# Arrow Spine - Why is to stiff bad?



## Jose Boudreaux (Oct 18, 2003)

all my carbons are stiff...they do fine..i don't see 2-3lbs making a major difference in your case..


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## Oxford (Jun 26, 2002)

all my carbons are stiff...they do horribly..i can see 2-3lbs making a major difference in your case..


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## Jose Boudreaux (Oct 18, 2003)

Don't believe people who make a living advertising :tongue: and painting bows pink :tongue: :tongue: 

run this set up 

310 IBO bow with 6.7" brace height 35.5" ata 52lbs 29" draw

26.8" gold tip 7595 140 grain head...

broadheads and field points dead on to at least 40 yards...field points group fine to 60 yards....

TAP says I need to go to a 200 grain head to be close to being spine right....right now I am stiff off the charts and arrows are busting nocks at 30+ yards....


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## Arrroman (May 11, 2003)

Too stiff an arrow usually just slows the bow down with a heavier arrow.

Too weak a spine arrow usually yeilds a faster lighter arrow. But the light spine cause the arrow to shoot way off the mark as the range increases.

The correct spine arrows for the bow are the ones that can hit the same vertical line at all distances.

Good luck hunting! >>>------------>


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## Archersteve (Oct 14, 2004)

Arrroman said:


> Too stiff an arrow usually just slows the bow down with a heavier arrow.
> 
> Too weak a spine arrow usually yeilds a faster lighter arrow. But the light spine cause the arrow to shoot way off the mark as the range increases.
> 
> ...


A lot of good comments above, but of the comments made so far, I think Arrroman is the closest. 

Remember, you can get stiffer arrows that do not weigh as much (larger diameter but thinner walls) so that is a pretty broad brush stroke.

One exception to the "can't get too stiff" rule is if you shoot fingers. If you shoot fingers, than yes, you can be too stiff. The arrow must flex correctly to compensate for the torque created from rolling off the tips of the fingers. But for a release, don't worry about it.


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## rhenj (Aug 14, 2004)

My arrows are exceptionally too stiff and It leaves me moving my sight to compensate when I change from field points to broadheads. Not a big deal to me. I agree with whoever above said that 2-3 lbs shouldn't make much difference. Just make sure you re-sight the bow with the broadheads on.


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## Deezlin (Feb 5, 2004)

Arrroman said:


> Too stiff an arrow usually just slows the bow down with a heavier arrow.
> 
> Too weak a spine arrow usually yeilds a faster lighter arrow. But the light spine cause the arrow to shoot way off the mark as the range increases.
> 
> ...


Actually by Easton's Tuning Guide it is about groupings at different distances for release shooter mainly. If you have an absolutely perfect release and very consistant arrow spine properties, as has already been stated the arrow will probably just be slower.

Too stiff of an arrow tends to have a very tight grouping at close range and a wider group as range increases. The release become more critical because the arrow will stabilize before it has corrected to the flight path.

Too weak of an arrow tends to have a very large grouping at close range and a narrower group as range increases. The release become less critical because the arrow will stabilize eventually to the flight path. These arrows have very little spine variation. Most long distance target shooter like to push a weaker arrow for trajectory and will tune the bow and the arrow together.

Properly spined arrow give a balance to both and acheive good groupings over a much broader distance. However, the hunter using broadheads has and additional steering device in front and needs to shoot a stiffer arrow to minimize these steering effects while still retaining as much forgiviness as possible.

Stiff arrows can be tuned by cutting long and adjusted by either decreasing length or poundage or increasing point weight.


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## Deezlin (Feb 5, 2004)

rhenj said:


> My arrows are exceptionally too stiff and It leaves me moving my sight to compensate when I change from field points to broadheads. Not a big deal to me. I agree with whoever above said that 2-3 lbs shouldn't make much difference. Just make sure you re-sight the bow with the broadheads on.


IMO, this is not a problem for a too stiff of an arrow. You can do some fine tuning and eliminate this problem if you have the proper equipment available.


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## BDHUNTR (May 24, 2003)

Let me start off by saying that I am no arrow or bow genius, so what I say may be taken with with several grains of salt.

I think a lot of today's new bows are changing what we consider proper shaft spine to be for our set-up. I think the big "thing" is parallel-limb bows, and how they transfer energy to the arrow and how that affects what spine will shoot accurately.

Case in point: in Jan 2006 I bought my first new bow in years, a Hoyt Trykon. It is a 27.5" draw pulling 64 lbs with a 80% let-off cam. With a Muzzy Zero-Effect rest the arrow length is 27", which is the same length as on my older bow, a Buckmasters 2000 (28" draw, 65 lbs). When I bought the bow it was tuned and sighted in with 27" Carbon Express CX-300's. Later on I made a decision to return to aluminum shafts for hunting.

Alll I had on-hand were some old GameGetter II 2016's that were too long (28-1/2" for an older Hoyt Raider) and a bunch of 27" XX75 2213's. Now, according to Easton's chart, 2213's are an OK shaft for targets, but they are woefully underspined for hunting purposes (broadheads). But, being stubborn I opted to try them anyway.

Accuracy with field tips was excellent out to 50 yards, so I screwed on my tried and true 100-grain Wasp Bullets and shot them at 20 and 30 yards and they flew great, hitting the exact place as my field tips. Then I tried 3-bladed Muzzys, Thunderheads and Wasp Hammer SST's (all 100-grain) and they followed suit. 

Now, from what I've learned over the years, an underspined shaft is really going to show its ugly self when shooting broadheads of various types at different ranges. Not so in this case. These "underspined" 2213's are shooting absolutely great for me and they will be in my quiver 25 days from now for the Maryland bow opener. 

Like I said, I'm no genius or archery engineer, so I can't say this will hold true for everyone. But I think the recent improvements in cam technology, along with the trend towards parallel limbs, may change what we know about which spines are recommended.


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