Todd1700

Long time compound shooter just getting into traditional archery and still very much in the early learning phase. I have a Bear Grizzly recurve 58" AMO 50 lbs at 28". My draw length is 28". I have 6 30" 2117 aluminum shafts on hand that have been here for years. The arrow spine charts say these are okay but I have already heard from numerous sources that virtually all the arrow spine charts recommend overly stiff arrows for recurve and long bow shooters. I know enough to understand that leaving arrows longer and or adding a heavier tip can weaken the spine a bit. My question is at 30 inches in length can I make these arrows usable in a 28" draw 50# recurve simply by using a heavier tip?

They make 200 grain field tips and Simmons makes a 190 and a 205 grain broadhead. Could I get good arrow flight from such a set up? Trying to find out before I bother fletching them up with 5 inch feathers.

Night Wing

I ran your setup through Stu Miller's archery spine calculator and I think the best point weight for a 30", 2117 at 50# @ 28" with your 28" draw length is going to be somewhere between 210-225 grains. The calculator will give you a tunable arrow, but my info is based on your bow being cut 1/8" past center. Since you didn't provide that info, this is a guess on my part. If the 2117s don't work, and you want a heavy arrow, then a 30", 2018 should work with a point weight somewhere between 145-160 grains, but again, I'm guessing your bow is cut 1/8" past center.

BTW, 3 Rivers Archery sells 5 grain brass weight washers you can put behind your field points to get the odd weight like 215 grains, etc. They come in 5/16" and 11/32" diameter. Do yourself a favor and get the 11/32" even if you go with a 2018 arrow. The 5/16" are wider than the 11/32".

http://heilakka.com/stumiller/

http://www.3riversarchery.com/product.asp?i=5208X

I use the calculator to tune my two recurve bows you see in my signature. The calculator is very good to get a tunable arrow, but all the info in the 14 boxes has to be "correct" for it to work.

Todd1700

Thanks. I will probably go with 2018's or 2016's then.

Bernie P.

I would try the 2117 bare shaft and see what happens.If they're to stiff with points around 125gr the 2018 should work well.Recurves can shoot a slightly stiff arrow pretty well but don't try to push it to far.I would not recommend using heavy heads to compensate for stiff arrows.That would kill the trajectory.Good luck!

Alpha Capo

Does anyone have an ArrowSpine tester?

the reason i ask is ive been wondering what the difference in static spine is when you change the arrow centers from 28 to say 30 or 26 inches for any given shaft....

basically i want to know how much changing Arrow length effects the spine. i imagine you can get an idea with spine calculators like the one posted above....but id like to see actuall numbers.

its my opinion that Point weight doesnt really effect spine that much and should only be used for very fine tuning.....Like the last thing you change when tuning your arrows...

..for your bow i would go with a 2016 at 29.5inches and a 125 or 145 grain tip....you could also use 2114 a longer 2018 and dont rule out a 1916 .....arrow tuning can be tuff ....specially if your having a hard time with your release. a clean release is important.... slightley weak spine is better to have because its easier to fix. if your arrows too stiff than your just screwed right from the start.

Night Wing

Trajectory usually won't come into play if the shots taken are not over 20 yards. I shoot a very heavy 682 grain 2117 arrow out of my 42# recurve bow. This gives me 16.23 grains per pound (GPP) which really wallops a bag target. In fact, it's easily destroying my bag target due to the deep penetration of the arrow. I practice shooting at 10, 15 and 20 yards. I've found there is very little arrow drop (trajectory) between 10 and 20 yards. All of my shots at live game have been taken at 12-17 yards. The heavy arrow gives me two bonuses. The bow is very quiet upon arrow release and since it is so quiet, there are no string silencers on my bowstring.