# Building Hunting Arrows



## jcs-bowhunter (Jul 7, 2007)

Finger Gang:

I want to share a cool discovery I made with regards to building hunting arrows last weekend. I switched to Beman Hunter 340s a couple years ago and typically buy a new dozen shafts every spring. The past couple times I have cut them with my Apple cutoff saw and assembled the inserts without any additional prep work with 24 hour epoxy. This yielded about 6-8 arrow that would spin test "True" or "near True" with broadheads that I would then shoot to determine which would be "qualified" as hunting arrows. This process usually yeilded 4-6 arrow/broadhead combinations that would shoot well, the balance ended up being field point practice or 3D arrows. 

This year I tried a couple things differently:

1) I bought 2 dozen so I could do some fit sorting. I initially found a lot of variation in how tight the inserts fit into shafts. By using the inserts that fit most snuggly, I believe the broadhead should be aligned straighter on the shaft.

2) I bought a G5 ASD (arrow squaring device) after reading some other AT user comments to try for this year. Wow does it work! I squared off the carbon shaft after cutting on my saw, fit sorted and epoxied the inserts and then squared the inserts after the epoxy dried and I have 12 shafts that spin "True" with Slick Trick 125 Mags! I went back and tweaked 3 last years arrows that were not spinning well and got all but 1 spinning well.

I need to order some more broadheads to finish shooting to final sort my hunting arrows, but I am really happy with the initial results. I toyed with switching back to Easton ACCs shafts this year just so I could reheat the hot melt and tweak inserts for any arrows that did not spin well. I resisted the ACCs because: A) I do not like finger shooting with "G" nocks and B) balked at the $125.00 per dozen cost.

I rarely recommend a specific product, but when you start thinking about building and shooting your hunting arrows, keep the G5 ASD tool and the insert sorting technique in mind as a means to build better shooting hunting arrows.

http://www.g5outdoors.com/#sec_asdtool


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

Interesting post. I like to square my arrows with the G5 or similar too. In addition to getting a straighter insert, I think it gives the arrow better impact support. If my arrows don't pass the spin test, I try to heat up the glue and rotate the head and spin it again until it's true. This generally works but certainly not every time. I test the spine, straightness and weight of my shafting and have been largely disappointed in many all-carbon shafts. I found most of them do not meet their advertised specs and some by a long shot. I'm not ready to use ACCs as a hunting shaft either as I enjoy wasting arrows on grouse and hare, however, when you buy a dozen ACCs, you actually get a dozen good shafts.


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## WSmitty01 (Feb 1, 2006)

These are the reasons I shoot aluminums, they all weigh the same, cost about half as much, and they all spin true,,,,,,,,but that's just my opinion,,one less item to worry about!


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## mitchell (Mar 5, 2005)

Thanks for the thread. I want to try one. Good report and reminder.


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## jcs-bowhunter (Jul 7, 2007)

I am also close to going back to 2413 XX78's. I'm within 50 grains of the same weight with the ICS 340 arrows. But I like the non reflective black finish and how quietly the carbon arrows go across the rest. I've never tried to sort them by spline testing them, sounds like I'll need another tool for the shop!


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## jcs-bowhunter (Jul 7, 2007)

*Update*



jcs-bowhunter said:


> 1) I bought 2 dozen so I could do some fit sorting. I initially found a lot of variation in how tight the inserts fit into shafts. By using the inserts that fit most snuggly, I believe the broadhead should be aligned straighter on the shaft.


My statement above was incomplete and not clear. To clarify, I bought 2 dozen INSERTS and fit tested them to 1 dozen shafts. 

I have since bought some additional 125gr Slick Trick Magnums and have 11 of 12 arrow/broadhead combinations grouping very well out to 40 yards (with my field points). The remaining arrow that does not group well spins very true, but I suspect a spline issue per AKRuss' earlier post.

In short I'm very happy with this year's batch of hunting arrows.

Give that G5 ASD tool or something similar a try. A little extra attention helps!


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