Blackhawk1,
I am with Born to Hunt on this one. I have used cedar, aluminum, carbon, fiberglass, and Easton ACC's for target and hunting. Hands down I prefer the ACC's. It has been my expenience that the ACC's continuously out penetrate other shafts shot out of the same bow on live stuff. I would caution anyone however to avoid using them on 3D targets when the temperature is below freezing, unless there are two of you you will not pull them out of the rubber.

Although I have bowhunted for a few years, I have yet to take the carbon plunge because I baby my XX75s and they stay in good shape. Since I'm finally modernizing my equipment and getting a new bow, an Alpine Teton Lite (split limb, single cam), I might as well get new carbon arrows to match....but which ones? Carbon confuzzles me . I'm looking at Easton C2 Epic, Beman ICS Hunter, or Carbon Express CX arrows. All of these arrows are 9.5gr/in or less. Beman started the carbon craze, I trust Easton products, and a friend of mine swears by his CXs (but they are expensive ) Please help unboggle my carbon dilemma

BH1,
Quite a few people would recomment your looking at "Gold Tip's" as well. I'm with you...I baby my super slams and have had great success. Sometimes it's hard to switch when something isn't "broken!"
The new bow sounds interesting.
best,
bhtr

I'd recommend Carbon Tech Rhinos, very strong, I think they're still touted as the strongest, flew one of mine into a brick wall(not on purpose)no damage whatsoever, just lost the tip and insert, and they fly straighter than my XX78s, also. Jay

i like my GoldTips, I've been using the same dozen goldtip for hunting and 3d for 4 years now, i might get some new arrows, these might be getting too fatigged (comments?) in the future i'd like to try some ACC for hunting.

I'm a Carbon Express fan myself. They are durable, consistent, and accurate. If you shop around, you can often find them cheaper than your local store has them.

Joe

I am just like you, I still use my XX75's but I bought a cheap dozen of carbons from Cabela's and to my suprise they shot great. I didn't chrono the speed but I didn't even need to change pin position on sights. I found the groups to be much tighter so now I shoot at 1 inch dots on my deer target, so I don't hit arrows. I went to a 3-d shoot just before bow season and used the carbon arrow exclusively and outshot everyone in my group. The dozen cost me $44 I think, you need to cut them. I put them on a scale and they do weigh considerably less than the XX75's but trajectory out of my bow up to 35 yds didn't change. I know my aluminum go 247 fps. My Matthews Z Max is fast with 27 inch arrows, maybe that why I don't see a trajectory diffrence. Still hunted with the XX75's this year. I will tell you if you miss a target with the carbons all you lose is the insert or the knoch, they are extremely tough. I'm still experimenting with the carbons but to me they seem like the way to go for the upcoming season. I bought a cheap carbon and was amazed I wonder if one of the so called better carbons are even better. Good luck and buy the cheap Cabela's carbons for kicks, still cheaper that the XX75's and much more durable.

I have been using graphite gold tips too . Used them on two moose the last two years.

I was thinking of using aluminums since I read something about carbon shards coming off in the critter when used for hunting. But there has got to be tons of carbons being used for hunting and I have not heard of any bad happenings.

Hey neighbor!! I really like Gold Tips.....very tough!

I started shooting Easton A/C/C's back in the early 90's when I became serious about target archery. I also sold a pile of them when I operated an archery shop. Hands down, in my umble opinion, nothing else comes close if you are looking for the most accurate hunting arrow. However, I will say that I too have used Gold Tips the past two archery seasons. I have filled my tags successfully with these shafts. They are not as accurate as my A/C/C's.

I can't comment on the Bemans since I have not shot any since Easton bought the company. Back when I sold them they were pretty much junk...again in my opinion.

Here is my disclaimer: If you shoot a heavy fixed blade broadhead or a four-blade head, you may have difficulty getting the "best" flight. I know guys who kill deer with small diameter carbon arrows pushing a 125 grain fixed blade head, but USUALLY (there are never any absolutes) you can attain much more consistent flight and accuracy with properly spined aluminum shafts when longer fletching or large heads are used. If you like helical fletching, it is sometimes next to impossible to properly fletch carbon shafts.

Now that I've said all that, I'll tell you that I have never bought an aluminum arrow since shooting A/C/C's the first time. I fletch my A/C/C's and Goldtip shafts with 4" feathers for hunting. I do fletch right helical with a Bitzenburger or Jo-Jan fletcher. My choice of broadheads is Thunderhead 85 grain 3 blade head. I hunt white-tailed deer only with my bow. Just my two cents...hope it helps.