600 & 700 Spine Arrows: Light Bows, Youth & Barebow

Five Buying Scenarios: Match the Grade to the Archer

Grade charts tell you what a shaft bends; they don't tell you what to buy at the counter. Each scenario card below pairs a real bow-and-archer combination with the grade that actually fits it, the pain that shows up when the fit is wrong, a concrete setup, and the result you should expect once the arrows are matched. Use the filters to jump to your bow type, then follow each card's next step.

600 vs 700 — Where the Line Falls

Spine numbers are deflection readings, not marketing tiers. A 600 shaft bends 0.600 inches under the standard test — a 1.94 lb weight hung mid-shaft across a 26-inch span — and a 700 bends 0.700 inches under the same load. Bigger number, weaker arrow. That makes the two grades exactly one full grade apart, with no intermediate label between them on most manufacturer ladders: Easton, Gold Tip and the catalog brands jump straight from 600 to 700 to 800. The 0.100-inch deflection gap is the same distance as 400 → 500 or 500 → 600, so treat it as a real grade change, not a trim.

You can close part of that gap with hardware, but only part. Point weight swings dynamic spine by roughly half a grade per 50 grains, and cutting length stiffens the shaft too, so a 700 with a 125 gr point and a one-inch-shorter cut lands measurably closer to the 600 than its label suggests. What you cannot do is split the difference with half measures and call the grades interchangeable — they are not. Where the line falls in practice: 600 serves 35–45 lb recurves at 27–29-inch draws, 40–45 lb light compounds at short-to-medium cuts with light points, and traditional bows in the same poundage band running heavy 125–175 gr heads. 700 serves 30–35 lb recurves and barebow rigs at 26–28 inches, 35–40 lb trad bows with light points, and the top of the youth ladder. If your bow sits between bands, buy the softer label for finger shooting and the stiffer one for release — finger release bends the arrow harder at launch, release aids don't.

The 600 Grade: 600 Spine Arrows by Draw Weight and Shaft Choice

The 600 grade is the stiff end of the light-bow world and the soft end of the serious one. In carbon it typically runs 6.5–8.5 grains per inch (manufacturer-published nominal figures — verify the current spec sheet), so 600 spine arrow shafts cut to 28 inches finish near 290–340 grains with a 100 gr head, insert and nock included. That is the 7–9 grains-per-pound window light bows like: heavy enough to steer, light enough that a 35 lb bow still launches it crisply. Most 600s come 31–32 inches raw, which leaves real cutting room for short-draw youth and women's setups — one reason 600 spine carbon arrows are the default first “real” dozen for 40 lb-class archers.

Who actually shoots the grade? Three overlapping groups: 35–45 lb compound shooters at 26–28-inch draws with a release, 35–40 lb recurve shooters at 28–29 inches with standard points, and traditional archers in the same band who screw on 125–175 gr heads and need the extra stiffness to carry them. Search results for “carbon arrows 600 spine” blend all three audiences into one shelf, which is why the fit bands below matter more than the listing title. One caution for the top of the band: 45 lb-plus shooters at 29-inch draws are already crossing into stiffer territory — the 400 spine guide and the 500 spine guide pick up where this page ends.

600 Spine Arrows Draw Weight: The Bands That Matter

The honest way to read 600 spine arrows draw weight charts is as a pair of numbers: pull and draw length. Standard fits land like this — 35–40 lb recurve at 28–29″ with a 100–125 gr point; 40–45 lb compound at 26–28″ with a release and a 100 gr point; 30–35 lb recurve at 29–30″ or with a 150 gr head, where the long draw or heavy front weakens the arrow a full grade and pulls the fit down from 700 to 600. Two checks before you order: confirm what the bow really pulls at your draw (limb-bolt stickers and peak-weight claims drift — a bow scale or the bow draw weight calculator settles it in a minute), and remember that finger release wants the softer side of any band while a release aid wants the stiffer side.

Shopping 600 Spine Arrows for Sale Listings Without Guessing

Search “600 spine arrows for sale” and you get three different products wearing one label. Fletched 6- or 12-packs arrive ready to shoot — convenient, but you inherit the factory's cut length and vane choice. Raw 600 spine carbon arrow shafts ship uncut with inserts and nocks separate, which is what bare-shaft tuners and trad shooters should buy. Component bundles add points and a fletching jig for turnkey builds. Whatever the format, four lines decide quality: straightness tolerance (±0.006″ is fine for light bows; ±0.003″ is a bonus), spine tolerance (±2–3 on a 600 is normal), raw length (31″+ leaves cut room), and whether the listing states GPI at all — a 600 with no published weight spec is a listing to skip.

Gold Tip Valiant and Traditions: The 600-Class Workhorses

Within Gold Tip's ladder, two manufacturer-published nominal 600 options cover most light-bow buyers. The Valiant 600 is the value-dozen play: the same durability-first construction philosophy as the Hunter line at a friendlier price, with GT-series components readily available — a sensible first dozen for a 40 lb-class compound. The Traditions 600 is the trad-focused taper, built around the heavier 125–175 gr points that traditional setups run, which makes it the natural pick for the feathered-600 scenario above. Treat both as spec-sheet entries: Gold Tip refreshes its lines regularly, so confirm the current published GPI and straightness for the production year before ordering.

Easton Jazz and Avance: Beginner-Price 600s That Measure Honestly

Easton serves this poundage band under two naming systems, and knowing which one you are reading saves a wrong order. The Avance carbon line lists a 600 (and a 700) in its target-oriented sizes — a clean, spec-sheet-quoted choice for barebow and entry target shooters who want a 600 spine arrow shaft that behaves like its label. The aluminum Jazz covers the same beginner band under Easton's four-digit diameter-and-wall codes rather than the word “spine”; match it by Easton's own fit chart, not by converting numbers in your head. Both lines are club favorites for a reason: predictable, honest measurements at prices that make losing arrows to grass survivable.

Skylon, Musen and Catalog-Brand 600s: Reading E-Commerce Listings

The marketplace brands — Skylon in the enthusiast-catalog tier, Musen and similar storefronts in the budget tier — list 600 spine carbon arrows in 6- and 12-packs, often pre-fletched with vanes or feathers. The honest assessment: for a light bow at indoor-to-20-yard distances, a budget 600 that spin-tests straight shoots well, and the price makes practice volume easy. The risk concentrates in consistency — expect some shafts in a budget dozen to drift toward the tolerance limits, so spin-test and weigh-sort before tuning, and keep expectations appropriate for the price. They are fine practice shafts; they are not where you buy one dozen you plan to keep for years.

The 700 Grade: 700 Spine Arrows by Draw Weight and Shaft Choice

If 600 is the stiff end of the light-bow world, 700 is its heart — the grade that 30-something-pound recurves and barebow rigs were practically designed around. 700 spine carbon arrows typically run 6.0–7.5 grains per inch (manufacturer-published nominal), so 700 spine arrow shafts cut to 27–28 inches finish near 250–300 grains with components — light, quick arrows that a 30 lb bow can still launch with authority. The grade's whole personality comes from that pairing: softer shaft, slower bow, forgiving launch. It is also the first rung where feathers beat vanes for most shooters, because finger launch and shelf contact punish stiff-recovering arrows and reward compressible fletching.

The grade is equally the youth crossover: a strong 12- to 14-year-old moving up from a kit bow into a 25–30 lb recurve lands here before reaching the 600s, and adult beginners in the same band stay for years. Model-wise, the same families as the 600 grade repeat one rung softer — Valiant and Avance both list 700s, and the catalog brands fill the budget tier — so once you have picked a shaft family at 600, staying in it at 700 keeps components and cutting jigs consistent between bows in the household.

700 Spine Arrows Draw Weight: Where the Band Sits

The 700 spine arrows draw weight band, read plainly: 30–35 lb recurve at 26–28″ with a 100 gr point is the textbook fit; 25–30 lb youth bows at 25–27″ take the 700 at the stiffer edge of their range or drop to 800 at shorter draws; 35 lb with a 125 gr+ point, or anything at 29 inches and beyond, pushes the fit back up to 600. Release shooting moves every one of those lines stiffer by about half a grade, which is why a 40 lb compound with a wrist release can shoot 700 comfortably at short draws while the same bow finger-shot wants the 600. When the band edges feel ambiguous, the arrow spine chart lays the full draw-weight grid side by side.

Feathered 600s for Traditional Shooting

The search phrase “600 spine arrows with feathers” describes a complete traditional system, not an accessory choice. Here is why the pieces belong together. A 35–40 lb trad bow launches arrows slowly — 170–190 fps-class — and off a shelf or low rest, with a finger release that kicks the shaft sideways at launch. Feathers answer all three constraints at once: they compress against the shelf instead of kicking the arrow, they steer the big blunt-paradox recovery of a heavy-headed shaft, and they stabilize the broadhead-like front weight that traditional setups run. That is why the canonical trad build is 600 spine, 125–175 gr head, 3-inch right-wing feathers, helical clip — the head carries the front weight for wind and penetration feel, the 600 stiffness carries the head, and the feathers carry the recovery.

The working method is bare-shaft first. Buy raw shafts, screw on your real head weight, shoot fletched against bare at 20 yards, and adjust point weight or cut length until the bare shafts plane into the fletched group — then fletch the dozen. Wet-weather shooters have a legitimate counterargument: feathers degrade in rain, and a soaked feathered arrow flies poorly for the rest of the session. Traditional shooters in wet climates either keep feathered arrows for fair weather and accept the trade, or shoot short low-profile vanes and give up some launch forgiveness. There is no option that gets both — pick which compromise your range days favor.

Youth Arrow Spine: The 700–900 Ladder, Table Included

Youth arrow spine is where mis-buys concentrate, for a simple reason: adult arrows are everywhere, and youth-rated arrows are not. The physics is unforgiving in the stiff direction — a 15–25 lb bow cannot bend a 500 or 600 enough to recover cleanly, so those shafts plane like little wings, drift in the mildest breeze, and group like a shotgun. The rule worth printing on the fridge: nothing stiffer than 600 (that is, no number below 600) belongs on a youth bow, and most youth bows want the numbers at or above 700. Here is the table that matches bow pull and draw length to a grade:

Two practical notes for parents. First, draw length moves the numbers more than poundage does at this scale: a 25 lb bow at a 24-inch draw is a different arrow problem than the same bow at 27 inches, which is why the table pairs both columns. Second, buy the bow-and-arrow set as one decision — if the kit bow ships with matched arrows, keep the pairing until the archer outgrows the poundage, then re-buy both ends of the system together. And when a junior archer progresses past 35 lb, this page has done its job: the barebow and light-compound scenarios at the top take over, and the full ladder on the 500 Spine decision-tree page maps everything stiffer.

Frequently Asked Questions