Trad Gang

Hi gang,

if you could only use one type/brand/set of shafts and broadheads to hunt, witch one would you choose, what weight range and wy?

Let's keep it simple and think on average animals in North America. Deer, hogs, elk, mullies, bear, etc.

I'm trying to learn with your opinions and have a better impression of what there is on the market that is worth while.

Thanks for looking,gang. And for the help.

Wood arrows tipped with a VPA.

Wood arrows tipped with  Zwickey or Ace head...

Wood (Sweetland forgewood) arrows tipped with Zwickey, Stos or Abowyer broadhead. Not many forgewoods around anymore though.   ;)

Woodys with Zwickey Eskimo BH

AD and Grizzly

Been using wood arrows with 2 blade black diamonds.  This year cane arrows with stone points.

I'm with Wooddamon 1, Woodies with 160 gn. Ace or Zwickey Bh/with woodie weights if needed.   :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

I'll throw out a carbon,I hunt with Goldtip and Razorcaps,with brass weights it comes out at 740 gr. Plenty of oomph to get the job done out of a 66# longbow.

11/32 Cedar or Doug Fir with Abowyer Brown Bear

Carbon Express 150 with 50 grain brass insert and a Grizzly 160 with a 75 gr adapter or a 175 gr VPA.

For me I would use 2018 with a 175 up front @29in there right at 600 gr. And can be use in a lot of bows .

Beaman mfx classic w/50grain brass inserts, stinger 4 blade heads. Small diameter, plenty heavy for penetration, fly great, super durable. They dont shine in the sunlight, and they look cool.

I'd go with a Easton mfx 400 tipped with a 150 grain Magnus Stinger 4 blade.   The Mfx is a tough arrow that penetrates great and the stainless steel blades on the Magnus will hold an edge almost all year and so easy to touch up.

AD Trads with 100 gr brass insert and 300 extreme or Big Jim 300 or VPA 250.

I like the holes they leave and the great blood trails.

AD Trad or Trad lite.
Brass insert
Big Ace head.

POC shaft with Zwickey 2 blade Delta. 575-600 grain total.

I've been shooting Beman ICS 340s tipped with 125-grain Ace Standards for several years, so that would be my obvious choice.

POC w/Woodsman

The brand will be Beman and the model MFX Classic carbons. I can't imagine trying anything but those.

I've shot 600, 500, and am about to build some 400 spines. I'm going to experiment with he VPA 175 3-blade and bump my arrow weight 160 grains to 586 or so. I need only 3, 4" feathers on my 27-28" arrows.

POC with Zwickey Eskimo. I love the MFX classics but there's nothing like woodies.

MFX and snuffers  :thumbsup:

650 gr. min. carbons (pic one) w/min. 25% EFoC.   Perfectly bareshaft tuned to bow then fletched with 3, 5" parababolic or shield Trueflight feathers over white arrow wraps.  100 gr. brass inserts, 75 or 100 gr. steel BH adaptors, Abowyer Wapiti or Grizzly heads honed to a mirror finish.   Heads mounted horizontally.

Or, 11/32" POC with Zwickey, Magnus, Grizzly or Abowyer broadheads.

Kris

POC WITH Zwickey 4 blade Deltas

Home made Motor City Machete (Douglas Fir) and an Eclipse broadhead.  Total weight, I like 600 grains or more, and by more, I mean up to 660 grains.

Well, to be perfectly honest, for my go-to bow -- the one I shoot the best -- the hunting arrow is a 3 Rivers Traditional Only shaft at 29.5" with a nock adaptor and Bohning Classic nocks; it has an 8" Onestringer wrap and 3 five inch feather fletch. Up front I use a glue-in-glue-on adaptor, a carbon collar, and a Woodsman broadhead. I have altered the adaptor and broadhead to make the combination heavier for a total up-front weight of 180 gr. (i.e. a 160 gr broadhead).

Total arrow weight of 500 gr from a 51# at 29" recurve. This arrow also works from  my 53# at 29" recurve, so I get a bonus there. I use six-strand SBD strings on my bows and the arrow speed is impressive. I have a lot of confidence in this set up.

I am tinkering with a 575-580 grain two-blade set up with aluminum 2117 at 29.5", but it is not perfected yet.

Shaft - 3Rivers Trad only shaft in a 340 spine cut to 30.25" with a 100 grain brass insert

Broadhead - 120 grain Grizzly with a 75 grain steel adaptor.

Total arrow weight is 642 grains with a 23% FOC

29" 11/32 parallel POC arrow with Magnus 2 blade broadhead.  I don't like to tinker (not smart enough to figure it out) with added weights, adaptors, or footings so this set up gives me an easy and reliable set up from the gitgo.

QuoteOriginally posted by Shedrock:
Wood arrows tipped with a VPA.

X 2

Beman 340' with 175 gns up front, right now Im using 175gn VPAs. My total arrow wt is around 500gns...works good on everything I hunt.

If I was going to have to hunt it, I'd pick a flo pink one with white fletching, and an illuminated nock.   :rolleyes:

Carbon express 150 with 175 grain VPA. I think tj said that too.   God bless.

River Cane, Simmons Interceptor, 4-fletch low profile banana cut!

Tapered ash with a grizzly up front and 5.5 barred red and whites

QuoteOriginally posted by Danny Rowan:
AD Trads with 100 gr brass insert and 300 extreme or Big Jim 300 or VPA 250.

I like the holes they leave and the great blood trails.

Danny always has good ideas, and his suggestion is pretty much what I would recommend too, although I might want some two blade heads on occasion along with those great three blade heads he suggests.

Allan

2117 aluminum arrow, with a 125gr Eskimo head, with a 75gr steel insert.

Beman MFX Classic 500s with 100 grain brass inserts footed with 2" of 2020 aluminum shafting on the business end and Magnus 2-blade vented heads with aluminum adapters installed. More details in my signature below.

So a pretty good mix of answers.
I'm working on getting some AO 2018's set up with VPA's or Grizzlies as well as Snag's Surewoods with the same tips glued on. There have been a few threads lately with some pretty impressive holes shown from the VPA's.
But I have no experience, still looking for my first kill.

Gold Tip

Easton XX75 Camo, 125gr. snuffer, 3white fletches.

Beman MFX Classic.

AD'S for me with a good sharp deadhead!

Beman MFX or Easton Axis (pretty much the same shaft). Currently my new Border limbs and my Stalker Tracker like the 400 spine and the broadheads  are 200 grain Razorcaps. If it wasn't Razorcpas I no doubt would be shooting Hellrazors or VPA;s (Woodsman Elite).

Easton ACC, Easton Axis, Beman MFX.  All tipped with Woodsman Elites or VPAs.

Any arrow that flies well from my bow, don't care what it's made of as long as it's on the heavy side! Wood, Alum, or carbon with a good tough "SHARP" Broadhead!!   :thumbsup:

Micro flights, original Bear broadheads with bleeders = plenty of punch power.

Thank you gang,

Plenty of options, brands and setups to consider. Great help.

Cedar, lodgepole pine or Douglas fir footed with wenge or other hardwood.  About 650 grains with a Zwickey Eskimo BH. Either 11/16" tapered to 5/16" at the nock, or 23/64" barrel or breast tapered, 11/16" point and 5/16" nock. Mercury nock . Three left wing helical natural barred 5.5" turkey fletch, shield cut. Because I love the way wood arrows feel out of the bow and how they fly. I enjoy making them as well. 550-650 grains hit hard out of the 50-60 lb bows I shoot.

Carbon Express Heritage 150s, 50 grain insert and 160 grain Grizzly (right bevel).

Woodies are a whole lot nicer, but there is no denying the durability and overall consistency of the carbons.

I have one question, and it is a question from someone that know's very little about these things, so bare with me please.

I keep seeing on your responses, especially on carbon shafts, that you all use stiff spines. 340, 150, some 400. Aren't they to stiff? Or is it because you add a lot of weight to the front? Do you cut the shafts? Won't they get stiffer if you do?

I'm confused. And here's wy. I shoot a Samick Stingray 58" 55#@ at my draw (28 +-). I started shooting with some pretty cheap and light shafts (Easton Powerflight 500). I only have my compound broadheads that weigh 125 or 100 grains. I started with a complete shaft (32") and went bareshaft shooting. I ended up cutting them at 29". Then I tried my compound shafts (ST Axis 400) also at 29" and the bareshaft showed they where to stiff!! So I ended up buying some FMJ 500 and cut them at 29".

Now I see that most of you use stiffer shafts, but also heavier points/bh. Is this wy?

I'm planning on buy a new bow, and I would like to start hunt with it but somehow I fell my set up is light. Because I have to order almost everything from the States without trying first, I was trying to understand what you guy's use.

62" Toelke Whip
45@28 (My Draw Length)
8125 String
Big Jim Quiver

Beman MFX 600 Classics, 29.25"
75 grain brass insert
125 grain Muzzy Phantom
3 X 5.5" Feathers

Your set up is fine if they fly good for you and you are hunting thin skinned animals, like deer.

Well, my main goal is going to be wild boar, so I'm realizing I'm gonna have to put some weight on it...

Again, you use stiff spine because of the weight you put in front? This way the dynamic spine will weaken accordingly?

Do you still cut the arrows to your draw length? Or leave them complete?

I use stiff shafts with a decent gpi with heavy heads in order to get my over all arrow weight where I want it. You can fine tune about any arrow spine to a bow with shaft length and point weight.

I've shot Gold Tips for over 10 years, I've tried others but always come back to them.

No matter the bow...31" long, depending on the bow... 35/55's or 55/75's, 100 grains of Gold Tip weights behind the insert, and Big Jim Big-3 or VPA 1 1/4" 250 grain, or Centaur Big Game or Battle Axe weighted to 250 or 300 "ish" grains...

If I was forced to pick one right now, 31" 55/75 with 100 grains of weight behind the insert and 300 grain Big Jim Big-3 on the end... Just over 700 grains...  but being shot at about 8.7 GPP...  ;)

WOOD       HMMMM  the broad head choice is more of a
puzzle  !!!!!!

8.6 Bear magnum aluminum swaged shafts, tipped with 160gr. snuffers , out of my 62" 61# Silvertip.  :archer:

Easton FMJ 100 gr brass insert and anything from 125 gr on up to 300 gr on the business end depending on the bow.

Gold Tip 5575shaft with weight tubes and a Magnus 2 blade. Arrow weight is at 650 grains. All of my bows shoot these arrows great and range from 53# to 58# draw weight.

Wood and STOS or Zwickey

Mine would likely be a tapered spruce from Ted Fry at Raptor 5.5 feathers and tipped with a 190 gn Ribtek Broadhead ...

my back up is always a trusty 2016 .....

wood arrow tipped with Grizzly,Eclipse around 600 grains

Wood tipped with Zwickey, Magnus, Ace or Stos 2 blades