In hunting situations where quiet is king, keeping the arrow as short as reasonably possible is a good idea. Reasonably possible means it flies perfectly and has the appropriate weight for a hunting arrow. Even being careful, it's almost impossible to not bump the arrow tip and make noise when it fills the stirrup area or extends past it. In ground blinds it can be a safety issue if it's making contact with the blind sides, your chair or your hunting partner.

IMO, this is way too long.

This is perfect.

 

I like your advice. The pictures you attached are exactly what I was envisioning. I'm going to have them cut shorter than I have been shooting and give it a go. 🙏 Thanks

 

IME, it can be a little more challenging to get really good broadhead accuracy with shorter shafts. Might need higher FOC (heavier inserts and/or heads). I keep broadheads inside the stirrup too.

 

I would think longer is better ballistic wise.

Sort of like throwing a javelin vs a dart. But I could be wrong.

 

Excals have been successfully shooting short arrows for a long time and if you follow good arrow science with appropriate FOC I think you will be fine with 17-18" arrows. The new TenPoint short bows are successfully shooting 16s.

I like a heavier arrow and shoot 125 gn heads, sometimes use slightly heavier inserts as well so my shorter arrow FOC numbers are always up over full length arrows.

Something to keep in mind.... Target penetration with shorter arrows can be an issue if you end up burying arrows.

 

Longer arrows carry their energy and accuracy farther than shorter arrows. An Excalibur shooting an arrow 20" versus 16.5" is a better flying arrow. That being said most folks don't want that BH past the stirrup. I have used longer on a couple of occasions and getting a bow off the hook without hitting the BH is something you have to constantly keep in mind. Do that when mister big horns is coming in and he'll turn inside out as he's leaving. My Matrix 380 was one of most accurate bows I've owned. I shot 20's instead of 18's. Like TX said above, short arrows can be problematic with targets. It's always best to fletch with short vanes. Trust me, I've tried every combo I could think off. Shorter also requires a heavier front end. You can get away with a 92gr insert on a 20" arrow. Your 17.5" will require a 110gr insert. I'm also referring to 100gr tip.

 

I'm planning on 110 grain inserts and then experimenting with different weight broadheads to get a high FOC and a relatively heavy total mass. I hadn't thought of the issue with messing up vanes on the target. That's a great point.

 

If you use bullet points instead of the real pointy ones, they won’t penetrate as much.

 

That makes sense. I didn't know that. I'll get that type. Thanks.

 

I have found that the longer arrows are more consistent in flight, carry more weight and group more consistent then the shorter version. Having a arrow within the stirrup is a good reminder to remove it before decocking. This has kept more then a few new comers to the sport from ventilating their foot.