Cheap shafts or...(bit of a rant)

[Bow Walker]

I've always bought Gold Tip arrows/shafts. I always have gone with their least expensive ones, which are the Expedition Hunters.

The Expedition Hunter shafts have an advertised straightness tolerance of +/-.006” over their. Their weight tolerance is advertised as being hand weighed to within +/- 2 grains per dozen.

Last batch of 5575 Expedition Hunter arrows that I made, I cut them from both ends to get my desired arrow length, made "special sure" of the squareness of the cut(s), and also weigh each and every component to come up with finished arrows (including field tips) that were within 2 grains of each other.

The finished product flew better than any other arrow that I had ever shot - whether custom made, or factory made, or pro shop made. They were (and are) the best fliers that I have seen.

Now - I just finished getting a dozen of the more expensive XT Hunter shafts, with a guaranteed straightness tolerance of +/-.003”, plus these are advertised to be laser inspected for straightness and then hand sorted for a guaranteed weigh tolerance of +/- 2 grains per dozen.

I measured, cut, and built the arrows from these shafts with the same attention to detail as with the cheaper arrows. I am pretty anally retentive when it comes to building my own stuff.

Well - long story longer....I decided to take some of these more expensive arrows and use them for my hunting. Put some broadheads on them. Makes sense right? Use the better (more costly) arrows for broadheads? Right?

I sorted through the whole dozen to find four that spin-tested true, that is they spun straight on my arrow spinner. This without the broadhead attached!

You'd think that the more $$$$ spent, the better the product, right? Apparently not - because my cheaper shafts spun truer than the more expensive shafts.

Did I get a lousy pack? Was this just an aberration? Don't get me wrong here, I love GT shafts, but I think that I will be sticking to the cheaper ones for the next dozen that I buy.

[The Hermit]

You can't have mine back!!

[greybark]

Hey BowWalker , Great post !!!!!!


REMEMBER -- Keep Your Fingertab On --

[Onesock]

Hermit-You don't still have them all do you?

[Bow Walker]

I think he's missing 2 or 3 from what I can gather.

You know Bill, those camo Expedition Hunters are the shaft of choice for me now. Those are the ones that fly so well from my setup.

[pupper]

hmm wierd that xt's are worse than expeditions

I always use xt's and I was shooting them through the chrono and 1 arrow always went 291fps and the other one went 288fps. same tip, same batch, same fletching. I wieghed it and it was 6 grains heavier. strange eh.

I just ordered some pro hunters. I will see how they work and let you know

[Brambles]

I shoot gold tip ultralites and one arrow weighted 27 grains more than the rest. I've read posts on other forums that people have experianced the same phenominon with the gold tip arrows, I still like them but might look else where when I set up my new bow.

[Bow Walker]

The dozen XT's that I bought were all loose, as in not packaged. The Expedition that I bought were both packaged (from the factory) in dozens.

That, I think, is the difference. The packaged dozens lived up to their billing by being on 2 grains out over a whole dozen. Not bad for "cheap" arrows.

[Eagle1]

+ or - two grains means that the dozen arrows could be out 4 grains for the dozen. I've taken ACC's cut and weighted every shaft then fletched and weighted every point, heavyest point to lightest arrow and made them all the same weight and they didn't shoot any better at 90m than ones I just made and slapped together. Alot of it is a mind set knowing they are the best you can make them. Alot of pro's just make the arrow up as is { not doing all the weighting and such } They seem to shot darn good. I personaly think we can't shoot better than the .006 straightness of carbon arrows other wise all cabons would be .001. Archery 95 % mental, 5 % physical.jmo.

[pupper]

true that eagle. It does give you some more confidence "knowing" your shooting the straightest most consistent arrows