Aluminum vs Carbon

[Guy]

Assuming they're wearing the same broadhead and shot from the same bow, which arrow will likely give deeper penetration, an aluminum one or a carbon one?

[Wlscott]

Carbon.

The smoother, thinner shafts have a tendancy to penetrate deeper.

[wijim]

if the weights (total weight of arrow fletching broadhead etc) are the same...they oughta perform pretty similarly.  most often when you use a carbon you are saving weight....and there is better penetration due to speed at reasonable distances.   i started with carbons but switched back to aluminum....the onlyreason i did is because the aluminums i use are just better shooting out of my recurve and i dont wanna switch back and forth....

but with my carbons i have almost always gotten pass through.....and with aluminums..i still do get pass through almost always on deer.  my speed went from 265fps down to 220 fps...(yeah i know its slow...lol)....and my recurve speed went from 200 fps to 183 fps....they kill deer...its all i can say.

incidently its 2216s i switched to...quite a jump up in weight.

[dukkillr]

carbons generally have less diameter and thus less resistance and thus greater penetration.  

I use carbons not because of the penetration but because of their toughness.  I got sick of slightly bent arrows.  With carbons they are either fine or broken, and they're pretty hard to break.

[wijim]

yeah the friction thing with the smaller diameter makes sense...but dont discount additional kinetic energy from heavier shafts.  honestly i think unless a person is hunting elk or moose with 55#s or less one has to take the penetration issue into much higher account.

i miss the toughness of carbon although back when carbons and composites were new...they were alot more iffy back then.  i bought a box of eastons after shooting bemans for a long time...(i got compatible weight, wall thickness rating etc) and i shot at a partridge in 10 degree weather...that sucker blew up and shattered about 10 yards into flight.....scared the crap out of me.  i called easto and dtold them what happened they basically doubted me and would do nothing about it....i mean i cant blame them...id really think that if an arrow was going to bust up like that.....it would be as string is pushing it due to brittle cold conditions etc....very weird...im thankfull it was beyond my face and hands when it did go poof.  i never took another shot with those eastons.  i went back to the bemans..till i moved to aluminum again.

i think you wont find a more durable arrow than a beman with vanes.

[dukkillr]

I've had several arrows that I had to retire because the insert became bent from either a off-side shoulder or a rock after a pass through.  I've never had a carbon arrow break except one that I didn't get a pass through on and I believe the deer broke it by chewing the exposed shaft.

[Redhawk1]

I have used Aluminum arrows for over 24 years now, I just can't see why I would switch to carbon. I have not had one arrow fail to pass through an animal I have shot.  So penetration is not a problem for me. It is not that I am cheap either, I buy  a dozen arrows every year. The arrows from the previous year I use for practice and I use a couple of the new arrows to practice with and have new arrows for hunting.

I also use the older arrows to shoot at rabbits and ground hogs. It kind if tears them up after one or 2 shots.  

[Buckskin]

If the question is penetration, and arrows with the same weight, carbons should penetrate further. As stated before, smaller diameter, less friction, greater retained velocity.  And carbons these days are not all about less weight.  I shoot Carbon Express Hunter 300s, and the weight 9.2g per inch, the 400s are 10.0 g.  With my 27" arrow with the fixins and a 125g broad head thats about 400g.  Plenty for elk or the such.  And the best part about carbons is they do not bend!!!  I have checked straightness on arrows 2 and 3 years old with literally thousands of shots and most are still in the .003 guarantee of Carbon Express.