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Aluminum arrows?

mschultz373

mschultz373

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Joined
May 9, 2023
Messages
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Location
SE LA
A family friend who can no longer Hunt gifted me a large lot of various aluminum arrows that he used when he was hunting. My impression is that using aluminum eros has fallen greatly out of fashion, but I’m curious if there could be any use with a compound for hunting purposes? I understand that carbon is lighter and flies flatter, but just trying to see if there’s any point in keeping these around or if I should just toss them or sell them
 
I organized them today and I'll report back. I currently shoot Easton 6.5 carbons @ ~29", maybe a tad less.

One thing that's weird is that many of them have this silver triangle end that appears to be what the nocks were glued to? is that an old design?
 
mschultz373 said:
I organized them today and I'll report back. I currently shoot Easton 6.5 carbons @ ~29", maybe a tad less.

One thing that's weird is that many of them have this silver triangle end that appears to be what the nocks were glued to? is that an old design?
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A cone shape? That's to glue on nocks. I still have a bow that I shoot aluminum arrows through, plenty of guys I know still shoot aluminum.
 
Aluminum arrows are great I still have plenty of them. There is no need to spine align aluminum arrows so you never have to worry about that. The big thing with aluminum is that they can develop very slight bends so you have to look down your practice and target shafts if you start to develop a “flyer” but they are way tougher than you think. There will be like four digit numbers on them which shows the diameter in 64’s of an inch and the wall thickness in .100’s of an inch. So for example a 2117 is a diameter of 21/64’s of an inch and the thickness of the aluminum is .017”. Also, are they xx75’s xx78’’s or Gamegetters or something else? There should be plenty of markings anodized into the aluminum shaft.
 
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Depending on the spine and length of the shafts, they're very usable for compound bows, as well as recurves and longbows.
I shot 2213 shafts out of a 57# recurve for many years. Similarly, I shot 2216 shafts out of a 62# compound for several years too.

I was one of the last "hold outs" for switching to carbon shafts, in my area. Carbon is a lot more durable, flatter shooting and with the varying sizes they're easy to tune to any bow too. :)
 
The two shafts I have the most of are Easton xx75 2315 advantage timber, and Easton xx75 2219 autumn hunter. There’s probably 40 of the latter.

I assume I would have to retune my bow to use either. But are either one better than the other? Does a thicker aluminum offer a benefit?
 
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mschultz373 said:
The two shafts I have the most of are Easton xx75 2315 advantage timber, and Easton xx75 2219 autumn hunter. There’s probably 40 of the latter.

I assume I would have to retune my bow to use either. But are either one better than the other? Does a thicker aluminum offer a benefit?
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Thicker wall is more durable and heavier. The 2315’s will be a lighter but larger diameter shaft than the 2219’s. The thicker walled 2219 is a heavier but smaller diameter more durable shaft. Easton came out with larger diameter shafts when speed started to really become a thing in archery. In order to have a lighter shaft that could maintain the same or similar spine, they had to make it larger in diameter. The larger/ thinner walled shafts were developed when overdraws were the rage and are a second perhaps even third iteration of aluminum shaft sizing.

I remember the old timers around me would shoot and recommend the super heavy 2020 size and swore by them for 55-60lb bows. Back in the day a 60 lb draw bow was considered a heavy draw bow because letoff was usually 65% or less. My first compound only had 50% letoff.

The thing that is kind of neat about aluminum shafts is that there are several different sizes that would work in a given bow setup depending on your needs as an archer.
 
mschultz373 said:
The two shafts I have the most of are Easton xx75 2315 advantage timber, and Easton xx75 2219 autumn hunter. There’s probably 40 of the latter.

I assume I would have to retune my bow to use either. But are either one better than the other? Does a thicker aluminum offer a benefit?
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You shouldn't have to retune if the weight is similar to your carbon arrows.

My 35 year old xx75 2219s wearing 5" beaten up and worn out feathers at roughly 560grs. fly as straight and true as my 585gr carbons that my bow is tuned to shoot. And they are just as accurate with a single bevel out to a tested 40 yards.
 
mschultz373 said:
So do I need a special tool to cut aluminum arrows, like with carbon arrows?
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You should use an arrow cut off saw but a higher quality tube cutter will work. Just be careful not to cver tighten the tube cutter down too much as it could collapse the arrow wall. And with the tube cutter, be sure to measure twice and cut once. You will also have to get glue on nocks for the swaged arrows at the nock end. It can be tricky to align the nocks concentric to the shaft. Hence Easton’s development of the “uni nock” system.

All new Easton Aluminum arrows come with the uni system adapters and uni nocks already installed which is a tremendous help.

FYI they do make a nock aligner tool well at least they used to. A place like three rivers may still sell them for the dudes that use wood arrows and still glue on nocks.
 
I decided last week to go back to Autumn Orange 2216s that I shot for years. Mine are just over 600 grns and my 400s only weigh 500. They shoot very well and pull out of my targets w/ease, unlike carbons that pull inserts. Getting rid of my carbons and back to what always worked well. Also much cheaper to build.
 
Is there a way to cut the swaged ends of the aluminum arrows, and then get a typical insert and use lighted Knox?
 
mschultz373 said:
Is there a way to cut the swaged ends of the aluminum arrows, and then get a typical insert and use lighted Knox?
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If you have enough arrow left then yes. The insert that will take a lighted nock will be specific to arrow size just remember that when ordering.

I use a cheap pipe cutter to cut my shafts. It works fine. Just don’t compress too much and let the blade do the work after several revolutions.
 
mschultz373 said:
View attachment 121204
The autumn hunters. Obviously need work, reflecth and change niocks. Cut to length consistent for my setup
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I've Shot a Lot of Those Shafts Around the Woods Over the Years and Even Killed a Couple Critters. They are my Favorite and Now They've Brought Them Back. You May Want to Cut the Swage w/a Cut off Wheel @ the Swage if you're Trying to Stay Close. Unless You Have Room to Spare and Can Move Away From the Swage a Tad. A Tubing Cutter Works OK if Can Stay Off that Edge. Just Clean Them Up and Install Some New Wings and You've Got a Good Batch of Arrers. The Camo Hunters You Have Are Just as Good!
Anyone have aluminums that are too old fashioned for you, I'll Trad 400 Legacy Carbons for!!
 
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mschultz373 said:
A family friend who can no longer Hunt gifted me a large lot of various aluminum arrows that he used when he was hunting. My impression is that using aluminum eros has fallen greatly out of fashion, but I’m curious if there could be any use with a compound for hunting purposes? I understand that carbon is lighter and flies flatter, but just trying to see if there’s any point in keeping these around or if I should just toss them or sell them
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My grandfather still uses aluminum for the very reason you mentioned - they're heavy, and he can't pull much weight with his compound anymore. Likewise my first bow deer as a kid was with an aluminum arrow (draw weight around 20 lbs). Others still use them, as you've seen above, but they're particularly helpful for low-poundage bows.
 
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