A top-tier arrow featuring A/C (carbon fiber bonded to aluminum) construction, Easton’s X10 Parallel Pro will fill the freezer and the trophy room. This must-shoot shaft with sold-separately components allows the shooter maximum arrow customization.
by Jace Bauserman
Many things have changed during my 25 years of shooting a stick-and-string. Bows have gotten shorter, lighter, stronger, smoother, and more accurate. Dial-to-the-yard sights and fall-away arrow rests boost accuracy. Archers can choose from multiple releases in index, thumb, tension, and hinge styles. Arrows have become thinner and more robust. Shafts are carbon, aluminum, and aluminum/carbon hybrids.
One thing that has yet to change for me is my choice of arrow. While I’ve slung many shafts downrange during my archery/bowhunting tenure, all wore the E inside the white diamond brand.
Easton has made my arrow choice extremely easy for the past three seasons. As a bowhunter, I’ve yet to find an arrow shaft more precise than the 4MM Axis Long Range Match Grade. The arrow’s micro-diameter build cuts through the western wind like butter. With less surface area to press against, Mother Nature doesn’t create as many errant arrows.
Accurate and quiet in flight, 4MM Axis Long Range shafts are available in 250, 300, 340, and 400 spine sizes. The shafts come with 55-grain 4MM Match Garde Half-Outs, and Easton also offers Match Grade Half-Outs in 75-grain Aluminum/Steel, 100-grain Titanium/Steel, and 150-grain Steel/Steel. With multiple Half-Out Match Grade inserts, archers can test and tinker with F.O.C. (Front of Center) until they find what works best.
My 4MM Axis Long Range Match Grade arrows hit with force. Trailing behind a SEVR broadhead, the micro-diameter shaft tracks perfectly behind the broadhead, creating less friction and leading to more pass-throughs, even on big, heavy-boned animals.
A New Sheriff In Town
Easton’s X10 is one of the most legendary arrows ever created, if not the most legendary. The arrow has won more World and Olympic titles than any other arrow since its 1996 debut in the Atlanta, Georgia Games.
For 2024, Easton gives bowhunters and target archers the X10 Parallel Pro. Constructed using tried-and-true X10 precision and quality, this shaft is a multi-purpose (recurve, compound, target, field, barebow) weight-coded wonder with a straightness rating of +/1 .001″. Available in 15 spine sizes from 250 down to 1150, Easton makes an X10 Parallel Pro for any poundage setup. Components like the 4MM Pin, Pin Nock, 4MM Microlite Nock, 4MM Nock Collar, and all Match Grade Half-out options are sold separately from the shafts. Easton did this to allow shooters total build control and maximum arrow customization.
First Thoughts
I get excited when Easton builds a new arrow and offers it to the masses. For instance, the 4MM Axis Long Range Match Grade has filled my freezer and trophy room a lot during my three seasons with it. I remember when Axis 4MM Long Range Match Grade came out. As with the X10 Parallel Pro, I couldn’t wait to do a full-field test and see if the shaft lived up to the hype around it. The 4MM Axis Long Range Match Grade met and exceeded my expectations, and my hopes for the X10 Parallel Pro were high.
Shafts come raw with no insert or nock. Remember, all components are sold separately. At a glance, the X10 Parallel Pro resembles the original X10. I like the dull carbon (no shine) look, the changing-in-diameter gold bands, the white middle, and the three silver bars.
A look inside the shaft revealed A/C construction — high-strength carbon fiber bonded to a 7075 alloy core. Each shaft promises a weight tolerance of +/-.5 grains in precise weight codes to boost shot-to-shot consistency. I was impressed from the get-go.
Cut & Insert
I opted for Easton’s 55-grain Aluminum/Aluminum Half-Outs, 4MM Microlite nocks, and 8-32 100-grain Match Grade Points.
I understand many of you want to tar and feather me and beat me in a public square already for my choice of Half-Outs. Remember, Easton’s all-new Match Grade Half-Outs give you choices. I opted to STAY with the re-designed (more to come on this) 55-grain Aluminum/Aluminum due to my outstanding success in the woods and at 3D shoots. If its not broke, why fix it?
When cutting your shafts to size, it’s important to remember that the Half-Outs add length to your arrow. The stem of the Half-Out goes into the shaft, and the two-piece sleeved impact collar sticks out from the shaft and adds length to your arrow. Do the math before cutting. Measure twice and cut once.
With my arrows cut to size, I used Easton’s chamfering stone, which comes with each package of Half-Outs. Set the stone on a flat surface, put the insert end of your shaft over the nipple, press down, and spin the shaft. Don’t go crazy doing this. You’re not trying to grind the arrow down. The shaft moving around the nipple of the stone creates a more exact insert-to-shaft bond.
Next, I use a .22 cal. Brass brush to rough up the inside-the-shaft aluminum. This creates a better inner wall to insert bondage. Now, I dip a Q-tip in Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the inside of the shaft. Lastly, I apply my glue to my Half-Outs and twist them in a circle as I push them into the shaft. The twisting motion better distributes the glue for maximum insert bondage.
I was impressed with the new Match Grade inserts from the get-go. I applaud the two-piece design that’s slaved to the post. This unique build covers the front of the arrow to increase impact protection. In addition, the post is thicker than the posts of the original Half-Outs, and the self-centering orange silicone fit ring ensures point alignment and a zero-tolerance fit.
Fletch Em’ Up
Take your time. After getting your inserts glued in, give them time to dry. Then, you can start fletching. I dressed each of my 340-spine X10 Parallel Pro shafts with four new-for-2024 Flex-Fletch Pro 2.5 vanes. I love these low-profile, durable vanes. They fletched up like a dream and created excellent arrow rotation in flight during the testing period.
Before attaching your vanes of choice, clean the tail-end of your arrow shaft. Carbon is dirty, and a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol will do the trick. I clean my vanes with a primer pen to ensure a rock-solid vane-to-shaft bond. My finished X10 Parallel Pros weighed 420.2 grains.
Send Em’
It’s late February in Colorado, and I’m still chasing mountain lions behind hounds. For this reason, I didn’t want to retune my Hoyt Alpha X 33 to the X10 Parallel Pro shafts.
Not because I don’t want to hunt with the X10s, but because I have so much confidence in the Axis 4MM Long Range Match Grade shafts now. I hate making significant gear changes during the season. Being the specs of these arrows are similar and tolerances are so exact, I expected I wouldn’t experience flight issues, and I was right.
My first shot from 44.5 yards with the X10 Parallel Pro shaft missed a pair of golf tees pressed into SEVR’s 21 HD Archey Target with Easy-Pull Foam by a hair. I was shocked. My next X10 was a tad right of the golf tees, resulting from poor shot execution. The shot would still be a solid 10 had it been on a 3D target. My third arrow nearly smacked the nock of my fist arrow.
I was thrilled with the accuracy, and the X10 Parallel Pros were whisper-quiet in flight. A quiet arrow is a deadly arrow, my friends.
Three Days
Over three days, I fired X10 Parallel Pro shafts from distances as close as 10 yards and as far as 131.5 yards. Their performance was ultra-impressive. Outweighing my 4MM Axis Long Range shafts slightly, my point-of-impact was lower than where I was aiming, but that’s an easy fix when the time comes.
I repeatedly pounded 3D targets and Morrell’s new-for-2024 Yellow Jacket MOD Pro. I applaud the target’s size, durability, and interchangeable Velcro face. The shafts proved ultra-durable and undeniably accurate. These arrows built shooting confidence quickly.
For grins, even though I had no plans to micro-tune for now, I shot all 12 X10 Parallel Pro shafts through paper. Each tear was borderline perfect, minus one shaft that only needed a slight nock tune. Micro-tuning will be my final step when I put these shafts in my quiver for springtime longbeards.
The speed was impressive. Set at 68 pounds of draw weight and a draw length of 28 3/4 inches, my Hoyt Alpha X 33 sent my 420.2-grain X10 Parallel Pro arrows at a three-shot average speed of 289 fps. The arrow’s speed and weight give me 77.85-foot pounds of kinetic energy, which makes this arrow a hammer.
Final Thoughts
Easton did it again. They created a projectile marvel. Visit your local pro shop and check out the X10 Parallel Pro and the many components you can compile to create a downrange killing machine.
To watch the X10 Parallel Pro arrow setup and field test in action go to Youtube.
