So here I sit, waiting for USPS to update the status of an order I have in transit.
I pulled the trigger on some GT Trads the other day and have a question.I bought the 3555/500 .006 straightness instead of the .003 straightness model. What differences between the two will there be in relation to shooting? I'll be shooting them from a 47# at my draw 27", 62" Holzrichter custom longbow. Any thoughts or experiences with these arrows in the .006 straightness?
Only if you are an Olympian will you notice the difference. Don't sweat it.
You will never notice it. Build them up and shoot them with confidence!
One trick a local pro shop told me (he was told this by an arrow manufacture rep)is if you are going to cut your shafts to length, first cut an inch off the nock end, then cut the rest off the point end. Most of the un-trueness in a shaft is in the first inch of each end.
You won't notice a thing. I've shot semi bent ones with the same accuracy as the straighter ones. Enjoy
QuoteOriginally posted by A.S.:
One trick a local pro shop told me (he was told this by an arrow manufacture rep)is if you are going to cut your shafts to length, first cut an inch off the nock end, then cut the rest off the point end. Most of the un-trueness in a shaft is in the first inch of each end.
That's good to know and thanks for sharing that imfomation :thumbsup:
If you are able to hit every time a dollar coin at 40 yards, you will notice the difference... :)
.003 isn't much difference
I have heard the same as A.S. has heard cut a bit off the nock end first.My GT Trad blems shoot great,you won't notice any difference!It's all in your head,a mental thing.
Thanks for the reassurance guys! I got them in today with the rest of my 'new year' order. I bareshafted one and went forth wrapping and fletching them up. Plan to go shoot for a few hours tomorrow, so we'll see how they fly for me. Thought I'd get some new arrows for target and 3D that will shoot a little flatter for me.
Been busy this afternoon and evening chopping the wild turkey for cock feathers and dressing these up.
(http://www.myfishingpictures.com/data/500/medium/IMG_0697_1_.jpg)
BTW I've been shooting Big Jim's blems for years and they are great shafts. Never broke one yet, not counting the ones that slammed into the metal support posts on a 3-D target.
I wish I could tell the difference.
You will not see a difference. I have a friend who does competition shooting on a national level with a bow we won't speak of here, and he has shot .003 and.006 side by side at 20 yards, and he puts both in a dot the size of a quarter.
And just an FYI, that .006 is maximum tolerance. That does not mean that every shaft will be that untrue. I have gotten some perfectly straight shafts within my dozens of these arrows.
So, I bareshafted until I got straight hits, put cap wraps on and fletched them up. Now I can't help wondering how much affect the cap wraps are having on my spine! Maybe it's all in my head that I expect them to hit differently than my Beman Classics because of the weight difference and that's where the result I'm getting is coming from.. If I'm not hitting high, I'm hitting low. Same goes for left and right.
Typically on our indoor 25 target 3D shoot, I shoot around 190+ (not good at shooting rings), but last night I had 5 misses and scored a 151. The only sweet almost saving grace was the bonus shoot, a 35+ yd shot at a foam apple on the back of a deer target. I was the only one who hit of 16 shooters.
What's going on with my shooting? Maybe I'm just being inconsistent in my form, because on paper I shot a few 8-10 arrow groups that were, to me, near perfect at 20 yards (4s and 5s on a field target). Other times, I was all over the place.
Frustrating, to say the least.
Shooting a custom 62" longbow, cut shy of center, 47# at my draw of 27". Arrows are GT Trad 3555, cut to 28 1/8" (valley of nock to back of point), 145 grain field points, caps are 6 1/2" with 3- 4" shield cut feathers.
Stu Miller's Spine Calc says i should be at 65.6 and with these arrows I'm at 65.5, without the option of cap wraps.
Arrow wraps are very light and I would find it hard to believe they are affecting your arrow flight.................Might be overthinking it. We all have a bad night once in awhile.
Thanks Tracker, but they are the reflective kind and are a bit thicker than typical wraps. There's a bit more mass to them and in turn, I wonder if the additional weight in the back end is increasing the dynamic spine. This is normal, from my understanding, for wraps of any kind. Even crown dipping with paint adds some weight.
So I trimmed and peeled about an inch of the cap wraps off of the arrows and added a turbulator band 1/4" in front of each of the remaining wraps. Call me crazy, but flight looks to be more stable and POI is looking better too. While I'm not certain how much weight the removal offset (probably not much), the turbulator bands are something I've always used on my Bemans and I believe these help to disrupt airflow and put more spin on things.
Regular GT35/55 fly straight out of my bow but the traditionals fly stiff. I put them on a spine tester and the regular GT's are .500 spine, and the traditionals come in at about .460. So the traditionals are a bit stiffer, probably from the woodgrain film on them. Gotta shoot heavier tip to get em to fly right.
You wont notice a thing
During a conversation with my GT rep, he mentioned that they were considering discontinuing the .003's due to lack of popularity. That was last year and I havn't heard any more on the subject since then.
The best thing you can do for those shafts to fly straighter to the target(now that you spent the time tuning) .....spend more time concentrating on the target and less time on the arrow.
good luck, bigjim
Sage Advice from Big Jim.Hes only sold a few thosand Dozen GlodTips and one of the best bowyers anywhere.I shoot the 55/75 blems and can shoot them out of 5 different bows from 50 to 60#s@28 and I pull them all close to 29 and they fly like darts.If the shot isnt true,for me I simply didnt release clean ,hold the bow all the way to the target,or didnt really pick a spot and concentrate on that.Wasnt the arrows fault.
I would also recomend not being afraid to load up the tips like alead glove.They will stabilize and penetrate better.
somethings wrong with the calculator inputs. if it was cut to centre your spine requirement would be 54# and if 1/8 before centre. then 47# so youre probably a little overspined.
the guy who owns the shop i go to draws 27 and shoots 3555s from his 60 and 70# longbows, with 175 up front
not saying thats ideal but he hits a bottle cap at 20 yards
cheers
I think maybe something in Stu Miller got input wrong. I shoot almost the same setup, a center it R/D longbow 47#@27. You should have a dynamic spine requirement around 46#+/-2# depending on string strand count. I think your arrows are too stiff. I was shooting 3555 full length with more weight up front.
Lots of solid advice here that will all be taken into consideration. I tuned before referencing the calculator, so I won't depend on it to land me where I need to be. I will, however, say that I may have been way too concerned with these arrows flying and hitting differently than what I usually shoot (506 grains of Beman Classic MFX), to the point that I have been tweaking my form, grip on the bow and a host of other factors that I believe have just thrown me off psychologically. For the last 20 minutes of daylight Tuesday, I reminded myself that I need only shoot, rather than thinking deeply about the shot execution. The arrows flew much better and a lot closer to my point of focus on the target.
Thanks for all of the responses to this topic. You all have given me plenty to think over while I'm not shooting.
My 47# kanati Loves 1535 with 175 up front full length.
Just a shout out for the 1535s not to be over looked.
The same bow does Not Shoot 3555s well at all
Bows can be particular. Mine doesn't like the 3555's, but loves the full length 5575s with 225g up front.
Well, the verdict is in: my longbow is liking the new arrows with one exception- my brace has to be higher than I've ever braced a bow. I'm around 8 3/4". Anything less and I get the arrows 'slapping' the riser. I imagine increasing point weight might change this, but I have 150 grain broadheads and am currently shooting 145 grain field points. Maybe GT brass weights?
8 3/4" on a longbow? Seems like a lot of twist in that string.
QuoteOriginally posted by reddogge:
Only if you are an Olympian will you notice the difference. Don't sweat it.
I'm not a100% sure the Olympian can tell the difference.....except in their mind.
I use the .003 straightness GT XT Hunter shafts. Why? Just because I know they are straighter. If I did not know the difference, I would probably use the cheaper (.006 straightness) shafts.
Having to raise the brace height that much is an indicator that your shafts are too stiff. Try setting you brace at normal height and add 50-100gr up front. I bet you can get the arrow flying right at the correct brace if you weaken it up enough.
Bisch
Thanks for the input. I just placed an order for some GT weights in 20 and 50 grain. Hopefully I can get the brace back down around 8". It seems like I'm going backwards from what I was trying to achieve in the first place- a lighter, flatter shooting arrow. Maybe that's not as important as I want it to be. It doesn't seem that I have gained much in the way of speed either, but that may be the result of the higher brace height, in not allowing the limbs to reflex as far as they should.
I was at our outdoor range Thursday and found that my point on, or at least point level with the spot I want to hit, is still at 40 yards. I shoot more than less instinctive at 30 yards and under and anything beyond that I tend to reference my point, shelf, or knuckle.
Other than shine and movement, I think maybe a very light color object in a dark background is a consideration. Dark lines in light color cover are more natural as shadows, but light objects in dark backgrounds can stand out as out of place. Add a little movement and it really stands out.
If you want lighter and flatter shooting with a carbon it is best to keep them longer unless you just happen to hit the right combo on your bow. Based on my experience, I would say your are stiff. Give the weights a try given they are on the way, but some heavier field points make for easy testing changes. Pick up a few 175's and 200's. You can always do the weights and heavy insert to get to the point weight you want, but heavy points are just way faster in testing.
Well I got the GT weights and got a chance to play around with them yesterday. I started out adding two 50 grain weights to a few shafts. My goal: reduce brace height and move point of impact to the right to line up arrow with point of impact at pre-draw. It worked... with a down side- arrow flight suffered tremendously.
Back to the drawing board: knocked the inserts out, removed one of the weights from each shaft, reglued and shot some more. Result- success! Brace is a smidge over 8", point of impact is in line with arrow at pre-draw and over shaft at full draw, and arrow flight is sweet! Final front end weight is at 195 grains of hardware including field point/broadhead plus standard insert (8-11 grains).
Thanks for the help here guys. I love this site.