My friend Donnie called this morning, his new Martin hunter came in the mail and he wanted some advice on what to shoot out of it. Like I said earlier I am a wood arrow guy and he is looking for the right aluminum shaft size to try.
His bow is 45#28 and he draws 29".
He had been shooting some 2016s out of and old Pearson bow he had( killed two deer with it this year, his first year as a trad shooter)but they show an underspined bare shaft flight. I was thinking 2018 might be what he needs but thought I would check with you guys with a similar bow and draw length to see what works for you.
Another question, do the new Martins come with a fast flight string? If I remember right they are compatible but I didn't know if they come with one.
2018 with a 145 grain head should be just about right. Or 125 grain heads and start around 31" of shaft length.
Pretty sure the martin bows are all dacron.
If he already has the 2016's, just build out the arrowplate a bit with a leather lace or something, should dial those arrows right in.
I would think 2018's would be darn near perfect with a 125 gr head. I bought a couple to try and they really shoot nice from my bow. I'm pulling a little more weight (55lbs) but cut the shafts to 29". I would thing if he is pulling 29" and cuts them to 30" it would be just about right. I used 2018 a long time ago with my first bow and really enjoyed using them. I've shot them in bows ranging from 45# to 60# all with 125 gr heads and they performed pretty darn good across the board.
All of the Martin bows come with fast flyte string now. But I always change them to a good fast flyte string, dont think much of theirs.
We did some bare shaft testing today. A 2018 was underspined, 2213 was underspined, a 2219 flew like a dart without feathers but weighed a little more than we wanted( will weigh almost 700gr with a 160 gr point). I sent Donnie out to find some 2117s to try or a gold tip 55-75. I had a number of different shafts but not what we needed to complete the test.