AD HammerHeads..little advice please...

[MikeW]

Anyone shooting AD's Hammer Heads from a #50-#55 bow yet?

I got these last week and I'm just starting to shoot them, they are cut 29.5 BOP and have a 100 grain brass insert installed. Right now I have 145 grain heads in them cause that is the heaviest head I have on hand without going to a broadhead.

My bow is a 62" Blacktail recurve #54@28" and I pull 28"

They didn't have a spine rating yet and I figured they would be a little stiff. The bareshafts are kicking hard(tailend)to the right as they fly, like really noticeable!

I'm hoping to get some input from folks with similar weight bows as too how much weight it took up front to get them flying right.

I have some Beman MFX 500 Classic's cut 29.5 BOP with standard inserts and with 100 grain inserts and they both bare shaft just fine.

Here are two pics that seem to be consistent.

[X2]

How far from the target are you?  Are you right handed? Looks like they are stiff to me (if you are right handed)

[MRD]

I tried em, too, Mike, and I could not get them to fly right.  Waaaay too stiff for my 50lb bows.  I believe they spine at around 100 lbs., according to Ted at Raptor.  I think the Trad heavies would be better for you.  They do seem almost indestructible, though, which is why I wanted to try them.  But they don't work out of my bows.

Good luck!  I hope you can get them to shoot.

Mark

[Danny Rowan]

They shoot just fine out of my 63# bows. 29" with 100 gr insert and 200 gr point. Put a 200 gr point on there and I bet they will do better.

Danny

[Daddy Bear]

What were they doing at full length before you cut them down to 29 1/2" ?

I'm shooting trad heavies at 29" BOP with approx 310grains up front which includes: insert, adapter, broadhead, a aluminum footing. From a mid 60s longbow it shoots straight as one could ever want. Not sure how this would translate over to the Hammer Head.

[Ted Fry]

Really depends on the bow as well as the shooter , for the record I do not recommend bare shafting , neither does Arrow Dynamics,Most shooters do not have enough of a static style ( target) but more a dynamic style (movement) in their shooting, try putting some feathers on there and take some more pictures.
I have shot the AD Hammerhead from a 25# recurve with good arrow flight, as well as a 50# longbow and a 60# selfbow ( mine) all with good arrow flight with feathers. All the Arrow Dynamics are very spine tolerant, but no arrow works for everyone right?
Oh and by the way Mark , that arrow you could not get to fly well , your nock was mounted crooked on the nock adapter .
Your Trad lites are on the way as well.

[MRD]

Ted

PM sent.

Mark

[MRD]

Just for accuracy sake, I initially shot the arrow with the AD insert nock, which should be straight, and the arrow would not fly from my bow.  Mike asked a question, and I conveyed my experiences.  The trouble I had shooting them had nothing to do with a crooked nock.  

Mark

[Ted Fry]

Got it Mark ,
Mark informed me that the nock returned was after trying it with the standard nock, so that was not an issue.
Like I said earlier , no arrow will work for every person out there , the birth of the Hammerhead was trying to find an arrow that we could get up in the 550-600 grains without adding brass inserts, most of the 13.125 grains per inch are in the front 11 inches , this as well as the tapered shaft allows for a wide range of bows , more weight forward , less mass on the back and a tough/durable front end, for me they fly perfect with a wide range of point weights.

[MikeW]

How far from the target are you? Are you right handed? Looks like they are stiff to me (if you are right handed)

10 yards,Yes I'm right handed and yes they are too stiff.

They shoot just fine out of my 63# bows. 29" with 100 gr insert and 200 gr point. Put a 200 gr point on there and I bet they will do better.

That was my plan to shoot a 200-250 head on the front. Guess I'm going to have to buy some 200-300 field points to check it out. I'm going to have to order them cause no one local carries anything that heavy. My plan was to use some 150-200 grain broadheads on a 75-100 grain adapter.

What were they doing at full length before you cut them down to 29 1/2" ?

Don't know I had Ted cut them them 29.5. I don't have a way to cut carbon so I took a chance. I've done this with all my arrows in the past and got them to work.

for the record I do not recommend bare shafting , neither does Arrow Dynamics,Most shooters do not have enough of a static style ( target) but more a dynamic style (movement) in their shooting, try putting some feathers on there and take some more pictures.

Yes granted I'm sure my release is not consistent but I can get the Beman's and my woodies to bare shaft just fine. They do seem to fly fine with feathers. I don't see any kick at all and they hit straight.

Thx guys, I was looking for info like I got from Danny. Looks like I'm going to have to hang an other 200-300 grains up front.

[Ted Fry]

Happy to send you a mess of different weight options for you to experiment with Mike, you could do it as a tradgang project and keep us updated.
We have 175 and 200 gr. field points as well as brass inserts and steel adapters to go with glue on field points, get with me and we will send you some.

[Ringneck]

I don't shoot the hammerheads, but in the trad heavies I shoot 29" arrows with 260 grains up front with a standard insert. I shoot a 50# Great Plains one piece recurve at 27" draw. Arrows fly great. I would also like to say that the standard AD nocks are great. I used them stump shooting and shot some really hard stuff and never had a problem with them. I broke a shaft on a direct rock hit and the nock stayed put and perfect. First shaft that I ever broke. The second one broke off in a bull this season. Tuff arrows!

[BowBrain]

I bought AD Hammer Heads from Ted.  Had Ted cut the shafts to 29" BOP.  I didn't know that AD doesn't recommend bare shafting.  Anyway my bow is a PSRX 50# @ 28".  Bare shaft with 250 grains up front I get a slight nock right.  The same shaft fletched flies perfectly out of my PSR, 56@28" Super Shrew Samurai and 57@28 Black Widow MA.  The Hammer Heads fly great and hit with authority.  I'm happy with them.

[MikeW]

Happy to send you a mess of different weight options for you to experiment with Mike, you could do it as a tradgang project and keep us updated.

I'd be happy to do that. I just came up with a 75 grain steel adapter and 145 glue on..They ended up coming in at 202 grains, Waiting on the glue to dry right now and then I'll post results. If I need to go heavier I'll send you a PM....Thx guy.
       

 

Had Ted cut the shafts to 29" BOP. I didn't know that AD doesn't recommend bare shafting. Anyway my bow is a PSRX 50# @ 28". Bare shaft with 250 grains up front I get a slight nock right. The same shaft fletched flies perfectly out of my PSR, 56@28" Super Shrew Samurai and 57@28 Black Widow MA.

Thx for the info.


 

I shoot 29" arrows with 260 grains up front with a standard insert. I shoot a 50# Great Plains one piece recurve at 27" draw. Arrows fly great.

Thx.

[MikeW]

This is with a 200 grain head and 100 grain insert.
Same impact but I can tell they aren't kicking near as bad..I swear before they looked like they were going to impact the bag sideways. I'm going in the right direction just need more weight.

Ted,
How does AD recommend you tune their arrows?

[Daddy Bear]

I think your best option would have been to start with a full length shaft and the head you intend to shoot. Being you're beyond that now as you cannot replace shaft material long gone, it would be a matter of weight up front.

I'm unsure what you are looking at as a broadhead, but if you plan to use a glue-on, you have the ability to choose several different weight steel adapters in addition to the weight of the broadhead. You can actually shorten the brass insert in increments to reduce its weight from the full 100grains if needed. If you have already epoxied the brass insert in addition to having cut the shafts, your options with weight will be limited to the broadhead and adapter.

I'd think you would be fine somewhere in the neighborhood of 300grains total weight up front +/- a little weight and/or + a little length. If you could to do it over again, I'd just sacrifice a shaft and use an inexpensive cut off wheel on a dremel starting with a full length shaft. I would have then built the arrow around the head you wanted to shoot. Once you had the total weight and length figured out, you could have taken the remaining shafts to an archery shop and paid them the $5 to $10 bucks to have them cut to length.

[Paul Mattson]

Like Ted has stated, AD does not recommend bare shafting.  If you are only shooting at 10yrds thats kind of close for tuning.  Step back at least 15-20yrds.  When I was doing my testing of the AD's adding wt to try and soften the spine did not work.   I had anywhere from 125grns up to 250grns.  You may have to change your nock point some, because of the arrows taper.

[Biggie Hoffman]

I would respectfully disagree with Badger Arrow. You want your arrows coming out of the bow straight, not straightening up 15 yards downrange from the shear weight of the point.
When that big boar hog steps out of the palmettoes at 7 yards, that arrow has to be straight before it hits him.

[Paul Mattson]

I can not argree more with Biggie, you always want your arrow comming out of the bow straight. But, for tuning. I have found that it is easier to tune at yardages more than 10yrds.  It gives you a better idea as to what is happening to the arrow.  Then you can make your needed adjustments.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Oops...now that makes sense...I misread your post.