When To Buy Carbon Arrows

There comes a time in every archers’ career where we ask “when to buy carbon arrows?” The answer varies from archer to archer but here we’ll discuss when to buy carbon arrows.

This is something I have been looking at recently (actually around October 2024) and have been in conversation with a number of archers of varying degree of proficiency as well as other senior coaches. To answer the question, you have to factor in a number of variables and once you have those, you will then know when to buy carbon arrows.

Firstly, you need to understand the dynamics (or mechanics) of both aluminium and carbon arrows. Aluminium arrows tend to be quite heavy and thick. They are usually purchased as starter arrows and have a broad spine weight range. At this point, if you haven’t read the article on arrows, have a look now. Carbon (or aluminium carbon composite) arrows are a lot lighter in weight than the aluminium arrows and tend to be stronger as well.

The next variable you need to understand is your bow’s draw weight. This is the amount of power or force (measured in pounds) that is required to draw the nocked arrow from the bow to your anchor point.

With this information, you can probably see that a bow poundage of say 30lb will only throw your aluminium arrow a certain distance, maybe 50 yards maximum with any degree of accuracy. Because they are heavy, they will drop a lot quicker. We can also see that carbon arrows are a lot lighter so in reality, that 30lb bow will throw carbon arrows much further – perhaps up to 80 yards or more AND with more accuracy. Because carbon arrows are lighter, they will fly faster and straighter making them more accurate.

So when to buy carbon arrows? The answer is when your aluminium arrows no longer reach the distance accurately that you are shooting at. This will vary for each archer; obviously someone shooting a bow of say 36lbs will be able to throw that arrow further than a bow of 30lbs. You could also factor in draw length too – an archer with a longer draw length will put more energy into the bow limbs, increase poundage and throw the arrow further still but it still boils down to the individual archer.

Hope this helps – please feel free to comment below.

Buying Arrows

At some stage in your archery career, you will consider buying some new arrows. Buying arrows need not be a problem and in this post, I’ll provide some advice to help you.

Let’s start at the beginning.

You’ve just passed your beginners course and you’re either renting equipment until your technique develops or you have gone out and bought a bow. You will obviously need arrows to go with it. There are three types of arrows that you can buy but the first thing to do is make sure you know the draw weight of your bow (as this directly affects the arrow you will buy) and your draw length.

Arrows have what is known as a “spine weight”. This is actually the static deflection of the arrow (but I won’t go into the technical know-how on this post) or, in it’s simplest terms, the “bendyness” of the arrow – if you hold the arrow at either end, you can bend it. This stiffness (or bendyness) is measured in pounds (lbs) and the poundage you need will be dependent on the draw weight of your bow and your draw length (the distance between the nock point of the arrow on the string and the plunger button pin) in inches. This is then usually referred to as 34#@28 where 34 is the poundage and 28 is the draw length – so in this case, you’re shooting 34lbs at 28 inch draw length.

So now you know those two elements, we can look at buying arrows. Easton, probably the largest manufacturer of arrows, have their own charts where you can find the draw weight of the bow and your draw length which then indicates a table from which you can select whichever arrow type you want. Other manufacturers will have their own versions too but this post is about the types of arrow you can buy.

Aluminium Arrows

For most people, this will be the first and last option. Aluminium arrows are well made, within fractions of an inch in variance between spine weight in the shafts when made and are really cost effective with a set of 8 costing less than £60. Because of the cost, they are easy and cheap to replace and as you increase in bow poundage, are therefore easy to replace with higher spined arrows. Furthermore, if you are a social archer and don’t venture into competitions, then there is probably no need to ever replace them with carbon arrows.

The drawback with aluminium arrows is the size and physical weight. They are quite thick and heavy in comparison to carbon arrows and therefore slower in flight; good for shorter distances but not for longer distances which is why they are good for beginners to intermediates.

Carbon Arrows

Much thinner than aluminium arrows, they have a carbon coating on the exterior of an aluminium core (carbon composite) or you can also purchase all carbon arrows. These arrows are usually for the competition or performance archer and with prices starting at around £90 for 8 and going up to over £500, they are not cheap. Due to the thinness (and lightness) of the shafts, they will fly faster and further hence used by the more advanced archer but anyone can use them – I use them and I’m nowhere near a high-end archer.

Wooden Arrows

The final type are wooden arrows. These are mainly used on longbows or traditional barebows (horse bows etc.). These are man-made and extremely difficult to spine weight due to wood not being the same from tree to tree. It is a science and one certainly worth learning for any longbow archer or you can have them made for you. If you are shooting Olympic style recurve, modern barebow or compound, you won’t be using wooden arrows.

So, buying arrows is not just a case of picking the prettiest ones – get some advice from a coach or experienced archer first (or the shop assistant if you’re going into a shop) to make sure you are buying arrows for the task you need them for; I have 2 sets of arrows, one for indoor and one for outdoor.

Buying Archery Equipment

Buying Archery Equipment

The most common question we hear from new archers is about buying archery equipment and this is a very dangerous area. I’ve seen this a lot on social media groups – someone signs up for a beginners course and wants to buy equipment for it but this is totally the WRONG thing to do. Let me explain.

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