A friend of my sons was home for Christmas and shot a couple of recurves for the first time and LOVED it. She later called me and wanted to buy a bow and start shooting.

I have an older recurve to give her. It's 30 lbs at 28", but at her draw length of 24.75" somewhere around 23 to 24 lbs?

The challenge is arrows. She lives in Washington DC area so I can't have her drop by.

I'm going to mail the bow and accesories and want her to have arrows that shoot well and will last as she practices in the backyard of the house she shares with roommates.

I've never shot carbons, but was thinking durabilty and straightness might be two less things to worry about as she starts her. Just have zero idea about what brand, spine of carbons would work.

Not ruling out wood at all, just what mmight be easier for a beginner.

Thanks for your time. Brett

Carbon for a beginner. Check out Stu Miller's spine calculator, or a derivative/similar one at the 3Rivers website. If you enter all the parameters CORRECTLY (garbage in, garbage out...) into the calculator it will give you a reasonably close arrow spine for the bow.

I also say carbon. She’s got enough on her plate.

I sell "beginner bows" to new archers in my club, old recurves I buy online. Most are in the 25-30# range, and of course they need arrows to go with the bows, so I ve started making arrows for them as well, I ve been using Gold Tip Warriors arrows 700 spine , that seems to work for them with 125 grn point. They are a good entry level arrow. Carbon arrows are the best for beginners , they are either straight or broken. And very durable.

Exactly what I was looking for...Thank you gentlemen. Happy to hear from others knowledge and experience.

If she has a good, soft backstop, Aluminums are cheap and reliable. And the Genesis 1820s are damn near indestructible, if slow.

Jazz/Tributes are .016 wall thickness and reasonably tough unless you skip them off of a target or pull them improperly.

But carbons are pretty tough to beat for cost per use....

Easton Tribute Aluminums, 1716 & 1816 are my favorites, also Genesis. Some of my kids really like wood, so I have some bunches of wood arrows- but beware of CHEAP crappy "kids" woodies, they can and do break; one time at release in the bow! (fortunately no one hurt) Be extra careful ordering Kids woodies, check them thoroughly all the time.

Haven't explored kids carbons yet, thanks for the "Gold Tip Warrior" tip.

Predators 800's ffrom Big Jim or Lancaster

perty forgiving and durable

they use a a inside outside insert and can get from Lancaster 125Grain field points

The tribute or Jazz aluminums in 1716 work good to just not quite as durable bot cheap and hold up fairly good -same points

I always recommend aluminum for a new shooter. Easier to fine tune with point weight.

DDave

So it's for just backyard shooting with about 25# of bow. I would suggest aluminum since at that weight she would have to hit a steel post to bend one, and they are much cheaper than carbon.

A 1616 aluminum will be more precision than any other synthetic and should work well at that weight at about 27" arrow length. They are 7075 (XX75) material and plenty strong. Lancaster carries them and you can get NIBB points for them there also.

For her draw length and draw weight I would go with aluminum or even fiberglass camp arrows. If you want you can refletch them with feathers for her.

The camp arrows are plenty tough, they are inexpensive, the vast majority of them are 26" long, there's no dinking around with them if she wants to go buy some more.

If she ends up sticking with archery then she can get some better arrows.

You might look at Easton Inspire carbons. They come in spines as weak as 1000 to 2000 and are as cheap as aluminum Tributes or Jazz. For a 25# bow you're probably going to need something in the range of 1400 or 1600 spine full length. I've shot them in a 900 spine out of a 30# longbow.

cheap carbons

No get wood arrows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have just the guy for you. I got some for my granddaughter for Christmas and they are really slick. Woods easy to cut and put points on and it also Biodegrades.

What kinda traditional men are you boys? LOL

Just like frisky and the Legend nonsense.

Give Richard Barron a call 35.00 plus ship. Custom really nice. Rich is on here.

He's in LA, Ca you won't be disappointed.

If you're looking for carbons, I've always had good luck with the Gold Tips. That's what I used to shoot out of my compound and when I made the switch to trad bows a few years ago I stayed with them. I shoot the Gold Tip Traditionals. They fly great out of my Kodiak Magnum and my RER Arroyo. And I'm assuming that they will fly great out of my new custom pronghorn longbow that Herb is making for me now.

I'd also recomend aluminum.To begin with they would be the safest.They're the easiest to tune/match to the bow and cheapest.Even a rank beginner can easily cut them down with a small simple tube cutter from any hardware store and reinstall the insert.Cutting carbon or point tapering wood requires tools not as readily available.Just send her some links to tuning and shooting vids on YT and she's pretty well set.

Henry -

What Mr. Stout said. Aluminum in 1616 - any flavor, but leave them full length.

Carbons are no where near as tough as people think and a bent arrow is always safer than a splintered one.

Viper out.

There are decent Archry Shops in the D.C. area she should seek out there locations and visit for further advice on arrows and other things.

Tundra

Had to shoot an 8 yard shot. As soon as I got ready it started dumping. Thanks for the call shooting my psr and carbon arrows.

Wow I opened up this page didn't close it and posted my first shot. Lol

Don't worry about it Wispershot. We knew, right away, it was a bogus first shot pic!

Joe

As usual half the people on here ignored what he asked. He did not ask for aluminum recommendations. He asked for carbon recommendations. I would say the Gt Warrior in 700 spine also. They will still work if later on he moves up in weight some.

Why don't you ask the new archer what she wants? You can explain the pros and cons of materials, wood or carbon, or even aluminum or bamboo. She might as well start making choices of what she wants her archery experience to be.

When I started shooting again 5 years ago, I knew I wanted wood. Several friends and mentors tried very hard to convince me that I should shoot carbons. That I would never be able to achieve my goals with wood arrows. I stuck to my convictions, though, and have never regretted it. But that's just me. My point is, let her decide what's important to her.

I would go with metal also.

Whatever you choose, make sure they check to see if it is even legal to shoot where they live. Shooting in a back yard in DC can get lots of attention. My guess is it isn't legal. Have them seek out an archery range or be certain they can legally shoot in the back yard before attempting it.

I have been away from technology...Thanks to one and all for so freely sharing your experience!!!

I have started a number of kids with light bows and short draw lengths. Arrows will almost always be too stiff. An over spine wood arrow flies better than a full length carbon straw weight arrow. I had a bunch of light spine fiberglass and aluminums. Getting working weight points for skinny target arrows is a challenge. Wood arrows that are 20 pound spine are pretty wimpy and constantly get warped when pulling them out of the target, but fly good. The smallest of the fiberglass shafts with heavier heads glued onto the point taper seemed to always be the better fliers, but harder to pull out of the target. A good old straw bale stack worked best for the kids and their arrows.

Carbon

Wood arrows are great, but too many variables for a new shooter.

Aluminum 1616's worked for me.

Predator II 800's, and there are Predator II 900's too. Like everything about the Predators except the outer finish, but bright feathers will help with that as you know. Saw a family of three generations all shooting Predator II's at a 3-D once cause they were affordable.

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