I bought some Predator II arrows a couple of weeks ago from Braveheart Archery (a site sponsor). I set them up for my sons with 100g brass glue on adapters. Its the first carbon arrows my sons have owned. We installed glue on tips being very careful not to apply to much heat. The boys started shooting their carbons and they flew like darts. They loved them. However, three of the carbons broke within 3 days. They split at the tips about 1.5 - 2 ". The arrows did not hit anything hard. They were shooting into bags. The couple they missed went into grass and small tree roots. The boys were really disappointed the arrows broke so easily. One son called Tim at Braveheart and he didn't understand why they broke. He said he has, for demo purposes, shot these carbons into a telephone pole from 4' away and they don't break. The only explanation he had was the heat we used to apply the tips.
Even though Tim didn't have to, he offered to help my boys. He is going to sell them some additional shafts at a significantly reduced price. THANK YOU TIM! The boys were impressed with your help. If you want to work with a good company. Braveheart is the place to go.
Now for my question, we like the Predators. But, can't figure out why they are breaking so easily, when others have had great success shooting them. How do I know if the heat damaged the arrows. I thought we were careful. What should we use to glue the tips on? Any insight would be appreciated.
One of the keys to making a durable carbon arrow is glueing in the insert with epoxy. This keeps the insert fom being pushed back into the shaft on hard hits. Use a good 24 hr epoxy.
I need to make myself clear. I glued in the insert adapters with a glue recommended by Tim. I used ferrelite (SP?) to glue on the field points to the adapters.
You might want to try JB Weld for brass inserts.
dad, I just got an email from tim at braveheart, I'll foreward it to you. He explains that he is pretty sure it was the use of heat to put the points on that dammaged the arrows.
I got a set of these from Tim at Braveheart too. They're my first carbons as well. Since I'm not well versed in carbon shafts and components, I had Tim cut mine to length and install the inserts for me. I have hit dirt and small rocks without any damage and Man, do they fly great!!! They make me look like a great archer (which I'm not BTW). The thing that most impressed me was that the CX Predator shafts fly noticably faster, group tighter, and penetrate better than my "old fashioned" aluminums out of the same bow with the same 265 gr. up front.
Great guy, great service, and I love these shafts. :thumbsup: Come on deer season!
Ron