Arrow Weight Choices

[Bowhunter57]

I have 2 arrow weight choices for whitetail deer hunting, this fall.
* Both have perfect flight.
* All shots at deer will be inside 15 yards.
* Sharpened single bevel broadheads are being used.
*** The bow being used: 19" Satori riser with Uukha Gobi short limbs, 44# at my DL.

#1 Gold Tip Hunter XT 500 spine at 29", 175 gr. tip weight, 4" feathers.
TAW 430 with 16% FOC. This is 9.7 grains per pound.

#2 Gold Tip Traditional 400 spine at 29", 250 gr. tip weight, 4" feathers, 100 gr. internal tip weight.
TAW 665 with 25% FOC. This is 15.1 grains per pound.

Which arrow would you use for hunting purposes only and why?

 

[Jamie]

Heavier is always better for hunting. ALWAYS. The object of this game is to achieve maximum penetration because two holes or complete pass-throughs are better than no exit hole. Being able to smash through bones instead being stopped or getting a few more inches of penetration on a marginal hit can make be the difference between recovering the animal or not.

Beyond that, heavy arrows make traditional bows more efficient. The physical manifestations of this are less vibration (not to be confused with "hand shock" which is something else entirely) in the handle and a quieter, often much quieter, bow. Noise and vibration are both wasted energy not being spent to propel the arrow.

All that said, 9-10 grains per pound is considered by most modern archers to be "heavy". 15 gpp is excessive for deer sized game, but right on for dangerous game or really huge, tough animals. Personally I like my arrows to be 10-12 gpp.

 

[WoodCoDep]

i have been using carbon for years, but i started out with aluminum 25 years ago, so i just bought some eastons for my longbow this year, think they're right at 13 gpi, with weighted insert,175gr razor head, wraps, feathers, and lighted nock I should be close to the 700gr range..gonna give the heavy arrow craze a try this year. this traditional journey has been a whole new learning/experimenting phase for me. but it has rekindled a stagnant era in my hunting career. super excited this year.

 

[Bowhunter57]

While shooting the #2 arrow at an archery event, this past weekend, I noticed that even inside 15 yards, yardage estimation is critical. So much so, that I decided to go a different direction with a "happy medium" on the #1 arrow.
I added 70 grains of internal shaft weight to get a 500 TAW and 23% FOC, which will give me a 11 gpp arrow. These arrows still fly great and hit at the same point of impact, out to 25 yards.
I can't help myself, when it comes to experimenting with arrows.

 

[Jamie]

I guess it is worth noting that there should be some "happy medium" compromise between arrow speed and weight for hunting so our arrows don't drop 6" at 10 yards. A 1000 grain arrow going 80 ft/sec is not good for deer hunting. Probably works fine for a Moose or Hippopotamus, though.

 

[WoodCoDep]

I made up my 2219 eastons, hoping to use my weighted inserts. they wouldn't fit so i used the stock ones. Somehow out of my 60lb longbow they were bareshafting really weak with my 175gr tips. i ended up cutting them down probably 3 to 4 inches because i don't want to use less than 175 upfront. they bareshaft and fly great now. all the research i did showed they would be on the stiffer side. Whatever the case I'm happy lol.

 

[Creamer]

I'm about the same as @Jamie , I like 10-12GPP. My current arrow build for the Widow I'm shooting is about 540 grains at 46lbs, so like 11.7GPP. I shot a very similar arrow last fall from my Stalker recurve, also at 46lbs. The first year I shot a recurve I knew little of what I was doing and was shooting an arrow that was more like 9GPP and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the bow as quiet as it should have been. I killed two deer with that setup but had less than ideal penetration on the first deer. Since I have gone to more like 11-12GPP, so far, I haven't shot a deer that I didn't get two holes on. I think I've had two that the arrow didn't completely pass through but the arrow was drug out as the deer ran. The rest have been zip-thru shots. A good tune and a sharp head with some ass behind it has been really effective for me.