Aluminum Arrow Spine Guide

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How to pick the right aluminum arrow without charts!

Here's the deal: There are only seven arrow spines you need to start off with bows from #25 to about #100. (Note that this is an approximation and you’ll see why in a second).

IN GENERAL for 28" ARROWS +/- 1" (27 - 29") and 100 - 125gr heads:

#25 - #33 1716
#34 - #42 1816
#43 - #52 1916
#53 - #60 2016
#61 - #70 2117
#71 - #80 2216
#81 - #100 2219+ (Might want to play with 23xx and 24x shafts* as it can get a little dicey at those weights)

If you go to a 30" arrow, jump up one spine, 32". then two spine numbers. Ditto for going shorter, 26" one spine down, 24" two spines down.

Head weight will also affect spine, however, it will require 45-50 grains to jump one spine number. For example, if you're shooting a 40# bow and using a 29" 1816 with a 100 gr head, going to a 150 grain head may require you to jump to a 1916.

This WILL NOT give you the perfect aluminum arrow for a given bow. It will give you a tunable arrow, and that's all you need for starters. Once the arrow is tuned, you'll know if you're compensating for a stiff or soft arrow by the tuning requirements. Then you can fine tune arrow choices by juggling wall thicknesses and diameters.

For example, if you have a #41 @ 28" bow and are using a 29" arrow, you'd pick an 1816, right? And that would work. If you find that you have to move the rest/strike plate out a little more than you’d like, then your NEXT set of arrows might be 1914s. They are the same weight as the 1816s, but a little stiffer.

Regarding Fastflight Fight (low mass/low stretch) strings. The difference between Dacron and FF is on the order of 5#, in a worst case scenario, so if the right arrow was chosen in the first place, it should still be within tunable parameters.

In addition, if I know a particular bow, I might suggest an arrow that's not one of the primary spine numbers. A certain #57 bow might work very well with a 2114, for example.

*Aluminum arrow nomenclature: the first two numbers denotes the shaft diameter in 1/64" and the second two are the wall thickness in 1/1000". For example, a 2016 has a 20/64" (or 5/16") diameter and a wall thickness of 16/1000".