I have been on an arrow tuning mission for the last month or so. Found some carbons I liked, (CX Heritage) and got them to bareshaft nicely with Shaun's help. Had them fletched up with 3 5 " vanes and everything is looking pretty darn good.
I find, however, that every 5 or 6 shots - sometimes more frequent, sometimes less - I will get a little flip of the fletch this way or that. More often than not I get arrow flight straigter than Rosie O'donnel headed toward the buffet but sometimes I see anomolies.
I'm sure some of it is inconsistnet release. And I have a couple of arrows that just seem a little unruly. Part of me says this is good enough, but the perfectionist in me says I want to get every arrow flying perfect every time.
Where do you stop? I know this is an ongoing process, but when do you say good enough? In my wheel days I would not accept any anything but perfection, but that was with a release and a whisker bisket, etc., etc.
Number your arrows and see if the same ones are the culprits each time. If they are, weed them out and use them for stumping and such. If not then you know you still have some form and release issues that you need to work out.
You say "GOOD ENOUGH" when it is good enough for you.
QuoteOriginally posted by vermonster13:
Number your arrows and see if the same ones are the culprits each time... weed them out and use them for stumping ...
Good suggestion. One thing I have noticed is that I have some arrows that I could shoot standing on my head and they would still fly straight. I have been setting those aside for my broadhead tuning and practicing with the others.
Yes, those would be your hunting arrows and the ones for serious practice before the season starts. You have to have confidence in the ones you plan to use for killing.
Are you using plastic vanes,,If so you could be gettin some flip from that,,
QuoteOriginally posted by whitebuffalo:
Are you using plastic vanes...
Nope. 3 5" feathers.
And when I say "flip" I mean something just barely discernible. Point of impact in the target is good and the arrows are generally all parallel in the target as well.
Any extra glue at the front of the fletches of the flippers? Sometimes it's just a little thing making contact that can cause anomolies.
With carbons, (unless you made some up differently on purpose or mistake), if some fly good and some don't, its you. Have someone film you shooting with comments on good and bad flight. You may find your cause.
Also, relax and shoot them for a while. You can micro manage your tuning to the point that you are more concerned about flight than form and mess things up.
Who cares if your arrows fly perfectly under laboratory conditions, right? You want them to fly perfectly for you, under hunting conditions.
Screw some broadheads on the shafts, and you'll find out real quick if there good enough.
tree ghost beat me to it.. screw on broadheads
QuoteOriginally posted by bowdude:
With carbons, (unless you made some up differently on purpose or mistake), if some fly good and some don't, its you. Have someone film you shooting with comments on good and bad flight. You may find your cause.
Hey there Bowdude....i hate to contradict your statement.....but i've spent many years building carbon shaft comp arrows, and there are a lot more differences from shaft to shaft than most people think.... for the "Average" archer they are pretty darn close.....but if you check exact FOC, weigh and spin ballance each shaft....depending on shaft quality and make...there ARE a lot of differences that would cause a variation in arrow flight....espeacially to the pefectionist or a comp shooter....Been there done that......Kirk
Tree Ghost, Dave Lay,
Good thought. I put some broadheads on and the result was that some flew perfect nearly every time. Others were consistently sub-par in the flight dept.
Conclusion: all fly great some of the time, some fly great all of the time, but not all fly great all of the time. The trick is finding the good performers.
I think there must be some minor variations in the fletching, and or wraps, and or arrow uniformity.
I'm not going to agonize over it too much. I am just going to weed out the under performers and go on with life like Vermonster suggested.
46r
Sometimes while I'm practicing I'll have an arrow fly or shoot badley....
I'll swear that something is wrong with it, and go pull that arrow only and go to the same spot and shoot it again (thinking of good form) And low and behold it will shoot fine and striaght to the bulls eye....
"So sometimes it's not the flaw in the Arrow"
Bob, do not worry about it. If you saw most guys arrow flight, you would be amazed. I cannot believe how many guys say they are getting great flight and it is not acceptable to me. We all and I mean all(even the best shooters) get those little whooptie doos. If you are happy than all is well. Unless you are shooting indoors a slight breeze will effect things sometimes. Shawn
Thanks Shaun. I have been shooting outside in a bit of a breeze. I did find one cracked nock that was adding a bit to the mix. All in all things do look pretty good.
I second Mike-try taking a little break every couple of shots. Sometimes I get a little on the "rapid fire" side and my arrow flight suffers, but I may not count cause I shoot alums.
I have benn thinking the same thing, Bob, I've been tuning about two weeks now. I have to be honest with myself, I can only tune as good as I can shoot. That being said, I know I have form issues, and my arrows fly staight with a Snuffer on (most of the time), so now , get better at shooting.
A little torque here, a little pluck there, means
a little flip in the air. Strubberg makes a very good point, don`t let your form slip because that can cause a problem where there wasn`t one.
A broadhead will tell the story. Good luck.
I crave good arrow flight. That is I want to see nothing but fletch on the way to the target. I do tend to "grade' the arrows as does Vermonster. Bow, what does "flip" mean? Jawge
adirondack46r,
Be careful if you think that your on the edge with your settup. I have experienced, and watched friends who shoot settups which are kind of borderline in calm conditions, to only find that shooting in a wind can cause the arrow to plane with a broadhead on it and wonder how the heck they (and myself) missed the mark by a couple of feet.
QuoteOriginally posted by George Tsoukalas:
I crave good arrow flight...
Me too, man!
... what does "flip" mean? Jawge
Most times a flip means a vertical movement and occasionally, more of a horizontal movement. I worked more last night and found a couple of things.
1. My nock placement was borderline. Putting broadheads on made this a little more obvious. A few minor adjustments of the nock improved things.
2. Something that just totally blew my mind when I realized it was that when I stood close to my target the problems were more pronounced. The reason was that I was shooting at a block sitting on the ground (the block was sitting on the ground, not me ;-). Hence the close I moved toward the target, the sharper the angle down I was shooting. I was not bending at the waist so the string pinch was much more pronounced up close than it was at 20 yards. It made an amazing difference. Consciously bending at the waist when shooting up close improved things.
3. I had two arrows that had nocks aligned with the seam of the wrap. The wrap was overlapped slightly and created a bump. When the knock was aligned so that that bump hit the strikeplate, arrow flight was more likely to be affected. Rotating the nocks improved things.
Shooting with broadheads was very helpful. My form probably still needs work, but I can usually tell when I make a bad release that effects arrow flight.
So... this appears to be a game of making incremental improvements.
Thanks for the help.
QuoteOriginally posted by adirondack46r:
QuoteOriginally posted by George Tsoukalas:
I crave good arrow flight...
Me too, man!
Quote ... what does "flip" mean? Jawge
Most times a flip means a vertical movement and occasionally, more of a horizontal movement. I worked more last night and found a couple of things.
1. My nock placement was borderline. Putting broadheads on made this a little more obvious. A few minor adjustments of the nock improved things.
2. Something that just totally blew my mind when I realized it was that when I stood close to my target the problems were more pronounced. The reason was that I was shooting at a block sitting on the ground (the block was sitting on the ground, not me ;-). Hence the close I moved toward the target, the sharper the angle down I was shooting. I was not bending at the waist so the string pinch was much more pronounced up close than it was at 20 yards. It made an amazing difference. Consciously bending at the waist when shooting up close improved things.
3. I had two arrows that had nocks aligned with the seam of the wrap. The wrap was overlapped slightly and created a bump. When the knock was aligned so that that bump hit the strikeplate, arrow flight was more likely to be affected. Rotating the nocks improved things.
Shooting with broadheads was very helpful. My form probably still needs work, but I can usually tell when I make a bad release that effects arrow flight.
So... this appears to be a game of making incremental improvements.
Thanks for the help. [/b]