RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

I've shot various carbon arrows with varying results. Some shot fine, then would not group well past 25 yds after some shooting. I've been the most pleased with the PSE Pros. They've held up well to everything but hits at the nock. Some may say straightness is not so important, and I would agree consistent spine is more important. But when shooting fixed blade broadheads, wobble can cause accuracy problems. Sure wobble can be caused be things other than straightness, but it does contribute. What some people may not consider is that straightness specs are given for a single plane. Now spin the arrow and it doubles when given in terms of total run out. An arrow of .005" now becomes .010" of straightness. My feeling is buy the best arrows you can afford. It may be cheaper in the long run when you get 10 good arrows out of a dozen, as opposed to 5 or 6.

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

When carbon fishing rods first came out- everyone said it was a craze. They said they don't have uniform wall thickness, that they weren't as straight, they will weaken over time- all the same things I'm hearing said about carbon arrows. Well, can someone tell me where I can buy a steel or aluminum fishing rod please? The carbon fiber has some very real advantages over the much softer, weaker aluminum. Yes, there is some crap carbon construction out there, but the same thing is true of aluminum.

If you get carbon arrows that aren't straight, return them. It's simple. Anyone with a grain of sense can check for arrow straightness and find the spine with a $30 tool.

So Len, how about if I bring a couple of my carbon arrows to your shop, and you can use any aluminum arrow of your choice. We'll bend all of them 30 degrees, leave them bent for 30 seconds, then we both have to shoot those arrows... I think we all know what would happen- all my carbons would still be straight, and every one of your aluminum arrows would be ruined.

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

It always amazes me at the things that come out of bowhunters mouths the 30 or so days prior to archery season at my local bow shop. Arrows are usually right up there with which bow is better or worse than the other.

The thing that blows me away is that "most" bowhunters that I know run down and buy a dozen fletched arrows and "expect" them to perform and are nieve enough to think that they will be straight.

I personally shoot carbons! I do so because of their durability. My groups have become so tight over the years that I would wreck 1-2 aluminum arrows per session.

But, like several have already mentioned, "you get what you pay for". I shoot Gold Tip 3-D pros. They are expensive but tremendously straighter and have closer weight tolerances than the "standard" carbon.

Len - being a shop owner you may or may not support what I am about to say - but I always take my arrow spinner with me when I am going to purchase arrows. I grab as many arrows as it takes and spin each one until I've got my full dozen. Some shops do not like it, others don't care much, because they know the next guy will buy whatever is on the rack. Now - if I don't have the opportunity to spin check them or the shop will not let me or I purchase them on the internet, I will spin check them when I get home and send the unstraight ones back to the manufacturer. I have found that Gold Tip's customer service is great and they will replace the arrows until the arrows reach the advertised spec's. This may not be possible with "Gold Tip Hunters".

I then take my best arrows and cut an inch or so off each end (the ends are usually the worst part of the carbon arrow and it is important to cut each end - not just one end). I then seal each arrow and lay them in a bath tub full of water to find the stiff side on each arrow. I then fletch each arrow, apply inserts and nocks and re-spin check them again and again until perfectly straight. Once done, I have a dozen perfectly tuned arrows that can be tipped with broadhead or field tip and group perfectly, every time (obviously, the bow needs to tuned as well as the shooter)!

Great post!

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

I know what you mean about the last minutle stuff. I especially hate the last week or even the night before. I get swamped at the shop the night before opener. It is rediculous! It is amazing. I get people that bring in their bows the night before because they havn't shot them since last season and want to sight it in, or tune it, or buy arrows. It never fails. Really ticks me off too. I could go on about that all day.[:@]


Any way I have never done this bath tub thing before. How do you find the stiff end. Does it sink? THen you fletch that end? I am reletively new to some of these arrow tuning methods. Let me know thanks.:)

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

I just opened a dozen ST Axis 300s. Put them on my spin tester and three of them showed a slight wobble, not bad, but not a "true" spin like the other nine.

I have to cut them yet, put them together, and fletch them up so these are just my initial observations....

I didn't go to the ATA show this year so this is the first time I actually got to handle an Axis shaft. I kept hearing what a small diameter they had. I guess I thought from the talk they would be smaller. These aren't even close to the old poltruded shafts. They are slightly smaller diameter it would appear than the acc 3-60.

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

As for spine degredation . . . does it still happen to arrows that aren't shot much?

For instance, let's say I take great pains to find straight shafts, fletch them perfectly, make sure they shoot great by taking a few shots with BH attached, etc. If they are simply left alone after these intial few shots and saved purely for hunting, will they degrade over time and become unuseable? Or does shooting cause this problem?

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

Took care of those extra posts for you. ;)

To answer your question, I believe it is usage and time that cause the degradation. If you were to leave the arrows alone for an extended period of time then I believe they would be perfectly fine.

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

Hey, where'd your other 4 posts go... I had a smart $*& comeback all ready to go... :)

Depends. Heat can cause glue bonds to breakdown, as can age. Depending on initial quality, it may only take a few shots for the degradation to occur (see one of Len's posts in this thread), making it impossible to know for a fact that the last tune up shot you took before putting it up for future hunting use didn't do the damage...

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

Sorry about the repeated posts. The navigator browser I was trying out locked up and told me there was no data. I thought I lost it altogether! Surpised me to see it's here.

Thanks Frank for fixing it.

So now I can't set aside some arrows for hunting and have complete confidence in their future performance (unless they're aluminum)--but I have good excuses now! :D

RE: Check, re-check, re-tune your arrows.
 

Alright alright. You shot some aluminums for a few years or through an animal and tell me how much straighter they are then carbons. I have a Carbon arrow that i have shot 8 deer with. One deer it went throught the left front shoulder and out the right rear shoulder(210 pound deer). An aluminum would be junk after this. You also need to compare cheap aluminums with cheap carbons, or expensive with expensive. Cheap easton Jazz shaft are +- .006 the same as my bemans. My Bemans will last longer and stay straighter longer.