THE EASTON X10: STAYING On TOP
The modern incarnation of barrelling in arrows is the Easton X10, developed in the mid90s by Jim Easton and George Tekmitchov, specifically for long-distance shooting. Since then, it has been extraordinarily successful, particularly in the context of the Olympics, then as now the pinnacle of the recurve sport. (Easton usually run a wry ad in the wake of every Summer Games, pointing out that once again, every archer on the podium used their product to take a medal. )
Tapered shafts have been in use for thousands of years. By tapering and thinning the back of the arrow and keeping the same diameter in the front of the shaft, arrows gain better performance. A tapered shape reduces drag while producing a higher front-of-centre balance, essential for good ballistics.
Fully barrelled shafts, where the front half tapers to a point, creating three distinct 'zones' on the arrow, also dates from antiquity. But barrelled arrows until very recently were custom made, one-off sets. Jim Easton experimented for decades, but it took many years for the technology to catch up to the point where barrelled arrows could be manufactured to the tolerances required for top level archery. The difficultly in manufacturing is one of the reasons for the high costs involved, certainly compared to manufacturing parallel shafts. Each spine requires a separate approach, custom materials, shape and flex pattern.
Following on from the barrelled A/C/E, which was introduced in 1987 and used by Jay Barrs to win the 1988 Olympic Games, the X10 was released in 1995 and since then has won every Olympic Games gold medal.
All of them. It has also set every outdoor world record achieved since then. It is fairly extraordinary to a single product to dominate this long unchanged.
The smaller diameter of the X10 shaft presents less surface area and a smaller cross section to the wind which is very helpful in difficult conditions at longer distances.
More importantly, the X10 has a high ballistic coefficient – it correctly balances mass weight and momentum for better performance from recurve bows at distance, especially in windy conditions.
In earlier years, the X10 was shot by compound archers with the rearward taper portion partly removed to stiffen up the arrow – compound archers do not benefit from a rear taper which assists in bow clearance and makes finger releases more forgiving. The experiences with compounders using the X10 eventually lead to the development of the Easton X10 Protour arrow.
The X10 extraordinary dominance, particularly among recurve shooters, is remarkable for a 25 year old product. A handful of other companies are starting to make inroads into the market, but the X10 has developed a kind of totemistic power since then. In Tokyo next year, it is almost a 100% certainly that the new Olympic champions standing on the podium will be wielding X10s.