By George Tekmitchov

In 2017, Easton created a 140-grain break-off Tungsten point option to complement the stiffer Pro Tour 340, and to provide all Pro Tour compound shooters an option for heavier point weight for the 50M round. This arose from a request by some top shooters for a heavier point for testing.

The 140-grain point can accommodate 140 to 100 grains with 10-grain break-off segment decrements.

Some compound shooters with particularly long draws, using the stiffer sizes of Pro Tour, and using heavier vanes, arrow wraps and PIN nocks, feel they benefit from the increased Front of Center Balance available with the 140 grain point option.  Most others are sticking with the time-tested 120 grain Tungsten point, sometimes broken off all the way down to 100 grains.

So, to get ahead of an obvious question, why is Easton not currently recommending the heavier-than-120 grain points for X10 recurve shooters?

Starting in July of 2015, we seeded our 140-grain points to some of the top recurve archers around the world for preliminary tests. While initial practice results were encouraging, we quickly found that the 140-grain point created an unforgiving tune for nearly all testers including three Olympic medalists.

Specifically, for 70 meters, we discovered that the extra FOC and point mass was working against the shooters by causing an occasional low arrow, or a left or right flyer, in competition conditions.

What we discovered is that the heavier point option works well out to 50M from compounds (and with compound speeds) but, for recurve shooters shooting 70 meters, in the last portion of arrow flight, the arrow equipped with the heavier point can sometimes “tip over” late in the flight path. This can cause an unexpected low arrow in the group.

In addition, the excess point weight could make the arrow more sensitive to differences in release, especially in competition pressure situations, manifesting in a left or right 8 with a very tight center group.

So, it turns out that 100-120 grains (as we have recommended for years) actually works best under pressure for these accomplished shooters- a fact proven once again at the 2016 Rio and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where X10 shooters using Easton tungsten points again took every medal- all at 100-120 grains.

Bottom line- the 140 grain option is potentially a great solution for longer draw, maximum poundage compound shooters using heavy vanes and competing in the 50M World Archery Round with the stiffer sizes of Pro Tours, but is generally not recommended for X10 recurve shooters in general, where the 120-break off Tungsten point (or Easton’s more affordable 17-4 PH Stainless points) at the correct final weight (100-120) is the proven best solution.