Compound Bow Arrows

What makes an arrow a compound bow arrow

On paper, an arrow is an arrow: shaft, insert, point, nock and fletching. The basics of each part are on the hunting arrows page.

What's different is the bow behind it. A compound stores a lot of energy and dumps it fast. Most compound shooters use a release aid and a rest that supports the arrow on its way out. Those three facts change how the arrow bends, how heavy it must be and which fletching works.

Here's one Easton detail that changes the whole picture. Its tuning guide says a finger release makes the arrow bend side to side, while a release aid makes it bend slightly up and down instead. Picture a diving board flexing under you, then springing you off. With a release, the arrow flexes like that, vertically, while it's still riding the rest. So the rest and the fletching have to agree.

The table on this page lists carbon, aluminum and carbon-aluminum arrows their maker sells, with the straightest stated tolerance first. It shows shaft material, spine, inside diameter, straightness, arrows per pack and fletching, as the maker or the Amazon listing states them (the table marks values that come from the listing). Wood and fiberglass arrows have their own pages. When neither states a value, you get a dash.

What to look at when you pick compound bow arrows

Here's what actually changes from one pack to the next, in the order a compound asks for it.

Read spine off a chart built for compounds

Spine is how stiff the shaft is, and on a label a higher number means more flex. Archery 360's arrow primer puts it simply: a heavy draw weight needs a stiffer arrow, a light one needs a softer arrow.

The chart wants three numbers from you:

• Peak draw weight: what your bow pulls at its heaviest point
• Arrow length: the finished length, not the length in the box
• Point weight: most charts assume 100 grains, per Archery 360

A worked example from a published chart: Archery 360 cites one maker that recommends a 300 spine for a 29-inch arrow at 70 to 74 lb. Change any of the three numbers and the answer can move. Length works backward from what people expect; Archery 360's primer notes that a longer arrow acts weaker, which means trimming an inch off makes the same shaft act stiffer.

Account for how hard your cams push

Two bows at the same draw weight don't load an arrow the same way. Easton's FAQ lists the bow's cam system (single, round wheel, hard or soft) among the things that change dynamic spine, which is how stiff the arrow acts when it's actually shot. Easton's spine article adds that its selection charts have separate columns for different bow speed ranges.

In practice, a fast, aggressive cam behaves like extra draw weight to the arrow. If your bow sits near the edge between two sizes, the maker's chart for your speed range breaks the tie.

Your bow also gives you a tuning knob most traditional bows don't. Easton's guide says that if arrow reaction is too stiff, you can raise the draw weight, and if it's too weak, lower it. That works only inside your bow's adjustment range and inside a weight you can pull comfortably.

Check total weight against your bow's minimum

Arrow weight is counted in grains (437.5 grains to the ounce), and it's the whole finished arrow: shaft, insert, point, fletching and nock.

Easton's tuning guide reprints the AMO minimum recommended arrow weight chart, which AMO built at the bow makers' request. It exists because high-energy bows broke when people shot arrows that were too light. Quick math from that chart, at a 28-inch AMO draw length and 60 lb peak weight:

• Round wheel: 240 grains minimum
• Soft cam (energy wheel): 312 grains minimum
• Speed cam (hard cam): 312 grains minimum

Divide 312 by 60 and you get 5.2 grains per pound. Two cautions. AMO draw length is your draw measured to the grip's pivot point plus 1¾ inch, not your arrow length. And the chart was built on bows with cast risers; Easton notes machined risers may tolerate lighter arrows, but how much hasn't been determined. Your bow manual's minimum is the number that counts.

Speed is the reason people go light. Mathews' FAQ notes that IBO speed ratings use a 70-lb draw weight, a 30-inch draw length and a 350-grain arrow, and that a heavier arrow means the bow won't reach the advertised speed. That's fine. A heavier arrow trades speed for other things. Easton's FAQ calls medium to heavy arrows better for hunting, since they carry more of their energy farther.

Match inside diameter to inserts, nocks and points

The table's diameter column is the inside diameter, because that's what decides which parts fit. Easton now labels hunting shafts and their matching components by metric inside diameter:

• 6.5 mm: standard
• 6 mm: reduced
• 5 mm: micro
• 4 mm: ultra-micro

Why go thinner? Easton's wind article says small-diameter hunting arrows have better flight and penetration. Its FAQ makes a related point: with kinetic energy held equal, diameter is what decides penetration.

The catch is parts. Easton's FAQ says each shaft has components designed for it. Archery 360 adds that screw-in points need threaded inserts glued into the shaft. Buy inserts, nocks and lighted nocks by the shaft's inside diameter, every time. More on nock fit is on the nocks page.

Pick vanes that clear your rest

Archery 360's primer says vanes are usually preferred for compound bows and other bows with a raised arrow rest. They're durable and waterproof.

Size depends on the job. Archery 360's compound arrow guide suggests:

• 4-inch vanes: indoor target
• 1.75-inch vanes: outdoor targets out to 100 yards
• 2 to 3 inch fletching: fixed-blade broadheads
• Less fletching: mechanical broadheads

Clearance is the compound-specific part. Easton's guide says that on launcher-style rests, the support arm must be narrow enough for the two lower vanes to pass over it without contact. With release aids the arrow usually rides the rest for its whole forward travel, so a vane that touches is a vane that steers. Easton's test: spray dry foot powder on the back of the shaft, the vanes and the rest, shoot once, and look where the powder got scraped off.

Nock rotation matters too. Easton notes that if one nock in a set is turned farther than the others, it can push the fletching into the rest. (Uncle Walt calls a drop-away rest "the trapdoor." He says it like it's an accusation.) Rest types are on the compound bow arrow rest page, and vane choices on the fletching page.

Straightness and pack type, briefly

The table is sorted by stated straightness, tightest first. Smaller numbers mean straighter shafts, and the hunting arrows page explains what those thousandths mean for grouping.

The fletching column also tells you if a pack is bare shafts. Those are for people who already own a cut-off saw and a fletching jig. Everyone else should start with fletched arrows and let a shop cut them.

Carbon arrows for compound bow setups, or something else

Archery 360's compound arrow guide says compound arrows come in aluminum, carbon or a mix of both. Here's how they line up for a compound:

• Carbon: arguably the best all-around choice for compounds today, per Archery 360. It returns to its original shape when it bends.
• Aluminum: as straight as carbon, usually costs less, but prone to bending. A bent shaft gets retired.
• Carbon-aluminum: the mix Archery 360 lists; its material guide describes an aluminum core wrapped in carbon.
• Wood: Archery 360 is blunt that wooden arrows are not for compounds.

So when someone asks for the best arrows for a compound bow, the honest answer is "carbon, spined for your bow." The brand on the box matters far less than the chart. (The first compound arrows I ever picked out, I picked for the deer on the box. Wrong spine. Very nice deer.)

General archery arrows sold as one size for everyone are a different product. If a pack doesn't list a spine, a compound shooter can't check it against a chart, and that's a reason to keep looking.

Cut them to fit the bow you actually shoot

Compound arrows are cut to your bow, not to a formula. The arrow has to stay on the rest at full draw, with a margin. Easton's guide gives the exact mark for hunting arrows on bows with cutout sight windows, and the hunting arrows page walks through it.

Two compound wrinkles:

• Draw length changes arrow length. Archery 360's draw length article says draw length decides arrow length and can even affect spine. Settle your draw length before you cut a dozen shafts.
• Outsert nocks sit higher. Easton's guide notes that shafts with externally fitted nocks may need the nocking point moved up slightly so the nock clears the rest.

Measuring draw length is its own job; the steps are on the draw length guide. The full tuning process is on the compound bow tuning guide.

Paper-tune the finished arrows

Easton's guide calls the paper test the most commonly used tuning test for compound bows shot with a release aid. It's cheap and it tells you fast whether the arrow leaves the bow straight.

1. Fix a sheet of paper in a frame about 24 by 24 inches, at shoulder height.
2. Put a target about six feet behind the paper to stop the arrows.
3. Stand 4 to 6 feet from the paper and shoot a fletched arrow through its center, level with the floor.
4. Read the tear, make one adjustment and shoot again.

A clean hole means the point and the nock went through the same spot. A tear tells you which way the tail kicked. (It's the only test in archery where the paper grades you.)

Who should skip this page

If you shoot a recurve or longbow off the shelf, compound arrows with stiff vanes are the wrong tool. See recurve arrows instead. A child on a light youth bow needs arrows spined for that bow; those are on the youth bow arrows page. And crossbows shoot bolts, which are on the crossbow bolts page.

Check every carbon arrow, every session

Easton warns that a cracked carbon arrow could fracture on release and seriously injure the shooter, especially from a high-energy compound bow. Flex-check every shaft before you shoot, and never shoot an arrow that's lighter or shorter than your bow calls for; Archery 360 lists too-light and too-short arrows as ways to dry-fire a bow.

Broadhead rules vary by state. Check your state wildlife agency before the season.

Spine from the chart, weight above the minimum, parts matched to the inside diameter, vanes that clear the rest. Write all four on the tube. Future you will be grateful, and present you will feel very organized.