Well, yes. BUT..... I don't think we could shoot them that much in a lifetime.

 

The only breakdown I've seen in all my shooting comes from hitting arrows with other arrows. I've never "shot out" an arrow before. They're either broken or they're fine. I have heard of some targets being rough on carbon arrows though. I think the Blob targets are one that seems to be a bit abrasive to the carbon and I've heard the same about DIY carpet targets before if they have a rough backing on the carpet. Takes a lot of shooting though.

 

As far as wearing down the sidewalls in a way where the arrow wasn't shootable I have never seen this happen with any of the brands I have shot. My arrows last until they get blasted from behind and broken or hit something in a target that breaks one of them type incident.

But I group tune my arrows to the same hole accuracy with a shooting machine and I have seen some brands that after a couple months of shooting they open up and have to be grouped again in the shooting machine. I was always able to get them back to the same hole accuracy but the lack of confidence they gave me when I had to go a few months between shooting machine sessions was bad.

I shoot gold tip arrows now and I have never had them change or loose accuracy during their lifetime. Once I group tune them to the same hole accuracy they hold it until I loose them or break them. I shoot over 30 tournaments per season plus thousands of arrows training and so my arrows are taking a beating.

 

In the 1980s I had some the first carbon arrows (Nitro Stingers). I wore/sanded down the side walls from target shooting. At that time my target was stacked cardboard. After a couple of summers 4-5" looked sanded and I could see the shafts were much smaller on the inserts. I bet they had very little carbon at that time. About 10 years ago I bought an arrow spinner and for spun them. I laughed out loud as they jumped in the spinner. Funny thing is I did kill a few deer with them.

The ACC's I bought after them I still shoot now and then. They still are true. IMO still the best shaft made.

 

Yes they can wear out, but due to target material and stress. You won't see it all that much unless you use say .500" spine arrows or big log arrows of .400" spine.

One of the worst arrows I've ever used were the early Carbon Express CXL 150s (.500" spine). They were more like glass, breaking easily. Today, the 150 CXLs are much better.

I have some early CXL 250s that have been shot so much the coating wore off back behind the point - no longer used.

3 or 4 years ago I shot the Bowcore Giants in .400" spine (.414" diameter). These arrows shot great, but were fragile. After 200 to 300 shots the arrow would fail about 8" back from the point.

I have not seen my old, old Carbon Express CX300s showing wear - comparable to today's Maxima series........

I have some Muddy Outdoor Virtues (.400" - .355" diameter) that have been shot a ton and don't show wear.

 

One of the guys at our archery range is a semi-pro, working the European field competition scene. He shoots a lot of arrows, every day, something like 200+ a day!
He changes his arrows every 12 months or so as he recons they "loose their spine" over time with regular use. I'm not saying this is to be a fact, but he gets his arrows from his sponsor that are in the £600.00 a dozen bracket.

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Best advice from me is just flex them often and use drier sheets to rub them and check for small fractures or splinters . Also if you like just put on a spinner and make sure there straight . I have never wore out an arrow yet but have broken them plenty . Easton makes more every day . I think your over thinking IMO .

 

Never had an issue with arrows wearing out from hitting the target where it is supposed to hit. I've seen some scuffed up carbon near the field tip after the arrow struck the hard edge of a target but that is rare. You are probably more likely to split the back of an arrow than to wear it down over time.

 

I just retired the last of my ACC's and not because I didn't like them; they were cracking down at the end near the point. These arrows were shot many thounsands of times into a number of different backstops: 3D targets, straw bales, cardboard bails, excellsier bails, ceiling tile backstops, and likely many more. I started noticing hair-line cracks at the tip end that were about 1/4 inch long. I continued to shoot them but noticed the cracks started to lengthen and I actually had one that pealed the carbon outer layer from the bottom to nearly 2/3 rds up the shaft, like a celery string. Naturally they are now in the reminder bin...a reminder to throw them away. I don't know if it was the target butt, the many shots, wear and tear?????????? But I do know from experience that if I hit something with the ACC's they would bend and they also made it quickly to the reminder bin. One more thing is that I have always used heat melt glue on my points and it is possible the end of the arrow may have fatigued due to heat because most of the arrows I have trashed have been because of these tiny cracks.

 

Only when you hit something you shouldn't!

 

Into an archery target, I would say no they dont. Hitting anything else then yes.

 

YES, arrows will degrade over time. The better you take care of them, the longer they will last. Hard targets are harder on arrows. Shooting groups and having arrows hit each other is hard on arrows as well. Some arrows will hold up better over time than others. Carbon arrows are made with carbon and resin. Some cheaper carbons arrows have less carbon and more resin. These carbons will bend and hold a bend. They will loose their accuracy rather easily and fast. Better carbons have more carbon and less resin and will hold their tolerances over time a lot better.
Aluminum arrows will fatigue and loose their spine and it depends on the particular size of aluminum that determine how fast they fatigue. Hard targets and shooting groups will speed of the process of degradation.

Keep your arrows numbers and check them on a spinner and shoot them thru paper often to see if one is getting out of tolerance. Sometimes arrows will need to be nock tuned again to bring them back into tolerance.

Also, the nocks themselves are often overlooked but they need to be replaced regularly. They can get weak, bent or loose easily and are an easy fix for loose groups.

 

I do believe you can shoot the spine out of a arrow. Especially if you are on the edge of or shooting a under spined arrow

 

Yes, I have had a problem with this. Not so much that I noticed an effect from the spine changing.

More so that the shaft right next to the nibs was wearing down. At first it just appeared to be the exterior finish being abraded. Then, the wakeup call came when the front end had weaked enough to turn the nibs loose. Arrow stopped in the bale; the nibs kept going.

Arrows—Gold Tip 22s
Target — Blob

Never had that problem on American Whitetail targets, Block targets, or Morrel targets.

Also not seeing that problem with Easton X10s.

 

Aluminum/carbon in my experience DO loose some properties which are not easy to identify by simple inspection. They do not look damaged, fly well, spin well but the groups suffer and spread a bit too soon for their price tag IMHO. "Only carbon" type of shafts from reputed brands are less prone to loosing grouping properties in my experience. Unless you are willing to start every season with at least 2 dozen of alu/carbons, you might be loosing points by midseason unknowingly, when you need them most :zip: And this tends to be very expensive if you are not sponsored. Being there, suffered that. I prefer to spend same ammonut of money in 3/4 dozens of carbon only quality shafts that will last me 2 full seasons at least, than in 2 dozens of the more expensive super endorsed alu/carbons :wink:

 

shoot some of the real tough broadhead targets and you'll see it eat the front carbon off your arrows and decrease their diameter... I'm sure that can eventually lead to failure.

 

I have never had problems with breakdown, obviously had wear and tear on fletchings and arrows hitting one another. But eventually they will lose their integrity and need replaced

 

Yes you can wear arrows out... but not merely by shooting them.

I've seen (some) carbon arrows develop stress cracks (in both directions) merely from being shot into very dense targets that stopped them in an abnormally short distance. Deceleration forces on arrows are typically much greater than acceleration forces.
I've personally measured some carbon (and also aluminum/carbon composite) shafts that were as much as .010" smaller in diameter at the front due to scraping (celotex) target material off that remained after pulling the arrow from the butt.
I've not seen it personally, but I've heard Steve and George reference aluminum arrows getting "swagged" down in diameter from shooting stramit and other very dense target butts on the Easton podcast. Easton Fatboy was also specifically designed to address very dense targets such a stramit which is more common in Europe (again according to Easton insiders)

Under normal circumstances though, arrows that are shot frequently usually fall victim to impact damage long before they "wear out".

 

Just depends on what your doing with em

 

Most all carbon arrows start to loose their spine over several hundred shots due to wear. As the arrow penetrates the target, the friction microscopically wears down the outer layer of carbon and since most companies have their spine determining layer on the outside, the spine gets weaker and weaker over time.