Wood arrows for 45# Hill Longbow

[DJ Hardy]

Bought McDaves 45# Black Mamba and will need to order some shafts.
What spine would you guys recommend?
Hopefully will be ordering matched spine and weight shafts.
I'm thinking around 55 but not sure.

Thanks guys

Yeah DJ...I saw you snag that one....she's a beauty.

You are gonna need to supply more info to the arrow experts here...

1.  Verify your draw length (measured from the throat of the arrow nock to the "back" (front) of the bow when at full (normal) draw.

2.  Verify the draw weight marked on the bow @28".

3.  Verify how close to "center" the strike plate is in relation to the bow's centerline.

When you have that, post it here and you will receive many answers, opinions and questions.

Its all good!  

[ron w]

Most of my Hills are 40-46 pounds, I draw 29" and I can shoot 55-60 or 60-65 wood shafts with 125 gr up front. But if your draw is shorter you may have to go to 50-55. Let us know more info......

[M60gunner]

What Ron says. I used to shoot 60-65 spine from my Hill style bow. I drew 28", cut arrows at 29". Used Hill heads

[DJ Hardy]

Really cannot verify draw weight until I receive the bow.
But it is marked 45@28" and my draw length is a solid 28"

Prefer the arrow to be atleast 29"  and want to use 125 gr point
But if need be to tune I can go higher.

As far as cut to cut to center I doubt it but not sure.

Thanks guys

[ron w]

I'll bet 55-60 will work just fine.......  

[The Whittler]

If your bow is not cut to center then I would go with under spine arrows. 45/50 or even 40/45. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

It is not "if" it is cut to center..it is exactly how close to center (-/+)is it cut!  

You can tape a piece of tight string (the red line) in the center of the limb fadeout (upper and lower)

then knock an arrow and measure the distance from the strike plate to the edge of the arrow that touches the string.

I use a calipers for this but a WAG is better than flying blind here...
   

[ron w]

Hills are not cut to center......not even close.

Originally posted by ron w:
Hills are not cut to center......not even close.

Yes, Ron is correct!  This is true!

I use Stu's calculator that has worked very well for me with woodies.  Its not perfect but it has always gotten me close enough to tweak. (just my experience here YMMV)


Here's a premature guess:
 

[Bud B.]

You need to wait until it arrives and check the weight at your draw. And decisively determine what you DL is with a Hill bow. My draw with a recurve is at most 27. With a Hill bow I am probably closer to 26 when my "Hill" form is correct. I can stretch it to 27, though.

Patience, for now.  

Absolutely....and to add a bit more noise to the process, Hill bows made by HHA are often marked 3 to 5 pounds different than what is verified. (I can't remember if the trend was heavier or lighter at the moment)

[RC]

For me I usually need 5 lbs less spine in a Hill bow .RC

[David Mitchell]

Originally posted by Tony Van Dort:
Absolutely....and to add a bit more noise to the process, Hill bows made by HHA are often marked 3 to 5 pounds different than what is verified. (I can't remember if the trend was heavier or lighter at the moment)

Tony, you are correct.  I have had several Hills and some were 4-6# heavier than marked (4# being most common) and some of my friends report the same thing.  I will say, though, that the last couple of Hills I ordered were spot on. But it is a concern I have when ordering from one of my favorite bow makers.  So Bud's advice for patience for the time being is sound advice.

[flyguysc]

I shoot a 50# Black Mamba and it is set dead on 50#draw weight@26.5 DL.. I shoot Douglas fur 's from Sure wood @ 27" 45-50# spine with 145 grains field points. I shoot a fury fast flight string from Allen Shaffer. It is a sweet shooting set up that works for me.

50-55s may be fine at 29" bop, but you may need to go to 145 or 160 grain heads. It all depends how strong your release is. If this is your first Hill you may find that your best draw length will be shorter than 28".

[Sam McMichael]

My draw length is short at 25", but I like arrows 29" BOP. I have four Hill style bows from 50 to 55# in draw weight. For me, they all shoot 50 - 55# or 55 - 60# interchangeably very well. You may find that your Hill bow will handle a wide variety of spines also, so experiment with a range of choices to find the best spine. I prefer 125 grain points.

[DJ Hardy]

Thanks for the replies guys.

[McDave]

Originally posted by RC:
For me I usually need 5 lbs less spine in a Hill bow .RC

That was my experience with this bow. I found that 40-45# spine arrows with 125 grain points worked well @ 28". I measured the "actual" draw weight on my scale, and got 44#, but it is just a spring scale and probably not very accurate. I am sending Dwight a few 40-45# arrows to get him started.