Weight / Spine Fiasco

[Arco]

I have been trying for quite a while now to figure out a way to bump my arrow weight up about 100 grains without affecting the spine. I already use brass inserts, so I'm having to come up with something that goes inside the shaft. I tried polypropylene cord, but it's too light, and ends up compacting down into the tip. I also tried 3/16 poplar dowels with masking tape in five places to keep them from rattling, but they bumped the spine up about ten pounds. Tonight, I tried weedeater line, but again, my point of impact was about four inches left. I only used three strands, cut to length with nothing holding them together in the shaft. What other options are there?

[NoCams]

Arco,
What shafts are you using that you need that much more weight ? I shoot the Carbon Express Heritage series, mainly 150 and 250's. They weigh 10 & 11 grains per inch. My 250's are 28" long with a 50 gr brass weight and a 200gr field tip. Arrow weighs 605 grains total.

When I want a heavy arrow I pick the series that is a little stiff in spine and then weight the front to soften the spine and give me more weight and a high FOC. Love the way they fly and they hit hard !

nocams

[Arco]

Well, it's sort of a long story. I use Easton Lightspeed 500 shafts, which are a tournament shaft. Not many if any trad shooters use them, although they are awesome shafts. I use them because I work in an archery shop, and we ordered a ton of them a while back, and they aren't moving like we thought the would. So, I use them to go through a little bit of our back stock. I would love to shoot a different shaft, but it's hard to justify the expense. I use brass inserts to soften them up, just like you do, but they are tournament shafts built with speed in mind. Shaft weight is only 6 gpi, so I have to go to some pretty considerable lengths to get my weight bumped up where I want it...

[tecum-tha]

put in some weight tubes from 3rivers, 8gpi(tube)and 6(shaft)=14gpi,that should work

[BobW]

or aquarium tubing....

[Doc Nock]

REad to fill w/ pepper once..never needed to try it, but it could come in handy if you had one salt and one pepper...  

[George D. Stout]

I'm always amazed at the lengths we can go to make something difficult, that is really simple. Just start with heavier shafts.  Carbonitis Degeneris;  yikes.

[wapiti]

Fill them with ballistic media (shot shell buffer).
Use a reloading powder funnel. Add 1 teaspoon at a time from the knock end. Tap 3 times on a hard floor between spoonfuls. Us t fine media for max weight. Also when installing inserts mash a tint bit of string wax in the end of the inserts if they have threaded holes for adding weights. This prevents the media from leaking out. If done consistently the weight will not vary more than 3 grains between any shaft of the same model. Compaction is minimal. Give me a pm if you want more info.

[RC]

BobW hit it on the head. Aquarium tubing from wal-mart works great. Better in my opinion than the weight tubes and cheaper.RC

[Bill Carlsen]

Yep...where you are at I would opt for the aquarium tubing.