Arrows for field

AndyW

Well-known member
A lot of field courses don't like carbons because of the way they can break up.
Maybe it's a throwback to years gone by when they could splinter horribly. The original Beman carbons were pretty deadly when they splintered. Modern decent carbons are not the same animal ( I put the caveat in to eliminate the cheap pultruded arrows or converted tent poles people really ought to know better than to buy ).
It's not an issue on NFAS field courses and you tend to only see kids/beginners shooting Allies, there's the odd person who shoots them but I would go with 90+% are either wood or carbon as a rough guess and I've not known a problem with them.
On one shoot hosted by Liberty archers we even shoot at a steel target (Robodeer) where anything except the kill zone will shatter your arrow - you just pick the busted arrow up and stick it in the top of the boss to be collected later, no issues - just great fun, everyone takes a couple of cr*p arrows knowing they're likely to be destroyed.
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
That's great. I tend to manage the odd 24 and rarely get to the plenty. Managed a first arrow shoot once or twice but generally only tend normally 1 or 2 second arrows. I've even managed a blank. Any second arrows you're gonna admit to?
Yep one total miss; hit the boss but too high. More misjudging of distance

I shot with two other compounders; a first (except for when I shoot with my son)! Nice to not feel like a bit of a leper!

Just nice to be out there.

While I don’t know the construction method of the arrows, I suspect Easton do a good job so no splintering; I’m sure I’ll find out soon!
 

brman

Member
Maybe it's a throwback to years gone by when they could splinter horribly. The original Beman carbons were pretty deadly when they splintered. Modern decent carbons are not the same animal ( I put the caveat in to eliminate the cheap pultruded arrows or converted tent poles people really ought to know better than to buy ).
It's not an issue on NFAS field courses and you tend to only see kids/beginners shooting Allies, there's the odd person who shoots them but I would go with 90+% are either wood or carbon as a rough guess and I've not known a problem with them.
On one shoot hosted by Liberty archers we even shoot at a steel target (Robodeer) where anything except the kill zone will shatter your arrow - you just pick the busted arrow up and stick it in the top of the boss to be collected later, no issues - just great fun, everyone takes a couple of cr*p arrows knowing they're likely to be destroyed.
fwiw, a clubmate had an ACE splinter very badly recently. It apparently glanced off the wood surround of the boss and was squashed (d shaped rather than round) and splintered over about 1/3 of its length. Not something I would want to pick up by the wrong end....

EDIT: actually, thinking about it, it was more likely an ACC.
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
Carbon can be nasty and so often used inappropriately. Depends on how it’s “laid.”
I’m quite into MTBing where the carbon wand is waved too often, works well on some parts (bars, brake levers), really doesn’t on others (saddle rails; mine snapped), frames, seat posts, bottle cages, etc.

Hopefully my arrows will be okay; every compound field archers I’ve met uses carbon arrows:
 

Riceburner

Active member
Maybe it's a throwback to years gone by when they could splinter horribly. The original Beman carbons were pretty deadly when they splintered. Modern decent carbons are not the same animal ( I put the caveat in to eliminate the cheap pultruded arrows or converted tent poles people really ought to know better than to buy ).
It's not an issue on NFAS field courses and you tend to only see kids/beginners shooting Allies, there's the odd person who shoots them but I would go with 90+% are either wood or carbon as a rough guess and I've not known a problem with them.
On one shoot hosted by Liberty archers we even shoot at a steel target (Robodeer) where anything except the kill zone will shatter your arrow - you just pick the busted arrow up and stick it in the top of the boss to be collected later, no issues - just great fun, everyone takes a couple of cr*p arrows knowing they're likely to be destroyed.
Magna Carta have 'RoboDuck'. :D (and yes I've smashed a few arrows on it)
 

ArcheryFox

Active member
I realise this is an old thread, but thought I'd throw my 2 cents in as others will undoubtedly have the same question and look here in future...

I recently destroyed the last of my old Easton profields that I had been using since I first started field.
Looking for something to replace them that was cheap, light, and affordable I eventually settled on Victory VAPs.
These are fully carbon, made to similar tolerances* as the top Easton arrows, and about £10 per shaft.
When I emailed my local shop to enquire the owner phoned me back specifically to tell me how great he had found these arrows and how keen he was for another VAP shooter!

Shooting has been limited recently but I have found them excellent, and shot similar scores in practice to the profields.
Of course, more testing is needed - including in competition - but so far I am pretty impressed and glad I tried them.
The ice coating makes them really easy to extract from 3D's and tight targets compared to my other arrows, and they also have the stiffest spine orientation marked on the arrow saving you having to test for it and nock turn yourself.
IMO they are the right balance of weight for nice stable flight whilst giving a reasonably short sight tape, though this is a personal opinion - if I were to make a set for target I'd probably go longer, stiffer, and heavier.

I realise that chunky arrows are all the rage for 3D, but personally I subscribe the Broadwater theory of shoot whatever works properly, you have faith in, and hits where you aim, rather than try and grab a line when you miss ;).
I tend to shoot more spots than 3Ds and can't afford different setups for each, and, at the moment, feel that my shooting is stronger than my distance judging so thinner lighter arrows are in my interests.

As you may have gathered this is for a compound, but they should work equally well for non-wheely bows, and there is also the VXT you can consider in this case. It also depends on your skill level and what you plan to do - if you think you'll miss a lot maybe you want the cheapest arrows possible :p.

With reference to other questions raised in the thread:
- I have never had issues with all carbons in field, only target - indeed they seem to be more popular amongst the field crowd than A/C - and if I lose something behind a target in dense carpeted forest off a compound I know from experience it's probably gone, metal detector or no (RIP that one protour :cry:).
- I have found the Beiter hunter nocks to give excellent protection against rear-end impact, especially when coupled with pins and collars.

* in making there was a 0.8 grn variation in the shaft weights (except one which was suspiciously 1grn heavier) compared to 0.9 grn in my set of protours (but no outliers). After making and matching points the weight tolerance of both sets was about the same - but the price wasn't!!
 

AndyW

Well-known member
ArcheryFox,
I'm another fan of Victory arrows. I was lucky and took a punt on 2 sets of VForce elites from the U.S. before they were heard of over here. Shot them for about a year until something else shiny came along, they stand up well to abuse and as you say the ice coating is nice when pulling and the tight production tolerance and spine alignment indicators are a bonus.
I bet the VAPs are quick out of a compound if you're keeping the components skinny as well. I don't know your draw wt/length but guessing 300 - 350 grain total?
 

ArcheryFox

Active member
ArcheryFox,
I'm another fan of Victory arrows. [...] I bet the VAPs are quick out of a compound if you're keeping the components skinny as well. I don't know your draw wt/length but guessing 300 - 350 grain total?
My options were 400 or 450 spine.
Given I was looking for field I decided to go with 450 and 27" to reduce weight (though I am by no means a speed freak - I like my wrists without holes in them!).
I went for 120 grn points to keep nice flight and a solid FOC - could probably drop this to 100 and lose the collars and pins if maximising speed, but my main concern is paper field with 3D second.
All made up with collars and melt etc they're about 332 grn, coming off a 58 lb (2016) bow at around 265 fps (if AA is to be believed).
The main thing I couldn't get over, like you say, is the quality for the price point.

To be honest I am impressed enough that I would consider them for target (realise this is veering off topic), but would probably go for the 400 spine, longer, and 140 grn points.
Sadly, however, my target club shoots on a communal sports field...sing along if you know the words etc. etc...

Of course, I still need to see how they perform at other locations and in competition, but I suspect they are like most pieces of archery equipment; better than my abilities.
 

AndyW

Well-known member
Nice, I've swapped around between arrows / components a bit over the years but always stuck with std shafts because I'm lazy with set up. Since swapping to a 5 pin sight and flipping between a few arrow sets I've come to the realisation the minimal gains in speed are irrelevant to me and that any mainline carbon shaft is good enough for what I want. Any decent arrow is better than I will ever be. Someone who's very good, shooting a full unlimited set up yes i can see it but me nope.
 

Mav617

Member
I also now shoot Victory VAP (Sport) arrows, were a bargain at £5 a shaft and my first carbon arrows after years of shooting X7 and Gamegetter (XX75) aluminium's. I love the Victory's, mine are 500 spine, 27.5" with Easton Supernocks and Victory inserts with Top Hat points and Ice vanes, fly like darts from my 48lb PSE Xpression.
 

AndyW

Well-known member
I cut my 500 Victory Vforces down to 26.5 / 27 can't remember which and they were a bit twitchy so went onto 400 Goldtip velocities at about 28.
I was a bit too preoccupied with speed when i chopped the Victories. Always meant to try VAPs but could never bite the bullet and change my rest position (lazy) all my other arrows are roughly the same shaft diameter so i don't bother moving it.
Also a big fan of Tophat points but I stick with the old faithful GT nocks. Again useful, points / nocks fit all my arrows.
 
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