Bow. Arrows.

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Rabbit leg

Forager
Nov 9, 2016
117
73
UK and world
I am thinking about getting a Mandarin Duck Black Hunter recurve bow. 60". 50lbs. 28" draw.

Can anyone recommend some arrows?
I have very long arms. And will be trying to hunt down and kill tree stumps. No animals. No targets.
So I am looking for something robust. Carbon may be too pricey for what I will be doing.

What else is recommended? Spare string.

Thanks.
 

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,293
847
West Somerset
If you’re in the UK, I’d suggest contacting an NFAS club near you that does introductory sessions before buying anything. You would have to pay a little, but you’d be well coached, introduced to intelligent safety guidelines and get free advice on what gear to try. You will need more than just the bow and arrows such as tab(s), a bracer and so on.

While roving / stump shooting isn’t a bad idea, you should consider where, when and how you could shoot safely. Safe for yourself and others. You would need to be away from public areas, with permission to use the land for archery, and also with insurance cover - which isn’t often easy or cheap to get. That is why most people shoot as part of a club, usually under the rules and regs of an archery society such as the NFAS, EFAA, or AGB.
 

Corso

Full Member
Aug 13, 2007
5,249
449
none
No disrespect intended but if you've already picked a specific bow you should know your arrrows

or at least be in a postion to throw a few dozen through it before you settle
 
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mikehill

Settler
Nov 25, 2014
944
345
Warrington
50lb is way high for a beginners unless you are Arnie. Get lessons at a Field Archers club first and save yourself some money :)
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,154
1,546
Cumbria
Nothing to offer on the arrows front but I've been reading this thread with interest. I've noticed that there's been a lot of advice honestly given. It might not have been the advice you're looking for but that's often the way of these forums. You have two choices imho, leave it as not helpful to you or try to focus the advice onto your question by providing further information.

AIUI you haven't given your experience level, description of your stump shooting location or info on any existing kit to guide their answers. Some treated you as a beginner for example. It's quite right to suggest beginners go through their local club. But if you're experienced that's irrelevant. Draw weight might well be high for average beginner but if that's the weight you want because you've the experience to determine your optimum draw weight then great. Detailing that experience means you'd not get that advice.

IMHO requests for advice on many forums need precision to avoid irrelevant to you replies. It's not because respondents aren't trying to be helpful, they really are trying to help, it's at least in part because they're answering to the lowest level of experience. I'm sure you'll know it's a bad idea for a complete novice to buy a high draw weight bow and some arrows and go out in their local woods. There's possibly people who would do that. A local to where I work was arrested a few years back after shooting illegal automatic guns in the local woods. That isn't something you'd do I'm sure but there are people like that.

Sorry for the rambling post. I'm basically saying try restarting your enquiry with a bit of more information before condemning the thread and respondents. It's the answers or suggestions you want I'm sure someone has something to offer with arrow advice, even if only their preference.
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
Relax some Wabbit :)

Public forum and you will get a cross section of opinion. Let others chime in as well.
I started without a club or official shoot. I bent a stick and made some arrows. I spent an age learning how to make bows before I could even shoot.

In short a usually "free" local NFAS type course will teach you a bunch and save you a boat load of cash. Doesn't mean you have to keep going back. If you don't want to take that path as I didn't initially I would seriously consider a target as arrows get expensive quick! Stump shooting will kill arrows fast, i would be surprised if you can back with half still in a fit state without needing repair. Wooden arrows will explode of you wont be able to get the tips out the log/stump. Cheap alloy arrows can be fettled back into use but they will lose accuracy quick when bent out of shape, although I did find they lasted longer.

In regards to a bow as said above unless yer a groc then 50lbs will get boring quickly. Yeah you may be able to send a dozen arrows down range but the shakes will set in after arrow 6 and by arrow 40 you will be guaranteed a shock when you try get out of bed in the mornin :O_O: I dont shoot anywhere near as much as I used to but 50 even then would be a push unless shooting weekly. Dont get me wrong I can pickup my 70lb bow now and lose arrows, well a couple lol.

Safety wise you want to see what an arrow can do in woodland after a Ric-oshay so apply common sense and permission and you will be fine.

Great sport to get into.
 

mikehill

Settler
Nov 25, 2014
944
345
Warrington
Typical of this forum.

An opportunity for the 'experts' to be patronising and rude.

I guess it would be best to close this thread.
Troll ? I can’t believe a decent contributor wouldn’t take well meant advice to try to save wasting money on a bow that wouldn’t serve them any purpose.
If you aren’t a troll you need to learn some manners towards people trying to help.
 

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,293
847
West Somerset
Nothing rude nor patronising at all in what I suggested. Nor, I would suggest, in the other responses you've had. I'm a hobbyist fletcher and bowyer, and have been shooting with NFAS for 15 years or so. I have reached 3rd place in a national championship in my class, and my wife has been a 5 times national champ in her class, both of us using bows, arrows and other equipment made by me. So I feel qualified to offer what was intended as friendly advice which would save you a great deal of money, time, frustration and possible injury in getting well started as a field archer (includes roving and stumping).

Obviously you dont have to take any advice offered if you dont want to, but at least acknowledge that it is given in good faith.

To answer your original question: you could shoot any arrow you want, so long as they arent too short, nor under-spined - both of those pieces of information are the absolute minimum to avoid serious injury. So I'd suggest you go to a good archery supplier, get your actual draw length measured, then try some test arrows on the shop's archery range, and work from there. Good luck.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,355
2,368
Bedfordshire
Rabbit Leg,
We can all see you have made 93 posts, and have been here for a while but due to the problems with search engine, no one can find more than the last three without considerable effort. It means that most folks couldn't go back to see what sort of experience you might have, even if they wanted to.

If you think that the members who posted what they (and I) thought was reasonable, well meant and helpful advice were rude and patronizing, and worse, that you think that is the norm here...well, I am sorry, not much anyone can say or do. My experience is that if you don't tell folk at an archery club or shop any more than you told us, you will get similar advice.

I used to build bows for myself, and despite shooting most weeks for several years, I never got myself up to a 50lb bow. I handled 45lb and did use it for both field and stump shooting. You say that you have long arms, and that the bow in question is 50lb at 28", but what will it be at your draw length? If you have long arms, and need long arrows, you will be drawing the bow further and it will be higher poundage. Being a recurve will help with stacking, but even so you could be looking at several more lbs.

The two reasons that I wanted more lbs when I was shooting was that I wanted to get flatter trajectory for outdoor target archery, and I had ambitions of bow hunting in the US. At distances up to 25-30m, shooting big 5" feather three fletch arrows at stumps I didn't feel like I was under-bowed with 40lb. Field archery...yeah, a flatter trajectory would have been nice, but trajectory is about more than poundage. I could have done myself favours with better spine matched arrows, smaller fletchings, lighter string and a smoother shooting style.

Anyway, you want tough arrows. For a bow costing £124 that you are just going to stump shoot with, I would buy wooden arrows, or rather, I would buy shafts and make my own. I would look for Spruce, maybe Fir, 11/32. I think Ash would be too heavy, among other things. There are a lot of pages from US sources that discuss toughness of arrow wood. They stump shoot a lot more there as part of hunting practice. The only problem there is then matching the suggestions to UK sources. There are a surprising number of sources for wood shafts.

There is no doubt that carbon can be very tough, but they are expensive and my opinion is that they are an unjustifiable expense for the sort of shooting you describe.

Wood on the other hand, you can buy your own shafts and make up your own arrows. If you lose a point in a stump, some hot melt glue and a Bic can fix that. If the tip breaks, you may be able to fix that too when you get home. You can play with point weights pretty easily, changing the dynamic stiffness of your arrow. If you want a craft hobby you can turn wooden arrows into footed shafts with very few hand tools and some patience. I always got a kick shooting gear I had made myself.

When I did stump shooting I used a Judo Point, which reinforces the end of the shaft and didn't dig in far, also stopped me losing arrows so easily when I missed. I only had three with such points, and that was plenty to rove around with.

Best of luck.
 

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