What Trail does and considers when he puts together the perfect arrow setup for hunting
Using Archers Advantage for arrow shaft selection.
A lot of us spend a ton of time choosing and tinkering with our bow. We play with sights, stabilizers and tinker with releases, but how much time and effort do we put into the actual piece of equipment that is going to impact and kill the animal? I’m talking about the actual arrow! Choosing and building an accurate arrow is under-appreciated, so I wanted to take some time to write about what I do to put together the perfect arrow setup for hunting.
For more information, check out the recent arrow podcast I recorded:
Spine is simply the arrow’s stiffness, and it is labeled on the shaft with numbers like 500, 400, 340, 350 and 250. Many new archers mistake these numbers for the arrow’s grain weight so don’t get that confused. When looking at spine values, the smaller the number, the stiffer the arrow; the larger the number, the less stiff it is. For example, if you’re pulling 70 pounds and select a 500-spine arrow, your bow’s energy will cause that arrow to flex excessively in flight and it will not be able to recover, which results in accuracy issues.
Draw weight: You need the actual draw weight of your bow when choosing an arrow spine. Bows may come off the rack set for 70 pounds, but may only actually be 67 to 65 pounds at peak draw weight or the weight could be higher. This could be the difference between choosing one arrow spine over another. Make sure to use the actual peak draw weight as measured.
Length of the shaft: Your arrow shaft length is typically not the same length of your draw length. For example, my bow set at 30” of draw length is only likely to be shooting an arrow shaft cut at 29.25” or 29”. Choosing your arrow’s length/spine based on your draw length may result in selecting the wrong spine for your setup. Typically, my arrows are 1” to 1.5” in finished length beyond the point where it contacts my rest. (Be aware that the insert you choose will add length to the end of your arrow). One other consideration when choosing shaft length is the overall finished arrow weight you want to have and what broadheads you may be shooting. For example, if I am shooting a large cut on contact fixed blade broadhead and I know I am prone to getting my bow hand knuckles high up into the grip, I want to make sure that the blades are beyond my knuckle so that I do not risk cutting myself when the arrow is released.
Point/vane/nock weight: Spine of an arrow is dynamic. The stiffness of an arrow will change by the components that you put on it. Changing the point and/or insert weight will effectively change the stiffness of the arrow. A heavier broadhead or fieldpoint will make an arrow flex more. Conversely, weight added to the back of the arrow will stiffen the spine slightly, so be aware that things like point weight or lighted nocks, arrow wraps, etc., will change the spine of the arrow and could cause flight issues. A correctly spined, complete arrow is a combination of the actual spine and the parts/pieces to add to it.
The longer the arrow shaft, the weaker the spine will be; whereas, the shorter the arrow shaft, the stiffer the spine will be. Adding more weight to the point of the arrow will weaken the spine while adding more weight to the nock end of the arrow will stiffen the spine.
Archers Advantage is an online app that can be used to help you build out a properly spined arrow for your bow specs. They offer an annual web-based program called Shaft Selector that is $15.00 a year. With it, you can add your exact setup and can play with different arrow options, components and lengths and you can input that with your bow, draw length and draw weight to see which lengths/spine and components that offer you the best possible setup. This is always my starting point and I think it’s worth the money even if you are only building one set of arrows a year. All of the various bows, arrows, vanes and other components are available there to select in drop down menus. You can tinker with arrow lengths, arrow options and all of the parts and pieces to generate what is likely to be the best finished product that will tune to your bow. Shaft Selector will also offer you an estimated FOC and FPS.
Spine charts: Every arrow manufacturer offers a chart where you can select the arrow length and your draw weight from a graph. Those charts are available online or you can also find them at your local pro shop. Where the X and Y axis of that graph meet for your specs will display a suggested arrow spine. Remember though that the spine is dynamic, which is why I like the Shaft Selector program. There is so much more that goes into building a properly spined arrow. If you utilize a spine chart only, I would highly recommend that you advise the bow shop technician to further discuss the various options of arrow lengths and components that you plan to use.
One of the best ways to get the proper spine, length of arrow and the perfect combo of components is to tune the arrow to your bow from the start. To use this method, you’ll need to buy shafts based on the spine chart recommendation and cut your arrows a half inch at a time, paper tuning as you go with an arrow, to check for ideal tune. This is time consuming and paper tears can be a bit finicky based on the actual tune of your bow. When paper tuning, a “nock left” tear indicates a weak spine, right tear would indicate a spine that’s too stiff. So you would build an arrow, cut and check your tune by shooting the arrow through paper as you go. Ideally, you are looking for a perfect clean tear through paper where the arrow is not tail left or tail right.
Paper tuning is just one way; however, it’s a great starting point. If I am building hunting arrows, I want to tune so that the bow will shoot a broadhead at extended yardage. A fixed blade broadhead will tell you a lot about the tune of your arrow setup and bow when shot at extended yardage. This method is probably the best way, but it’s labor intensive and it takes some other tuning skills likely to ensure your arrow and bow are perfectly tuned. This method is worth it, but realize it may not be for everyone, depending on your individual tuning proficiency and equipment. The Shaft Selector program option will get you very, very close almost every time.
Arrows can be purchased with a variety of straightness tolerances. The more consistent and straight the arrows are, the more expensive they are. Commonly available straightness specs are .001, .003 and .006 tolerances by the dozen. The longer your draw and the longer the shaft you require, the more important it may be to buy the higher tolerance arrows. The shorter your arrow, the less important it probably is to buy the more expensive, straighter arrows. Here’s why: If you are building your own arrows, you have the ability to cut the shafts from both ends to get the straightest part of the arrow. Or you can spin each arrow to check for wobble and cut the wobble out of the arrow.
A number of years ago, I set up two dozen arrows for a friend and coworker. As part of an experiment, I decided to buy two dozen arrows — one that was the most expensive with the best straightness and one that was less expensive, but was also less straight. The other specs of the arrows were identical. I took the same build precautions and built both sets exactly the same way. After the build, I installed broadheads, spinning and matching them as I went to get the best fit for each arrow. The take home from that experiment was that I got more arrows from the less straight, less expensive dozen that spun true. That experiment — although it was a small case study — gave me the idea that if you are diligent in building arrows, it’s highly likely that you can get very good results with cheaper arrows and probably also save some money.
I’ve read a lot about arrow straightness as it relates to accuracy. The information I’ve found suggests that, with modern compound bows and carbon arrows, the straightness of the arrow is very likely not impacting the accuracy of most shooters. If we are honest about our ability with a bow and arrow, most of us are not likely good enough to see the differences in the various arrow straightness tolerances. However, I’ve always said — and will forever suggest — that you should shoot the arrow that you are most confident in. Head games and confidence in archery are real and you may shoot an arrow better because you believe the arrow is a superior product. Confidence is real — and confidence is king when it comes to archery and accuracy, so buy accordingly.
The most common hunting arrows come in 4 mm (.166 inside), 5 mm (.204 inside) and 6 mm (.246) inside diameter. Selecting an arrow based on diameter is another topic that probably has marginal impact in the end, but there are some considerations. It’s commonly held that a smaller shaft will penetrate better and there is some truth to that, but it’s muddy. A broadhead tipped arrow cuts a larger hole than the size of the shaft where the shaft slides along behind in the broadhead channel. The larger or smaller shaft encounters almost no penetrating resistance as long as it is driving through softer tissue. Penetration through bone is another story. The larger the shaft, the more pressure bone can exert as the arrow drives through and a skinner shaft can, in my opinion, penetrate better because there is less pressure due to the size.
The second factor when considering arrow diameter is wind drift. Skinnier arrow shafts buck the wind a bit better because there is less surface area. It is common in hunting situations to encounter windy conditions.
There are some pros for larger diameter arrow shafts. In my experience, the larger shafts are often easier to tune. For example, a Gold Tip Pro Hunter .246 arrow is one of the easiest arrows to tune out of almost every bow I have ever worked with. The smaller shafts are more finicky to tune. One other benefit for larger diameter shafts is that there are many more options for high quality inserts/components. There are good options for the smaller shafts, but far fewer of them than are on the market for .204 and .246 diameter shafts.
Front of center (FOC) describes the percentage of the arrow's total weight that is located in the front half of the arrow. The more weight that is located in the front half of the arrow, the more forward the arrow's center-of-balance. If you have ever built a paper airplane and played with adding weight to it, you likely know that adding some weight slightly forward will help it stabilize and fly further. A perfect FOC percentage in your arrow will boost arrow performance and accuracy. If your FOC is too high, your arrow will nose dive early and, because it’s losing speed more rapidly, it may result in an erratic point of impact. An arrow with too low FOC percentage can produce inconsistent flight with left and right miss issues.
An FOC between 10% and 15% is just about right in my opinion. I’ve shot arrows closer to 15% and arrows closer to 10% and I’ve had good results with both. To me, I think group tuning is the best way to see what FOC will do for your setup. Tinker with FOC by adding weight to your broadhead and/or inserts to see what the result is in your groups. For me, FOC is solely a factor in finding the arrows that are the most accurate and group the best.
Most hunting arrows — whether you purchase them as raw shafts or fletched from the factory — will come with inserts, but manufacturers give you options here, too. For instance, an Easton Axis 4MM Long Range shafts come with standard aluminum Half-Out inserts that weigh 50 grains. I could go with a 55-grain Titanium Half-Out or a 95-grain Steel Half-Out to see what results in the best flight. Most companies also offer small weights that can be screwed into the back of an insert to adjust the weight. You can also simply change the weight of your field tips or broadheads to observe how that impacts your arrow groupings.
This is the most commonly asked question I get in regard to arrows, specifically as it relates to elk hunting. Once you decide on the proper spine, the next step is to decide how heavy a shaft you want to shoot. Arrow manufacturers label each arrow as expressed in GPI or grains per inch. There are two considerations when thinking about finished arrow weight, speed (FPS) and penetration. I have tinkered with different arrow weights and in-lieu of trying to find the words myself, I am going to include some words by Mathews’ own Joel Maxfied. Joel does an extensive amount of testing and has harvested all sizes of animal across North America. In logic, and in my own experience, I agree with his assessments and testing.
Joel states, “I did an entire summer’s worth of testing with my bow, documenting the differences between a 400-grain arrow and a 600-grain arrow The 600-grain arrow gained me 3% in energy, but yielded a tremendous 27% trajectory loss. Far more was lost than gained. I’m constantly testing, shooting tournaments and bowhunting. I test out lots of different arrow combinations every single year. In the summer, I might fletch 20 dozen arrows. I’ve consistently found that arrows weighing 6.2 to 7.2 grains per pound of draw weight tune well and maximize accuracy. That yields a finished arrow weight ranging from 434 to 504 finished arrow weight. That being said, I don’t build arrows to a specific weight. If a 420-grain arrow tunes and shoots best, I’ll shoot it at any North American big game animal. Same thing with a 482-grain arrow. I build arrow setups that optimize accuracy and performance. That is more important than arrow weight.”
My own personal arrow builds land in the window of 450 to 470 grains of finished arrow weight and they have done well for me consistently on elk, mule deer and antelope. One argument for a faster arrow and tighter pin gaps is that you are more likely to still make a lethal shot on an animal if you misjudged the distance. In my experience, this is common with elk. Their body size is large and it’s common to estimate a bull to be closer than he actually is. In those cases, when I have not had the ability to confirm a distance to the exact yard, I have underestimated the bull, but still killed them because I shoot an arrow that is relatively fast and still has enough overall weight to penetrate. In my opinion, accuracy kills way more animals than penetration alone.
Inserts: Arrow inserts get a lot of attention — much more so in the past five years or so. Most companies will include an aluminum insert with your arrows, but many bowhunters choose to upgrade to aftermarket inserts that are titanium or stainless steel. I’m not going to suggest that the standard inserts you get with arrows are not good options because I believe they are and many deer and elk die every year by people who use them. The aftermarket titanium and stainless steel inserts also have their place and I think it’s for people who place value in having the strongest, straightest arrow possible. I have used both. I believe that those more expensive options produce better arrows, but I would also suggest the benefit is marginable when it comes to practice shooting and hunting. What I mean by that is that if you miss a target during summer practice and connect with a rock instead of your target, the aluminum will definitely break or bend as will the titanium and stainless versions to a point where you would not want to reinstall them in an arrow and hunt with them again.
Last week, we did some shooting in our warehouse at a small hole cut in a silhouette of a mule deer buck made of ¼” steel. I was shooting Titanium Easton Half Out Inserts, a coworker was shooting Iron Will HIT inserts with impact collars. Many others were shooting standard inserts included with the various brands of arrows. The aluminum failed as you might imagine, often completely mushrooming the field tip and the insert back into the arrow, fracturing and pushing it back into the shaft completely. My Easton Half Out Titanium inserts yielded slightly different results. The inserts did not flatten or break. Instead, they would break out the sidewall of my carbon arrow at the very bottom of the insert inside the shaft. When I examined the inserts after, every one of them was bent ever so slightly to the point where I would not consider it reusable, but they did not break. Lastly, the Iron Will HIT Insert and the Impact Collar did fair better. The collars themselves appeared as if they might be reusable. I did not pull a HIT internal insert to examine it, but if you were to reuse it, it would be difficult to extract it I believe. It’s worth noting that every arrow that hit the steel target broke. I understand that a steel target is not flesh and bone, but within that I would make the argument that is exactly the point. If you hit a rock — or if you hit a steel target — your arrow is breaking and your inserts have a high probability of being unusable, regardless of the material. If you hit an animal, any of those materials is sufficient to penetrate and kill. The better components, in my opinion, offer better straightness/alignment along with some durability, but what is that worth to you? There is some subjectivity in this, which is why I love archery and the discussion so much.
One final thought on inserts: observations tell me that one piece, half out inserts are more likely to break out the side wall of the end of the arrow on a hard impact. The potential benefit is that I think one piece inserts are more consistent and straight because there are less parts. They offer better broadhead alignment with less tinkering. The most durable inserts for impact and to protect the end of the arrow are two piece insert/collar systems that cover some portion of the end of the arrow. Again, the downside of those is that, with two parts, both have to perfectly align together and with the broadhead to spin completely true. There are trade offs for both options.
There are tons of options on the market for vanes, but the most commonly asked questions I get are about three- or four-fletch configurations, low profile or high, left or right helical and sound. Before I dive into those, I do want to include a blanket point of view about vanes that I believe in.
I suggest shooting enough vane surface area and enough helical in your vanes that it is sufficient to guide your broadhead and no more. More vane or helical than required is just adding drag, loss of FPS and potential accuracy issues.
Are three-vane or four-vane configurations more accurate? This is debatable. Many of the top level archers swear by four-fletch, claiming that configuration is more forgiving and more accurate. I also have observed many great shooters that still use three vanes. I have tried both and I can’t say I am more accurate from one to the other. A four-vane configuration does offer me one advantage, which is why I use it.
Nock tuning is the process of turning your nocks as you are shooting and tuning with a paper tuner to get a clean paper tear for each arrow in your quiver. The difference in arrows is most often due to the spine (stiff side of the arrow) as it is leaving your string and moving forward. You want every arrow to shoot consistently through paper with a clean hole and, in order to do so, each arrow will need to have the stiff side of each arrow in the same location as it is nocked on your string. Having four vanes of the same color allows me to rotate nocks as I am nock tuning the arrow and I do not end up with a nock vane being in an odd position as it may if I were shooting a three-vane configuration.
Helical left or right: First, every arrow needs vanes with some offset or helical. This is going to cause your arrow to rotate as air moves across the surface of the vanes. This will add stability, just as rifling does in the bore of a firearm. Once again, you need enough helical to stabilize your broadhead, but not too much. The larger the broadhead, the more helical and/or surface area you are going to need to get it to fly well.
In recent years, the topic of bowstring twist and clocking arrows came to light. The direction your string is twisted will naturally clock or begin to rotate your arrow even if it does not have vanes on it. In talking with string builders, it’s suggested that most strings will naturally clock an arrow to the left. This means if you are using right helical on an arrow, your arrow is probably clocking left initially and then the right helical of your vanes is rotating that arrow back to the right. In theory, it would make sense that most of us should be shooting left helical on our arrows. Once again, I'm not entirely sure that most archers and bowhunters shoot well enough to note the difference in accuracy; however, the difference is in the details and it is worth considering and trying if you want to get the most out of your setup.
Vane profile: Higher profile vanes offer more surface area and can help you achieve better stability for broadheads. They also offer less clearance and are louder in flight. Lower profile vanes offer less stability, but are quieter and offer more clearance. If you want to shoot three vanes, a higher profile vane or longer vanes are often required; whereas, four smaller, lower profile vanes offer enough guidance to stabilize broadheads.
Vane stiffness: The more stiff the vanes you choose, the more quiet they typically are in flight. The more flexibility in a vane, the more air will ripple through those in flight and the louder they will be. My preference are lower profile, stiff vanes because I believe they offer me more clearance and are quieter in flight. I believe an animal ducking the string is often hearing the sound of the arrow coming towards them rather than the sound of the bow going off.
Nocks: I have a love/hate relationship with arrow nocks. The nocks that fit best for my center serving have been the Gold Tip .166 pierce nocks, but they are not what I consider durable and consistent enough for an entire summer of practice and I end up replacing them way more than I would like. When it comes to choosing a nock, nock fit is the primary factor to consider. A nock should be able to “click” onto your center serving, but the arrow should pop off the string easily if you pluck the bowstring as you might a guitar string. You do not want the nock to be loose with a lot of play, but the arrow should easily pop off. Another method to test nock fit is to put the nock on the center serving and slide it up and down a bit. A proper nock fit should easily slide up and down without any “bite” or friction. Once again, you do not want it loose, but it should freely move up and down your serving. Durability and stiffness in a nock is also important. Ideally, you find and use a nock that offers all of those qualities. If not, you may end up replacing nocks a lot. In reality, what I would suggest is finding a quality nock and sending that to a string builder like Mathews or Austin Kincaid at High Voltage Bowstrings and have them match the center serving on a new set of strings to the nock.
In conclusion, there are a ton of options for building the best arrow for your bow and hunt. Hopefully, this has helped you to narrow down and understand the different options and help you make the right choice. Let us know if you have further questions and if you are looking for arrows, components or even arrow building equipment, make sure you check the GOHUNT Gear Shop. Here’s to some good shooting this summer and fall!
