Warning - cold arrows, hard targets

Fuzzy

Member
I'd left my kit in the car outside all day, and when I got into our indoor hall everything was freezing cold. By the time I'd set up I thought that things would have warmed up and checked the shaft, not the point. I shot an end of 120gn Carbon Ones into straw at 20yrds and on the 3rd shot heard a mighty bang and was left with an intact but rattling arrow.

Turns out that the tiny bits of metal between the break off bits of break off points are frangible and can spontaneously break off if you freeze them and then slam them into straw at 200fps:raspberry

Let your arrows warm up first and maybe shoot something else indoors....
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
Love the word "frangible"
Had to google it to be sure it was a real word.
Surprised that the inside of your car got cold enough to freeze your arrow points though
 

sreynolds

New member
It's very unlikely that straw broke your cold point. I would guess that your arrow struck something hard in or behind the bale.
 

albatross

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You could possibly have hit an old point left behind by a previous archer. I know I have done this and actually pushed the old point out the back of the boss on to the floor. Yep they do make a bang when it happens.
 

adrianms

Member
Had my 1st ever "bouncer" a couple of weeks ago, my arrow literally jumped backwards out of the boss & came to a halt half way down the sports hall floor.
After a close inspection with the a metal detector removed a couple of long bow type points with the aid of a screwdriver & a hammer.
Arrow was fine but ruined the score that evening.
What is it with people who shoot wooden arrows that feel no guilt when leaving points in the middle of a boss (tbh must have been a lucky shot, a 10 at 3pm)
 

adrianms

Member
Forgot to mention. Probably nothing to do with temperature. I've shot indoors at a couple of venues with varying temperatures, between-5 & +25 & the boss or what's inside it are more relevant.
 

Munsterman

Active member
Had my 1st ever "bouncer" a couple of weeks ago, my arrow literally jumped backwards out of the boss & came to a halt half way down the sports hall floor.
After a close inspection with the a metal detector removed a couple of long bow type points with the aid of a screwdriver & a hammer.
Arrow was fine but ruined the score that evening.
What is it with people who shoot wooden arrows that feel no guilt when leaving points in the middle of a boss (tbh must have been a lucky shot, a 10 at 3pm)
A common issue. I find that a good stud detector can help find most of the twig chuckers leftovers.
 

Timid Toad

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You'll see a lot of archers, particularly hunters, shooting at -10 or lower. They don't get bits falling off, hot melt becomes more brittle, but the steel itself no. Sounds like you've either struck something in the boss, there was a weakness in one of the break off sections, or there's something very weird about your set up.
 

AndyW

Well-known member
I heard a related story being told when an archer was going consistently left on a shoot. He explained in detail to another guy that it was due the sub zero temperatures stiffening the arrow spine and he really had ought to have bought his 500s when he saw the weather forecast. He was joking of course but it took the guy he was telling a good 5 minutes to work it out.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
What is it with people who shoot wooden arrows that feel no guilt when leaving points in the middle of a boss (tbh must have been a lucky shot, a 10 at 3pm)

Thats a a bit harsh - all the clubs I shoot at have a rule that if you lose a pile in a boss then the face is marked, the boss is immediately removed from use and the offending bit of metal,recovered. I don't know a single longbow or flatbow archer who would leave a point and say or do nothing.

As for lucky shot there are plenty of us stick & string merchants capable of planned ten shooting out to 100yds on regular basis - that's why we make MB & GMB :)




Karl
 
As for lucky shot there are plenty of us stick & string merchants capable of planned ten shooting out to 100yds on regular basis - that's why we make MB & GMB :)

Karl
I don't know many stick and string merchants who can regularly score a 10 at 100 yards... I know some that can regularly score a 9 though ;)

Dan
 

adrianms

Member
Seem to remember my tongue beening firmly in cheek when I replied to this thread.
Fair comment, it's not just wood chuckers who lose points-but.....
 

Fuzzy

Member
Well we did the magnet on a string thing and used a stud finder and looked behind for dicarded points.... nothing. Might have hit a very hard glue patch? Bad point? Annoying, whatever it was.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
I don't know many stick and string merchants who can regularly score a 10 at 100 yards... I know some that can regularly score a 9 though ;)

Dan

HaHa - but Dan you are forgetting the secret one point "longbow archer bonus" we apply for just hitting the darned target at 100yds :)




Karl
 

albatross

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Well we did the magnet on a string thing and used a stud finder and looked behind for dicarded points.... nothing. Might have hit a very hard glue patch? Bad point? Annoying, whatever it was.
I think you would need something better than a 'stud finder'. I use a hand held metal detector and changed its shape from circular to more 'pointed' by bending the 'detector coil'. I also insulated about half the coil base with electrical tape to give me a more localised sensor area.
 

little-else

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thing is, when I miss at 100yds with my bent stick I can see the arrows sticking up and dont have to spend hours with a metal detector looking for them. People with knobs and dials shouldnt be missing at any distance less than this and expect sympathy when the day's exercise is looking for their missing arrow. Another problem we dont seem to have is piles becoming unscrewed and separating. We also dont have to offset our targets to prevent excessive wear on the middle of the boss, my target seems to suffer at about 7 o'clock but the middle is a good as new.
 
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