With so many options available to you when picking out arrows, where do you start? Let’s begin with choosing the material. The most popular materials among the arrow industry are carbon, wood, and aluminum. Each has their own place in the archery world but I will explain the advantages and disadvantages to each of them below:
Carbon Arrows
Carbon arrows are very lightweight and have the least amount of stiffness between the three. Unlike wooden arrows, these will not break easily, but be careful because they may splinter. The biggest advantage of carbon is their high tolerance and consistency. Their toughness comes from their carbon composite, which allows it to take a little more pressure.
Using carbon arrows allows you to maintain a certain degree of consistency when you find the proper set up of the spine, length and weight. If you are looking for an arrow with higher penetration power to bring down larger game, there are heavier carbon shafts in the market.
Note: Check out our best carbon arrows recommendation for hunting.
Aluminum Arrows
Aluminum arrows are slightly heavier than carbon arrows. They are less susceptible to break and they do not splinter. Aluminum arrows have been around for a long time and offer a great affordable option for a sturdy deep penetrating arrow (The nature of aluminum arrows is that they are pretty strong).
They are easier to cut to size than carbon, allowing you to fine tune your arrows for a pure arrow flight. One downside to aluminum is that they bend easily. At that point, you have to change a new arrow.
Wooden Arrows
The earliest version of arrows are made by wooden arrows as shown in various drama featuring ancient stories. I don’t know about you, but when I think about it, Robin Hood come straight to my mind. They are long used with long and recurve bows. Out of the three distinct types of arrows, wooden arrows is the cheapest alternative.
On the downside, however, they are less durable and efficient than it’s counterparts. Any shot that hits something hard, like the ground for example, will cause it to bend or break. Another difference is that they normally use feather flights instead of plastic veins, which once again makes them less durable. Their weight is determined by the type of wood their shaft is crafted out of.
Video Explanation
You can check out the video below that explains different types of arrows other than just the types of materials.
Extra Tips
Now it’s up to you to determine which of these arrows will be best suited for your situation. If you are using them for target shooting, you will generally want a lighter arrow that will provide you with distance and a flatter trajectory. If you are preparing for a hunt, a heavier arrow will provide more power into your broadhead and thus resulting in a deeper penetration. Either ways, it’s important that you test and see what works best for you. Do note that the types of arrows you use can make or break your upcoming hunt.
There are always going to be pros and cons regardless of what kind of arrow you picked. For example, while carbon arrows have lot’s of advantages as mentioned above, they might just break upon shooting and this is dangerous as the carbon splinter can damage your hand really badly. Check out the image below, it’s disgusting.
The weight of an arrow should be considered carefully too. You have to match the weight of the arrow to your hunting style and situation. Ask yourself a few questions; what am I hunting? where am I hunting? when am I hunting? The answers to these question will help you determine the optimum weight your arrow needs to be. For example, if you are a long-range hunter hunting in a windy condition, light-weight arrows is a bad choice because you will miss almost every shot irrespective of how good you are in shooting.
Other than weight, length is an important factor to consider. The optimum length of an arrow will be based on your comfortable draw length. The general formula used in accessing draw length is the Armspan/2.5 method. Having that said, all archers will have their own individual draw length that they are comfortable with.
Lastly, price is another consideration when determining what types of arrows you should buy. Are you the kind of person that likes to invest heavily on something that last longer or prefer to go for lower quality ones that are cheaper?
Conclusion
All these factors discussed above will help you to determine how to choose the right types of arrows as well as the features you need in an arrow. Until the end, it’s best that you test each of them out to see what works best for you. Why not record your experience with the best video camera for hunting so you can share them with others? You might need a backpack to store your equipment as well.