Here you go,
@OHIOOutdoors2. If there's something you want me to expand on, happy to do so. I went full
@Wildlife on ya
Gotta start with why, right? I’ve always shot a “heavier” arrow and have never really bought into the speed game. I suppose that’s a side effect of shooting a smooth shooting solocam for over a deacade. My arrows have been roughly 475 grains +/- 25 grains most of my career, with FOCs around 10-11%. I’ve been back and forth between fixed and mechanical heads since the beginning. The only broadhead I can really talk smack on is the G5 Montec CS and I’m to blame there also because I wasn’t prioritizing sharpness to the best of my ability. To date, the only 2 deer I’ve ever hit and not recovered, were with G5 Montecs. The deadliest hit I ever put on a whitetail was my ‘08 buck and that was an original Rage. Tough, mature buck I called “The Bully” and I hit him perfectly between ribs on entrance and exit, so I got lucky. He was quartered-away at eye level and that Rage hit perfectly parallel to his spine, just above center-mass. It cut his liver in half and cut the top off his lungs. He ran 30 yards and literally tipped over backward trying to climb a steep bank. It was some seriously impressive devastation. So, I have mixed emotions about the timeless fixed vs. mechanicals debate.
My arrow/broadhead history being what it is,
@Jackalope really got me thinking hard several years ago when he drove home the point in a debate here on TOO that “anything mechanical can, and will, fail.” That really stuck in my head during the offseason and I decided I needed to find a quality fixed blade broadhead I could trust. So far, Slick Tricks are filling that role, and other than as an absolute emergency, I will never shoot mechanicals again. This will be the last season using them on the crossbow too. I’ll be building new bolts for next season and will tip them with a fixed blade.
As a student of the game, I knew about Dr. Ed Ashby, but I’d never taken any of his stuff to heart. For those of you looking to further research FOC and the work done by Dr. Ashby to pioneer stick and string ballistics, you can do so here -
https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reports. When I started seeing THP talk about FOC and Ranch Fairy, I started watching RFs stuff on YouTube, then I revisited Ashby’s work. Since I was already close to shooting full-on “adult arrows”, and had some spare parts around, I built a few experimental arrows. I was impressed by how my bow tuned and shot with them, so I bought a dozen raw shafts and set out to build a 12.5% FOC 600-grain arrow for this season. I actually built 4 variations using Easton FMJs (RF is cussing me now) and Axis arrows. I had weights from 575-610 with 3 and 4 fletch versions, and FOCs from 10-13%. The arrow that killed my buck this year, was 575 grains with a 10% FOC and a Slick Trick Grizz Trick. I lost some FOC when I had issues with my 125-grain DRTs broadheads and the STs shot well, so rather than tune to the DRTs, I gave up FOC and just shot the STs.
So what now? Well, I need to bump my FOC up some as lighted nocks are robbing me even with 75-grain inserts, so I need more weight upfront and have decided to do that with a 150-grain broadhead. I probably got a little aggressive with my spine selection in my quest for additional weight, so I’m going back to 300s after using 260s to build my last set. I will also add 2" to my arrows to help with broadhead clearance, and it contributed 21.4 more grains to the shaft weight. All this should increase FOC to 13% at 605ish grains.
1023’s Adult Arrow Component List (2021 ed.)
- Easton Axis 300s (10.7 GPI) @ 30” - 321 grain raw shaft
- 75-grain Iron Will HIT insert
- 25-grain Nockturnal lighted nocks
- 3” Fusion Vanes (3) at 24 grains total
- 9.6-grain Onestringer custom TOO wrap - Get yours here: https://onestringer.com/theohiooutdoors-2/
- 150-grain Iron Will Outdoors
- Total Arrow Weight = 605 grains
- Rough Calc FOC = 13%
- Kinetic Energy = TBD pending bow build...
ethicsarchery.com
