What bolt setup is everyone using?

Crossbow Hunting

Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude

Post Reply
bitsdoo
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
Location: Waterford, ON

What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by bitsdoo »

I'm new to the game and just got my brand new (slightly used) Equinox....it's a shooter!

Anyways, it came with 4 Gold Tip II's and I'm looking to get some more arrows.

I will be shooting luminok's, blazer vanes, slick trick magnums with 100 grain brass inserts but undecided if I want to stick with the gold tips or go to an easton or the firebolt arrows.

so I bounce it off you...what's your bolt set up and why?

Cheers.
bitsdoo.
bucknbill
Posts: 465
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:00 am
Location: south Mississippi

Re: What arrow setup is everyone using?

Post by bucknbill »

i have shot gt lazer 2,s, firebolts and a few others but i got my most consistant flight with 2219,s aluminun insert and 2inch blazer vanes w/luminoc..but i use muzzy 125 3 blade and sometimes they are trickier to get to fly right..the carbons would do fine with a smaller profile head i,m thinkin
Exocet 200
S5 string stoppers
3x Proview
ComfyBear string
2219,s Blazer vanes, Muzzy 3 bld 125,s..they fly straight

John 3:16
georgiaboy
Posts: 2856
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:02 pm
Location: S.E. Georgia
Contact:

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by georgiaboy »

I'm using the firebolts with 125gr slick trick mags & spitfires...flies great!! :D
Bulldog m380 blackout
Micro 355
Matrix 350LE
Vixen II
Proud member of the Georgia Meat Hunter's Association
"Shooting tomorrow's trophy's...today"
Sopchoppy
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:07 pm
Location: South Alabama

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by Sopchoppy »

I use exactly the same setup you described and with the Vortex, it is very accurate. When I first got my Vortex, I was all worked up to get "this and that". Bought a couple of dozen GT raw bolts and built my own, but have the Lumenoks on just 3 of them. Find what you like and stick with it, you'll save a lot of $$$$.
Vortex
Gold Tip Laser II's
Slick Trick Broadheads
Viper X String
Groundpounder Mount
STS
Lumi-Zone
User avatar
wabi
Posts: 13443
Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2002 9:21 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by wabi »

I belong to the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

I've tried carbons, added weight on inserts, and fletching with Blazer vanes. Of all those options the only one I've stuck with is the Blazer (2") vanes.

For the past few years I've been shooting 2215 aluminum shafts. Crest dipped in lacquer, fletched with 2" Blazers, aluminum inserts front & rear, and 100 gr broadheads. No problems with accuracy or penetration (on deer), so no need to improve on what works just fine.
wabi
vixenmaster
Posts: 13618
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:51 pm
Location: Western Ky

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by vixenmaster »

I am one of those ppl who can get acceptable hunting accuracy out of any of my junk arrows n BH's out to 40 yds. I made believers out of 2 hogs on Weds. :lol: I use 2216-2219-Powerbolts-GT II's & Have a few Firebolts. They can be 2" in diff & all be diff in my quiver of 4 & everyone have a diff BH & weight on them! :shock:
Half Bubble Off BD360

[email protected] 417-505-9315
awshucks
Posts: 5238
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:40 am
Location: arkansas

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by awshucks »

I belong to the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality.
X2, but for me it was GT's brass inserts, alum nocks, 100 gr points w/ 2" Blazers.

I did learn something from Boo worth passing along his last trip here this week.

The new AZ-EZ crossbow fletcher has way more helical than my rt hand helical, and the bheads love the newer short arms, I'm getting a set toot sweet.

I've never shot alums or firebolts, having a gazillion Gt's 1st, fwiw.
"Eze 18:21"
bitsdoo
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
Location: Waterford, ON

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by bitsdoo »

great stuff...keep it coming :D
Cyclonic
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:59 am
Location: Amhherst VA,

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by Cyclonic »

I switched fro GT II's to GT III's this past year. Both shoot great, no problems, I just wanted a little more weight. 2" Blazers have been my choice for years, and so have Crimson Talon B-Heads. I use a brass insert, and aluminum nock on my arrows. Total arrow weight 429gns. Never shot a deer they didn't completely penetrate, through shoulders, ribs, always stuck in the ground, sometimes up to the wrap!
Home-Brewers Drink Better Beer!
Exomax
Vapor Trail Strings
Gold Tip Laser III's
Crimson Talon
Ogden's Outdoors
User avatar
nchunterkw
Posts: 2904
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:21 am
Location: Wake Forest, NC
Contact:

Re: What bolt setup is everyone using?

Post by nchunterkw »

I'm going bison hunting in Dec and am (currently) settled on Easton Full Metal Jacket Bolts, brass inserts, flat plastic nocks (come with the arrow), and 100 grain heads. That arrow weighs in at 535 grains and has an FOC around 17% when measured from the end of the arrow, not the end of the tip. My Vortex is shooting it at about 283 fps with an Excel string and I hope to pick up 10 or more fps with a flemish string. At 293 fps it will generate more than 100 ft-lbs KE. That's overkill for a whitetail, but I really like the shafts. They are carbon with aluminum over it. A bit expensive though.
Keith
Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths; where the good way is,
and walk in it and find rest for your souls. - Jer 6:16

Micro 335 & 355
deerboyarchery.wixsite.com/trinitystrings
[email protected]
<{{{><
Post Reply