First Recurve - Arrow Question

[agtex42]

My wife bought me a Samick Sage for Christmas this year and I'm in the process of getting it set up. None of my local shops carry traditional equipment and they sure couldn't help me when it came to selecting the proper arrows. I called up Lancaster (where she bought the bow from) and they really did a good job walking me through the process but after I got off the phone with them I felt like they had set me up with arrows that were overspined for my setup (they sales rep went off the Easton charts and called it good). The bow has 40lb limbs at 28", I haven't put the bow on a draw board but my actual drawlength is 29" so I expect to be pulling somewhere in the range of 42-43 lbs. The arrow we ended up with were Easton ST Excel 400s cut to 30.5" with 125 grain tips and (3) 4" feathers. According the Eastons charts these are the correct for my setup but all the research I did prior to Christmas led me to believe I should have went with a .500 spined arrow. Any help would be appreciated and if I call them today I could probably get the order changed if need be.

[Txnrog]

Get some 150, 175, 200, and 250 grain fieldpoints in the order. That will cost you less than $10, and you'll be set for testing future setups. Your tips are pretty light, you can do alot to 'weaken' the spine if you're too stiff by adding more weight up front.

[jerp]

I just bought the exact same bow- Samick Sage, 40#. I went with 500 spine arrows cut at 30.5" and 125 grain field points. They seem to fly well (as near as I can tell with my erratic newbie form anyway). I just bought 6 hoping that would last me till I upgrade to heavier limbs and have to switch to different arrows for hunting.

[agtex42]

I just got off the phone with Lancaster and they said the arrows had already been cut and they couldn't change the order. The guy I talked to was pretty certain the arrows would work at that length. I went ahead and ordered some heavier tips for them (the highest I could get at 9/32" was 145), I guess we'll see how they fly next week.

[Night Wing]

Get some 150, 175, 200, and 250 grain fieldpoints in the order. That will cost you less than $10, and you'll be set for testing future setups. Your tips are pretty light, you can do alot to 'weaken' the spine if you're too stiff by adding more weight up front.

Another vote for the above.

[bbs383ci]

you can get some heavy heads at 3riversarchery.com and abowyer.com

[Lafitte23]

you can get some heavy heads at 3riversarchery.com and abowyer.com

^^^^^^

This. I bought a trial pack of various size heads for around five bucks or so from 3rivers. It came with a pair of each starting at 100gr and going up 25gr.s per set up through 225. I'm shooting the Samick Sage #45 but my draw is closer to 26" so we're probably shooting close to the same weight (give or take a few). I'm shooting 500's cut to around 28.25" with a 175gr head. I'm really new to the trad thing so I'm not certain that I'm perfectely tuned with this arrow set up but I'm fairly close.

[Bullrdr82]

I have a Samick Spirit 2 (which is pretty much the same bow as the Sage). It is 40# @ 28" and I am right at that mark. I shoot the Beaman ICS Bowhunter 500s out of it cut to 30". I use a 125 gr head. It shoots those arrows like darts.

I would suspect the .400 will be over spined. This is just my opinion based on having almost the exact same bow.

[beads]

I 2nd the field point tester pack from 3R. I used it this week on my new GT. I'm close to you too but on a GM. I'm using 28" 500's w/ 145 pts seems to fly best. Going to finish tuning this weekend hopefully. Best of luck and have fun shooting

[agtex42]

Well I know most people on the boards here buy local but I don't have that convenience due to location / lack of expertise at the local shop. I've been buying my archery products online from Lancaster Archery for quite some time now and I have to say that after this entire ordeal I'll continue to be a loyal customer. Yesterday evening I got a phone call from one of the reps in their Trad Tech department, he told me he saw the problem I was having on one of the forums I had posted to and said that he wanted to help out. I told him that there was no need, I had ordered the wrong product and it wouldn't be a problem for me to play around with tip weights to see if I could make the .400s work. He insisted that it wouldn't be a problem at all and that they wouldn't have any issues selling the arrows that were cut because it's a popular shaft and they only took a half inch off them. He then proceeded to change my order to the .500 spined arrows and gave me some tips for getting the bow set up properly; furthermore he said that he was going to send me one of the arrows bare shaft along with some heavier field points to tune with once the arrows got here; I expressed my gratitude and hung up the phone still somewhat shocked but pleasantly surprised. I've always had positive experiences when dealing with Lancaster, they offer a large selection of archery gear and they ship fast, this has really been my first somewhat bad experience with them and it was largely my fault that I ended up ordering the wrong spine for the arrows. I wasn't going on the war-path or seeking any retribution with any of my posts, but I have to say I'm very impressed with how far the company was willing to go to correct for my mistake (I'm still not sure how they figured out who I was because I didn't post my name or anything else that would identify me online). Either way, I can't thank Lancaster enough and I'm really looking forward to flinging some arrows downrange next week!

[jerp]

Smart move on their part - with a little extra effort they made sure you'd come back and buy from them again, not to mention how many reading this thread might now give them a try. As always, great service makes loyal customers!

[woody]

I believe that is the same bow that Ol'Man and BMAC use in bowfishing. You can't beat price for a really good bow. You might want to tag base with Doug {Ol'Man} to see what he shoots from his. I shoot 500 spine at 47lbs with my recurve.

[axisbuck24]

As always, great service makes loyal customers!

x2! Glad everything worked out for you.

[Bisch]

I'm glad they took care of you and I'm pretty cetrtain you will be able to make the .500's work way better than the .400's.

Good luck,

Bisch

[Ol Man]

The 500's are the best spine for your new bow. You can go up to a 250 grain point if you want and still get great arrow flight. The Samicks are a very economical bow that shoots great. I bought one for my wife and one for me to use for bowfishing and they performed exceptionally well!