I am trying out a traditional recurve bow, 56 pounds at 29 inches.

For arrows, I am using the Easton 340 carbon compisites with a 100 grain point which I use with my compound bow.
Up to 20 yards I am hitting a 20 x 30 inch target with every arrow but they have massive tail movement.
Besides feather fletching, knocking hight etc. what grain and tipe arrows will work better here !!

Are you using plastic vanes and shooting off the shelf? If you are, that is at least part of the problem. Is the arrow movement, up and down(porpoising) or side to side(fishtailing) or both? How much do those arrows weigh? I would recommend using arrows at least nine grains per pound of bow weight, which would put you in the 500 grain+ range. Whats the FOC% on those arrows? A well tuned recurve is a joy to shoot and so easy to be accurate with. In aluminum, you could probably shoot a 2020, 2117 or possibly even a 2216 and even a 2219 is not impossible with a heavy enough head. A lot depends on the bow and your shooting style. I'm not all that familiar with all the carbons, but Goldtip 55-75 or even a 75-95 could work for you. The main thing is, that a recurve needs more spine than a compound, because its hitting the arrow with it full poundage right at the get go. You have to shoot feathers off the shelf or use a raised rest.

I plugged the numbers into a dynamic spine calculator (available on tradgang).

340 arrow
29" draw
100 gr point
10 gr on the nock end
vanes instead of feathers

total arrow weight should be around 430 grains
FOC is about 7.4%


this gives you a total dynamic spine of about
113 lbs!!!

You need to go to a lighter spined arrow. I had the same problem when I started shooting a recurve (I was using 2117 aluminums which are about a 70 or 80 lb spine) and it gave me all kinds of trouble. Once you get a properly matched set up you'll be surprised how accurate you can be.

If you have access to other arrows let me know what spines are available and I'll let you know a good combination.

Thanks guys, appreciated !

I have aluminum arrows in 2117 with feathers and I am shooting from the shelf, so I will give them a go for interrest sake.
Total weight is around 600 grains.

Well that is interesting. One question and two opposite answers. One says not enough spine and the other says too much spine. Having shot both (but no longer shooting the recurve) I would suspect not enough spine but I will leave it to the experts. Additionally, when I was shooting recurves I was shooting long (4-5") plastic vanes and 125-130 grain broadheads as I recollect. Back then carbon arrows were not even an option.
Good question Helgaard. How are things going?
Peter.

Your arrows are WAY too stiff, too heavy spine.

You need a lighter spined arrow shaft.

I shoot several longbows, recurves in the 52-57 pound range. This is what works for me, after a LOT of experimenting. Gold Tip 35/55 shafts cut 30 inches with 100gr brass inserts(3Rivers supply) and 200gr points, 4"feathers. Total weight 570grains. They shoot perfectly bareshaft at 20 yards, no wiggle at all.

Carbon shafts are way different to tune than wood or alum. The prob is getting a(correct) light spine and a heavy arrow, not easy to do. You have to add point weight to add arrow weight, also ups the FOC(good thing). I leave mine longer than I need to lower spine also.

Hope this helps

troy

I didn't say that the 340's didn't have enough spine, read what I wrote. I said that that recurves of the same poundage as a compound need a heavier spine arrow.
What may work perfectly for one person, may not work at all for someone else. I couldn't shoot 2117's out of my 61# recurve at 29", because they didn't have nearly enough spine, so, so much for the spine charts. I shoot 100#+ shafts out of my 70# recurve and duplex shafts out of my 84# recurve that add up to about 150#'s. Spine charts my be useful for some, but for me, they are only for comparing the spine of one shaft to another. If Calgary Chefs numbers are correct, then actually you could propbably make the 340's work, by just putting a heavier head on them, the FOC would need to come up to ideally 12%. That would bring the spine down considerably and if they had feathers on them, that would bring it down even more.

You'd probably have to put about 430 grains in front of those arrows to break the spine enough. The FOC by the way would be 26% some guys like that extreme stuff and you could try it out for fun.

The 2117's should work for you with 240-250 grains up front and cut to 29" or so.

It depends on the amount of centershot the bow has too. A stiffer arrow can be shot on a bow that's cut closer to center like a coumpound. If it's not cut to center the arrow has to curve arund the bow and thus needs to be lighter spined. You can experiment by building out the window of the bow to tune the bow to the arrow. This works to shoot a lighter spined arrow.

Go to O.L. Adcock's website he explains arrow dynamics quite well and try the bareshafting tuning, it works well.

In the meantime try the 2117's with the tip weight I suggested and I bet you'll be fine.

This is a bit off topic, but y'all really should check out tradgang.com. CC1 mentioned that site in another thread, so I checked it out. Way cool. I traded my Matthews cam bow and have returned to recurves...having a blast!

I can't help with the question in the OP, because I only shoot wood arrows.

Shooting a 12 x 12 inch group up to 20 yards now with the 2117 aluminums cut to 30'', fletched with new feathers and knocking point lowered to half an inch above.
I am still using 100 grain points, but I will try heavier and see what happens.
Interresting is that I have changed from split 3 fingers to 2 fingers under ( asked on Tradgang), my release is much smoother and consistant.
Will let you know how the heavier points works out.
Peter ! we are doing fine and we will be managing and hunting a new place close to Waterberg from January.
Thanks guys !

For fun I shot 2117's on Friday evening (our trad night) . I was shooting 6 arrows into 6 inches at 25 yards. Keep practicing the trad gear is hard to master but once you do it's sure fun. Hint bow/arrow tuning is equally important to the way you shoot.

You will definately get better flight with more point weight on those 2117's. Tuning flight until its as close to perfect as possible, will instantly improve your shooting. I gives a huge mental boost, when you know that arrow is going to go exactly where you put it. I've shot split finger forever and tried three under and immediatly, thought is was the best thing ever and couldn't understand why anyone would shoot any other way, but within a short amount of time, I went back to split finger. Its just a whole lot more consistant under hunting conditions.

Helgaard, sounds good. I sent you a PM. I still remember that blind in the ground and those Kudu that came by!
Peter.

Peter that pitblind worked like a dream, I wacked a nice 55 inch Kudu with my old Golden Eagle compound out of that blind.
Hope I can get good enough with this recurve to take on those big fellas, that would be realy something.

I shoot a 57# @ 28 recurve and a 54# @ 28 long bow. I draw about 28.5 -29 " 2117 / 125 grn head with feathers , Works for me just fine

I shoot a 55# custom Great Plains take- down recurve & 28.5 in.easton 2216 with 3 fletched 5in.turkey feather arrows & like 125Gr.Muzzy,Thunderheads,& snuffer heads are my favorites and use a leather glove & armguard with either split fingers or 3 fingers under"apache style" both work fine for me & have no problems with this tackle,if i had to pick just 1 ...the thunderhead 125gr.broadhead is the most accurate flying head i have ever shot,been shooting those since the year they came out....best of luck

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
I plugged the numbers into a dynamic spine calculator (available on tradgang).

Off-topic, but thanks for the reference to tradgang.com...great site with great posters. Looks like I'm going to have to sell some rifles to restock my bow rack!