I just bought my first carbon arrows. They are Gold Tip XT Hunter 7595 cut to 30" long. They claim a weight variance of +/- 2 grains for an expected total weight variance of 4 grains. My 6 ranged in weight (without the 125 grains target tips) from 318.7 grains up to 326.7 grains for a total weight variance of 8 grains. I weighed my 8 Easton XX78 arrows without the tips and the ranged in weight from 407.7 to 410.8 for a total variance of only 3.1 grains. I am not impressed with the carbons in this regard. All arrows had nocks, vanes and tip inserts installed.

On the other hand I chronographed the heavy carbon arrow and the light carbon arrow and only got a 0.3 fps change is velocity so I guess it does not matter in that regard but I wonder if there is something out of whack with the carbon arrows that might still affect accuracy. I am getting 239 fps with the 450 grain carbons arrows instead of 222 fps with the 533 grain aluminum arrows. What kind of weight variance do you guys see with your carbon arrows and what do you deem acceptible? These are supposedly pretty darn good carbon arrows.

On another topic I also bought and installed (fortunately with the help of the shop owner) a No Peep sight. So far I am not shooting as well as I was with the normal peep sight and the XX78 Aluminum arrows but maybe I will improve with more use of the No Peep. Thanks, Bruin.

If you were obcessive enough to use a mircometer to measuse wall thickness you'd have your answer. The varience lies within the mamufactoring process.

The positive however isthat carbons lose less engery than wood or aluminum coming off yopur rest/riser. Hence the speed increase.

In my experience, I have had more varience with the weights of field tips or broadheads, than arrows. I shoot aluminum XX78's though. I shot carbons and just never got a warm cozy feeling from them as I do the aluminum.

Bruin, I got on an arrow weight kick here a while back (Trying to get light but, have good spline) and found that there are several things that skew the weights. The amount of glue used on the inserts, amount of glue used on the vanes, and the actual weight variances in the inserts, knocks, and vanes themselves.

The only way you can truly find the weight difference in your shafts is if you had weighed them "naked" then, you probably wouldn't have seen as much variance.

Still, like you found out w/ your chrono, that little of a difference in weight has no real world effect.

Now, one thing I bet would definitely surprise you is the straightness difference between your new carbons and your older aluminum shafts. The carbons have a very straight shaft compared to the aluminums and in some instances this could have a real world effect on arrow flight especially, if using fixed blade broadheads. That's another wonderful thing about the carbon arrows, They are either straight or broke. W/ aluminum, you often have bent arrows and don't even know it.

Congrats on you new arrows.

Reloader

Bruin,

There are several things that you can do to fix your weight problem if you want to. weigh out the tips and match heavy tips to light arrows.

you can trim or file weight off of tips.

you can get a .270 cal bore brush and scrape the inside of the shafts to remove a few quarter grains.

The biggest problem with carbons is that the carbon will vary in thickness and straightness. the variances will most likely happen at the ends of the shaft so cut a couple of inches off each end of the raw shafts and then start making your arrows. this will give you a more uniformed shaft.

The goal is to get arrows that are exactly matched so you can make the same shot with any arrow in the quiver.

Good luck and good shooting

quote:

Originally posted by The Cat Doctor:

The biggest problem with carbons is that the carbon will vary in thickness and straightness. the variances will most likely happen at the ends of the shaft so cut a couple of inches off each end of the raw shafts and then start making your arrows. this will give you a more uniform shaft.

Doc, that's a tip that makes very good sense. I don't think the weight variance is all that important out to my max 30 yard range, but the spine variation can really matter on a fixed blade broadhead.

Thanks again,

Don,

That is probably a true statement. at 30 yards the grains diff is not a huge issue. It would probably be less than a 1/2 inch difference. and shooting animals or targets you will never know the difference, but if you are shooting competition a 1/2 inch can make a huge difference.

The spine is very important especially for fixed blade heads.

for people that don't know. you want to cut the ends off the shaft. most shafts are woven. they fit in a machine like a lathe that turns and wraps the carbon. to create the shaft. the varences happen on the end in most cases.

My advice: Spend the extra 20 bucks a dozen for premium shafts you can't go wrong.

Were you weighing bare shafts, or fletched shafts ??? Glue and fletching can cause a noticable variation.