Heavy arrows

[WWBC]

What’s your thoughts on the heavy arrow trend? The Ranch fairy, Ashby studies, single bevel type doctrines.
How heavy are your arrows and what’s your speed? Anyone go full Ashby with the 650grainer’s?

To start things off I’m shooting 475 grains at around 280fps ( per online calculator)

[Hunter gatherer]

I'm shooting 425 gr at a chronographed speed of270 FPS . Seems to blow through deer quite well. If I was hunting bigger game I might think about shooting heavier arrows,of course you lose the flatter trajectory. Ranch Fairy is entertaining and informative to watch.

[Brew]

I’m shooting close to 500gr at 280fps. Havnt had a chance to see what they do as the deer we were hunting were only roaming around at 4 in the morning well before shooting light

[Markjames]

All depends on the game you intend to hunt and the maximum yardage you intend to shoot I’ve sniffed a fair amount of fairy dust and I think really heavy setups like 650 have it’s place under 20 yards. Over that not for me. Too much drop.

[Bear Brawler]

I shoot 525gr arrows with 200 gr up front, 67lb, 276ft/s and feel it"s the balance I need for speed and penetration. Good FOC, well built arrow and well tuned bow and good shot, you're good to go. 62 yards is my biggest shot at an elk but I practice 70-100yards regularly.

[Blockcaver]

WWBC, Your arrow weight and speed are fine for anything we hunt in North America. Good sweet spot to be at as far as trajectory, energy, momentum, quiet bow, etc.

Work on perfect broadhead alignment, perfect arrow flight and achieving excellent accuracy to your max effective range. Shoot very sharp broadheads and ensure they shoot to the same point of impact as your field points. Practice shooting under field conditions, down hill if you are mountain hunting and shooting out of tree stands. Do ensure you shoot quality shafts and heads.

Understand anatomy of the critters you hunt, aiming points from various angles, what are acceptable or not acceptable shots, etc.

All those other issues will go a long ways to helping you achieve success as a bowhunter. Changing to heavier arrows isn't likely to enhance your success if you are mountain hunter. If you are hunting exclusively from stands over feeders at close yardages like the fairy then go for it if you think it has value. The very successful mountain hunters that are hunting all over North America I know don't buy into the heavy arrow fad.

Good luck what ever you chose to do!

[walks with deer]

shoot some 3d shoots..

[WWBC]

Thanks for the replies

seems like an arrow around the 500 grain mark moving at 270+FPS is the sweet spot.

Block carver- I agree with all your points, specifically about perfect arrow flight and having field points flying with broad heads. Definitely more to the equation than just hitting a specific weight or speed. Spent some time shooting bare shafts this summer, it’s amazing how grip or a twist up or down on a limb bolt can change everything.

[WWBC]

shoot some 3d shoots..

Hope we have some in the new year....

[Danny_29]

Yupp I'm currently adding weight to my set up. That 525 mark is what I calculated as pretty much ide for my set up. Shot a bear at 65 with my 450 grains and it wasn't a pass through, got both lungs though. I'm hoping the weight will help get all the way through to increase blood trails.

[WWBC]

Danny_29

It would be interesting to see the retained speed #’s at 65 yards from a light arrow vs a 525 grainer?
I wonder at what range the speed and trajectory begins to even out?

[walks with deer]

Hope we have some in the new year....

i set one up in the backyard as a back up plan..
we should be okay as lots of distancing..lol

[Ron.C]

I'm shooting 425 gr at a chronographed speed of270 FPS . Seems to blow through deer quite well. If I was hunting bigger game I might think about shooting heavier arrows,of course you lose the flatter trajectory. Ranch Fairy is entertaining and informative to watch.

My arrow weight and speed is nearly identical to yours. Havent changed a single thing with my setup in over 10 years.

Have had 3 pass throughs on elk (39, 43, 49 yards). Wait for a good broadside shot on an unsuspecting animal and put your arrow where it needs to be and your setup will do just fine.

[IronNoggin]

I run with 405 grain arrows (dressed) at just shy of 380 feet per second.
It is a deadly combination of weight / speed.
Has blown through damn near everything they've ever been shot at, at ranges out to 65 yards.
Commonly zips right through bones while leaving them much less than "intact".
Requires a crossbow to pull off though I believe... :wink:

Cheers,
Nog

[TobyDexter]

I just ordered everything to build new arrows. I'm shooting 74lbs at 27.5 inch draw and I'm going to build an arrow a touch over 500 grains. In my research I believe its a good compromise between speed and weight. If you are shooting 30 yards max I think a ridiculously heavy arrow would work but if you shoot out to 60 plus yards the drop would be quite a bit more than I'd be after.

[KBC]

I’m shooting about 70lbs, 29.5” draw with a 510 grain arrow from a Hoyt Axius Ultra. I think it puts me around 270 FPS calculated. Seems like a sweet spot for weight, speed and tuning. I can’t remember the exact arrow length but it’s pretty close to my DL Easton axis 5mm with the regular 3 fletch, the standard inserts, iron will titanium collar and 125 grain head. With the bow set up by JSA when I bought it, I had to make a couple very minor tweaks to my rest and I can get the arrow shafts touching at 40 with field points and broad heads.
Everything I’ve researched says if you can get an arrow in the 475-550 grain range and get it moving around 260-280 FPS, you will kill everything and have something relatively easy to tune.

Take all that with a grain of salt, I’m only about 3 years in to archery and haven’t killed anything with my bow yet.

[Tuffcity]

Anyone go full Ashby with the 650grainer

Actually went beyond Ashby and built a bunch of 725 gr for Africa. Tapered bamboo with rosewood self nocks and 250 gr heads... obviously for trad gear (56 # recurve). Decent trajectory to 20 yards then rainbow after that! Definitely no warp speed with those. lol They do hit with some authority tho. Been thinking of dusting them off for moose this fall.

[Coyote]

Ashby's work was designed to see what affected penetration, not to tell you to shoot heavy arrows for everything. You don't necessarily need super heavy arrows for deer size game. But if you are thinking about large game such as elk, moose or buffalo it would be well worth considering heavy and weight forward especially if you use stickbows. Just my opinion

[Bear Brawler]

Ashby was also working with old outdated equipment by today's standards. We have better equipment and more speed. Broadheads are better and sharper now too IMO. It's cool but don't drink too much of the Kool aid.

[Powds]

I’m at 500 with 73lbs 30in draw, not sure of FPS but have had pass through On everything so far. FOC is about 12%

[salcal23]

Same boat as most 505 total weight, 265 +\- fps had a clean pass threw at 51 yards on smaller buck last year…was thinking of moving to a slightly lighter set up for this hopefully in the 475-480 range for a bit of a gain in speed and trajectory

[tko]

I’m @ 70lb 30.5 DL , at 550grains 265/270fps
fixed blade 150 grain.
get nice pass through with those sledgehammers!

[Andrewh]

250 spine rampage arrows - 50gr Iron Will insert - 25gr Iron Will impact collar and Iron Will 100gr head with a 4 fletch gets me to 540 grains total.

I love the arrows, they shoot like darts but I just bought some lighter shafts to bring the weight down.

I shoot a 28" draw RX1 turbo at 71lbs and get the 540gr arrows going 262fps on the chrono. When I ran the numbers on a computer, it calculated 275 fps... just an FYI that those programs are not super accurate.

I am going to drop down to 495gr total weight which will bring my speed up to 283ish. Basically the same kinetic energy but lighter and faster. Been too many times that I needed to judge yardage on the fly and a flatter shooting arrow is a HUGE advantage.

I have played around a lot with weight and you guys might find this interesting. I recently shot at 40 yrd with my 30 yrd pin; 3 arrows at 540gr and 3 at 495gr. I wanted to see what a 'misjudged' shot would look like with the different speeds. The 540gr were about 8.5" below the dot and the 495gr were about 3.5" below the dot. I walked inside and ordered up lighter arrows...

When playing with arrows like you say, it isn't really an issue about getting pass-throughs as have plenty of KE. Be more concerned with hitting what you want when you need to make a shot without time for a rangefinder.

I have shot many animals 5-15 yrds after I range them because that is just how it happens a lot of the time.