Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting 500 gr Arrow?

So, I have this feeling I "need" to be shooting a 500gr arrow. I currently shoot a 60lb bow with a 27" draw and 400 spine arrows. What would you say about shooting Gold Tip Nugent 7595 (340 spine) arrows, leave them a little long at 29", 50gr screw weights in the back of the inserts and 125gr heads? My math gets me to 506gr with inserts, nocks, and vanes. Do you think the additional weight up front and slightly longer length will get them to spine correctly in my 60lb compound? Too much weight up front? Just thinking out loud at the moment, but does anyone have experience with a similar setup?

Someone used to sell plastic tubular arrow weights that you could place inside the carbon shaft to add weight. You could also use these to tune the avg weight of all your shafts to exactly the same weight.

Tube inserts or Gold Tip has brass inserts that screw into the back of the aluminum insert. The send a tool to install them. I shoot the Kinetics which are heavier or 10.4 vs 8.9 7595's. I like between 450-500 grs myself for noise and 2-holes.

Sorry, hit submit too soon, but my Kinetics 29" with 125-gr tips are right around 473-474 grs.

I'm one of the guys that falls on the side of heavy arrows, but 500gr is a very heavy arrow.

I usually put the cut off for the Heavy VS light at about 400-425 grains. over 425 is heavy and under 400 is light. But I don't know anyone in the USA shooting more then 475-490 grains and I think those are really heavy. About like a guy shooting 325-350 grains would be really light.

I have shot 360 to 460 over the years, and there is simply no question that the arrows over 400 grains begin penetrating deeper by easily visible amounts. In my block Target the lighter arrows are easy to pull out, the heavy ones are a serious effort to extract at times!

txduckman,
The only way to really tell for sure about the balance of the arrow is to actually balance it on a narrow object like a pencil or pen. If the point of balance is a little forward of center you are ok.
As far as 500 gr being excessive I don't agree. 15 years ago that was a moderate arrow weight. While I currently shoot 400 gr arrows I shot 600 gr 2317's for several years and 550 gr 2315's for 7 or 8 years. I did also shoot the weighted Gold Tips at around 500 grains with a 62# bow and killed several deer with that setup. No complaints from the dead deer. I think you will find that your bow is quieter with less hand shock with the heavier arrows. Trajectory won't be quite as flat as the lighter faster arrows but that is a matter of preference.

Sambo,
Thanks for info. What weights did you have in your Gold Tips? Were they 5575 or 7595s? How long?

http://www.goldtip.com/componentlanding.aspx?page=3

Gold Tip weights. They used to send a tool with them.

What? Mine are 800gn. And it ain't hard getting there.

A cheap easy way to add wt is to put weedeater line inside the shaft. Cut it full length so it can't slide back and forth changing the balance. The line comes in several sizes and you have to weigh the pieces to figure out how many strands you need to get what you want. If it rattles, just stuff in a little cotton.

That's what I use and around 530 grs weight obtained on a 29 inch arrow. Bow shoots quiet and good penetration on elk and deer

Hmmmm. My cedar arrows for my recurve weigh well over 500 grs. and they easily go through game.

A spear always works better then a dart!

I don't remember what weights I used but the arrows were 5575's and were 30" long. You just have to remember when adding weight to keep the balance point slightly forward of center for best arrow stabilization in flight. Weight can be added to the front and back.

Funny how things get put into peoples heads. To hear someone say "500grs. is A VERY HEAVY ARROW" cracks me up. I'm not even going to get into it. I will say, that when I start with 250/300 grs. just in the broadhead and insert I end up with "a little more" than 500gr. arrows.

With a 125 grains Woodsman broadhead my Laminated Birch arrows average 675 grains, and they're only 27". Pass throughs are very common with a 50-52lb recurve. Speed is one thing, but arrow weight rules; hard to slow down a freight train once it gets rolling.

I just plugged your information into the program that I use to setup arrows.

The spine would be slightly to marginally weak (if your rest has a one inch over draw) for your setup. The weight up front is a little more that optimal, but not terrible.

The most important thing is that you will be able to shoot an arrow accurately at the distance you would like to shoot.