There are many types of hunting arrows these days to provide hunters according to their hunting style, bow setup or budget they may have. Aluminum arrows and carbon arrows are one of the many types of arrows and some of us may be confused on which to choose between these two.
Although aluminum arrows have highest precision-to-price ratio when compared to any arrow construction, obviously, you can’t deny that an aluminum arrow is heavier when compared to a carbon arrow of the same spine.
If you want more speed out of your arrows, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the walls, the better. However, as weight decreases, so does the strength but it is compensated by the deadly quietness when used with hunting bows.
Hence, check out this review to choose the best hunting arrows for your needs.
Top 7 Hunting Arrows Comparison Table
| Name of product | Outer diameter | Inner diameter | Weight | Spine | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Tip Hunter XT Arrows | 0.3" | 0.246" | 12.8 ounces | 300/340/400/500 | $$ |
| Tiger Archery | 0.309" | 0.244" | 1.23 ounces | 500 | $ |
| ANTSIR Outdoors | 0.309" | 0.244" | 1.2 ounces | 400 | $ |
| GPP Archery | 0.309" | 0.244" | 5.1 ounces | 500 | $ |
| Huntingdoor Black Feather | 0.309" | 0.244" | 14.4 ounces | 500 | $ |
| ANTSIR 20" Carbon Arrow | 0.35" | 0.3" | 1 ounces | 500 | $ |
| Golden Power Fiberglass | 0.314" | 0.3" | 1.34 ounces | 450 | $$$ |
| Huntingdoor Target Arrows | 0.31" | 0.24" | 15.2 ounces | 550-600 | $ |
The top 7 are chosen by several factors:
- Outer diameter
- Inner diameter
- Weight
- Spine
- Price
Outer diameter
Small diameter shafts have advantage in terms of penetration when compared to large-diameter shafts. Smaller diameter means smaller surface area. So, there is less friction. However, results may vary.
Inner diameter
Small diameter shafts have advantage in terms of penetration when compared to large-diameter shafts. Smaller diameter means smaller surface area. So, there is less friction. However, results may vary.
Weight
Obviously, the lighter the arrows are, the greater the speed due to lesser gravitational pull.
Spine
The measurement of arrow’s stiffness is called spine. A lower number means a stiffer arrow. An arrow that is too stiff will slow the bow down using a heavier arrow. Meanwhile, the light spine causes the shafts to be shot way off mark as the range increases.
Gold Tip Hunter XT Arrows with 2-Inch Raptor Vanes
The first on this best arrows review for hunting is the Gold Tip. This hunting arrow is the perfect balance of performance, accuracy, and value. With straightness tolerance of +-.003″ and weight tolerance: +-2 gr, this best hunting arrow is factory fletched with 2 in. raptor vanes.
These are 9.3 GPI with a 300 spine. They are similar rated to the 70/95. However, Gold Tip started rating their spines differently than they used to. It would be best to check their website directly in order to size your spine flex. Take into account the draw weight, arrow length (draw length), and style of cams.
These best hunting arrows come with 2 green vanes, and 1 white. They come with s nocks and they work great. The bushing isn’t installed to allow you to cut the shafts to length. You could consult any bow shop to cut the shafts and install the bushings.
The purchase comes with a variety of size and you can choose what size you want. The arrows come uncut with nocks and inserts. Meanwhile, the color of the vanes is random.
I believe they come in 32″ shafts. Therefore, they can be cut if required to your desired length. 60# is more than enough since it is spined properly. In case you need to run 70#, I would suggest to chop 2 inches off the length.
The 520 grain gives good penetration while the 21% FOC offers excellent penetration and flight. The 2 fracture planes can crack a bone into two easier than a 3 bladed broadhead.
No arrow saw required for assembly but the minor downside of these hunting arrows are that the tips are not square. It is easy to fix this issue though. Just tape some sandpaper onto a flat surface.
Then, hold the hunting arrow straight up and down and spin it slowly. It requires some technique but you’ll soon get the hang of it after some trial and error.
The product shows green and white fletching and the groups are definitely tightened up. In my opinion, the tight weight tolerance and straightness of the GT Hunter arrow helps them to stay more exact.
If you are looking for these arrows for the sole purpose of hunting, you might want to consider any other arrows. On the other hand, if you also want to use them for 3-D shoots and the like, these are great.
Overall in this best arrows review for hunting, I would highly recommend these to anyone who wants a balance between speed and penetration.
Suitable for:
- Speed
- Penetration
Tiger Archery Hunting Carbon Arrow
The second best hunting arrows in this review would be Tiger Archery. These best arrows for hunting have 30″ length with an outer diameter of 0.309 inch. The fletching comes with 2 black 1 white vanes. For draw weight of 40-60 pounds, it is ideal for recurve, compound, or long bows.
These hunting arrows are solid and well made. The precision carbon hunting arrows specially designed for extended durability and long lasting target practice. The colored plastic fletching makes sure that the flight is always pointed on the right way.
The tips are nickel plated stainless steel. This feature is perfect for target practice and outdoor shooting. They include replaceable nocks as well for free. Nocks are not fixed by glue so they can be adjustable for your bow.
The 31.5″ arrow has 500 spine with 13.0 grain based on GPI. The outer shaft diameter is 7.85mm while the inner is 6.2mm. The weight is about 35g each and it also features an aluminum seat convertible for a variety of inch thread arrow.
The purchase includes 12 pieces of carbon arrows and 6 nock for free. You can use any arrow head you want as long as they’re 100 grain. Tips are removable by just unscrewing them sine it’s a screw tip arrow.
The included inserts are not attached so you may need to do it by yourself since they are ideal for customization. These arrows work best for casual indoor/outdoor target archery purposes.
Based on overall assembly from tips to veins, they are of high quality for the price. The tips may come loose but it is a usual thing in the archery world. You could try using thread locking fluid or a plier to tighten them up. Tips are easy to be tightened again.
So far, I’ve shot these arrows repeatedly over 100 times and they are still delivering tight groups. Also, they haven’t cracked yet. I tried using it with a 3 blade broadheads and small game broads and there hasn’t been any issue.
However, I would have liked to see extra veins / fletchings since they get deformed quicker than broken nocks. Having extras would be a huge plus.
Furthermore, I would have liked to see different colored spines and veins. The orange veins are bright but it can be easily lost in leaves. I would suggest neon green for it.
Overall in this best arrow review, for the decent price it offers, this may be the ideal arrow for your needs.
Suitable for:
- Casual indoor/outdoor target
- Draw weight of 40-60 pounds
- Recurve, compound or long bows
ANTSIR Outdoors Carbon Removable Arrows
Third best hunting arrow in this review is the ANTSIR. With diameter of 7.8mm, this hunting arrow is ideal for draw weight of 30-50 pounds bows. The 12Pack of 30 inches arrows have strong and lightweight carbon shafts with enhanced wall thickness for added durability.
They are matched with replacement field points for optimal accuracy as well as target penetration. The colored plastic fletching, nock and rounded permanent stainless steel tip which is nickel-plated is suitable for target practice and outdoor shooting.
The nocks are not fixed by glue so they can be adjusted according to your bow. The shaft length is about 30inches/75cm with outer diameter of 7.8mm. The carbon hunting arrows weigh about 28g each and features variety of inch thread arrow with an aluminum seat convertible.
If the fletching appears a little bent, use an air dryer or soak it in hot water to straighten them. It’s a screw tip and the notches are not 100% set in. This is to allow any changes on them if desired. The notches do look glued on however so pay extra attention to it.
It is more flexible when compared to 400 spine arrows. Therefore, for a recurve at 55 or above, I would suggest getting another arrow but otherwise these are great. The mixed carbon fiber arrow is up to 60lbs that ranges from 20-60lbs.
The tips are 5/16 screw. The 30″ arrows are not recommended for kids due to its length but great for teenagers or adults. Practice tips are included on them but the tip can be easily removed to attach a broad tip or some other type of tip.
The arrows are lightweight and they sail through the air straight. I could easily shoot bullseyes on the target from 20 feet away.
As they do flex, this would help you to keep a break off in case you did not get a through kill shot. The inserts may fall out but a little bit of adhesive can fix that. On the other hand, the shafts on these are solid.
In my opinion, the colors aren’t great. Disregarding from an aesthetic point of view, the arrows come in 3 colors. Green, red, and black with a tiny bit of white which can get easily dirty. The colors can in my opinion make it hard to find the arrows in the woods.
They are fairly heavy for a carbon arrow. Before each shot, inspect your arrows. Make sure to time the nock and fletching of the bow. Don’t imitate the movies by holding the arrow with your finger to steady your shot. It could potentially shatter your arrow.
Overall in this hunting arrow review, I am very pleased with the value in these arrows.
Suitable for:
- Draw weight of 30-50 pounds bows
- Teenagers or adults
GPP Archery Carbon Targeting / Hunting Arrow
Next best hunting arrow in this list of review would be GPP. The 12 pack of 30 inches arrows have strong and lightweight carbon shafts as well as enhanced wall thickness for added durability. They are matched with replaceable field points for optimum accuracy and target penetration.
The colored plastic fletching and rounded permanent nock that is nickel-plated and the stainless steel tip ensures best usage for target practice and outdoor shooting. With 7.8 mm in diameter, this best arrow is suitable for draw weight of 40-60 pounds bows.
The nocks are not fixed by glue in order to make sure they can be adjusted for your bow. A black carbon shaft is featured on the screw tip on/off arrows along with 100 gr target point made of hard steel and plastic vanes. The total length of arrow is about 31″.
The color of the fletching comes in 2 red and 1 white with red nock. The package includes 12 pieces of carbon arrows and 12 pieces of arrow tips. The fletching is very soft. It didn’t relax to a normal vane shape.
They did not return to normal shape because some of the fletching were so compressed. To tackle this issue, you could start by removing the fletching and replace them instead with four 2 ” vanes.
Meanwhile, if the nocks are loose in the shaft, it may pose a problem when you want to shoot them with the original 3 vane. You could try placing a drop of glue to correct that.
They hang over 3 inches but still usable. Since they are thirty inch arrows, anything would work with draw length between thirty to twenty five inches but it just depends according to the draw length of your bow.
The tips are reasonably solid and sharp without being dangerous and after repeated use for the past few weeks none of the fletching or “feathers” has stripped off. However, in my opinion, the inserts are not epoxied in place. Although the tips are removable, I do epoxy them in place but gluing them may be an annoyance to some. I can understand that.
The arrow nock and arrows heads can come loose. Therefore, you may need to tighten or glue them down. They use vanes instead of feathers which are technically not ideal for traditional bows. However, I can still hit my targets just fine. I do suggest for the arrows to be re-fletched with feathers though if you’re shooting off of a traditional bow or a modern recurve.
At 20 yards, I can form a circle in the size of a tennis ball using these best arrows if I don’t slip up. At 40-50 yards, the best arrows can land of the intended target within a 3 inch radius. Therefore, I think it’s fair to say they do shoot pretty well. It would be a really good idea to fire the broadheads from a ground blind or tree stand to improve your hunting experience.
My conclusion in this hunting arrow review is that they are still good straight arrows after moderately heavy use.
Suitable for:
- Good performance
- Low hand shock
- Good speed.
Huntingdoor Black Feather Wooden Shaft Arrow
Huntingdoor best hunting arrows will be next on the list. The Huntingdoor arrows are suitable for draw weight of 40-60lbs bows. They are 31” in length and 5/16” in shaft diameter.
They are wooden with metel arrowhead and three black feathers as well as nocked, fletched and are ready to be shot for bow hunting or target practice. The best arrows can be used for traditional recurve bow or long bows.
It is up to you if you wanted to sharpen them but they might shoot differently afterwards. So, I would suggest only doing one first and testing it out. So far, I’ve used them on a 10lb bow which worked fine but not as great as using 55lb. Weight may be the reason for it.
You might find a problem if you go over the draw weight. They are feather fletched but the fletching won’t last as long as how it would last using a rest. Realistically, the Huntingdoor arrows can work fine with almost any bow.
That being said, I’d recommend at least a 25 pound draw weight because they are relatively heavy. I would suggest a standard 28-32″ draw length as well. Indirectly, I don’t recommend you to use the 65-70 pound bow with these best hunting arrows.
It’s a set of six and the tips are glued on. If you want to replace them, you would have to break them lose which might potentially break your arrow. Most of the nocks are seated on my string. However, there were some a bit ugly granted. A little high grit sand paper could fix this issue though.
I would also like to suggest putting extra glue on the broadheads. The broadheads and feathers are made of plastic, but they fly well from my 40# self-bow. Avoid shooting them into hard foam or carpet bale targets. Instead, you could try using hay backed paper, or paper dirt pile backed targets.
The shafts of these hunting arrows are very light and you can notice some perceivable flex or wiggle right off your hand. They stabilize very quickly, around 10 yards by my estimation. It may be contributed by the fairly long fletching.
When I retrieved the hunting arrows, the heads were immaculate while the shafts were unmarked although they’d penetrated through 4mm plastic and embedded about 3.5″.
To sum this hunting arrows review, I would recommend these for those who want to get into wood arrows or for those who already shot wood and looking to buy more. I am confident that these hunting arrows are capable of taking down a dear ethically.
Suitable for:
- Standard 28-32″ draw length
- At least a 25 pound draw weight
- Traditional recurve bow or long bows.
ANTSIR 20″ Archery Carbon Arrow
Next best hunting arrow review is from Antsir. The carbon arrow shaft has a halfmoon shape arrow nock with 4″ vanes, two blue one white. They are matched with 125-grain broadhead.
The outer diameter is 8.8mm while the inner diameter is 7.6mm. The length of arrow shaft ranges between 20″-22″ and weighs about 28g a piece. The provided aluminium insert is for screwing the arrow tips.
Avoid shooting these against concrete wall or any hard substance as this can damage the arrows. If the fletching appears a little bent, straighten them by using an air dryer or soak it in hot water.
Every nock was aligned correctly to the white vane and they are well balanced and accurate. So far, the fletching and nocks have stood up to a lot of abuse.
You might receive several loose inserts/sockets for the arrow head to screw in to. Although a bit flattened out probably from how they are shipped, the fletching was good.
I don’t recommend these hunting arrows for any of the very fast bows that are currently available if you don’t enjoy putting them back together after the arrows fall apart. However, it is in my opinion that these would do well for a recurve crossbow at the velocity of 275-325 fps range. They won’t take so much of a beating.
These arrows are precut to 20″ long and had four inch straight gains. They can fit a crossbow and the tips can be replaced. A white vane is included to know which way to load the arrows. Surprisingly, the shots were accurate using a Center Point 370 Sniper crossbow.
Since the fletchings tend to come compressed together and bent, I would suggest heating and straightening the fletches. However, I realized that the notch of the bow string that is supposed to be aligned with was not perpendicular to the arrow’s white fletching.
This could throw the arrow off in case the force of the string results in the arrow to twist as the hunting arrow starts down the rail. If you received some of them misaligned, you may file a secondary notch for the correct alignment.
At 20 yards, I shot 1/2″ groups while at 30 yards, I shot 3/4″. All 12 arrows were consistent in length and the shaft is nice and smooth. I used the first 3 arrows and they flew slower but well from 20 yards.
The 4th arrow though pitched fletching down on impact and it broke into 3 pieces with the point embedded in the target. The rest flew well but lost at least 1 feather from due to fletching and I had to stop because the inserts were all loose.
Overall in this hunting arrow review, these arrows are great except for the fletching issues.
Suitable for:
- Crossbow hunting
- Practice
- Hog hunt
Golden Power Fiberglass Practice/Hunting Arrows
The second last on the list is the Golden Power Fiberglass. This best hunting arrow is made of fiberglass for the shaft that is a standard target practice arrows for recurve and long bows. The arrows are nocked, fletched, tipped and ready to shoot.
It is suitable for draw weight up to 55lbs and it is designed with steel bullet tip which is perfect for target practice and beginners. The most recommended targets are either styrofoam or synthetic.
The OD is 8.0 mm and the arrow length is 30″ (76.2 cm). Each weigh 38g and the vanes are 3 inch TPU material. The deflection is 450 SP that has an ideal range up to 55 lbs. The 100grain target point comes with standard thread.
If the vane appears to be bent, fortunately it is recoverable when you enter it inside hot water. The target points waver and the nocks all needed to be adjusted which is not my cup of tea but they can be removed and board heads can be screwed on.
The 30″ length hunting arrow that has a 28.5″ pull works great for target practice. They are not a feather fletched one. The fletchings are actually vanes for bows with arrow rests.
If you’re a professional at archery, you can probably immediately know that the arrow may not fly as straight as compared to a feather fletched one.
However, if you are an amateur and want some practice arrows, these are great. Although I had my bow turned down to 50 lbs, this does not seem to bother the arrows. Grouping were pretty much the same.
However, the notches weren’t on correctly to match with the odd colored fletchings. As a result, they didn’t shoot straight. You would have to manually twist all of them with a tool to make them shoot straight.
The fletchings almost always hit my bow because the fletchings weren’t spaced correctly. This really affects the accuracy of the shooting. Furthermore, the notches were too tight for the bow string in my opinion. I had to push really hard to get these best hunting arrows set in.
The fletchings and inserts tend to come off so I would suggest buying a tube of fletching glue to fix this issue. Once you glue them and put locktite on the arrow threads, these arrows will fly true and are reliable.
Overall in this hunting arrow review, I would highly suggest these arrows for anyone wishing to practice or to get back into the sport of archery.
Suitable for:
- Recurve bow
- Traditional bow
Huntingdoor 30″ Archery Carbon Target Arrows
The last on the list of best arrows review is the Huntingdoor. This Huntingdoor best hunting arrow is a 30″ carbon shaft with a good straightness. If you use them for your recurve bow or longbow, you would have to adjust the orientation of the nocks first.
They are fletched with 3″ vanes and the inserts are glued with screw-on 100 grain field points which are always ready to shoot. Each hunting arrow weighs 36g with OD of 7.9mm. Meanwhile, internal diameter is 6.2mm(0.246). The spine is 550-600.
Although it has good performance and high speed, don’t shoot with these at concrete wall or any hard substance. These are recommended for 35-60 pounds bows that come in 12 pieces in one pack. The nocks are removable for multipurpose; it can be fixed or glued.
If you are right handed, these hunting arrows will miss to the left because they cannot be flexed properly according to your draw weight. If you follow by ‘philip’s’ advice, you may opt for softer arrows. However, if you cannot hit your target reliably anyways, then you may not even notice it.
These hunting arrows are too stiff and heavy to be used with a lightweight bow. It would be akin to throwing a heavy spear. Theoretically, an arrow should flex just as the string pushes it forward. Therefore, a light bow is not fit for these as they cannot flex these arrows.
I shoot a compound bow at around 45 lb of draw weight. The shafts are comparatively flexible and they don’t shoot as well at 45 lbs draw weight as stiffer arrows do.
In my opinion, these arrows would be suitable to be shot at 20-30 lbs. If you are shooting above 40, there would be better options on this list of best hunting arrows review.
The thread for the points is standard 8/32. They may come preassembled but they can still come apart pretty readily. On the flip side though, make sure that the heads are tight each time you shoot as they tend to come loose easily making them impossible to retrieve.
Also, adjust the knocks before you shoot as they tend to rotate over time. I would suggest a bit of threadlock in the tip thread.
Shaft diameter is 7.8mm or 5/16 of an inch. The arrows did not break and was in good condition even when shot through a piece of wood (only 2 cm of field tip pierced completely through the wood). When I shot using a 66″ 30lb recurve bow w/shelf rest, I noticed that these are slightly under-stiff for my setup. Most of the shots end up flying leaning slightly to the left.
Overall in this hunting arrows review, these are probably not fit for any competition shooting but are great for anything else (including hunting).
Suitable for:
- 20-30 lbs draw weight
- High speed
Conclusion
I hope these hunting arrows review has been helpful for you to choose the best hunting arrows.