hillbillyhunter1

I know my arrows are long for my bow (29'' draw) proabably like 31+ (I'm not exactly sure). I bought some a little longer last year for added weight because I was using them for ELK. They still shot well and I don't intend on cutting them back for whitetail this year, but was wondering if most here consider the EXACTlength critical to the overall set-up or do you think as long aseverything is tuned up, thenyou're good to go????

Thanks

hb

GregH

Arrow length effects the spine (stiffness) of the shaft. You can use many different arrow combinations with a given bows weight and DL. I would paper tune and see how your arrow is flying. If you don't want to shorten (stiffen) your arrow and it needs to be stiffer, lighten your point weight. If your arrow needs to be more flexible, increase your point weight. If it paper tunes and flies good, don't mess with it.

BGfisher

As long as they are spined properly for your bow and they are long enough that they don't draw off the rest then the word critical flies out the window. Now draw one off the rest with broadheads and things can get critical real quick.

GSPsnFORDs

I have a pretty good DL to me and use a 31" arrow (might be a hair over). If it's setup correctly you should be fine. What you have to remember is this; the longer the arrow the more deflection you will have. But with an arrow that is spined correctly, spec'd out to your bow's DL and poundagecorrectly (correct length, thickness, etc.) and if your bow is tuned properly, then you should be just fine. I wouldn't worry about length too much.

GregH

Arrows are measured at a span of 28" with a 2 lb weight hung in the center.

If you are getting longer arrows, you may need to go up in spine.

Paul L Mohr

The specific spine of the arrow has nothing to with the dynamic spine of the arrow, it is merely a referance for typing different shafts.

Like BG said, your arrow can be any length as long as it spines well for the bow. I have shot from 21 to 29 inch arrows out of my bow. Providing they were the correct spine they all shot well.

Normally though you want an arrow that is about the same as your draw length. AMO standards are 3/4 of an inch less than your draw length. This is the length the arrow charts and online calculators go by. Since they base draw length off the arrow length you give them you need to give the proper the arrow length. If you are shooting a longer or shorter arrow than you need the charts will assume you have a longer or shorter draw length as well.

This is where some of the newer software comes in handy because you can tell it your actual draw length and check spine for different length arrows. As in my case, I have a 26 inch draw and shoot 27 inch arrows. That is long for me, but I calculated in the difference and have the proper spined arrows at that length.

Contrary to what people will tell you, arrow length has no great effect on accuracy or flight as long as it spines correctly for your bow. The only downside would be shooting a very short arrow with an overdraw. The arrow will still fly well with adequate fletching, but the overdraw is a bit tricky to shoot well unless you have perfect form. So your accuracy could suffer from that, but that is not really the arrows fault. You would have the same problem with a longer arrow and the same overdraw. It is a set up issue, not an arrow length issue.

The only thing shooting a longer arrow that is properly spined for you bow will do is cause you to shoot a heavier arrow than is needed. For some I don't think this is all bad.

Paul

GregH

Nothing in arrow tuning charts or software is exact. They are reference points, somewhere to start. Fine tuning the shaft can be accomplished by modifying their length and also by modifying point weight. Arrow length does affect the spine of the shaft. Shorter is stiffer, longer is more flexible. Lighter point weight is stiffer, heavier is more flexible. Paper tune and test various combinations to fit your particular bow.

hillbillyhunter1

Thanks so much guys. I have learned something here (Finally)

Does anyone know of a particular website where one can check all the data for particular set-ups/spine flex ??

thanks again

Paul L Mohr

I don't know of any websites that are that accurate, but I know of some software that is fairly accurate. Either OnTarget2 or TAP. Both have downloadable free trials if you want to test them out. And eastons arrow selection software is fairly decent and is free. You are just limited to easton arrows, or arrows they own. It works fairly well, but isn't as detailed as the other two. If you know how fast your bow will shoot a particular arrow you can put it in either of the programs and they are pretty acurate at determining the correct spine for your set up. You may still have to do some fine tuning though.

Online calculators and charts are very generic and don't ask for much information. There are many things in a set up that effect what spine you want. Depending on your set up you might end up getting arrows that don't work for you, even if the chart said they would. You wouldn't beleive the amount of people I have met both on person and on the net that got arrows using a simple chart and ended up with the wrong arrows and there was no way to correct it short of getting different arrows. Some arrow charts only ask for arrow length and draw weight, that's it! That is no where near enough information to be accurate at determining what arrow you need. Especially with how much the effeciency of bows have improved in the past 5 or 6 years.

Sure you can fine tune them once you get them, but changing tip weight doesn't change your spine a whole lot either way. I mean if you are a whole spine selection off no tip weight change is going to correct that. At least not one that will give you a good balance for specs. And you can only trim your arrows so much before they are unusable, and I know of no way to make them longer if they need to be.

I will agree with Greg, nothing is perfect, every set up is different. However you want to be as close as you can get to start with. And if you have to go in one direction or the other, slightly stiff is usually easier to tune for. I wouldn't suggest going a spine selection or two stiff though just to be safe. Too many people get locked into having something an exact way. They have to have an arrow X amount of length, or have to draw X amount of draw weight. Or they have to have X amount of tip weight. Being unflexable like that makes it hard to get the best spine you can.

Your best bet when setting a bow up is to set it to the middle of the draw weight range, and get arrows a bit long. This way if you have to make adjustments you have the extra leeway. If your bow is maxed out and you get arrows that barely work for length you sort of screw yourself if you need to make an adjustment. If they are too stiff and going up in tip weight doesn't help you will have to get new arrows, because your weight is already maxed out, and your other option is longer arrows. If they are too weak and lighter tips don't work for you your other option is turning the bow down. If you don't want to do that I guess you are getting different arrows again. Or if your bow was at the bottom of the weight range you would have the same problem.

That is one of the reason bows have adjustable limbs, so you can tune them better. Just no one wants to do it because they are so macho their bow HAS to be maxed out.

Be carefull with paper tuning as well. I have gotten severely weak arrows to shoot bullet holes and group well. Just to a different impact point as stiffer arrows is all. And I am sure a broad head would have went crazy on them. They shot thru paper just fine though. Also paper tuning, or any type of tuning for that matter is very dependant on form. If you don't have consistant form or grip tuning will be a night mare. You can't tune any better than you can shoot.

If you are going to hunt I suggest broad head tuning since that is your ultimate goal.

Paul

hillbillyhunter1

I'll probably just leave it be and hunt, as it is a good set-up already. I was just asking for future reference. I may cut the arrows back a little. I may not (they are not even all uniform lengths, though they are close). Thanks for the education. Good post.

hb