A Review of Modern Manchu Arrows

Introduction

This article is intended to be an honest review of Caroline Armory’s Manchu Arrows. I must admit that the owner, Kevin Xu, is a friend and a member of the Toronto Asiatic Archery Group. Kevin and I have also recently visited Mr. Li Qingyang in Chongqing together. Our adventures and learnings will be told in a different article.

I will bench mark Caroline Armory’s arrows against the more widely used Alibow’s Manchu arrows and list the Toronto Asiatic Archery Group’s Manchu bow archers’ recommendations for modern Manchu arrows in general. Please let manufacturers know what you want if you agree with our recommendations; because we should let them know what we want, so they can produce better products.  

I feel that the Toronto Banner Boys have the right to say something about modern Manchu arrows because we have shot Alibow Manchu Arrows, Caroline’s Generation 1 Barrel Shaft Manchu Arrows, the Generation 2 Barrel Shaft Manchu Arrows hundreds of times (if not in the thousands) during our rigorous weekend practice hours.

The Popular Alibow Manchu Arrows

Alibow’s Manchu arrows are probably the most purchased in the world thanks to the success of its Yarha Manchu bow series.  It is intuitive to purchase Manchu arrows together with one’s bow order. Alibow makes two kind of Manchu Arrows:

a.) the Manchu Target Arrow for < 60# draw weight, and

b.) the Thick Shaft Manchu Arrow for > 60# draw weight.

See: 6pc Manchu Target Arrow | alibow

Their specifications are listed below:

	Manchu Arrow	Thick Shaft Manchu Arrow
Arrow Weight	Up to 1000 grain.	1000 to 1500 grain
Shaft Length	Up to 37.75” (95.9 cm).
Spine	500, 400, 300	200, 100
Points / Insert	Field points.   Brass inserts	Special Field Points.   Brass Insert
Fletching	Fletching: 8” long turkey feather.
Nock	Tapered plastic nocks
Decorations	Black or Bamboo Pattern Shaft

The arrows try to resemble traditional Manchu arrows’ long fletching with 8” long turkey fletching and shaft length up to 37.75” (95.9 cm). The shaft has the same diameter throughout and uses modern nocks; but it offers a bamboo pattern paints to give the shaft a historical appearance. In terms of shaft diameters, they are narrower than traditional wooden shaft arrows and lack the barreled shape profile.

A unique feature often seen in these arrows is that the insert and points are often much longer than regular carbon arrows. The Toronto archers particularly dislike this feature.

Other than the length and longer fletching, Alibow’s Manchu arrows resemble modern carbon arrow; even their relative low price! It is not a criticism. In fact  Alibow arrows are highly suitable for beginners and those looking for budgeted Manchu arrows for field use. The Toronto group recommends Alibow arrows to all beginners.

Below is a comparison of replicas of historical Manchu arrows vs. the modern Alibow and Caroline Armory arrows.

Caroline Armory’s Barrel Shaft Manchu Arrows

Caroline Armory’s Manchu arrows are nowhere as popular as Alibow’s (for now). They have a barrel shaped shaft design, which distinguishes them from modern carbon arrows. Caroline Armory’s intention is to recreate historical Manchu arrows with modern materials; offering a much more authentic shooting experience for modern archers.

Caroline’s barrel shaped shaft resembles the design used by Manchu arrows (see below), but there remain some differences. Traditional arrows being carved from wood actually had a more complicated geometry. Historical arrows were actually shaped like an extremely elongated “fighter jet”!

Kevin holding an historical Manchu arrow shaft.

Historical Manchu shaft’s barrel was slightly off-center from the middle of the shaft and then shaped like  a bowling pin toward its end. Then, from the barrel to the arrow tip, the shaft would tapper toward its tip. You should be able to see the resemblance to a fighter jet.

Like Alibow, Caroline Armory uses 8″ long fletching, so it is still shorter than most Manchu arrows. To be more similar to Manchu arrows, Carolin Armory uses nocks that are shaped more like traditional arrows as shown in the above photo. They offer, upon request, one-piece inserted field points that somewhat resemble how tradition arrow heads were supposed to be inserted into the shaft directly in once piece.

Here is a specification of Caroline Armory arrows:

	Caroline Armory’s Manchu Arrows
Arrow Weight	Shaft weight approximately 710 grain. Can be customized with inserts / field points to selected weight.
Shaft Length	Maximum 90cm (35”) for barreled shaped shaft.   Straight shaft can go up to 1m
Spine	Can go as low as < 100. Stiff shaft for Manchu archery actually very suitable because of the “khatra” technique that we do.   See previous articles on bow grip technique.
Points / Insert	Aluminum / brass insert with field points (Not Recommended)   Steel one-piece insert (Recommended)
Fletching	8” fletching. Exotic fletching such as peacock is available
Nock	Square shaped
Decoration	Wood pattern shaft   The Generation 1’s black shaft is discontinued.   Optional traditional decoration with stickers and imitation ray skin.

There are also compatible one-piece inserted Manchu arrow heads available for historical recreation or hunting purposes.

User Experience

Both Alibow and Caroline Armory Manchu arrows perform well.

In terms of actual performance, you will find that barreled shaped arrows fly much straighter. It is probably due to the much stiffer shaft and aerodynamics of the barrel shape. Caroline Armory’s Manchu arrows self-correct their flight very early on.

In order for Alibow’s straight shaft arrows to fly in a similar manner, one’s release must be clean or the arrow could “fish-tail” before self-correcting. Hence, Alibow’s arrows are very useful in checking your release.

The Caroline Armory’s arrows, on the other hand would test one’s bow hand technique instead. If a correct  “khatra” was not performed, the arrow could fly right as it leaves the bow because the arrows are stiff and of very los spine (like wood arrows). (See previous post on Diao Zhuan)

Lesson 2 – Diao-Zuan（The Bow Hand’s Grip)

Overall, I would say that Caroline Armory Manchu arrows give a better historical experience than Alibow’s. However, it comes with a much higher price tag selling between $20 – $30 depending on your specifications and order size. Alibow on the other hand sells for half the price. A car analogy is Lexus vs. Toyota. Both are good arrows, but the Lexus would give you the luxury and customizable features.

Recommendations to Both Alibow and Caroline Armory

First, it would be ideal if Caroline Armory can lower its price to match Alibow’s, but it’s not easy because their manufacturing process is more intensive and their decorative details are at a higher level. They also allow customers to customize according to their needs.

In terms of what both companies can technically do better, they are very similar.

Here is a list:

#1: use one-piece inserts for better protection. The Toronto group has concluded that most arrow damages came from the inserts and field points being separate pieces. Caroline’s one-piece insert design is extremely robust, and we have only seen these arrows being dented at the tip when they hit metals.; while the same event could be desctructive for Alibow points / inserts.

The right tip did not come from Alibow, but we have seen similar mode of failure when you have elongated tips that are screwed on to inserts. This particular example is even worse than Alibow’s because the insert is of a weaker alloy. Where as the onepiece pointinsert design is very robust and share greater resemblence to histrical Manchu arrows.

Feel free reaching out to us if you would like to get these onepiece point / insert design.

#2: Adding a Hua-Guo protection layer at the front end of the shaft. Most of the damages to the wood pattern or bamboo pattern paints had been found in the front end of the shaft. An imitation Hua-Guo made from Caroline’s imitation ray skin as shown below will be both practical and decorative. Also, historical arrows were made with Hua-Guo so archers don’t over draw.

For your old arrows, one of the Toronto members, Tian, has experimented with electrical tapes. They work well and sort of resemble historical Hua-Guo made from tree barks.

#3: Use nocks with a more rectangular profile to resemble traditional arrows. Caroline Armory offers this but not Alibow. They are easier to nock. We believe this will be a cheap upgrade for Alibow, or you could replace them yourselves.

The Toronto Group knows where to get them. Feel free to reach out if you are interested.

#4: Adjust the distance between the fletching and the nock depending on one’s technique. For those using the Tiao-Gua thumb draw technique, there should be enough length so that your finger clears the fletching.