Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Best arrow vains & style?!?!?!

Sligh1

Administrator
Staff member
So, I'm not much of a "gear" expert, I like my Z7 & my Gold tip pro hunter arrows. BUT- I kinda quit advancing with arrows about a decade ago.... normal & regular size vains with a typical helical. SO....

I see all these new vains that are shorter OR stuff like quick spin, etc.... What's really the best while leaving out the marketing and hype? Shorter vains the way to go & why? what do you think for helical? OR what's advantages & disadvantages to each?? Guys who really get into bows, etc - please speak up! Ordering arrows soon and I'm sure some others could use some insight as well. Thanks!!!
(sticking with GT pro hunter unless I should seriously look at others? more talking about fletching BUT open to this discussion as well). THX!
 
Skip,
Great arrow choice. I shoot the GT XT Hunter's myself. I build my own arrows and have had the best accuracy with 2 inch Blazers. I fletch them with the Bohning Blazer jig with a helical. I get very tight groups with field points, fixed blades, and mechanicals. They are very durable and won't break the bank either. But like a lot of things in archery these days there are a lot of great vane choices out there to choose from....but Blazers have worked great for me and my set ups.
 
Shorter vanes are not affected by a crosswind near as much.. Right now, ive got 2" blazers with a helical because thats what came with the arrows.. i shoot bloodsport ht1's.. i tried the 2" quick-fletches w/ quickspin by NAP on my axis arrows a couple years ago.. first group with them at 50yds was dang near the size of a golfball.. as easy as they were to put on and as well as they flew with both fixed and mechanical blades (montecs and rage), i would recommend the 2" quickfletch vanes with quickspin on them.. dont have to buy a jig or have anyone else do them
 
I really like the Flex Fletch Flash vanes. They are similar to Blazers but are stiffer so I find they do a better job stabilizing my fixed blades. A bit more spendy than Blazers but worth it to me. Tougher than Blazers too. I've also shot GT Pro Hunters for years and have found no reason to change.

If your interested I'll send you 3 to test out. You do have to clean the vane before gluing them. If not they won't adhere properly. I use an Arizona EZ Mini fletcher to fletch my own.....quick, easy, and puts a great helical on the arrow.
 
I've shot pretty much every vane out there at one point or another and the best as far as arrow flight goes is 4" or 5" feathers. Problem is, they suck in the rain, are expensive, and are not durable. The next best, which is what I use all the time now, is the 2" blazer vanes with a slight offset right helical. You can get like 100 of them off of ebay for like 12 bucks or something. You can't beat that. I also like the fusion vanes but you're going to pay more for those too.
 
I switched from feathers to Blazers a few years ago and have zero complaints. Although I have never compared them to similar products on the market. Never felt the need to.
 
Stand down range and listen to a quick spin go buy and you wont shoot them. I doubt the whistling matters, but its loud.

Blazers have revolutionized fletchings. They spin the arrow faster creating better groups, less drag, durable. You name it. The other short fletchings came out after them so they are all similar. With these short vanes, I dont believe helical matters.. I mean a helical twist over a 2 inch space is nothing. Most of these are simply put on with a 2 degree offset and considered helical anyhow. Just slap them on and go.

Cant go wrong with a blazer. And if for some reason you have an issue with them, it is because your bow isnt properly tuned.

At the same time, you could pick up a 2216 with 6 inch helical feathers and still shoot golf tees at 20 yards. Bottom line- Dont overthink it.
 
I tend to agree with you about the helical, Gundog. I did a test with my blazers a while back. Three with straight fletch and three with offset. Shot them all from 20 yards on out to 50 with virtually no difference in flight, impact location, or target pentration. Also tried it again on a breezy day and it didn't matter much either. Shot with a Mathews Z7 Extreme.
 
I'll throw in another plug for the 2" Blazers. I switched from 4" "regular" vanes back in 2009 and my groupings tightened up tremendously, including out to 70 yards (baseball size groups). I have a buddy that put a right helical twist on his Blazers but he was experiencing long-range erratic flight so he went back to "standard" fletching like Gundog is saying and his groups from 30 yards on out to extreme ranges went back to tight groups. I don't know if his were put on wrong with the helical, but he switched back to normal fletch and had consistent groups again.

Bottom line, you won't regret Blazers!
 
If you go with the blazers... Would you advise you get those wraps that you do yourself???
 
Sligh1 said:
If you go with the blazers... Would you advise you get those wraps that you do yourself???

I have used both "quick fletch" and regular blazers with wraps. Personally I don't like quick fletched because every once in a while they will shrink funky, causing 2 fletchings to be closer together and not spread at 120 degrees. Blazers with regular wraps is the way to go for me at least.

I use a 1 degree right offset, 4 degrees causes speed issues and drifting IMO. Helical causes same issues in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom