Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

Easy to work with and shoot great. I have bounced them off my fence a couple time and are as good as new.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

Very tough arrow. Can get 0ver 600 grains total arrow weight without adding weight tubes or anything extra to shaft. Just as good as any other carbon with the benefits of extra weight and as tough if not tougher than any other carbon. Price is a little steep, and availabillity is scarce. Have only found available on a couple different sites.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

I was given six of these as a gift from the manufacture. I then bought six more because they are excellent arrows.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

This is the video for the written review of the same name. This video is also replacing an earlier video. It's been cut down a bit, less fluff, better edit.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

Refer to my review of the same title "Yes, it's INDESTRUCTABLE." I need to make one correction to my review, Donny helped us not Kenny. Also I've shot these in the 500s. I bounced them off rocks all day long at a 3D called the Rock Shoot near Moses Lake WA. Incredible. The man that won the longbow tournament broke 6 arrows. I missed 10 times as many shots as he did and I broke only one. It was a diagonal impact that snapped the shaft as the fletched end slapped a rock. These are great arrows. I really don't know what to think about the inserts. The arrows seem true, but brand new points wabble because the inserts aren't entirely straight. It may also be a problem with the inside of the arrow. Watch the video.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

I purchased these arrows with the expectation that they'd be tough as nails and nice and heavy. When they arived, I was impressed. The thickness and weight made them feel very solid, and the wood grain pattern looks very realistic!

After watching all the videos about them being shot into a cement slab, I had high expectations of their durrability. Sadly, it appears that these arrows hit a lot harder than poor old cement. So when I shot my second arrow at a target and hit the back side of the first one, I was dismayed (though, honestly, not shocked) that the second arrow was able to not just smash the nock, but also damage the carbon fibre of the first. I guess a roughly 800 grain arrow shot from a 60# longbow really does pack a punch! (My wooden fence will attest to this as well.)

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

Arrow is amazing! Need better inserts as the insert breaks away at the barrel when you hit something hard! You can still shoot the arrow as the insert is just in two pieces instead of one.

Comments about Gold Tip Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Shafts:

The first thing I noticed was how this 400 shaft felt in my hand. At 13.5 grains per inch, close to full length, the Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter by Gold Tip felt heavy and thick in my hand. How heavy? With a 145 grain target tip, and 5.5 inch banana feathers the final arrow weight was a little over 650 grains. The other thing I noticed was the beautiful oak grain finish. The final look is something like a midieval war arrow.

I took my six test arrows and went to my local pro shop to do some testing of my own. Bill Hickey, the owner, was more than willing to test these arrows and "blow some ---- up." I believe he's been in business since the 70s, has a deep history with traditional archery, and is expert at arrow tuning. He has a full service shop that is oriented to both the target shooter and the hunter. The first thing he did was spin the shafts of the finished arrows on a whatchmacallit. We could see how much the shaft or different parts of the arrow, like the nock, insert, or point wabbled. On the outside all of the shafts were very true. On 4 of the shafts either the insert appeared to be bent or not seated correctly. The same was the case with some of the nocks. Three rivers installed the inserts so I can't comment on their condition. The nocks were already in place. Assuming that these were new inserts that came with the shafts, I wonder about the consistency of manufacture of the inside of the shaft. I say this because the outside of the shaft seemed to be so true, while the nocks, inserts, and new tips were sometimes off center, by very little. Two out of the six arrows seemed perfect to Bill and I.

Next we gave one of the arrows a speed test through the chronograph. I have a 27 1/4 inch draw. After 3 passes, the 33 and 3/4 inch arrow, shot from my 50lb A&H one piece long bow, averaged 164 feet per second. My first thought was how sluggish compared to the 194 fps I got with my 411 grain arrows. Bill made a quick calculation and discovered that the kinetic energy produced with this heavy arrow was 40 ft. lbs. That was 5 ft. lbs. more than my lighter arrow traveling at the faster speed. I felt a lot better about the slower speed.

NOW FOR THE REAL FUN: It was about 10pm. We had waited till Bill closed the 24 indoor shooting lanes. Bill called to Kenny, "let's blow some ---- up." I wanted to duplicate the test Byron Ferguson had done on his video with these shafts using my lighter poundage bow. I didn't believe the Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter shafts would survive our test after my previous experience with going through 3 dozen of another manufacturer's shafts. The other manufacturer has a similar video showing their arrows with broadheads surviving a shot into a cinder block.

I purchased a 2 inch thick 18 inch square concrete paver. I set it up at 10 yards with a 4 foot wide Block target butt behind it. I could hear Bill call from the other room, "don't shoot that arrow with out me." With my witnesses present I drew back and let fly. The next thing I knew I was tying to jump out of the way of the arrow that came bouncing right back at me. It bounced off the wall behind me. Caution. Wear safety goggles if you ever choose to do this, and maybe a bear suit, or armor, etc. I picked up the arrow. Bill handed me the nock that had flown off. The shaft was unaffected. Except for the now blunt tip, the arrow seemed perfect. I stuck the nock on and let the same arrow rip again. This time I jumped out of the way as the arrow bounced off the concrete and smacked the wall behind me. Off popped the nock, but again the shaft seemed unaffected. Bill said, do you want to try a 72lb long bow. I love heavy bows and said sure. Wow did this thing stack. I just barely got to my anchor point. Wham. There was definitely a higher impact. I turned sideways just in time for the nockless shaft to hit me in a tendon above my ankle. Four days later it's still a little sore. Again, the shaft seemed perfect. I gave it another try with the heavy longbow, did a 180 and watched the arrow scoot between my legs before hitting the wall. Bill said "I told you to jump out of the way." At 57 I'm not much of the fast twitch muscle jumping type. Bill said, do you want to try a compound bow. What do you think? Of course. Bill came out with his 65lb Martin that he shoots with fingers. I moved the concrete block back to 20 yards. I don't know how old Bill is but he's not the jumping type either. Bill took a practice shot with an ICS Camo Hunter with a field tip. The arrow bounced a few feet off of the concrete broken at 90 degrees just behind the insert. He nocked the same arrow I'd been shooting. I didn't know Bill could move so fast as he dodged the arrow that smacked the wall behind him. I picked up the arrow. Kenny found the nock. The shaft looked like it was if perfect condition. Not only that but the feathers I had put on with fletching tape were perfectly adhered. Yes I roughed up the shafts Scotch Bright before installing them.

We all handled the arrow. We were all impressed. Bill said "this is the toughest arrow I have ever seen. I'd pay more per half dozen." I have to agree. When I consider that I break one or two arrows per week shooting walkthroughs and 3Ds, my budget for arrows is quite high. I could pay twice the price and still be money ahead with these arrows.

I didn't put the arrow back on the rollers to see how straight it was after all of that abuse, but I did put it through another test. Sunday I shot most of a 3D tournament with it. The fletchings got wet, so I shot about 1/3 of the tournament with another arrow from the same batch. I didn't have much time to practice with this Heavy Hunter, so my score shouldn't be a reflection of the quality of this arrow. The arrow flew straight. I can't shoot a breath mint out of the air with an arrow, but I did hit the kill zone of the Velociraptor on a 50 yard downhill challenge shot. I also missed three targets with no ill affects on the arrows. After the tournament I shot another 17 targets on the walk through using the half dozen shafts on each target. Having arrows I couldn't break made a big difference in shots I was willing to try. I tried every long shot I could. I shot each arrow at every target at least once. There's a bale 70 yards up hill that I've been trying to hit for months but have been too timid to shoot many arrows at. As a result I never could find the right trajectory through the tree branches. I missed 6 times yesterday, my shots falling short of my lighter arrows. I gathered my arrows and shot them again hitting the bale 1 time out of 12. No arrows were harmed in this test.

Back at the flat range I shot another hour. The heavy arrows really changed my my point on dramatically. My point on went from 50 yards to something closer to not quite 40 yards. Worn out I went home excited about getting more accustomed to these arrows. I'm also interested in testing some 500 shafts and cutting them down to the right spine. In the past I've used arrows of a heavier spine. I keep them long in order to get a thicker stronger shaft wall, and still be the correct spine. My hope is that the 500s will be tough enough to take the same punishment and shoot straight after. They should be faster than the Heavy Hunter 400s and still deliver more kinetic energy than my old 411 grain arrows.

To wrap this review up: These are the toughest arrows I have ever shot. I couldn't damage one. They are a little stiffer spine than the other 400s I used to shoot including ICS and Trophy Ridge. Something about our set up only yielded 2 perfect arrows out of six, but for my level of shooting from a long bow they are deadly accurate. I'll be buying more of these arrows and I expect the shafts to outlast me! Thank you Bill for helping me with the testing. Thank you Gold Tip for manufacturing these shafts. Thank you Byron Ferguson for putting your name on these arrows. It's the signature of quality, value, and integrity.

Video to follow. Laugh and learn.