Arrow Weight Calculator
Your arrow's true weight is the input every other calculator on this site depends on. Build it from its parts — no grain scale required.
How the Build-Up Works
An arrow is a sum, and every term of the sum is published somewhere. The shaft is sold by grains per inch, so its weight is GPI × your cut length. Everything else — insert, point, nock, fletching, wrap — is a fixed number of grains you can read off the packet or the maker's page. Add them and you have the figure the arrow speed calculator, the kinetic energy calculator and the momentum calculator all ask for.
The calculator also reports grains per pound — total weight divided by draw weight — because that ratio, not the raw total, is how arrow weight is compared between bows of different strengths.
Typical Part Weights
| Part | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon shaft | 7–11 GPI | Hunting shafts cluster at 9–11 GPI |
| Aluminum shaft | 9–13 GPI | Heavier per inch than carbon at the same spine |
| Wood shaft | 10–16 GPI | Varies most — weigh a matched set if you can |
| Insert | 12–100 gr | Standard aluminum 12–16 gr; brass 50–100 gr for FOC builds |
| Point / broadhead | 85–200 gr | 100 and 125 gr dominate hunting; 150–200 for heavy builds |
| Nock | 8–13 gr | Lighted nocks 20–30 gr |
| Fletching (3) | 9–27 gr | Feathers lightest; tall vanes heaviest |
| Wrap | 5–10 gr | Optional; also protects the shaft under the fletching |
Grains Per Pound, Read Plainly
5 gpp is the floor most compound makers assume in their warranties — the IBO test arrow at 70 lb is exactly 5 gpp. 6–8 gpp is the working hunting band: quiet, durable, and heavy enough to carry energy. 9 gpp and up is heavy-arrow territory, chosen deliberately for momentum and penetration, and paid for in trajectory. The example build above lands at 7.1 gpp — a middle-of-the-road hunting arrow.
Weight placed at the front does double duty: it raises both total weight and FOC. If you are adding grains, the FOC calculator shows where they do the most good.
Arrow Weight Worked Examples
9.8 GPI × 28.5″ = 279.3 gr of shaft, plus 181 gr of parts = 460 grains total, or 7.1 grains per pound at 65 lb.
An 8.0 GPI shaft at 28″ (224 gr) with a 100 gr point, 12 gr insert, 10 gr nock and 18 gr of vanes totals 364 grains — a speed build, and it will shoot like one.
An 11.5 GPI wood shaft at 29″ with a 160 gr point totals about 514 grains — the raw material of the momentum page's traditional example.
Arrow Weight FAQs
How many grains per pound of draw weight should my arrow be?
The common hunting range is 6–8 grains per pound (gpp): a 450-grain arrow on a 65 lb bow is about 6.9 gpp. Target and speed builds run 5–6 gpp — many bow makers treat 5 gpp as the minimum their warranty assumes — while heavy traditional and dangerous-game builds run 9 gpp and beyond.
What does GPI mean?
Grains per inch — the shaft’s weight for each inch of its length, published by every shaft maker. Multiply GPI by your cut length to get the bare shaft weight, then add the parts. A 9.8 GPI shaft cut to 28.5 inches weighs about 279 grains before anything is glued in or on.
Can I work out my arrow weight without a grain scale?
Yes — that is this calculator’s whole job. Every component weight is published: shaft GPI on the maker’s page, points and inserts are sold by weight, and nocks and vanes vary by only a few grains between models. The parts-sum typically lands within 5–10 grains of a scale, which is close enough for speed and energy estimates.
What is the heaviest part of an arrow?
Usually the shaft itself, then the point. On the example build here the shaft is about 61% of the total, the point 27%, and everything else — insert, nock, fletching, wrap — shares the rest. That is why GPI and point weight are the two levers that matter when you are building to a target weight or FOC.
How does arrow weight change my speed?
On the standard shop rule this site uses, every 5 grains above the 350-grain IBO reference costs about 1 fps on a compound. Going from 405 to 505 grains costs roughly 20 fps — run your finished weight through the arrow speed calculator to see the full picture with KE and momentum attached.
- Easton Archery — shaft selection charts — the reference spine-selection and arrow-building charts this site’s groupings follow
- Gold Tip — arrow university and spine charts — manufacturer spine charts and arrow-weight data used to cross-check the tables