"Rifled" arrowshafts.

[PecosMike]

Hi to all..new guy to the board and very happy to have access..Primitive Archer magazine is among my favorite "guilty pleasure" reading..lol

I love traditional bows/arrows but I also like to engage in a little experimental "could have been done" bow and arrow-making. I was wondering if anybody modern or archaic has dispensed with fletching altogether and simply cut "rifling" into the arrow shaft itself. Bullets as high speed projectiles stay on trajectory because they are grooved and Nerf footballs traveling at much slower speeds do in fact spin and it seems to work.  Any comments most appreciated.  Thanks much..Mike

[El Destructo]

Well I don't know about the Nerf Football...but the Rifled Bullet is spun from the Barrel Rifling...not by air resistance...as in the Football....I don't believe that at the rate of Speed that an Arrow travels...that small grooves cut into the Arrow would be enough to create any spinning effect at all....not enough surface area to create the Drag necessary to make it spin....but then I am not a Mechanical Engineer either......

[markinengland]

I think it could work if the arrow was front heavy to help stability, with rifling togive spin. I think i have read of it being tried before.
Some places you can buy dowelling made with spiral groovea, though the longest I have seen available is about 24 inches.
Mark in England

[El Destructo]

you put a Spiral Groove in a Shaft and it will never be deep enough to create any drag....it might spin slowly with a Target Point... or maybe a Bodkin.....but never with a Flint Point or Broadhead.....JMO

[Coo-wah-chobee]

well I dont use grooved shafts but I  sometimes dont use fletch in shots up ta about 15-18 yards. Ifn yer arra is made correctly IMO you dont need the fletch at these distances. I also dont think arras need ta spin thats just modern thinking  (read marketing hype here) IMO again. Arras need ta penetrate and has nothing ta do with spinning once again IMO. My 2 cents............bob-going against prevailing thinking again, oh yes this line stolen from Rich Saffold !

[Dustybaer]

but never with a Flint Point or Broadhead.....JMO

i wonder what effect a broadhead, shaped like helical fletching, would have

[PeteC]

Marius,back in the 70's,Browning(the same Browning that makes firearms) marketed a heavy screw-in type broadhead with a helical twist.I was shooting glass recurves back then,and a guy gave me 3 of them.I bought some aluminum shafts ,to test these wicked looking points,but could never find a  way to make them shoot well.I found out real quick why the guy gave them away .The idea looked neat though,like it would "drill" like a brace and bit,a hole 1-1/4" across.  God Bless

[PeteC]

Pecos,are you from Texas?

[Dustybaer]

well, so much for that moment of genius    thanks pete

[Pat B]

Rifled shafts might work with a broadhead like this one.....                Pat

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[sailordad]

thats a sweeet looking broadhead

did you make that,if not where did you purchase it from?

looks like it good do the job quit well on buzzards and such.

                                                                              tim

[Pat B]

Tim, This head is from the 1940s I believe. It was given to my by a friend.   Pat

[hawkbow]

 That head was made to core the apple when you shoot it off someones head. .. Hawk

[Keenan]

 Pat Ithink those were more around the 70's I remember being fairly jazed when they first came out. The theory was that becuase the arrow was spinning it would fly better and penetrate as well. However penetration is hinder if bone is contacted because of the leading part being straight it forces the curve to cut through more bone and slows penetration. The pro side is that they did open a big hole.

[Pat B]

I stand corrected Kennan. I don't know the true history of the head. I was guessing.     Pat