Hey all, I thought it would be fun to share our arrow builds or build ideas. Here’s my new heavy high FOC build currently in progress. Bow: Mathews VXR 31.5 60#/31” Draw Shaft: Black Eagle Rampage .250 (321 grains at 30”) Insert: Stainless Steel Half-Out (51 grains) Screw Weights: 2x 75 grain brass (150 grains) Vanes: Bohning Blazer 2” (6 grains each x 3 = 18 grains) Nock: R-Nock (10 grains) Broadhead: Cutthroat Single Bevel (200 grains) Total Weight: 750 grains Total FOC: 22.8%
Built a set over the weekend for the #45 longbow. GT Hunter 55/75 full length 315 grains up front 615 grains total 12.85 grains/lb 24% FOC I'll shoot either Simmons Tree Sharks, or VPA 3 blades with this set up.
I love it man! What an amazing build! You could take anything with that. I’m also a huge fan of the VPA 3 blades - I’ve used their 200 grain heads on many animals. I like your style buddy! I’ve never shot a longbow but I’ve been getting the itch. I might have to use your build here whenever I get around to getting a longbow/recurve for myself. Thanks for sharing the arrows look great!
Anyone ever try shrink wrap fletching? I have always bought pre-fletched arrows. Too afraid I would not get them consistent enough
Walmart had abunch of packs on clearance a couple years ago that I bought. I think they were Nap brand. I put the on some old arrows I had. I scraped all the old glue and fletching off then into boiling water. They turned out pretty good to my standards
I’ve had pretty good results with the shrink wrap fletching. Only complaint I had was they didn’t seem as tough as regular fletch and would tear from glancing off other arrows
Had a buddy give me a few to try. I've used them as replacements when fletchings get cut. Not sure how much I'd trust them hunting but I'll fling one at a squirrel every now and then.
Never tried it but I’m interested in testing it. I ended up getting a bunch of basic Bohning Blazer 2” vanes on clearance. Haven’t worked through all of those yet.
I sent my bow off to Carters archery for new strings and a super tune few months back. Had to send my arrows of course so he could tune it. He messaged me when he started on my bow and asked if I used the shrink wrap fletching all the time. I told him I had been the past few years. He told me they were the worst thing to use. Said they were made for emergency situations where you just need to get by till you could get em refletched. Explained to me they are never the same. They shrink different on every arrow so you can never get a true tune or will it keep a true tune on every shot. Said most never have the right amount of helical or never the same helical as a true fletched arrow. Needless to say I got rid of em all and the tune on paper proved what he explained to me.
View attachment 77662 [/QUOTE] Awesome build. Did you get to shoot it and see what speed you were getting with that heavy setup?
Awesome build. Did you get to shoot it and see what speed you were getting with that heavy setup?[/QUOTE] The old beat up chrono at the range was giving me readings around 230 FPS. I’ll be the first to say I bet it’s a touch slower than that - I don’t trust the chrono haha! I’ve got a 31” draw though so maybe I’m getting a few extra FPS.
I have been tinkering with the idea of going with a 600 grain set up. Currently shooting Bowtech Realm 70 pounds 28.5 inch draw maxima red sd arrows at 454 grains.
Lumen, how's your arrow build progressing? How did your bow tune? Arrow tune? I know your rig is slower than what you are accustomed to. I've slowed my bow down quite a bit. I've always aimed at the lower 1/3 of the vitals. I'm hoping I don't have any issues.
Keith sorry for the slow reply brother! I'm in my final semester of grad school and it's been kicking my butt! I spend a TON of time tuning my arrows. I start off brand new shafts with no inserts, nocks, etc glued in. Let me run you through my process: Spin test each shaft without nock/insert. (I've had some really bad arrow shafts that improved wonderfully by cutting off a bit from both ends) Cut arrows to desired length (with a 31" draw my arrows are around 30" - I try not to remove a whole lot) Square ends of shaft with squaring tool (I use a Lumenok squaring tool - you can use anything that allows you to sand down the ends evenly so your inserts/nock sits flush) Insert inserts into shaft (no glue yet), spin test them to check for odd wobbles. Once they're spinning true and not visibly wobbling I mark the insert with a sharpie then glue them in. Grab field tips in various weights (I've had some arrows tune well at a certain weight but not another - I usually start at 200 grain field points. Just an FYI you can get these on Ebay for very little or you can buy a test kit with a bunch of various weights) Shoot through paper making slight adjustments in my nock (turning it slowly) until I'm punching clean holes through the paper. Once I'm shooting clean holes I mark the nock position and shoot it through paper again. If everything is going as planned I glue it in. Bareshaft tune it; this is where I usually discover if I need to adjust point weight +/-. Once it flies true I fletch it, and start testing with broadheads. I know you didn't specifically ask me how I'm tuning the arrows; just wanted to include that. To answer your questions I've found that in this build I've hit a hard maximum of 750 grains; anything above that and the arrow starts to go a little funky on me. These tuned really well with an overall weight of 750 grains and also did well at 675 grains. My bow didn't need any adjustments other than getting my single pin sighted in and getting the new range sticker applied to the sight. Right now I'm building my hunting arrows for the season after doing a bunch of tests on the first 6. This season I'll be going with 750 grains! You just said the most important part right there brother; "I always aimed at the lower 1/3 of the vitals". If tradbow guys can get ethical kills and pass through shots at 130-170 FPS then we've got nothing to worry about. Even shooting 750 grains my bow is still in the 200+ FPS range. I put it right in the pocket knowing there's a very high chance that deer jumps the shot. Worst case scenario the deer jumps it and I get double lung, or the deer doesn't jump the string and I send that arrow into the heart. You will do great - I strongly believe you're setting yourself up for success. Another factor that really matters is shot distance; I can shoot at my 3D targets and hit them at 60 yards consistently but I don't typically take shots past 30 yards on animals unless it's a perfectly clear broadside shot. I feel at normal bowhunting ranges (let's say 10-30 yards) speed isn't a huge factor. I know it's kind of a cop out answer but shot placement is so important and with you aiming lower 1/3 I don't see you having any issues my friend; just make sure you're sighted in and you'll do great. Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help out.
Give it a try brother! I hunted last season with 656 grains on my 60#/31" bow and had excellent results. With you shooting 70# I'm confident you'd still be getting some pretty darn fast arrows flying down range.
