Fletching/Vane Length Change

[Festus]

Hi Everyone. I haven't shot my bow in a nuber of years and noticed the fletching on some arrows are bent/curled or coming off. The vanes are 5" long and I can't seem to find any locally. Best is 4". what is the effect by putting on shorter vanes - plastic?

I searched the site and didn't see any comments in this regard. I shoot aluminum arrows.

Thanks for the help.

[Jagermeister]

It will lighten the arrow a little, but nothing drastic otherwise.

[Jagermeister]

You should change all the vanes on at least the affected arrows. Just changing one vane and leaving the un-damaged 5" vanes will create an imbalance

[steveo]

It shouldn't create a huge problem but like Jagermeister said re-fletch the arrow with all 4 inch. You may have to tweek a couple pins but I would think that would be it and do yourself a favour and get carbon arrows. I shot aluminum arrows for 10 years and carbon for the last dozen or so and I would never go back to aluminum.

[Festus]

Thanks for the responses. I figured I would have to change all the vanes at once. As for switching from aluminum to carbon I hear you but I have about 3 dozen aluminum arrows - some not even shot so I would hate to just toss them out. If I get more into shooting and retun to bow hunting I'd probably look at a new bow, etc. My bow is probably 20 years old (PSE Thunderflight Express) and I know things have changed as to equipment since then. Thanks for the help.

[steveo]

I hear you Festus, I have dozens and dozens of vanes, inserts, nocks and even a few new aluminum arrows that I will never use but my experience has given me the confidence that I made a better choice for arrows. For me it makes life easier and enables me to be more competitive as an archer using carbons. Your exactly right with your bow being 20 years old because that is when I bought mine and it is a decent bow but I understand about wanting to up grade. If you are just getting back into it then see if you keep developing before purchasing carbons because you may find some other equipment more worth your while.

[allan]

For the effort and time after 20 years on the shelf, new strings might be needed and new arrows...
If you want to start over again you might want to rethink the process and buy a rth ( ready to hunt package)
for pse stinger it's around 400$ and you might be mikes ahead of restarting your old bow onto the groove

[JasonH]

In terms of changing vanes, besides the weight difference of 5 grains overall, it won't be much different. To put it into perspective, 3 Blazer's weigh around 15 grains, whereas long vanes weigh around 20-25. That's not a big change. Reason why people use Blazers is that mostly only the back of the vane is actually used in stabilizing the arrow, so I assume that you'll be okay.