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Half Ashby

DEADBEAR

New Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2020
Messages
14
New to this site and saddle hunting, but decent experience in general hunting. I was wondering if anyone has taken the heavy arrow/high foc seriously but not the extreme that the Ashby reports suggest, or if anyone sees light in finding a balance between light vs heavy. I am a tinkerer and constantly looking for ways to improve. Also I have a 30.5 inch draw length (could stand to go further) set at 65 lbs so my arrow just naturally ends up heavy compared to some, yet no where near 600+grains. I guess I am wondering who all shoots arrows that are somewhere in the middle and what their experience is with them.
 
I looked into it and realized it's too late in the game for me at this point to really dive in and commit this season. So instead I leaned more towards his broadhead style more than anything. I went from 100 grain expandable to a 125 fixed single bevel broadhead. I know its not much extra weight but im excited to try the single bevel.
 
Well, you could take your average arrow, whatever that is. So I’m 31” and shoot hunter xts so that gives me 288, slap a 150gr stinger buzz cut in there and you’re at 438gr. So you you play around with broad head weights or insert weights. They would get your mid range. That what you’re looking for?
 
 
I looked into it and realized it's too late in the game for me at this point to really dive in and commit this season. So instead I leaned more towards his broadhead style more than anything. I went from 100 grain expandable to a 125 fixed single bevel broadhead. I know its not much extra weight but im excited to try the single bevel.
You will like the single bevel. Not too late to go heavier. Just gotta adjust your sight a little. Iadjusted right away when I moved up in weight. Went from 440 to 670 no problem. Took about 30 min getting everything re sighted
 
Well, you could take your average arrow, whatever that is. So I’m 31” and shoot hunter xts so that gives me 288, slap a 150gr stinger buzz cut in there and you’re at 438gr. So you you play around with broad head weights or insert weights. They would get your mid range. That what you’re looking for?
No more along the lines have you incorporated parts of what he suggested such as building a heavier arrow than you already have, or changing broad head styles,etc, but not fully incorporated every aspect of what the suggestions are. I could have phrased that better.
 
Get that arrow built solid and tip it with a good razor sharp fixed head and some weight up front. I think if your moving in the right direction Like Patriot38 is doing then your on the right track. I went heavier because of the construction components I chose to build with, all stainless steel. I needed to rebuild what I shot after last year, because I was running out of arrows. Read Ashby and point by point look at what your shooting now and make improvements where you can. A lot of guys have a lot of experience killing deer, we know what we need to get the job done on the deer we hunt, improve on it and add in a little insurance. Every person will find their sweet spot between weight and speed but if we can improve what we are shooting why wouldn't we. I think you'll find you can make a better arrow easier than you think. I know when I think about why I want a better penetrating arrow it's not to shoot through an 80 lb doe, although I certainly want that too, but I'm thinking about that big bodied northern giant that you may only get into bow range once in a life time. That's the guy I built better arrows for.
 
Ashby likes the 3 to 1 ratio heads. I'm shooting the Masai head with a convex head design ( forgive me Dr. Ed).
 
No more along the lines have you incorporated parts of what he suggested such as building a heavier arrow than you already have, or changing broad head styles,etc, but not fully incorporated every aspect of what the suggestions are. I could have phrased that better.
Yup, I did that. I used to shoot 340s and muzzys. I switched to a stiffer arrow, 300s and 250s and a heavier broad head but not much else. That puts me in the high 400s.
 
high 400s? How much heavier of a broadhead did you go? A 250 spine arrow is pretty stiff if you have a 150 or less head and no insert. even out of a 70lb bow. If your not increasing the foc that much you prolly don't need to jump that far in spine.
 
If you can get it to shoot tight groups though keep em like that for sure.
 
This took a ton of work and is very interesting. This gentleman is a very accomplished hunter and has worked for Mathews since their beginning. After all his testing he settled on a 460 grain arrow for a compromise of speed, trajectory, FOC, and momentum. He knows that we are not shooting ballistic gel and sand boxes but his testing is extensive and thorough.

His initial post has 781 interesting comments.

I don't know how to link his Facebook post. You can go to Facebook and search for Joel Maxfield.

bcd2cdd9bae7062412006c0e581f3fdf.jpg
76e57ce9605bcf507c8876005526944c.jpg


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from what I read the rule for total weight of arrow would be 8-10 gpi per lbs you are pulling. so for you since you pull 65 lbs, that's 520-650 for arrow total weight.

The most important factors are structural integrity and arrow flight, then you can move on to FOC
 
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This took a ton of work and is very interesting. This gentleman is a very accomplished hunter and has worked for Mathews since their beginning. After all his testing he settled on a 460 grain arrow for a compromise of speed, trajectory, FOC, and momentum. He knows that we are not shooting ballistic gel and sand boxes but his testing is extensive and thorough.

His initial post has 781 interesting comments.

I don't know how to link his Facebook post. You can go to Facebook and search for Joel Maxfield.

bcd2cdd9bae7062412006c0e581f3fdf.jpg
76e57ce9605bcf507c8876005526944c.jpg


Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
I looked and thought this was a really good post. I like seeing different views/experiments on things from people that have been doing things for a long time.
 
This took a ton of work and is very interesting. This gentleman is a very accomplished hunter and has worked for Mathews since their beginning. After all his testing he settled on a 460 grain arrow for a compromise of speed, trajectory, FOC, and momentum. He knows that we are not shooting ballistic gel and sand boxes but his testing is extensive and thorough.

His initial post has 781 interesting comments.

I don't know how to link his Facebook post. You can go to Facebook and search for Joel Maxfield.

bcd2cdd9bae7062412006c0e581f3fdf.jpg
76e57ce9605bcf507c8876005526944c.jpg


Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
He should have put a big femur bone in the gel and another in the sandbox. Im not worried about hitting something with the same exact consistency all the way through.
 
I've been tinkering a bit with my setup. I've been shooting 400 spine Easton Axis with the regular HIT insert. Bought some 340 and 300 spine Axis and 100 grain brass inserts to mess with. Also got some 165 grain Simmons Tiger Sharks and 165 grain field points. But I also just picked up some 100 grain Black Hornet Ser Razors. I'm leaning more towards a middle of the road setup with the 340 Axis, 100 grain brass, and 100 grain Black Hornets. They should still push 450-500 grains but I can use normal sized broadheads and field points. The 165 grain field points don't play well with my bag target because of how wide they are. Also if I were ever in a situation where I needed some broadheads in a pinch I can get 100 grain anywhere.
 
I've been tinkering a bit with my setup. I've been shooting 400 spine Easton Axis with the regular HIT insert. Bought some 340 and 300 spine Axis and 100 grain brass inserts to mess with. Also got some 165 grain Simmons Tiger Sharks and 165 grain field points. But I also just picked up some 100 grain Black Hornet Ser Razors. I'm leaning more towards a middle of the road setup with the 340 Axis, 100 grain brass, and 100 grain Black Hornets. They should still push 450-500 grains but I can use normal sized broadheads and field points. The 165 grain field points don't play well with my bag target because of how wide they are. Also if I were ever in a situation where I needed some broadheads in a pinch I can get 100 grain anywhere.
Where did you get 100gr brass inserts for those arrows. I have the 75gr that easton sells. Do they make a 100?
 
Interesting. Looking at the pictures of the penetration looks like the two mediums contradict each other. The heavier arrows went further in the sand and penetrated less in the gel. I been watching the fairy and I know he’s big into the super heavy but I still haven’t seen a vid on someone taking and shooting a good sharp fixed blade out of a fast 300+ well tuned bow for that arrow and using an identical bow tuned for the really heavy stuff and shooting them in the same medium at various distances, I think it’d be Interesting to see the differences at varying distances to like 40 yds. I would have thought from looking at the above pics that the heavies would’ve out penetrated the lighter given everything being equal. Wasn’t much difference in some of them. I’m currently shooting a 29” 440 grain arrow at 290 and been thinking about going heavier but wondering if the gains will only be minimal. I haven’t had an arrow stay in a deer yet but I like the idea.
 
I'm doing something similar to you. I like the methodical approach. I will try to go heavier over the next off season but probably end up around 550 grain total arrow weight. This year I added about 30 grains up front by screwing set screws into the back of my inserts. More than that and I'll be under spine. I have cutthroats on order but until I'm sure they fly like darts I will be sticking with my current broadheads.
 
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