Can you recover magic/alchemical arrows?

[liamfisher]

I think I figured out the source of my confusion. According to Elves of Golarion (p. 22), when speaking about alchemical arrows, it says "Unless otherwise stated, these alchemical arrows are only effective for one shot." Not having played any ranged characters so far, I just extended this in my mind to all sorts of ammo. But now I think the rule can be summarized as: 

1. Magic ammunition (non-firearm) has a 50% chance of being recovered after a missed shot, and if recovered, it retains all magic properties.

2. Alchemical ammunition loses its alchemical properties after being shot, regardless of whether it's a hit or a miss (so that recovering the ammunition on a missed shot just gets you an ordinary arrow).

Sound right?

Yeah, because alchemical arrows do stuff when they impact.  It just doesn't do it to your target.  

There is an exception - the durable arrow.  Durable arrows have to be destroyed or fired where you can't retrieve them to lose them.  Things like
shooting creatures with burn or acid touch defense effects destroys durable arrows.   Still a good choice for the expensive material composite arrows.