I'm using LW 4" helical feathers on my current setup right now and was thinking about possibly trying out some 3" LW's. Is any using 3 inchers on their arrows and, if so, do you notice much difference in the flight characteristics?

My 3" fly great, but my bareshaft does too.

Went to 3" 4-fletch with great results. More accurate, and you can get 2 out of one feather!

I shot 3" parabolic out of an A handle Bear (1 of a matched pr,both w/custom limbs) for about 10 years or so. If the setup/tune is spot on,they're great... and I still shoot this bow... but,it isn't very forgiving on those,"bad days". Which,isn't a problem really.... I'd just grab the same arrows with 4" shield cut(burned) and carry on. The other A handle is about 5#'s heavier and with just the slightest bit of tune difference,really prefers 4".... with 4 1/2" being for offdays.

Edit to add; these are all 3 fletch

Quote from: Modad2010 on June 03, 2019, 07:39:21 PM
I'm using LW 4" helical feathers on my current setup right now and was thinking about possibly trying out some 3" LW's. Is any using 3 inchers on their arrows and, if so, do you notice much difference in the flight characteristics?

Short answer, no other than 2-3" less drop at say 35 yards compared to 5" feathers.  I hunt with Simmons (among others) heads, and I don't see any less accuracy between the two sizes with distance/wind/snow hunting shots. 

Thanks guys. I'm currently shooting 4" shield cuts and have some new shafts due in this week. I need to get some feathers anyway and saw a good price on some 3"  shields and thought I might give them a try. My foc is about 23% and I've heard that you can get by with a bit less fletching when the foc is higher.
Thanks again.