Crossbow bolts/arrows

DYI hunting

Senior Member
Just an FYI for crossbow guys. I couldn't find much information about crossbow arrows. The guy at Bass Pro wasn't much help either and said weight per inch or spine didn't matter on a crossbow only length was important. I ended up going through 3 different brand arrows. One would group about 8 inches at 60 yards, one grouped about 4 inches but wouldn't group well with broadheads. Finally found that Bloodsport Witness were perfect. I ended up ruining 2 of them because I nicked them during testing. So before you settle on mediocre accuracy, try a different arrow.

I found this article pretty informative
http://www.crossbowmen.com/index.htm.broadhead-accuracy.html
 

bany

Senior Member
Good info. I have a parker and shoot Parker arrows. They seem to shoot tight,although I’m not shooting over 50 yds. Seems fixed broadheads drop almost 4” but still hold a tight pattern
 

BowanaLee

Senior Member
I didn't see this thread. I'm no veteran but I've found out a few important things.
First thing is, your field points probably group great. It really doesn't matter, your not hunting with them.
An under spine'd bolt will not group broadheads well.
A heavy FOC helps. I use 110 gr inserts and 100 gr heads. 125 would probably be better ?
Small fixed heads or mechanicals tend to group best. Xbows hit hard, mechanicals break easily. I went with a small fixed head for strength.
Spine indexing and fletching accordingly is important so every bolt will group the same. Especially at long range. Weight and spine matching helps too.
I have the RAM Carbon QC Arrow Spine Tester on the way to help build my bolts.

Lots of good info here. http://www.crossbownation.com/community/


 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
Boy am I in the middle of this...definitely recommend checking out the spine indexing thing, but now I am in need of new strings. Switching to BHs from FPs is a whole other world.
 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
I too find 4” better than blazer 2”.....less spin has been better too. WTH? I get the rudder thing?
 

BowanaLee

Senior Member
I too find 4” better than blazer 2”.....less spin has been better too. WTH? I get the rudder thing?
Also high profile vanes like Blazer may drag in your rail channel causing big time accuracy issues. Some people never figure out thats whats causing it. Measure them.
 

BowanaLee

Senior Member
Boy am I in the middle of this...definitely recommend checking out the spine indexing thing, but now I am in need of new strings. Switching to BHs from FPs is a whole other world.
Its not perfect but you'll get a lot more arrows that group the same. For the fliers, the poor mans way to index is to rotate the nock and use the next vane as cock vane. You have two chances to bring a arrow into the group. If it works, recolor vanes with magic marker.
 
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