i think about bowhunting alot and while putting up some fibreglass insulation today i got to thinking, why aren't they around any more.
the only ones i've seen are in the dark abyss of a cupboard at home.
of course everybody knows about solid fibreglass bowfishing arrows but what about the normal ones?

anyone got experiences to share?

they are not straight

I still have some Bears I shoot. The problem with them is that they shatter very easly. Bear made some caps you could put between the arrow  and the point or broadhead which helped but if you glance the arrow of a hard surface it tends to break the fiberglass.

Years ago my Dad shot them and I do remember them breaking alot (neither of us was very good!) 35 years later they are leading a nice quiet life as my Mom's plant stakes.

Fiberglass was quite popular for a while.  The best, micro-flites, were straight enough and generally fairly durable.  But it was fairly easy to ram the insert and point into the shaft on a hard hit, splitting the shaft.  Folks didn't think to put collars on them back then like they're doing now with carbons.  Aluminums took a hard frontal hit a little better and were offered in at least as many spines and eventually displaced the fiberglass.

I killed many a deer with them but Easton aluminum surpassed it for straightness and toughness so they were rendered obsolete.  I have two DuraFlight #8s left and they shoot as good as anything out there though.

I shot fiberglass arrows from Graphlex and MJ Log and they were good arrows once you found the right shaft spine. The only problem was obtaining inserts and they did have a tendency to crack right behind the point.

I've got a bunch of shafts that are semi-straight. I have a hard time finding a way to get a nock on them straight.
I have a bunch set up as flu=flus and I do carry a few with me with some old sharpened broadheads for use on hogs/whatever. No great loss if it is broken/lost.

What others have remarked on...not very good for shooting stumps with.  Cedar was a much better material all around than these were.

I've shot several critters includeing elk with micro flight arrows and never had any problems with them.
One problem is the cost of manufacturing them its not cost effective anymore.Another thing is there are not many tubular fiberglass manufactures around these days.Their all makeing carbons.bd

I use to order Shafts from the old Herters catalog.  I never did get em to fly all that well-- I used a straight fletch, which likely did not help any.  They did shatter/split w/direct hits on hard objects.  I ve been shooting nothing but cedar for the past 20yrs, and I don't see that changing.  Sure miss reading that Old Herters catalog,though.

Ah the old tan fiberglass shaft from Herter's, I got my first doz from them at 15 and they came in 2 yellow fletch and one black feather and the tan shaft. I just found in a old tool box the first alum fly box from Herter's. We would leave the catalog in the bathroom for all our dreams.

Bill

imo, glass just isn't as straight/durable as carbons, and perhaps more expensive to manufacture.

I buy them any time I can.. There the best shooting arrows I have shot in a long time.. I have all makes and find they all shoot great for me.. I can't get carbobs to shoot the same as the old glass arrows.. I use them for every thing...

But like they guys say Carons are better but I going to stay with glass tell there no more....

Take Care guys,

Cody

Shot a lot of them in the 70's. We used to wrap the first inch or so with a double layer of heavy thread(used for fishing rod guides)and coated it with epoxy. This "footing" stopped the insert from wedging in as much.

wow this book took me a little while to find 1957 here's a pic of a fiberglass arrow.bd  

Nothing like a Microflite 12 with a Magnum broadhead!  Devistating combination.

Joe,

If you've got any Graphlex or MJ Log shafts you want to part with, let me know. I've got MJ 6's, 8's, 9's, and 11's.

Phil

I've been shooting Easton X7s since I started shooting in 1961 (7178-T9 alloy)
Nothing has ever come close until the new carbons.
I still have so many X7 target arrows and XX78 hunting arrows I've never had the desire to switch to carbons.

Fiberglass was never even as good as the cheaper XX75 aluminums (7075-T9 alloy)

but I do shoot sold glass bowfishing arrows

I have some of the Graphlex shafts. I wish I had more! A freind I got them from, sold the remaining shafts to Dan Quillian in the early '90s. If you look at the old TBM mag classifieds you will see his ad for these! Stacy Groscup also used these in his exibition shoots! They were great shafts! Good shootin, Steve.