Arrow recommendations for #40 recurve

[Andrew]

I'm getting ready to start the process of building arrows for my new bow. Anyone have any recommendations for a starting spine as well as what the total arrow weight should be. I'd like to stick with easton axis if I can. Easton's spine charts says I should be looking at 400s. However from what I've been reading a lot of folks seem to having success with weaker spined arrows like 500 and 600s. The bow has #40 limbs, I draw 29", and my arrow length will be 30-31". Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DaWiz9578]

Depends on broadhead weight. Get a couple spines at full length and start cutting down to get them flying right. As far at what spines to start at I'm not sure for carbons with trad as I shoot aluminums so have to wait for someone with experience to give you a starting range.

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[splatek]

Amazon.com has an arrow setup marketed for use with the samick sage - the arrows are set for either 45 and above or 40 and below. They are victory arrows so they aren't the worst pieces of carbon, and they aren't the most expensive. I've been told be several folks that "they'll kill, just fine." What I did was buy the arrows, that are fletched already with 3 feathers right wing twist. I stripped one of the feathers (they come in a six pack). Then I started the bare shaft tuning process - had a few different weight inserts, and field tips. I finally arrived at 549 grain arrow that flies pretty daggum straight and true. I realize the last spot you want to skimp is on arrows, but these were a name brand and affordable. Just a thought. Also, if you start cutting and what not, you won't be out a ton of money. I think it was ±$50 for 6 arrows.

 

[Andrew]

Depends on broadhead weight. Get a couple spines at full length and start cutting down to get them flying right. As far at what spines to start at I'm not sure for carbons with trad as I shoot aluminums so have to wait for someone with experience to give you a starting range.

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I was looking at tip weight in the ball park of 100-150 depending on what shot the best. That should put me between 400-500 grains of total arrow weight, which from what I understand should be pretty good for a #40 recurve. (10-12 grains per pound).

 

[Andrew]

Amazon.com has an arrow setup marketed for use with the samick sage - the arrows are set for either 45 and above or 40 and below. They are victory arrows so they aren't the worst pieces of carbon, and they aren't the most expensive. I've been told be several folks that "they'll kill, just fine." What I did was buy the arrows, that are fletched already with 3 feathers right wing twist. I stripped one of the feathers (they come in a six pack). Then I started the bare shaft tuning process - had a few different weight inserts, and field tips. I finally arrived at 549 grain arrow that flies pretty daggum straight and true. I realize the last spot you want to skimp is on arrows, but these were a name brand and affordable. Just a thought. Also, if you start cutting and what not, you won't be out a ton of money. I think it was ±$50 for 6 arrows.

Just checked it out, thanks. That is definitely something I'll consider.

 

[johnfajitas]

Depends on broadhead weight. Get a couple spines at full length and start cutting down to get them flying right. As far at what spines to start at I'm not sure for carbons with trad as I shoot aluminums so have to wait for someone with experience to give you a starting range.

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This and Splateks recommendation are both great. Look up Dr. Ashby. My first set of decent arrows were very light, then I upgraded to a little heavier...then I read up on his reports and I wished I had gone even heavier. With #40 limbs you can setup pretty heavy arrows that will be devastating to whatever large game you are hunting. The most important thing is they need to fly well. You can setup a high FOC with the wrong spine and you will never shoot darts. If it were me knowing what I know now, I would grab a few different spine arrows (singles of course) and put as much weight up front as I could. Then I would see which ones seemed to fly best. Then I would get a dozen of my favorite and say sweet things to them every night at bedtime.


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[Jasper2]

Do you know if your bow is cut to center or past center? I have tuned both 500 and 600 spined carbons to 40# bows in the past but the amount of weight required out front to get the 500's to tune was more than I was comfortable with. Personally, I would not even mess with 400's.

 

[JSEXTON23]

I can tell you that if you are going to shoot 400's with a 40# bow @ 29" draw, depending on how Jasper2's question is answered, you would need a lot of weight up front. And at that arrow length, a 500 spine arrow is going to take some weight up front to tune as well.

Another thing to consider, is your bow actually drawing 40# @ 28"? And what is it pulling @ 29"?

I can tell you this, I shoot a bow cut before center (ie left of the string when looking at the bow from the shooter's perspective.) and shoot a Gold Tip Trad 500 that is 30" back of point to nock throat arrow with 50 grain insert and 150 grain point with a 29.25" draw. I can also shoot a 29.5" arrow with 50 grain insert and 200 grain point. I can even shoot a 29.5" arrow with a standard 12.2 grain gold tip insert and 200 grain point. A 30" Gold Tip Trad with 50 grain insert and 150 grain point is still only a 485 grain arrow.

 

[Andrew]

Do you know if your bow is cut to center or past center? I have tuned both 500 and 600 spined carbons to 40# bows in the past but the amount of weight required out front to get the 500's to tune was more than I was comfortable with. Personally, I would not even mess with 400's.

Thanks. That’s the kind of advice I was looking for. It seems most people that I have talked to or read about on other forums had similar experiences to you, but I was confused by the Easton spine chart recommendation of 400.

I believe my bow is cut past center but not 100% sure. It’s a SWA spyder which I believed is very similar to a samick sage. I have a springy rest on there that I plan to use, so I have some adjustability there. My plan was to set the rest just outside of center and get a spined arrow that was in the ball park, then play with point weight to get it close, and lastly move the rest to fine tune. I may pick up at 500 and 600 and play with those and see what they do with different point weights.

 

[Andrew]

I can tell you that if you are going to shoot 400's with a 40# bow @ 29" draw, depending on how Jasper2's question is answered, you would need a lot of weight up front. And at that arrow length, a 500 spine arrow is going to take some weight up front to tune as well. .
Another thing to consider, is your bow actually drawing 40# @ 28"? And what is it pulling @ 29"?

I can tell you this, I shoot a bow cut before center (ie left of the string when looking at the bow from the shooter's perspective.) and shoot a Gold Tip Trad 500 that is 30" back of point to nock throat arrow with 50 grain insert and 150 grain point with a 29.25" draw. I can also shoot a 29.5" arrow with 50 grain insert and 200 grain point. I can even shoot a 29.5" arrow with a standard 12.2 grain gold tip insert and 200 grain point. A 30" Gold Tip Trad with 50 grain insert and 150 grain point is still only a 485 grain arrow.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah I did measure the actual draw weight yesterday. It is right at 40# at 28 and around 41-42 at my 29” draw

I’m thinking I’m going to get some 500 and 600s and see which one flys best with the arrow weight I wanna have.

 

[JSEXTON23]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah I did measure the actual draw weight yesterday. It is right at 40# at 28 and around 41-42 at my 29” draw

I’m thinking I’m going to get some 500 and 600s and see which one flys best with the arrow weight I wanna have.

I’m going to guess that a bow cut past center like that will not like a 600 spine arrow. 500 might be borderline. You’ll likely run a very light point weight depending on arrow length. I would recommend you get a 400 and a 500 instead, but that is just me

 

[Andrew]

I’m going to guess that a bow cut past center like that will not like a 600 spine arrow. 500 might be borderline. You’ll likely run a very light point weight depending on arrow length. I would recommend you get a 400 and a 500 instead, but that is just me

Does the fact that I’m using a elevated rest negate the fact that it is cut past center? Would you still recommend I try a 400-500 with the springy rest? I may just get a couple of each 400,500, and 600 and just test them all out.

 

[JSEXTON23]

Probably depends on how far left you have the contact point on the rest pushed over. If it’s significantly left the stiffer shaft probably won’t work.

 

[MN_Bowhunter4]

If I were you and speaking from experience, I’d pick up some single shafts in a few different spines and then just shoot them. Otherwise you end up with a bunch of arrows you don’t use (ask me how I know this?!)

Lancaster sells singles for sure. 3Ribers might too.

 

[Jasper2]

If it's cut past center and you have a raised and adjustable rest, you can basically tune any darn arrow that you want to shoot. However, I just noticed that you will need a fairly long arrow due to your 29" draw length. This will put the 600 spines out of the question so as mentioned above it will be 500 or 400s.

 

[Andrew]

Thanks for the help guys. I picked up a 400 and a 500 today. Also ordered an assorted set of field points that range from 100-300 gr. Hoping I’ll be able to find a combo that flies well.

 

[splatek]

Thanks for the help guys. I picked up a 400 and a 500 today. Also ordered an assorted set of field points that range from 100-300 gr. Hoping I’ll be able to find a combo that flies well.

You will. Remember, you want as close to perfect arrow flight as you can get, but you would have to really go down the rabbit hole and spend a lot of time, and likely a lot of money to get truly perfect arrow flight. That's why we have fletchings. One advantage to getting as close as possible to perfect arrow flight, IMHO, is that you can use smaller fletchings and slang those arrows a little faster, further, etc.
GOod luck.

 

[DaWiz9578]

You will. Remember, you want as close to perfect arrow flight as you can get, but you would have to really go down the rabbit hole and spend a lot of time, and likely a lot of money to get truly perfect arrow flight. That's why we have fletchings. One advantage to getting as close as possible to perfect arrow flight, IMHO, is that you can use smaller fletchings and slang those arrows a little faster, further, etc.
GOod luck.

I second the "close as possible" goal. This is my second year shooting my recurve, first year taking it seriously and when I tuned my arrows I got to a point that showed equal weak to strong meaning it wasn't the arrows anymore it was me screwing up my form, release, whatever. Put some small feather fletchings on them and I can watch them straight as an arrow right to the target. If I would've chased perfect flight from every bare shaft I'd still be out there or dead from exhaustion.

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[splatek]

I second the "close as possible" goal. This is my second year shooting my recurve, first year taking it seriously and when I tuned my arrows I got to a point that showed equal weak to strong meaning it wasn't the arrows anymore it was me screwing up my form, release, whatever. Put some small feather fletchings on them and I can watch them straight as an arrow right to the target. If I would've chased perfect flight from every bare shaft I'd still be out there or dead from exhaustion.

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Yessir. At some point you have to fish or cut bait, or in this case release an arrow from the bow. The fletchings are there for a reason. They should not be used to compensate for sideways flight, but if you are close enough.... fletchings ought to make that arrow hit dead on the side of animal at 10, 20, etc yards.

 

[msnormand]

I'm pretty close to your original question....I shoot a 42# Stalker Stickbow ILF recurve, as well as a 40# Morrison Dakota II longbow. My draw is about 29.5 inches. Both shoot Goldtip 400s at full 31" very well with 175gr points. Total finished arrow weight is about 530gr as I recall.