How to Build Your Own Arrows for Maximum Performance

I am an arrow connoisseur. I consider many hours in my archery room cutting, fletching, weighing, spinning and building different arrow combinations to be time well spent. I’ve done everything from increasing FOC by adding weight to my arrow’s front end via heavy inserts or broadheads to manipulating back end arrow weight. I’ve toyed with different fletching styles, counts and on-shaft angles. I’ve played and pounded foam with factory nocks and four brands of lighted nocks.

Building your own arrows with customized component combinations that inspire shooting confidence is fun. During my long bowhunting career, I’ve crafted everything from 350-grain lightweights that fly at warp speed to 514.4-grain clubbers that hit like a ton of bricks.

Before we dive into the science and pure joy of arrow building, here are some rules. First, keep it safe. A general rule of thumb is to have 5 grains of arrow weight per pound of your bow’s draw weight. If you pull 70 pounds, your minimum arrow weight should be 350 grains. Second, arrow spine is king. Spine is a measurement of the arrow’s stiffness. You’ll find the arrow’s spine labeled on the side of the shaft. Arrow manufacturers produce spine charts to help you select the right shafts for your bow, and I recommend following them.

Last, make the process fun. Stressing over the arrow’s finished weight, FOC percentage, three-fletch or four-fletch and lighted or non-lighted nock isn’t fun. Enjoy the process from start to finish. And remember, the most critical piece of the arrow-building puzzle is accuracy. If you shoot a shaft that flies accurately, is quiet and hits with enough energy to ensure proper penetration, you’re golden.

Go Light!

The lighter an arrow, the faster it flies. Awesome, right? It can be. However, if you opt to go the light and fast route, there are a few things to consider.

The first two are wind drift and shot noise. Crosswinds, common in the field, will more easily move a lighter arrow off course than a heavier arrow. Also, because lighter arrows have less mass, they absorb less energy from the bow, resulting in increased noise and vibration at that shot.

Yes, I started with a pair of negatives. However, there are some positives to going the lightweight arrow route. An arrow traveling at higher speeds gives the bowhunter more room for error when estimating shot distance, as a light arrow will have a flatter flight trajectory than a heavy one. As much as we rely on rangefinders, it’s not uncommon to get a range on an animal and have it walk closer or move further away before the hunter drops the string. A lighter, faster arrow provides some added leeway when guesstimating the final range. Another lightweight arrow win, especially for bowhunters who love to send carbon at longer ranges, is an increased maximum range when using adjustable-pin bowsights. For example, I can run my 360-grain arrow sight tape all the way out to 144 yards on my Spot-Hogg Boonie before reaching the maximum limit of the sight’s pin-adjustment range. With a heavyweight arrow, my maximum range would diminish considerably.

Other lightweight arrow factors to consider are penetration and accuracy. If you push the 5 grains of arrow weight for every pound of draw weight too far, you’ll end up with erratic arrow flight as you move back in distance from the target. Also, I’ve seen bowhunters push the lightweight arrow idea too far and watched carbon explode on the side of multiple 3-D targets.

I am a fan of lightweight arrows for certain bowhunting situations. Over the years, I’ve built several shafts between 365 and 380 grains and have harvested everything from pronghorn to elk to bear to mule deer.

My top lightweight option for 2025 is Easton’s 5.0. An ultra-versatile Accu-Carbon arrow, the 5.0 allows bowhunters the ability to customize. Match Grade 5.0s come with 5mm, 16-grain HIT inserts with 13-21-grain HIT collars. Standard Grade 5.0s come with HIT Inserts and 50-grain steel one-piece Half-Outs. These micro-diameter arrows feature Easton’s new 5MM Microlite nocks that sport an ultra-compact build and improved throat design that leads to enhanced string engagement. Easton 5.0s are available in bare and fletched shafts.

For testing purposes, I took a dozen 5.0s and built them three different ways. I used the 16-grain HIT insert with four Flex-Fletch 2.5 Pro vanes set at a two-degree right helical for the first group of three arrows. Two arrows weighed 361.1 grains, while the third one weighed 361.4 grains.

The next group of three sported identical vanes in the same orientation, but I added the HIT collar, which boosted my FOC and brought my arrow weight to a three-arrow average of 381.1 grains. These arrows produced an average speed of 305 fps fired from Hoyt’s RX-9 Ultra set at 68.98 pounds and a draw length of 28.75 inches.

My final set of four arrows wore the same number of vanes in the same orientation, but I used the HIT collar as a nock collar and went with the 50-grain Steel Half-Outs. The total arrow weight was 415 grains.

One of the great things about arrow building is this process. Testing and tinkering lets you determine what arrow weight, vane orientation, vane number, nock type, insert type, etc., works best.

I discovered my best three-arrow group from 123.5 yards (the furthest I could shoot each arrow build without sight interference) was with the 361.1 grain 5.0s. I will note the conditions were dead calm. Lighter arrows drift more in a crosswind, especially when shots are longer.

The magical thing about the 5.0 arrows is that bowhunters can use various Easton components to build them exactly how they want them. I found the arrows ultra-durable and ultra-accurate.

How About Middleweights?

My favorite boxers to watch are Middleweights. They are lightning-quick and hit with a ton of energy. Middleweight arrows are the same way, which is why my typical bowhunting arrow, when pulling between 65 and 70 pounds, is between 407 and 420 grains.

My go-to middleweight arrows, which I’ve used to take down everything from elk to bear to bighorn sheep, are Easton’s 4MM Axis and X10 Parallel Pros. These micro- diameter shafts reduce wind drift via their slim build and second-to-none tolerances, ensuring precision downrange accuracy. The micro-diameter build allows the arrows to track seamlessly behind any broadhead to reduce friction, which leads to more pass-through shots on big-game animals.

The 4MM Axis Long Range Match Grade sports a 100 percent carbon-fiber build for maximum velocity. However, shooter customization is easy thanks to Easton’s many Match Grade Half-Out insert grain weights. Those wanting an FOC boost can add heavier inserts such as the 75-grain aluminum/steel, 100-grain titanium/steel, or 150-grain all steel.

My 4MM Axis Long Range insert choice could be more exciting, but it’s what works for me. The 55-grain aluminum insert is plenty durable and, paired with the 4MM Microlite Nock and four Flex-Fletch 2.5 Pro right-helical vanes, produces a speed of 294 fps when fired from my Hoyt RX-9 Ultra set at a draw weight of 68.98 pounds. The speed increases momentum, and when these 418.8-grain shafts hit the target, they hit with brute force, penetrate deeply and provide me with immeasurable shooting confidence.

I spent a year with Easton’s X10 Parallel Pros this past season. Rooted in arrow lore, these built-for-bowhunting arrows stem from the same X10 family that debuted at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and are responsible for more World and Olympic titles than any other arrow in history.

Constructed using tried-and-true X10 precision and quality, this shaft is a multi-purpose (recurve, compound, target, field, barebow) weight-coded wonder with a straightness rating of ±.001-inch. Available in 15 spine sizes from 250 down to 1150, Easton makes an X10 Parallel Pro for any poundage setup. Components such as the 4MM Pin, Pin Nock, 4MM Microlite Nock, 4MM Nock Collar and all Match Grade Half-out options are sold separately from the shafts. Easton did this to allow shooters total build control and maximum arrow customization.

Last season, I took down multiple longbeards, a pronghorn at 76.5 yards and two Pope and Young caliber whitetail bucks with SEVR-tipped X10 Parallel Pros. I tested the arrows with different fletch counts — three and four — and different vane types and orientations. I continuously gravitated back to my Flex-Fletch 2.5 Pros set at a 2-degree right helical in four-fletch.

There is only a 5.5-grain difference between my X10 Parallel Pros and 4MM Axis Long Range Shafts. I prefer the lightweight yet durable AC (aluminum/carbon) construction of the X10 Parallel Pros over the 4MM Axis Long Range. However, the specs and performance of the arrows mirror one another so closely that I wouldn’t switch from one to try the other.

For me, 25-plus years of arrow building has taught me that my quiver will always have middleweight arrows. The combination of velocity and weight I get produces extreme momentum, which leads to insane accuracy and undeniable penetration.

Go Heavy!

When pulling between 65 and 70 pounds, I consider my heavy-for-draw-weight arrow anything over 480 grains. However, if you’re pulling 40 pounds and shooting a 500-spine shaft that weighs 6.2 grains per inch (gpi), heavy for you might be anything over 415 grains.

Heavy arrows do have some advantages. The most significant reasons to shoot a heavy arrow are less wind resistance and church mouse-quiet flight. Many bowhunters rave about a heavy shaft’s ability to penetrate more when the broadhead hits bone. This is true, to a degree. However, being a western bowhunter, it’s hard to justify a heavier shaft that reduces my yardage margin of error when I can shoot a middleweight arrow that blows through elk at 60-plus yards.

If I were strictly a whitetail hunter who limited my shots to 50 yards, chances are good I’d go with my 482-grain 4MM Easton FMJs. Over the years, I’ve killed many deer and a few elk with FMJ shafts, which feature a carbon core bonded to an aluminum outer sleeve. My 340 spine FMJs weigh 11 gpi, 2.7 gpi more than my 4MM Axis Long Range and 2.2 gpi more than my X10 Parallel Pros. A heavier arrow absorbs more of the bow’s energy, helping to reduce shot noise and vibration, and when it’s dead still out and a trophy buck is 12 yards from your tree, you want a quiet shot. As with the 4MM Axis Long Range and Parallel Pros, collars and multiple insert grain-weight options are available.

The FMJ Max is new to Easton’s FMJ Family for 2025. The significant difference between the Max and the standard FMJs is the weight. Engineered to be versatile, the FMJ Max line has a lower gpi rating for a comparable spine size. The 5MM FMJ Max 340 spine arrows weigh 9.8 gpi. The shafts also utilize Easton’s all-new 5mm Microlite Nock System. The new nocks have shorter ears and an improved throat design that boosts shot-to-shot forgiveness and allows for improved tuning.

My FMJ Max Match Grade arrows arrived with 3-inch AAE Hybrid Stealth Vanes. I cut the arrows to size, added the included Match Grade HIT collar and glued in the 5MM HIT inserts. Typically, I would’ve stripped the factory vanes and reflected, but I received the shafts a tad close to my deadline and needed to begin testing. I’ve been an AAE Hybrid Stealth fan for years and have no issues with a three-fletch arrow.

My finished shaft weight was 455.1 grains. After testing these arrows to 100 yards, they proved ultra-accurate and pushed, on average, a full 2.25 inches deeper into fresh foam targets at 40 yards compared to all-carbon shafts. This is a testament to the reduced friction offered by the FMJ’s aluminum exterior, along with easier arrow removal from the target.

Final Thoughts

Remember, how you build your arrows is up to you and nobody else. Why change if you’re getting excellent results with your 370-grain lightweight three-fletch offset arrows? Why change if you have all the confidence in the world in your 420-grain arrows with four, low-profile, 2-degree helical vanes? And if you’re blowing through deer, elk and every other animal you draw back on with those heavyweights, you guessed it, why change?

Well, there is nothing wrong with experimenting. There is nothing wrong with trying this arrow, that arrow, or various insert options as you keep the process fun. When it starts to become stressful, stop! Don’t overthink arrow-building; you can enjoy it and find that perfect-for-you build that fills the freezer and walls.

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