Building A Heavy Arrow

[Lee M]

I am building a heavy arrow for my hunt this coming year in SA and I wanted to put it out on AH for comments. I want to be ready in case I decide to add a cow Buffalo or Giraffe to my plains game list. I bought a dozen Easton FMJ dangerous game arrows. They are 300 spine and 15.5 gpi. My draw is 29 inches and my current bow is a Mathews MR5 set around 70 lbs. Arrow weight with hit insert, knock and vanes is 472 grains. Add in a VPA 300 grain 2 blade and a weight tube in the arrow at 5gpi and my total will be around 910 grains. I have read numerous articles saying to get to 850 or higher. What do you think?

I got a zebra, warthog, Nyala and Impala in 2014 with an arrow/broadhead set up in the 450 grain range and had pass throughs on all with my 2007, 70 lb Black Diamond bow that is considerable slower than my MR5.

Thx!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Have you checked the speed?

Test to see how they stabilize. That was my biggest issue.
The big weight broad head out front (Extreme FOC) , even with the weight tubes, caused some delay in stabilization. Accuracy went to hell. Penetration was never as issue.
I found that I needed to change the fletching. 5 inch Natural feathers in a helical pattern.

After that change stabilization was excellent.

Test the speed for entertainment.

 

[Brent in Az]

I think a bow of 80 lb. draw weight is required for dangerous game?

PSE used to make a heavy arrow specifically for big African game. Not sure if they still do.

It's difficult to double the weight of an arrow without balance issues, and changing the dynamics for which a particular arrow was designed for.

 

[Lee M]

I have not checked speed. My MR5 is faster at 62 lbs than my diamond is at 73 based on observation shooting them side by side last fall. But the diamond IBO was around 318 and the mr5 is 350 so I'm not surprised. To be honest I have not ordered the broadheads yet. I was debating between the 250 and 300 grain heads. Still a little cool here in Pennsylvania but I'll start shooting in the near future. I may buy some 300 and 250 grain field points and test them before getting the broad heads. I did read that feathers help in stabilizing the high Foc set ups. I'm coming over to SA in late July/early Aug so not worried about rain. I have tried 5 in quick spins in the mr5 and they touch the rest before draw due to the 5 inch brace height.

 

[Brent in Az]

Good advice from Brickburn. I tuned my arrows with 4" feathers in a helical setup. They gave me the best overall performance for my hunting here in the west. I've never built an 800-900 grain arrow which is a different beast altogether.

 

[kathy]

I am with Brickburn see how they shoot.
you may want to buy a 250 and 300 grain broadhead and shoot , broadheads might shoot different than field points. I also shoot VPA broadheads best head I have ever shot,& have shot many kinds.
you can order single broadheads from VPA.
I don't understand your fletching touching the rest before you draw ? can you not turn your knock ? 5" brace height ,you better be steady ( Grin ) . Forrest

 

[BRICKBURN]

http://www.africahunting.com/threads/penetration-test-german-kinetics-220-grain-broadhead.5663/

 

[Synergy]

Nice, I'm building a heavy arrow too, for Eland and Zebra
Using FMJ Dangerous Game, cut at 29", I get about 537 grains without the broadhead. Now I must decide if I will use a 125 or 150 broadhead, to get a total weight of about 660-690 grains.

 

[Lee M]

You should be good with either. Go with whichever flies better. I got my Zebra with a total arrow weight of around 450 grains which included a 150 grain 3 blade solid VPA. I can't imagine a more solid broadhead than this one. Check it out online. I was using a standard "hunter" gold tip 340 carbon arrow. Complete pass through except for the last 8 inches of the shaft. And it was a quartering shot so had to be almost through almost 4 feet of Zebra. Zebra fell 60 yards from shot location and broke off the 21 inches of arrow sticking out the far side. There was 1 inch of broken arrow sticking out the side. I pulled out the arrow and recovered it with fletching. Here is a picture of it. I also shot regular FMJ arrows with 100 grain slick tricks. Same overall arrow weight and they shot the same for me. Your outfit at 660-690 grain arrows are plenty and will be especially good for the eland. They are big animals!

 

[Lee M]

Brickburn. Thx for the link. Sounds like once you get North of 70o grains or so the main concern should be stability, accuracy and a sharp 2 blade broadhead. I'll do some testing and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

Lee M

 

[Lee M]

Brickburn,

Did you get ur Buffalo?

 

[Ryan Wilson]

IMHO 900 grains is to much. I shoot 81lbs at 512 grains total weight with approx. 97 ft/lbs of kinetic energy. I shoot a 2 blade with bleeder SOLID broadhead then I should have no problems with any animal other than buffalo, hippo, elephant, etc..... If I were going to hunt buffalo Id probably just add a weight tube and 125 grain head to put me at 700 grains total weight.

 

[Lee M]

This for the input Ryan. Most sites I have looked at recommend a min of 800 for Giraffe or Buffalo. I'm going to find out what shots best in the 700-900 grain range with my bow maxed out in the low 70's. Probably 73 lbs which is what my friend gets out of his Mathews monster MR5. Part of the fun is building the arrow and testing it!

What is your 2 blade broadhead?

 

[Ryan Wilson]

It's a Solid Legend 100 with 1/2' bleeder blades. I can agree, its fun building and testing.

 

[ThomasBeaham]

In regard to the Giraffe, here's a link to an old thread by a couple folks who have been there and done that.

http://www.africahunting.com/threads/bowhunting-giraffe.1966/

 

[Lee M]

Thanks for the link Thomas. Very good info!

Ryan I never heard of that broadhead. I went online and it looks like a solid and well made broadhead. $99 US per head is a little steep for the 175 grain though. Ouch.

 

[Ryan Wilson]

Yes they are expensive heads. Lifetime, no frills warranty. However, for myself if I'm paying $10000 for a hunt a $30 broadhead that performs well and can be replaced for free is cheap. Thanks for the giraffe link. I would not have thought a heavier setup would be needed for one.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Brickburn,

Did you get ur Buffalo?

Some big black thing jumped in front of me and I had to protect myself.....

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Brickburn, you are an extremely fortunate hunter to being able to hunt a Buffalo with your bow, congratulations...please if you did not upload this story with photos do it when you have time, I really would love to know more about this hunt...if you did please send me a link...
Gert

 

[Lee M]

Very Nice Brickburn! 60 degrees out today. Time for be to dust off the bow