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New Heavy Arrow Build

BowhunterXC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2021
Messages
620
Location
N.W. Ohio
I did a heavy arrow build for the first time, last year and it worked out pretty good. :)
I made a heart shot on a nice buck, at 27 yards with a 125 gr. Magnus Snuffer, while doing a spot and stalk.

I decided to step up a bit with a single bevel broadhead, slightly heavier arrow and higher FOC. :cool:
Gold Tip Hunter XT 300 (9.3 gpi) at 27", 100 gr. brass insert, 50 gr. added internal tip weight and 150 gr. Grizzly single/left bevel broadhead and fletched with 3" left wing feathers. The TAW is 575 and the FOC is 24%. These arrows paper tuned by way of a bare shaft, very well and that's when I decided to fletch them.

Now, I need to get started sharpening these Grizzly broadheads! :)
Gold Tip XT 300 - Grizzly.jpg
 
I have a similar set up this year.

Gold Tip Hunter XT 300 29.5 inches
100 gr brass inserts
50 gr added internally
125 gr QAD Exodus heads

I had calculated the FOC at one point but can't remember what it is now. Must be slightly less than yours since you have 25 more grains up front. Maybe next year I'll upgrade broadheads but I am happy for now. I was very happy with the goldtip system and they paper tuned well for me. I'll hope to report back with some pass throughs on some giant bucks this season :)
 
I had the time to shoot this new arrow setup, yesterday and I was very pleased! :)
The field point and broadhead hit the exact same P.O.I., at all yardages. :cool: I did quite a bit of paper tuning with a bare shaft, then made the necessary adjustments to the rest and ended up adding a 50 gr. internal tip weight, to get good flight.

Can't wait for the season opener, to get a shot at "bullwinkle".
 
Waiting on my Ethics components to finish my build. Even built an arrow saw for this project. When I'm done I'll have 6 5mm Easton Axis 260-spine; 3 with glue-on Grizzlies and 3 with screw-in Maasais.
 
That sounds like a wicked setup.. Here is what I ended up with.. I one picture is because I forgot to adjust my sight and it dropped into my pressure treated 4x4 from 40 yrs
 

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Getting a passthrough on a 4x4 certainly inspires confidence. Were you able to recover the arrow and shoot it again? I once put a Beman ICS into a railroad tie and pulled the insert out... field point eventually came out with vise grips.

When I went through my handload process I used 75gr halfouts, glued with Easton insert superglue. I found I didn't have enough time to spin-tune the halfouts to eliminate runout, which turned out to be somewhat considerable. In the future I'll use either Easton epoxy or JB Weld. Did you have any issues dialing out the runout with your points and halfouts?
 
I thought I'd update this post with my sharpening experiences on the Grizzly single bevels. I ruined 2 of them from trying everything under the sun to get a "shaving sharp" edge on these broadheads. :rolleyes: Everything from a Lansky, diamond sharpeners, stones of various grits, KME and starting with 600 to 800 to 1000 and then a leather strop. Nutz!

I felt the edge on the 3rd broadhead and thought....Maybe all it needs is to be stropped and then leave it alone. :) As it turns out, I was overthinking the process and a leather strop with about 150 strokes per side and these blades are shaving sharp and ready to kill. :cool:
 
I thought I'd update this post with my sharpening experiences on the Grizzly single bevels. I ruined 2 of them from trying everything under the sun to get a "shaving sharp" edge on these broadheads. :rolleyes: Everything from a Lansky, diamond sharpeners, stones of various grits, KME and starting with 600 to 800 to 1000 and then a leather strop. Nutz!

I felt the edge on the 3rd broadhead and thought....Maybe all it needs is to be stropped and then leave it alone. :) As it turns out, I was overthinking the process and a leather strop with about 150 strokes per side and these blades are shaving sharp and ready to kill. :cool:
By 'ruined', what do you mean? Too much metal removed? No longer symmetrical? I've got these broadheads and am waiting on my StaySharp guide before I start working on them; I didn't realize there were pitfalls with this head.
 
By 'ruined', what do you mean? Too much metal removed? No longer symmetrical? I've got these broadheads and am waiting on my StaySharp guide before I start working on them; I didn't realize there were pitfalls with this head.
All of the above....too much removed, no longer symmetrical, etc. However, NONE of this was done with the KME sharpener! KME is a great tool and I have nothing but good to say about it. I have 2 different models and they function flawlessly. :cool:

I was using a disc sander with 600, 800 and 1000 grit discs. This is mounted on the side of my 4" belt sander.
I also tried a bench grinder with a paper wheel, used for sharpening knives.....which by the way does an excellent job on knives. Every knife I have in the house is absolutely razor sharp, due to the use of this paper wheel system. Horrible choice for sharpening broadheads of any type. o_O
I also, tried a 5 stone kit from a Lansky sharpener. This went nowhere and I was shocked that it didn't work any better than it did, for this type of broadhead. I think this has to do with the angle of this particular single bevel. I've sharpened many knives with this Lansky, but it would not be my first choice for broadhead blades of any kind. :rolleyes:

I used the disc sharpener for removable broadhead blades with 800 grit and polishing them out with 1000 grit. There was no need for a leather strop with these types of broadhead blades. If you use this type of sharpening system, be certain to use a light touch when doing so and it will do a great job with minimal effort. :)
 
Hey @BowhunterXC I’m gunna slightly highjack for a second with a quick question. If I refletch with a 4” wrap and 4 2.75” TAC Vanes will I run the risk of ruining a currently well tuned set up? Right now my hunting arrows just have factory Boeing vanes, but I’ve cut two of them lose from arrow contact. So I’ve gotta do something. It’ll obviously be some added weight
 
Hey @BowhunterXC I’m gunna slightly highjack for a second with a quick question. If I refletch with a 4” wrap and 4 2.75” TAC Vanes will I run the risk of ruining a currently well tuned set up? Right now my hunting arrows just have factory Boeing vanes, but I’ve cut two of them lose from arrow contact. So I’ve gotta do something. It’ll obviously be some added weight
@VaBruiser
You have several options:
* Weigh the wrap and fletchings, to see how much of a difference there will be between them.
* Scotch tape the wrap and fletching vanes in the same area, on the arrow shaft, that they would be when they're done. Then measure your FOC balance point. This will tell you how much or how little things can/may change. If it's 2% or less, I wouldn't worry about it.
* When you practice, shoot a different target dot each time. 1 arrow per target dot. This will eliminate the arrow/fletching damage.
Shooting 1 arrow per target dot, is the same as shooting groups. If you're hitting the center of each dot, that's the same as all arrows hitting in a tight group....minus the damage. :cool:

Hope this helps. :)
 
@VaBruiser
You have several options:
* Weigh the wrap and fletchings, to see how much of a difference there will be between them.
* Scotch tape the wrap and fletching vanes in the same area, on the arrow shaft, that they would be when they're done. Then measure your FOC balance point. This will tell you how much or how little things can/may change. If it's 2% or less, I wouldn't worry about it.
* When you practice, shoot a different target dot each time. 1 arrow per target dot. This will eliminate the arrow/fletching damage.
Shooting 1 arrow per target dot, is the same as shooting groups. If you're hitting the center of each dot, that's the same as all arrows hitting in a tight group....minus the damage. :cool:

Hope this helps. :)
No expert but my advice would be, if you change one thing, check everything. When I did my bareshaft tuning, I did it with wraps and Nockturnals. If your arrow flight is affected because you increased your dynamic spine by adding weight on the back, you might have to add some weight up front to weaken your spine accordingly. Either an external footing or some appropriately sized washers between your insert and head. You'd have to experiment to determine exactly how much weight each arrow needs. Do you really want to mess with this so close to the opener?
 
No expert but my advice would be, if you change one thing, check everything. When I did my bareshaft tuning, I did it with wraps and Nockturnals. If your arrow flight is affected because you increased your dynamic spine by adding weight on the back, you might have to add some weight up front to weaken your spine accordingly. Either an external footing or some appropriately sized washers between your insert and head. You'd have to experiment to determine exactly how much weight each arrow needs. Do you really want to mess with this so close to the opener?

Built 3 and shot them from 20,30, and 40 today. Even 40 is super rare here in the mountains of Virginia. Locked, cocked, and ready to rock! Oct 1st. can't come soon enough.
 
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