Arrows

Hi folks,

Hope this is the correct sub forum.

Can i have peoples thoughts on recurve arrows, please?

Current have a dozen easton inspires and looking to upgrade my kit a wee bit. Of my dozen, i've had 1 break and 1 lost in long grass. I'm looking into buying some better arrows and wondered firstly what you would recommend arrow wise and would you keep 1 set for indoor and 1 for outdoor?

many thanks
 

Witty_Banter

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Are you looking to stay with carbon? I've not shot with carbon yet, sticking to aluminium for the moment as the carbon ones are out of my beginner's price bracket. The new Easton PowerFlights seem to be a next-step up from the ones you're using (your current ones work out at around ?40 for 12, the Powerflights are about ?60). Actually considering some myself, as I was about to fork out ?50 for 8 ally Easton Tributes...
 
Are you looking to stay with carbon? I've not shot with carbon yet, sticking to aluminium for the moment as the carbon ones are out of my beginner's price bracket. The new Easton PowerFlights seem to be a next-step up from the ones you're using (your current ones work out at around ?40 for 12, the Powerflights are about ?60). Actually considering some myself, as I was about to fork out ?50 for 8 ally Easton Tributes...
Thanks for the response. To be honest I've no idea. I bought my beginner stuff a year ago and have been trying to upgrade to good equipment 1 piece at a time. Now have w&w riser and limbs, have a good button and string. Need to upgrade my arrow rest and stabilizers as well as the arrows. My thought being buy right, buy once rather than edging up in incremental stages. I've had a quick look at x10s, for instance but read of a lot of people have broken their arrows in the straw bosses (my club is half foam bosses and half straw indoors and all straw outdoors). I don't want to invest heavily in arrows like that if there's a good chance of breakages.

A friend at the club has invested in the w&w arrows which weren't too expensive.

As a side note - looking to start competing this coming indoor season - so do I also need to get a jig and make the arrows up myself so I can get some wraps/I'D decals on them or can I buy them ready?
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Seems like a sensible idea. I suppose it depends on your budget - how much are you willing to spend? Do you have a local shop that you intend to use, or are you buying over the 'net? If you're going to be spending large amounts of cash, personally I'd want to be using a shop so that you can get 'hands on' with the kit before you buy, maybe try a few - can't think of anything worse than spending a few hundred ??? on some arrows, only to find that you don't like them or that they're not quite right.

Personally I wouldn't be looking at buying Olympic standard kit until I was nearer to Olympic standards - for example, 12 X10 Protour complete arrows in my local shop costs over ?400, wheras a dozen Carbon One arrows are only ?125. At your level, are you going to get better performance for the extra ?250?

What about splitting the difference - get some aluminium arrows for when you need to use straw bosses, and some carbon for when you need to use foam? For example, for ?400 you could get a dozen Carbon One arrows, a dozen X23 aluminium arrows and still have ?150 left for other stuff.
 

Witty_Banter

New member
As for the jig - no idea sorry. Again, if you have a local shop they could probably sort all this out for you. If you've been shooting for a year I'm surprised you haven't tried making your arrows already (I've only been shooting a few months, and I've been itching to try my hand at building my own arrows). I've know people use jigs but I've heard there's a lot to be said for doing it by hand / eye coordination - maybe get some cheap components and have a bash at hand fletching, see if you've got the patience for it?

some of the more expensive arrows (like the X23s) seem to be pretty much decal'd up already - not sure I'd want or need to put wraps on them but I suppose it depends on what you end up buying. I know some people just mark their arrows with paint-pens, that sort of thing?
 
Good point well made 👍 always good to get opinions from all over. My big problem is the closest shop (merlin) which is 250 miles away - so not a wee jaunt - thus why I do my best to get info from all you kind guys and girls.
 

Witty_Banter

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No probs - I'm only a few months into this sport, and VERY new to the forum, so you'll probably (hopefully) get some more seasoned answers from others on here.
 

Timid Toad

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I like the W+W range of shafts - my daughter shoots them and they're good for long drawlengths.
As to making them up yourself rather than buying ready-made? I would always make up my own arrows. It's a great wee skill, and you'll probably save the price of your cartel fletching jig in the first dozen you do. It's not difficult if you have a gas hob and a pair of pliers, and usually your results will be better than the shop's - in my experience fletchings seem to be held on with spit and points fixed in with Pritt stick. (other brands available).
Indoors/outdoors sets? I would get the best quality outdoor set you can, and add to that in a year with fat indoor arrows. Your skinny outside ones will still shoot indoors ok but your indoor ones might struggle at 70/90m
 
To be honest, if you are considering an upgrade from Easton inspires, I would be either looking at Carbon ones (all carbon) or ACCs (carbon over an alu core). Both will come in around the same price for a set of 12 - the Carbon ones will be lighter and will give better sightmarks, but may not be welcome at all ranges due to the difficulty of finding them with a metal detector, while the ACCs will be a bit heavier, but there won't be any fields you can't shoot them at. The ACCs are marginally more robust, but both will be fine hitting the target or the ground (I make no promises for bouncing them off legs!)

I wouldn't advise buying higher end shafts (such as X10's) until you are fully settled at the poundage and shaft length you intend to stay at - the correct shaft selection will change as they change, so a significant investment can easily become wasted money when you need a new set 6 months later.

The indoor/outdoor arrow question is very much an "it depends" - you will find as many archers who shoot their "outdoor" carbons all year round as you will find those who buy a set of indoor specific arrows; there are pros and cons to both approaches, so pick the one that suits

Most shops will supply either shafts only or fully made up arrows, but if you want wraps/decals fitted as well, be prepared to pay an additional charge to reflect the extra work - if wraps are something you intend to use, learning to fletch your own arrows is a must (I generally think it is a skill worth learning anyway).
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Completely clustered my last comment....

What I meant was, I was leaning toward allys because ALTHOUGH 90% of our shooting is indoor on foam bosses, we do occasionally use straw bosses outdoor and allys would be the better all round choice (as in they're less likely to break than carbon, or so I believe..?). Others use their carbon arrows ON BOTH without issues...

Sorry, it's not letting me see the edit properly so this could just end up as another confusing comment lol
 
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Right, it seems that editing my last comment actually DELETED the bit that I was trying to edit... I give up...
Thanks for the effort 👍👍

Defo going to ask around our club too for advice but as I mentioned before, I like getting a well rounded set of opinions. Some of our lads are only the best will do which isn't always helpful.the carbon/allu option might be pretty good.
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Out of curiosity (and as I was trying to ask in my last debacle of a comment) what's your opinion of the Inspire arrows and why are you changing up? I'm in the market for my first arrows, and was going to go with the Easton Tributes because they're ally, but the carbon Inspire are actually cheaper by about ?30!
 
Hi.

I like them well enough but of my original dozen, I've broke 1 and lost 1... and they were only bought to get me going. Probably need to change the length a bit and it's a good opportunity to upgrade them.

They are pretty robust though - they have survived a couple of shots into the frame. The broken 1 hit a boss cover and somehow snapped in 2 places. But did manage to make it into a pen 🤣

Defo recommend them - I would say I've only ever used them, so don't have much of a comparison.
 

MiztaZiggy

New member
Bite the bullet and get ACC.
I messed around getting jazz arrows, then platinum plus but found after a few 1000 arrows they almost all had a bend in from being pulled, probably not by me...grrr.

They get bent to the point I start to notice the same arrow always being slightly out. It ends up costing quite a bit in replacement arrows.

Bought ACC now for indoor and outdoor and they're so much tougher. The accuracy improvement, grouping etc from the slightly bent aluminium to these is amazing.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

dvd8n

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Personally I don't think that you can do better than platinum plus unless you are willing to spend a lot more money. They are great quality, are well priced, and are available in a huge range of spines.
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
Good point well made 👍 always good to get opinions from all over. My big problem is the closest shop (merlin) which is 250 miles away - so not a wee jaunt - thus why I do my best to get info from all you kind guys and girls.
Where are you to make Merlin your closest shop? I thought they were in the midlands. Surely from anywhere in the UK, you've got to pass at least 3 other shops (perhaps not so good) to get there.

Be aware that some clubs and competitions wont allow you to use all carbon arrows as the metal detectors wont pick them up if you lose them. I know thats a bit contraversial, just saying
 
Where are you to make Merlin your closest shop? I thought they were in the midlands. Surely from anywhere in the UK, you've got to pass at least 3 other shops (perhaps not so good) to get there.

Be aware that some clubs and competitions wont allow you to use all carbon arrows as the metal detectors wont pick them up if you lose them. I know thats a bit contraversial, just saying
I'm in Aberdeen - co durham is my closest (apart from 1 maybe in glasgow - red frog or something? but heard terrible things about them.)

To be fair, i've convinced my wife to have a weekend in newcastle where i'll pop in for a couple of bits :) little does she know thats arrows and a new stabiliser set :)

I'm keen on the accs. but trying to do a bit of reading on what the difference between acc, acg and ace are :)
 

dvd8n

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Hope you've got a car as bishop auckland's not that close to Newcastle......
 
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