Sitka Gear
versatile heavy arrow setup
Equipment
Contributors to this thread:
Green Chile 19-Oct-22
Beendare 19-Oct-22
fdp 19-Oct-22
Green Chile 19-Oct-22
fdp 19-Oct-22
Blood 19-Oct-22
Green Chile 19-Oct-22
Green Chile 19-Oct-22
fdp 19-Oct-22
Vonfoust 19-Oct-22
x-man 19-Oct-22
808bowhunter 19-Oct-22
Michael 19-Oct-22
Bowfreak 19-Oct-22
ElkNut1 19-Oct-22
goyt 19-Oct-22
Corax_latrans 19-Oct-22
Corax_latrans 19-Oct-22
Beendare 19-Oct-22
Willieboat 19-Oct-22
spike78 19-Oct-22
rattling_junkie 19-Oct-22
Corax_latrans 20-Oct-22
midwest 20-Oct-22
Michael 20-Oct-22
peterk1234 20-Oct-22
Kurt 20-Oct-22
Beendare 20-Oct-22
From: Green Chile
19-Oct-22
I'm working on a more versatile heavy arrow setup to handle all of my hunting from pronghorns/small deer up through moose. I draw 29" and shoot 62-65# in a compound. I want to get into a heavier 2 blade single bevel Broadhead...something like the Iron Will heads without bleeders. I'm looking at arrows like the FMJ but I'm open to suggestions on tough heavy setups. I would like to hear some recommendations and experiences based upon a heavy arrow 2 blade setup. I'm not looking for speed at all costs and I'm not looking for shots beyond 40 yards in most cases. I'm interested in any component recommendations or specific arrow setups that work well within these parameters. If this has been well covered in archived topics, feel free to direct me to that as well.

From: Beendare
19-Oct-22
Whats heavy?

Are you talking Tinkerbell internet influencer heavy…or the 450g to 550g arrow that the vast majority of experienced bowhunters use?

All of the experienced bowhunters I know- inc a couple shop owners, guys with all of the NA species, guys with hundreds of animals with an arrow- all shoot arrows between 430g -530g.

Be careful where you get your advice…

From: fdp
19-Oct-22
^^^^^^^Good Question^^^^^^^^.......define heavy.

From: Green Chile
19-Oct-22
Good question. I tend to think about setting up around the Broadhead (or bullet). I'm not sure on arrow weight but was looking at the various 150-200 grain 2 blade designs. I've shot a lot of 100 and 125 grain broad heads but as I look at heavier animals, I'm wanting to get setup for that and know those same setups will work just fine on deer at 40 yards or less.

From: fdp
19-Oct-22
Are you shooting 29" arrows?

From: Blood
19-Oct-22
Look at Sirius Archery for a super tough arrow. Apollo’s. Ethics insert system or use the half jackets. Look at their new single bevel broad heads too. They even have a package you can buy to trial different arrows and heads. Good luck. You’re doing it right.

From: Green Chile
19-Oct-22
Yes, meant to say 29" arrows.

From: Green Chile
19-Oct-22
Yes, meant to say 29" arrows.

From: fdp
19-Oct-22
I don't think you are going to have much of an issue getting in that 430-530 gr. weight range if you shoot FMJ's with 175 to 200 up front. And I think you would find them to be more than up to the task.

From: Vonfoust
19-Oct-22
From what I've heard if you ain't shooting 650 grains your arrows will bounce off anything but chipmunks.

From: x-man
19-Oct-22
CE Maxima Red 350 is pretty much made for your expectations. Standard diameter carbon shaft, built slightly weight-forward and should end up between 430-480 grains depending on the head weight.

No need for the small diameter shafts that seem to be the "In-Thing" right now as you don't need to worry about cross-wind drifting at 40 yards or less.

There are an almost limitless number of viable options however...

From: 808bowhunter
19-Oct-22
Easton axis are great and can get brass inserts and shoot 125gr broad heads. More common to find. My setup with 300 spine and 125 gr Broadhead is 504 and I shoot it for everything from pigs/deer to moose/elk. You won't see much trajectory difference is 40 yards is max. Beyond 50 is where I see the drop. But I am shooting 67# at 30"

From: Michael
19-Oct-22
Another good shaft to look at is the Easton Axis. Very durable shaft and everyone sells them. Lots of aftermarket options for components as well.

I am talking the 5 mm version.

From: Bowfreak
19-Oct-22
With your specs I would shoot a 450 gr to 500 gr arrow and the broadhead of my choice and call it a day. Any heavier than that and your trajectory will start to suffer.

From: ElkNut1
19-Oct-22
Bowfreak X2.

ElkNut

From: goyt
19-Oct-22
I am shooting 28" CE Maxima 350 with an Ironwill 175. I shot an elk and a bear this year with full penetration on both. I also have some Easton Velocity 300 that shoot extremely well with 175 gr heads. Not as heavy but better FOC. I would use either on a moose but I would lean turn the heavy CE.

19-Oct-22
Hmm..

I tend to shoot “woodgrain” carbons, 500 spine, cut 27” and topped off with a couple inches of 2117 and a standard aluminum RPS insert. That with a 200 gr FP comes in around 485 grains. 2 more inches of shaft gets you to 500 gr, near enough.

Altitude Sick (to the best of my knowledge) has tested this kind of thing much more thoroughly than most.

I don’t think you need to spend anywhere near what it is easily possible to spend to get set up for what you have in mind to do. Your money, your choices. I guess if you basically never take a shot at an unmeasured distance, you probably only damage your arrows when you get a Robin-Hood or either 1) get a pass-through and hit a rock or 2) don’t get a pass-through and the animal breaks your arrow.

I keep thinking that I should do as Jay did - buy some beef bones and shoot them until you have identified the weak link in your arrow.

For me, so far it has been using a short (steel) glue-on adapter with a 125-grain Ace standard (about $35 per SIX).

19-Oct-22

Corax_latrans's embedded Photo
Corax_latrans's embedded Photo
When that short adapter got driven forward into the ferrule, it got torn open and forced into the cone. So I’m pretty sure that I just need to switch to a full length adapter. Then I’ll shoot a few other extremely hard objects and see what gives.

This was the 125, which I understand uses dinner still in the main blade than the 160 that I am planning to stick with here.

Let me kill a few dead cow bones and I’ll let you know how it all works out

From: Beendare
19-Oct-22
GC; I can tell you this. A 2 blade BH turns any arrow into a penetrating monster. The 2 blades are by far the most efficient heads.

So though I like an arrow on the heavier side (450-550) a 2 blade works with any weight arrow.

Example; In the last 2 years of the 12 animals I shot with my 47# recurve, 10 were passthrus- inc an 800# moose last fall. 553g arrow.

Not to say that other BHs don’t work…they do. My advice is that if you do go with one of the inefficient designs, bump up your arrow weight to help that head perform.

Now if all you are shooting is thin skinned whitetails- anything works.

.

From: Willieboat
19-Oct-22
Build something that is 430-480 grains and go kill the shit out of stuff. I tend to error to the 430 grain side of this and don’t ever worry about penetration, and that is even with mechanical heads thrown into the equation.

Shot placement is a really big factor in it all also.

From: spike78
19-Oct-22
400-450 grains with an Iron Will and call it a day. I shot a deer last year with a 380 grain arrow 65 pounds 27” draw with an Iron Will with bleeders and it went through so fast the deer ran 12 yards stopped and looked around then dropped.

19-Oct-22
420 - 450 for anything. Change broadheads from mechs to fixed if you must.

20-Oct-22
You don’t need an Iron Will for that, though, Spike. Hell, one o’ the Wallers killed a B&C moose with a #38 Supercurve and got 2 holes, out through a shoulder.

You can hobble a Monster Contraption with an inefficient BH at $35-$50 or more/head or you can blow through stuff with a good 2-blade design that’s been working since the Depression at $36 for a half dozen. Choices and priorities.

It just gets Silly when people start looking for equipment that will haul their butt out of the fire no matter how bad they screw up. Unless you’re hunting something that will take exception to being shot and come kick your ass out of spite, you just need to put clean holes through both lungs and get an exit, then give it 1/2 hour to let it run (or walk) off to die (if you don’t see it fall). Been working just fine for 10,000 years or so. Nothing in modern archery has changed the fundamental equation except to make to easier for anyone to succeed with less time & effort invested.

The thing about the big, solid bones that we all worry so much about is that there is rarely anything worth hitting behind them anyway, unless you’ve gambled on a foolish angle. If you smash through a humerus or the thick end of the scap, you may not accomplish anything more than ensuring that the animal that you’ve lost will die a bit sooner, rather than later, but unrecoverable either way.

They used to figure that animals wounded by arrows would likely recover (unless gut-shot), whereas bullet wounds tended to kill… no matter how slowly. Seems to me that modern “advances” may have increased lethality on poor hits without improving recoverability on fair-to-good ones. Might make the easy ones easier, but it seems to me that recovery rates plummet once an animal has been bumped from its first bed, regardless of the head that’s used. Not as if anyone here has ever said that on a marginal hit, you should wait 4-6 hours if using a conventional 2-blade but only 1-2 hours if using a big mechanical.

From: midwest
20-Oct-22
"....Tinkerbell internet influencer..."

That made me lol, Beendare!

From: Michael
20-Oct-22
My arrow set ups tend to fall in line with what Beendare recommends.

The Axis set up comes in at 475 grains and another set up (Bkack Eagle shaft) I shoot comes in at 550.

From: peterk1234
20-Oct-22
I went up to 475 gr this year. That is a 75 grain increase for me. I really like it. Spread my pins out a tiny bit which made it easier to see the target. Not a ton more drop until I start to shoot 50 yards. Penetration is better, measurably. I like it. I am still using my wasp drones, but 125gr vs. 100gr. Like most broadheads when the shot is good, it's devastating. It went through a hard quartered away deer last weekend. The arrow never slowed down and was buried a half a foot in some pretty firm ground.

Like others have said, it appears the 450 to 475 gr is the sweet spot.

From: Kurt
20-Oct-22
I shoot a 29" 475 gr Easton Injexion 330 with an outsert and 100 gr original 3-blade 1.5" NAP Spitfire expandable, 16% FOC. I hunt "everything" with them using my 65# bow with a 29" draw. By everything I mean in North America.

Just shot a nice moose at 40 yards 3 weeks ago. Centered a rib on entry and the hide caught it on the backside so no exit hole. Had a decent blood trail but he went down in a few seconds 40 yards away. OK performance, which has been typical with the setup using an accurate over the top expandable broadhead on quite a variety of game.

As per needing super heavy arrows and two blade single bevel heads, don't think you need 'em for the 29 species we get to hunt around NA with your draw weight and length. And I like the blood trails and results from 3-blade or 4 -blade heads. Without a doubt I'd shoot the bleeders on the Iron Wills if that was my choice of heads.

From: Beendare
20-Oct-22
"....Tinkerbell internet influencer..." That made me lol, Beendare!

Thats still his logo right? I don’t follow the guy….

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