Arrow Weight Variation?

[Pac'em out]

2 Questions:  How close do you match the weight of wood shafts?  Is spine more important than mass weight?

I just finished weighing a dozen of POC shafts and was surprised to find that the difference between the heaviest and lightest was 120 grains!  These are supposedly spine matched, but obviously not weight matched.  What are your thoughts?

[Pat B]

I haven't used cedar lately but my cane and hardwood shoot arrows can easily vary 100 grains(or more) sometime. At 15yds to 20yds it really doesn't seem to matter that much to my shooting. What I do is pic the best of the lot to be my hunting arrows. Not necessarily the ones that have similar weight but the ones that shoot the best on a regular basis with their broadheads mounted or hafted.

[snag]

The arrows I make are within 5 grains of each other. I like to take out all the variables that effect accuracy leaving it just on my shoulders. That is why I purchase my wood shafts from those who do match spine and weight. You should go through those shafts and match them up so that when you are shooting the lighter ones you are aware of it. Maybe keep the heavier ones for hunting. Just a thought.

[Don Stokes]

Spine is MUCH more important than weight, but 120 grains is a bit much. I find that if my arrows are within 30-40 grains, I can't tell the difference in shooting. I try to get them closer than that anyhow. Spine should be with a 5# range or less, I think. It's what works for me.

[hova]

im wondering how all you guys are measuring grains.


i have an old kitchen digi scale , but its not even accurate at grams , let alone grains...


-hov

[Rattus58]

My arows are all wood and sometimes from various different mothers and weights between arrow shafts can also be easily 100 grains off.

Spine, in my humble opinion, makes for more necessary consideration than weight. If you've been practicing, you've "automatically" sorta compensated for the weights and you can "weigh" an arrow in a quiver (mark heavy arrows) , not so spine.

I shoot mostly to 22-25 yards and weight doesn't have time to affect my arrow flight by more than an inch or so, and most all of my arrows regardless at that distance wind up in my coffee cans....    

Much Aloha  

[fujimo]

3 rivers sell a neat little scale that affordable, and really works well.
i, like the other posts above, am more critical with spine, and try to get the weight matching to within 5 or 10 gr but will accept up to 50, if its a good shooter like pat says- you can build them as well as you want, but the shooting is the ultimate test.

[Rattus58]

Originally posted by hova:
im wondering how all you guys are measuring grains.


i have an old kitchen digi scale , but its not even accurate at grams , let alone grains...


-hov

I'm using a digital scale I got from either 3 rivers or Midway... goes to 1000 grains and is accurate enough for my bullet making and arrow making.

Aloha...  

[Pat B]

I use an old triple beam scale(left over from the '60s) and convert from ounces to grains. There are 437.5 grains to an ounce. This method is not exactly accurate to find out the exact grain weight of shafts but plenty good enough for comparisons and approx weights.
 I don't shoot groups to see how my arrows fly. I shoot one at a time and if I can put it where it needs to be then it is good enough for me. If I were practicing for the olympice I would be more precise with arrows.

[hova]

thats kinda funny. usin a triple beam for arrows...im sure the feds will buy that...


i havent weighed and arrow yet , and they still hit ma target. althought the 3/8 ones are a bit stiff , the cane arrows just dont seem to care. might weigh the dowels i picked up and see where they stand.

if there 437 grains in an ounce that means theres about 15 in a gram , and i happen to have a scale that might weight a sort of accurate gram. have to see where im at...


-hov

[George Tsoukalas]

My hand planed shafts are within 50 grains. You can put an extra coat of 2 or 3 to bring the some of the weights up. Jawge

[Don Stokes]

I've been pleased with the accuracy and reproducibility of the inexpensive electronic arrow scale I got from 3 Rivers. I also have an old Martin mechanical arrow scale with a big dial on the front that works just fine within a few grains.

[Grey Taylor]

I use a Dillon D-Terminator digital scale for all my weighing. It's left over from my handloading days and I find it absolutely indespensible.
As has been mentioned, I believe spine is the more important factor. I think there are few of us that can tell the difference in the field between arrows that aren't weight matched.
However, like many aspects of this sport, there is a mental factor to consider. Even if I can't tell the difference between arrow weights, just knowing that they are all within 10 or 20 grains of one another is a comfort that gives me confidence.
I build all the arrows in my shop from weight matched shafts.

Guy

[Pac'em out]

I also have the small and inexpensive electronic scale.  It works great.  I was able to group several arrows within 20 grains.  Anyone know of some suppliers that sell spine and weight matched shafts?  Thanks.

[magnus]

Any of the sponsors on here should be able to help you on that. I've dealt with Tim at Braveheart archery. Great guy and great products and service!

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[Aznboi3644]

I use a 20 dollar digi scale I bought at the "smoke shop" here locally.  It has to be calibrated but is accurate to the grain.

Maxs out at 350 grams

[hova]

yeah i have the 20$ kitchn scale from harbor freight .it started out accurate spot on gram-wise , but it just drifts like crazy in grains.


even grams drifts one or two grams depending on the pressure in the house...

-hov

[magnus]

I've got the one from Kustom King. Very accurate and well built. Like it better than 3 rivers.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[Mike Most]

One thing you might consider at 120 grains difference in arrow weight.

I practiced all summer with new ash shafts 650 grains total weight. Grabbed the old poc hunting broadheads,525 grains, but flew well.

Aimed at the deer and missed..... Was it me or the arrow.....hmmmmm

I know that wont happen again.....

Mike

[Rattus58]

Originally posted by Mike Most:
One thing you might consider at 120 grains difference in arrow weight.

I practiced all summer with new ash shafts 650 grains total weight. Grabbed the old poc hunting broadheads,525 grains, but flew well.

Aimed at the deer and missed..... Was it me or the arrow.....hmmmmm

I know that wont happen again.....

Mike

Well weight does matter in trajectory, the question is to what degree. I've shot all kinds of arrows through a chronograph and I've had arrows go from 170 to 205 all hit my bucket at 22 yards.

That there is the dilemma, what then. At 20 yards, you're not going to see much of a difference with a 50 pound to 80 pound bow shooting with fingers. At 30 yards you wont either when practicing at 30 yards with differing weight arrows, but in my case, going from 20 to 30 or vice versa took some real mental adjustment...

I aim down my arrow shaft at anchor prior to release and at 30 yards am looking a little higher on my target. This can really get screwed up if you take only an occasional shot to 30 yards. I've shot both over and under my target at 30 yards when I'm not practicing it constantly... which I'm sure is like everything... but back to the weights.. my arrows group in a bucket at either 20 or 30 when I'm practicing with them randomly.

Much Aloha...