Just curious but why do not more trad shooters leave their arrows full length, or at least pretty long? I read countless threads about folks struggling with spine, weight and arrow flight when chopping their arrows to 28.5" and having to add extra tip weight to get the spine right. I've been shooting 32" GT 55-75s out of a 55# recurve and 33" Easton Legacy 2020s out of my 63# longbow with 125gr up front and they fly great. Plus I think the extra length aids in penetration and the extra weight left on is a bonus. Just curious if anybody else leaves 'em long or am I missing something...thoughts?
i have not cut an arrow in years. set them up so i dont have too. i have a 30.5 inch draw however. i say cut them as little as possible.
I'll reply with a question... Why shoot an arrow longer than necessary?
must just depend how 'centershot' your bow is and whether having a 'weaker' arrow affects your particular setup. me, my knuckles drag the ground, so I have no choice. The longer the arrow is left, the less weight I can put out front, unless I mess with the sideplate.
Why does my wife prefer the color blue when I like Brown?
Everyone has there own opinion and likes. Spice of life, so they say.
I'll give you one that has nothing to do with spine or arrow performance.
When hunting, longer arrows stick further out of a back quiver, further out of a hip quiver, and further out of a bow quiver. All of this means you will tangle with more brush, provide more leverage for brush to knock arrows out of your quiver, and stick your nocks in the dirt more frequently whenever you set your bow down.
I love full length arrows. I only cut an arrow when I can't tune it with point weight. I guess I'm lazy when it comes to pulling the insert,cutting off a 1/4 inch and trying again. The big plus for me is a longer arrow narrows my Gap. Not the rule, but it works fine for me. Don
Many of the native tribes all over the world who depend on their ability to hunt to survive use extremely long arrows, up to six feet in length. I'm sure over the hundreds or thousands of years that they have been doing making arrows they have tried every combination possible.
Why not go with the longer arrow, if you are able to manuever without nocking it offf the shelf I see no reason not to.
I shoot full length shafts. I like the clearance between my bow hand and broadhead, especially in cold weather with gloves. If I feel that broadhead touching my hand it screws up my shot. I have a 30in draw though.
At 32" of draw, I have no idea what you are talking about. :saywhat: .... I actually have to extend mine to keep from a bloody experience when the bh's go on.. :cool: ....
Every inch of length you add makes it necessary to have 5# more spine in the shaft. If that's not a problem, go for it!
QuoteOriginally posted by Molson:
I'll give you one that has nothing to do with spine or arrow performance.
When hunting, longer arrows stick further out of a back quiver, further out of a hip quiver, and further out of a bow quiver. All of this means you will tangle with more brush, provide more leverage for brush to knock arrows out of your quiver, and stick your nocks in the dirt more frequently whenever you set your bow down.
Yup, a 28" or 29" arrow is a lot less cumbersome in the brush then a full length shaft.
I don't know if it applies to anyone here but Fred Bear kept his arrows short enough so the back of the broadhead would touch his knuckle when reaching full draw, he used this as a draw check.
I have just a 27.5" draw but shoot 30" carbon arrows.
I used to cut them down more trying to get a little lighter, hoping as a beginner to minimize trajectory and guess work. now I'm happy with more weight and shoot the heaviest carbon arrows I can find and keep them 30". Its a happy medium for me----not quite as long as full length, but a little longer than necessary to provide the extra weight.
Ben
I agree with Molson. Also, you create more movement pulling a longer arrow out of your quiver and getting it onto the string. Or, if you have to maneuver in a tight spot for a shot, the extra length will often hang you up. For target shooting, of course, it's not a problem.
"Look at that guy shooting with all that arrow sticking out...he's not even at full draw."
I've heard this more than once, and it even made me a little self-conscious.
Folks need to realize that having a few inches hanging out could be a good thing.
(Did that sound right?) :bigsmyl:
Easy now Blackhawk!
I have been wondering if it would be easier to tune arrows that you received full length. Pecut arrows seem to be a pain in the arse to tune well.
Along that line, what causes arrows to barrel roll while in flight?
-Charlie
With a 31" draw length, I have no real choice but to leave them at full length.
Well as many said before me opinion is the most important,If you have confidence in your equipment you will shoot it beter than if you dont.
on the other hand, if you are shooting carbon one thing to keep in mind is arrow stability.
The more stable your arrow is the shorter the feather and you can achieve f.o.c with ease.
to do this you can shoot an arrow as stiff as possible and break down the spine with more tip weight. Many compatition shooters do this for accuracy both in trad. and in compound...I learnd this with my trainig wheels and carried it over to my self bows.
Blackhawk: :biglaugh:
when shooting reproduction native american self bows with short draw lenghts the very real risk of over draw failure can be avoided by using arrows cut to proper draw lenght or so my pile of broken/overdrawn self bows tells me
I keep my arrows at full length and would shoot them at 36" and up if Easton would sell them that long, even though draw is only 29 inches. For me it seems that longer arrows fly nicer and the added length gives me extra weight.
I've seen National Geographic TV shows where tribes in the Amazon River shoot 4 foot arrows without fletching into monkeys in the treetops. They get pretty good flight out of those long stickers. Pass throughs might take a while to complete....
My bows are center cut so the issue of archers paradox is minimal. I never gave any consideration to carrying an extra few inches of arrow length and must admit that I enjoy shooting with folks who are always accusing me of not coming to full draw. The only actual draw back I can see to shooting the full length arrows is that if a guy was Gap shooting he'd want custom cut arrows to maintain the GAP for aiming.
Longer than needed arrows acually shrink the gap between the tip and your intended target making it closer to point on at closer ranges.This tends to help with accuracy reguardless if your looking at the tip or not.At least thats what I've read here and there.
I stop cutting when my 250 tips fly right which happens to be an inch longer than I'd like with my new LB but I'll take good flight over a shorter or longer arrow anyday and the tips are homemade so it's a personal thing I could always shoot something differnt
My son and I are knuckle dragging, full-length arrow shooting yikers.
I used to cut mine so when I mounted a BH horizontally it would just touch the riser when at full draw- sort of like a clicker. Now i leave an inch hangin' out for tuning purposes, but then again I draw 31".
I may hunt with 3 different bows during a season, so I may have to use 3 sets of arrows, depending on what bow i'm using, then again, all 3 bows may shoot all the same arrows....it all depends on the bow.
If I am tuning arrows to any bow, I start with full length arrows, then cut off 1/4" at a time, maybe change tip or broadhead weight, until that particular arrow shoots well out of that particular bow.
I couldn't care less how much EXCESS shaft I have, or what other folks have to say about my arrows being longer than necessary, as long as it shoots like I want it to.
Isn't the object of the game to hit what you're aiming at, and not trying to please others that question why your arrows are soooooo long.
Shoot what works.
I too have the 30" draw with my longbow, 32" with my recurve. I buy the whole arrow, I'm shootin the whole arrow, not cutting anything except to keep all of my shafts to the same length. Also a big fan of 3 fletch and very high custom cut feathers. On a good day, I can hit what I'm lookin at consistently. My two cents
I think the key here is arrow flight. If full length fly well, why cut them? At that length and that spine, they're perfect. If the flight is not perfect, then cut, add tip wt, change spine wt, whatever. Again the key is arrow flight.
I got into the situation where I though I needed short arrows because I had this idea that I only need an extra inch off arrow so why have more. I cut my first batch of heritage 150's to 30" to start my tunning not knowing that would make them too stiff to start with. They showed weak because they were kicking off the shelf so I kept cutting 1/4 of a inch at a time untill I got to 29" I draw 28 - 28.5" I got frustrated stopped tunning and let them sit for several months. I found out I needed 350 grains up front to get them to fly correctly. Now I have 31.5 inch arrows and they fly good with 175-200 and show slightly weak at 250gr, so I guess I will have arrows a little longer than I wanted but more inportant I want great arrow flight so arrow flight wins over length.
Terry
I have a 26" draw and make all of my arrows at least 29". This give me better weight for hunting and makes the arrow less spine sensitive. My arrows these days are either hardwood shoots or cane and my bows are wood; self and backed. I don't have problems with longer arrows hanging up in the woods any more that I would with 26" arrows.
I believe that arrows cut to draw length(or near that) is a product if getting to lighter and therefore faster arrow flight. IMO, this is not necessary for the hunting archer. My bows probably only shoot 150fps but I am accustom to their flight and can put them where they need to be when the time comes. That in my opinion is more important than a fast arrow.
Also, an increase in arrow length(over 28"{industry standard}) will decrease spine weight by 5# per inch, not increase it. Pat
with full length arrows at my 26.5 draw i cannot play at pretending that I'm John Schulz speed shooting......