Carbon
vs. Aluminum Arrows for Hunting
By:
Vaughn Rader, Field Editor
For
years the standard has been to shoot aluminum arrows for hunting but for the
last several years, the trend seems to be changing. The most
important factors for my hunting arrows are that I need a good
straight shaft, good insert alignment, fletching clearance with
large vanes with a good offset or helical, a durable nock, and a
shaft lightweight enough to help me with my yardage estimation
errors and of course, and I want a durable shaft. Let's look at
some of the technology advances in the last few years that might
make us look at a different hunting arrow choice.
Easton has always made high quality aluminum shafts for as long as I
have been slinging arrows and I have never had any problem with
them. In the early 90's when carbon arrows made their way into the
archery market, they had very small diameter shafts that used
an outsert and a nock that fits over the shaft instead of inside of
it. Needless to say, this created problems in tuning and durability.
The first carbon arrows were also inconsistent in arrow weight from
one shaft to the next and the straightness left a lot to be desired.
The first carbon arrows were very expensive when compared to the
aluminum arrows of those days. The small diameter carbon shafts
created all sorts of problems with vane clearance and were almost
impossible to tune as perfect as an aluminum arrow.
In
the last few years, the archery industry has seen several advances
that has completely changed the attitudes and equipment of the
average bow hunter. We have improved the carbon shaft straightness
and weight consistency as well as having shafts that accept inserts
and Uni bushing style super nocks and during all these
improvements, we have been fortunate enough to see the prices lower
to the level that is comparable to that of a good quality aluminum
arrow. The other big advancement that the industry has seen is
the popularity of the quality drop away arrow rests. These style
rests have been available for years but has only become popular in
the last couple of years with hunters. The first drop away rests
used magnets or inertia to make the arrow drop away. Some rests
today use the same principles but what I have found and many other
shooters, is the drop away rests that use a rope or tubing that
hooks to your cable or cable slide is the easiest to tune, time and
to ensure proper vane clearance for the arrow shaft, especially the
smaller diameter carbon shaft.
Now,
with all we have discussed, lets look at the carbon shaft and see if
it fits our needs as the perfect hunting arrow. Today's carbon
arrows that have a straightness tolerance of .006" or
better works very well for hunting and of course the straighter ones
cost more but just make sure your hunting arrows are at least
.006" or straighter. Today's carbon arrows have inserts just
like the ones that we have used in the aluminum arrows and most of
the carbon shafts today use a Easton Super Nock or equivalent just
like the top of the line aluminum arrows. Carbon arrows are a lot
more durable than the aluminum shafts and do not really bend. They
are either broken or they are ready to shoot. You should always
inspect your shafts closely before shooting them but I have been
unpleasantly surprised before when I pulled what I thought was a
straight aluminum arrow out of a quiver and shot it only to find
that it was bent and it did not hit the intended target.
A
couple of advantages of today's carbon shafts that were not covered
above are the fact that carbon shafts take less time to recover from
the archer's paradox and therefore means that it has the entire
shaft directly behind the arrow point quicker which translates into
better penetration and flatter trajectory downrange. One argument
that has been going on for ages is does the smaller diameter shafts
penetrate better than the larger diameter shafts when a broadhead
has already cut a larger hole ahead of the shaft. In my opinion, I
get better penetration from carbon arrows than I do from aluminum
arrows from the same weight of bow. I don't care if it is because
carbon recovers faster or if it is the smaller diameter shaft, the
end result is better penetration. Another advantage with the smaller
diameter shafts are that the wind does not affect the arrow as much
on a smaller shafts as the larger ones if all else is equal and the
smaller diameter shafts retains their downrange velocity better than
the aluminum counterpart. I chronographed my aluminum hunting
arrow set up and my carbon hunting arrow set up at 3 yards and then
again at 25 yards. The results were that the aluminum arrow lost
approx. 16 fps and the carbon arrow lost only 4 fps. This was not a
scientific test and all variable were not exact but it gives you an
idea of how the carbon hunting arrow would retain it's speed and
help with yardage estimation if it was flying flatter downrange.
I
would have shot carbon arrows years ago for hunting but I could not
figure out how to get good fletching clearance for my set up. With
the new drop away rests, that is not an issue and with that problem
solved, the technology of carbon arrows of today, every bow hunter
owes it to themselves to try a carbon hunting arrow. I will cover
the new drop away rests for hunting in an upcoming article. I think
the results will surprise you, I know it did me.
One of the big
myths in bow hunting is that a heavier arrow will increase your
Kinetic Energy (KE) of your bow and help with penetration. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. If you shoot a heavy arrow, your
bow speed will be slow, and if you shoot a lighter arrow, your bow
speed will increase in a manner that keeps your KE within about 5%
of each other. Sometime the lighter arrow will have more energy and
sometimes the aluminum will. It depends on your setup. With a given
draw length, your bow will only improve its KE by you increasing the
poundage of your bow. This can also create poor form and bad habits
if you 'overbow' yourself. Don't get me wrong, I still shoot
aluminum arrows for some things and they work great but you might
want to try something new if you have doubts about your set up.
Some
of the good quality carbon arrows that I have tried are PSE Carbon
Force, Gold Tip, Easton, Beman and Carbon Express. Not to say
others aren't good but I have never used any others and would
make sure they stand up to these in tolerances and quality and I
think you will be pleased with the performance of carbon arrows.
Good luck and good shooting!
Vaughn Rader
TexasOutdoorsman.com Field Editor
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