Arrows & Bolts.Wooden Crossbow Arrows:
Wooden crossbow arrows are prone to warping, and are not easily straightened. The use of wooden arrows today is very limited as crossbows become more powerful and efficient, arrow materials for crossbows need to be extremely tough. However wooden crossbow arrows are still popular among crossbow traditionalists. The most popular wood for building wooden arrows is cedar.
Modern wood arrow technology. There is a company called hexshaft that makes an extremely tough wooden laminate arrow that is extremely tough. The shaft itself is made from six individually machined triangles, all from the same piece of wood. Extremely-low-tolerance engineering enables the laminating process to produce superior shaft strength which is higher than that achieved if it were a standard wood-dowel arrowshaft.
Aluminum Crossbow Arrows:
Aluminum shafts were a very popular high-performance choice in the later half of the 20th century due to their light weight, and subsequently higher speed and flatter trajectories. They were more easily straightened when bent. The material, diameter and thickness of the tube wall of the arrow contribute to its stiffness, or spine. This must be matched to the draw weight of the crossbow to ensure accuracy.
Some of the most popular sizes used for crossbows are 2018, 2117, 2213, 2216 and 2219. The 2219 shaft size is by far the most popular amongst crossbow-hunters.
With aluminum crossbow arrows it is starting to look as if their is now some standardization among most crossbow manufacturers regarding at least in the diameter of the shaft which is 22/64" or .343". The manufacturers of crossbows are now more straight forward with nock recomendation for their crossbows as well.
The other note of importance here is that most crossbow manufacturers will market their crossbows by velocity to which they will use a very light arrow to accomplish this then use that velocity to market their crossbows.2213 aluminum crossbow arrow shaft light and speedy.2216 aluminum crossbow arrow shaft a little heavier but slower.2219 aluminum crossbow arrow shaft the heaviest excellent for hunting.Carbon Crossbow Arrows:
Carbon arrows are very strong, light, and fly faster and flatter than aluminum arrows. They became popular in the 1990s. Carbon arrows when first introduced were quite hard to adjust so that they would fly straight when a broadhead was attached to them.
As with any new product after its first introduced will go many changes and advancements, the carbon crossbow arrow finds itself in 2009 slowly pulling away from the rest of the arrow field with advancements in carbon technology.
Beman has been the leader in carbon crossbow arrow technology since its introduction, with 2009 its adding to its new carbon lightningbolt crossbow arrow vibrake inserts adding weight to the forward section of the arrow and further dampening off arrow noise and vibration or oscillation making their carbon crossbow arrow much more accurate.
Crossbow Arrow Weights and Velocity:
You can increase crossbow arrow speed by reducing total crossbow arrow weight, but only on crossbows that are not arrow weight sensitive, such as Barnett Crossbows. Each 5 grain reduction in arrow weight provides a speed increase of about 1 foot per second. Thus, if you reduce arrow weight by 100 grains, you increase speed by roughly 20 feet per second.
Crossbow Arrow Weights:
Note: Weights are 20 inch shafts plus 100 grain point.
2213 aluminum shaft - 373 grains total weight.
2216 aluminum shaft - 416 grains total weight.
2219 aluminum shaft - 452 grains total weight.
Beman Carbon Lightningbolt - 400 grains total weight.
Easton Carbon Powerbolt - 367 grains total weight.
Excalibur Carbon Firebolt - 367 grains total weight.
Horton Carbon Strike - 416 grains total weight.
