DoninVa

I have shot alum. and carbon arrows for about 25 years. The first carbons that came out were a little scary as they would split from nock to point and quality wasn't to good. When ACC's came out, things changed. They were (are) straight and durable except like alums., they will bend. The new all carbon arrows are good but I have to disagree with many of the people that post here. The first thing said when comparing alums. to carbons seems to be "and carbons are more durable". I have shot several brands, Carbon Express-Beaman(Easton)-Easton etc. and I've not found any that won't break with a side hit from another arrow or a direct impact to hard objects. The only thing, IMO that carbon gives you over alums. is, they are straight or broken and their weight will give a little more speed. I am not trying to start a @#$$%^ match or offend anyone but if you will take a hard look and open your mind, I think you would give the poor old alum. arrow the respect it deserves[&:]. I am not trying to persuade anyone to change from carbon arrows to alums. If they work for you and you are happy, then let'm'fly. Alum. arrows are not without their short comings either. They will bend but not quite as easy as some think. They are heavy spine to spine with carbons and will not give the rocket speed everyone seems to need. They will get a crease in them when hit from a side impact from another arrow and if you shoot them funny hard things, they will break.When I started shooting 25 years ago, people were getting along great without carbon arrows and I don't feel they were giving up much to the arrows of today. Don

bigbulls

I started out shooting aluminum arrows for a number of years and I prefer carbons because I have found that they are in fact more durable than aluminum.

I find that..............

When pulling them out of a target they will not bend if you happen to pull a little bit not straight out.

Little side hits in the trget will not crease them like aluminum.

Given the same weight carbon will out penetrate an aluminum because they are skinnier, do not flex as much when striking a target, and recover from any flexing faster resulting in more of the arrows energy being transfered into penetration rather than side to side movement.

Cougar Mag

Taking the exact same hit......the carbons I have shot will take much more than an aluminum arrow but that is not to say they are better. I would have no problem shooting aluminums again, but I do prefer the heavier carbon shafts......and I plan on trying out a dozen of the new Easton A/C Slims this year.

Arthur P

If you're talking about those overglorified, light, thin walled beer can arrows, like 2213's, 2512's, etc., then yeah, I agree. When you compare the durability of carbons to the heavier aluminums, like 2216, 2315, and such, there's not much durability advantage to carbon. Okay, so the heavy aluminums are slower. Big deal! When you're talking hunting whitetail deer, where the national average shot distance is under 23 yards, trajectory is a non-issue.

For mulies, pronghorn, open range elk, caribou, mountain goat and such, flatter trajectories might be a plus. But then, there are bunches of those same critters taken by traditional bowhunters at 20 yards and less too. "Good" bowhunters are able to get plenty close to those animals as well, and not have to plink away at 50 yards. But, if someone ain't that good a hunter and has to have the flat trajectory, then go for it. I hope that someone is a good shot.

By the way, you don't bend aluminum arrows if you pull them STRAIGHT out of the target, like you're supposed to. Using that argument to bust on aluminum is like you - or your survivors - filing suit against a hair dryer manufacturer because you were dumb enough to use it in the shower. With the water running![8D]

And aluminums pull out of targets SO much easier than carbons do, even without having to smear creams, soaps, ointments, linaments and unguents on 'em, like you have to do with carbons. That's one major plus in aluminum's column... at least that's the concurring opinion of my back, hernias and hemmorhoids.

Paul L Mohr

I agree with you and will go one step farther, the thing about carbons being straight or broken is a bunch of crap as well. They warp and break down in spine over time as well. Heck sometimes they are bad right out of the box if you check all of them when you buy a dozen, rarely do you see this with aluminums, even the cheap ones.

I will be honest and say that I have shot a lot of carbons and never really had any problems with them. For what I do they all shot pretty well. My favorites are Nitro Stingers by Arrow Dynamics. I just feel aluminums offer more for the money in most cases, and I'm a cheap SOB. Carbons are a bit tougher then most aluminums and can take a bit more abuse and don't bend if you do something stupid like step on one or something. However I don't seem to have any trouble damaging them. Most of the things I do to ruin an alumimum would ruin a carbon as well. And with aluminums at least you can tell when they are bad. Carbons are a bit trickier, they may be bad and you can't tell by visually looking at them sometimes. And once a carbon is messed up you should really pitch it for safety reasons. With an aluminum if it has a crease or is slightly bent you can still shoot it if you want to. It won't shoot that well, but at least it won't snap in half and stick through your wrist on release. Ok, shooting creased aluminums is probably not very wise either, but I never claimed to be[8D]. Also I feel aluminums have an advantage of more spine selection as well. The carbons are fairly genaric in that department. Aluminums have a ton of selections to pick the weight and spine you need to fit your bow better right out of the gate.

I shoot the thin ones like 2213's and still don't have that many problems with them. Of course I shoot pretty short arrows. If I shot full length arrows things might be a bit different I guess.

And as far as pulling them out of 3-D targets, don't think pulling carbons wrong won't mess them up either because it will. Most of the carbons you see that are warped in the front are from pulling them wrong. Or sticking them in a piece of wood or something. When you wrench around on them from side to side trying to get them out it breaks the fibers on the inside of the arrow where you can see it. And eventually gets this little S warp to it from the strands starting to let go. I bet the heat from sinking into the foam doesn't do them any good either. I don't shoot a lot of 3-D though, just the one I have in my back yard or at a friends house pretty much. Other than that I shoot into bag targets exclusively.

Just my thoughts on the subject any way.

Paul

IL Rancher

Seeing as I had a carbon slap into a log today (Infront of a 3-d target at the range) and snap the back 4 inches off I sure know they are not indestrutable. Of course, I have also clipped a big branch and had wood flying everywhere with no damage to those arrows...Oh well, wasn't fun to see the arrow snap like that today.

bigbulls

Of course neither are indestructable but pound for pound the carbon arrow is a lot more tough and stronger than an aluminum. That is a fact and people can dispute it all they want but they will be wrong.

If aluminum were in fact stronger and more durable than carbon don't you think that INDY and formula one race teams would use aluminum over carbon fiber in the constructionof their cars. How about carbon fiber barrels?

Glad you corrected that.

Yeah, no kidding. But we all know that people don't always do what they are SUPPOSE to do. Now don't we. A carbon arrow will take some, actually a whole lot more, bending much better than an aluminum will.

IL Rancher

I used to do bad things to alums when I was a kid and have seen them bend and break at the range too. It wasn't the arrows fault it got snapped, it was mine for shooting it where I did. If it had been an alum damage would have happened to it too and on those other shots into the wood would have bent the alums probably. (Only reason I say that is another guy shooting with me bent one of his with a similiar shot) I don't think I am going to stop shooting my carbons anytime soon because I just flat out prefer them.


I should say it wasn't fun but it was kind of funny watching the tail section go flying away from the main part of the arrow. At least the other guys at the range thought it was hilarious

DoninVa

I might be wrong but I think race cars are made of fiberglass. There is a big difference in carbon and fiberglass. Carbon fiber is used in barrels for weight and heat disapation. I don't think spine or deflection is a factor. There are some alum. over steel barrels but they are for weight and heat disapation and not for strenth. Most of the carbon arrows I've hit with another arrow has broken and I also get dent in alum. when hit from the side but you can't snap them like a pencil after being hit. Shoot what your comfortable with but carbon is not the cure all over alum. I just started this post to see if people have the same issues with carbon I've had. After seeing what an exploded carbon could do to your hand I will not shoot them again(except ACC's). Shoot what your comfortable with but if you think a carbon won't split and explode on the next shot if not checked, good luck, I hope you don't get hurt. Don

Bullkllr

DoninVa,

Curious... and I try not to shoot any arrows into immovable hard objects, like boulders and such. When do you put your arrows into a target in a way that they could be struck from the side?


My arrow bills have gotten much smaller since I swithed to ICS's.