The ACC is Dead, Long Live the Procomp?

Recommending arrows to noobs buying their first bow used to be so easy. Initially the rugged, durable and great value aluminium Easton XX75 Platinum plus. It was the perfect beginners arrow. Then, when they needed to graduate to a lighter, faster arrow for longer distances and importantly, one that was detectable with the metal detector .. the tough Easton ACC or slightly more expensive ACG aluminium/carbon (A/C) shafts delivered good value and good performance.

BUT … at the end of 2020, Easton decided to discontinue the ACC and the ACG. The announced reason was to reduce the clutter of shafts and components and standardize on a smaller but more functional range. All very logical but they forgot one thing … a suitable A/C replacement for recurvers. To explain, Easton went with pure carbon shafts in their midrange for recurve arrows. Performance is probably as good if not better than the old A/C shafts BUT suggesting a “hard to metal detect when invisible in the grass” arrow to relatively new archers shooting longer distances outdoors on fields we share with other sports? … I can feel our editor shudder from here!

However, when Easton extended the Procomp arrow’s spine range it initially looked like the ACC/ACG replacement recurvers needed till you read the sales blurb. It was a “light-weight, high speed, parallel design, designed for archers looking to boost scores at competitive and club-level compound events … available for compound target and field competition.” Nothing about it being suitable for recurve. Fortunately archers are fond of empirical testing so the arrow was pressed into service on recurves and the results were quite favourable. The specification for the Procomps are extremely similar to ACG’s and, in fact, there is now more choice in shaft spines (1150-250) and point weights (80-130grns) for tuning than before. There is a caveat emptor in that Easton have never actually said the Procomp is good for recurve. On the other hand, with nothing in the specs to raise a red flag and archers reporting they shoot them on their recurves with no problems, it might be a safe(-ish**) bet that the Procomp could be the arrow to carry on the mantle of the ACG. Itself a rebrand of the Easton A/C Navigator.

Admittedly the Procomps are a bit more expensive than the ACC and not quite as durable but that design was more than 30yrs old in a sport where kit performance has improved greatly in the last decade. Perhaps it was time to let go and move on, sad as that was to lose a treasured friend.

So there you go. The Procomp might be the arrow for newer recurve archers beginning to shoot those longer distances and looking at Easton to supply it. We’ve reached out to Easton with the hope they will come back with some technical info that will support our discussions with the archery community (see Reddit link below). If we get anything back, positive or negative, we’ll post it here.

Update: There have been some interesting developments with A/C arrows recently with some good alternatives to Easton. Check them out in this article

**PS: Most things in archery are “-ish”.

References:

History of the Easton ACC arrow shaft
Easton Archery – Procomp shaft
Reddit R/Archery Procomp discussion