muzzy's. He wanted them cut as short as possible. But the proshop guy told him he wasnt comfortable cutting them that short for several reasons. (bla bla bla)
The guy finally said, either cut them the way I want them, or I wont take them. So the proshop gut said OK, and did it, he didn't want to loose the sale.

24 hrs later the guy came back to the shop with 22 stitches in his finger and wanted a new set cut at a longer length.

RE: Short Arrows
 

Actualy all else being equal, shortening your arrow increases FOC. Everything Ive read, heard, experimented with shows that the shorter your go the more finicky the bow can get. Kinda like back in the day when guys were using 6+ inch overdraws to get speed. They got speed but the bows were harder to shoot.

RE: Short Arrows
 

we had alot of thos guys with the overdraw rest back in the early to mid 90's but I never fell victem to em.......never liked the Idea and perferd my arrows a 1" longer and still feel that way today,with arrow tech these days you dont need to go short....

RE: Short Arrows
 

Passthru is correct , if you keep the same weight point and shorten the arrow the FOC will be greater not less

RE: Short Arrows
 

Yaaaaaaa!!!! wooooo hooooooo Im finaly right about something, yall need to call my wife and tell her that. HA HA:D

RE: Short Arrows
 

Dave,
You are correct about FOC increasing. I forgot thatI added 20 gr to the nock end of my last set of arrows when I shortened them. Has your season started yet?

I'm sorry, but you'd have to be a moron to cut your finger on the broadhead when shooting. It's called common sense and being safe.I have no problems what so ever with my 27" arrows and a 30" DL. I'm still baffled how a person can cut their finger?

I only have 25 yrs of shooting compounds and 30 yrs of shootings bows overall.