Choosing the right arrow for your bow and shooting style is critical to getting your perfect shot. You could have the best bow in the world, but if you’re arrows are cheap and badly matched to your bow, you will never see results. Also, you will want to take your discipline into consideration. If you’re planning to hunt deer, you’ll want an arrow that is different than if you were just doing some simple target-practice. Here are the different options you have when it comes to picking out your arrows:
Wood
Wood is the traditional material for bows and has been used for centuries. Today they are mostly used for beginners and for men’s longbow competitions. They are not as popular in other disciplines because they tend to have slight inaccuracies in every bow, making it difficult to have really uniform results when shooting. They also tend to warp and break easily, but if you’re looking to be frugal, wood arrows is the best bet.
Fiberglass
Fiberglass is much more consistent and reliable than wood for arrows, making them suitable for hunting and informal uses. They are also easier to fit to different draw lengths required of individual archers. The downside to these is that they too tend to be brittle and break easily, requiring the archer to replace them constantly.
Aluminum
Aluminum arrows are manufactured with much more consistency and reliability than both fiberglass and wood arrows. They can also be made in a wide variety of sizes and types of aluminum alloys to suit everyone’s needs. They are very durable and are engineered for interchangeable arrowheads. Because of the consistency of aluminum arrows, they are often used in hunting game and in tournaments. The only downside to these arrows is the higher cost, so they are not recommended for beginners who tend to lose arrows frequently.
Carbon
Carbon composite arrows tend to be the favorite among serious hunters and archers who value the speed, durability and efficiency that comes from this type of material. Because they come with an aluminum core and a carbon coat, they tend to fly faster and further than all aluminum arrows, without the brittleness of a fiberglass arrow. These are the most expensive arrows on the market, and are therefore only recommended for serious archers.
When picking out arrows it’s also important to consider the other features that come with them like the fletching, stiffness of the spine and the arrow’s point.