How many and what type of arrow / bolt are you stocking?

[dpack]

my primary bow is a yew and purpleheart laminate longbow with about a 50lb pull ,tis very flat and fast .i have used far heavier bows that put far less energy into the arrow and are far harder to use.

for general purpose i use carbon fibre shafted arrows with a 40 to 60 lb rating which seem both accurate and hold energy well in flight .iirc about £50 got quite a lot of them.
i have some hand made ash ones that are a bit light although they were made for the bow and a variety of random ones that are strong enough to avoid kebabing my wrist on a broken arrow (bracers are not for string burn imho) ,they work but are too stiff or heavy which has issues of accuracy and arc etc etc .
every bow is best married to a type of shaft that suits both the speed and shove it produces,too flexible,too stiff, too light or too heavy all waste energy and ruin accuracy .
it is worth trying quite a few different arrows to see what works best with any decent bow. before stocking up.

for crossbow bolts solid and brutal is a good place to start just aim a bit higher with the heavier ones.

re heads field points are good for practice (give it a few thousand hours) and most uses but having broadheads and bodkins available might be handy. many arrows have screw in tips which makes changing points easy.

a good quality three blade broadhead in front of a decent bow will give a similar terminal ballistic to a 9mm pistol round if you need to stop a bear on the stair or drop the larger type of dinner .
small dinner is best nailed down so a high seat seems sensible and field points work fine with little maintenance.

it is worth remembering that although the historically orientated folk are quite clued up and the bow is a proper british tradition bow hunting is illegal in the uk so much of the best info and kit is often usa based .

ps i recon a primary bow should be a bit lighter than you could manage in case you are cold,tired,hurt or panicking when it matters.
i have a 25lb 3 piece recurve that can use any of the arrows but is fairly limited in ballistics although it might be a very useful bit of kit in quite a few situations especially as i recon most folk could learn the basics with such a tool in quite a short time.

pps the 150lb crossbow is a toy compared to the bow but such things are handy for the unpractised or the "temple of doom" type arrangement.