The other thing on your bow is how much of a shielf you have. The deeper the shielf is cut towards the center of the bow the more forgiving the bow will be with stiffer arrows. Are your arrows spined 60-65 or 65-70 as it isn’t very often you get a set were all of them are dead on to the pound. I have built some set that are dead on but you have to sort through a bunch of shafts to find them and it is very costly. From your symptoms it seems to me you may have a few problems. Have you tried paper tuning your bow and arrow combo? If not I suggest you try this and work on one problem at a time. Porpousing is mainly caused by a nock height problem and fishtailing is a spine issue. If you combined both of these then you can get a flight that looks something like the corkscrew you described. Your arrows may be very close to the right spine, but some of them because of the normal 5 pound spread could top over as being stiff, or bottom out at being weak. Hope this helps some, with more information I can help you better.

Derek

My draw is the same as yours and I shoots 2 D-styles that are 50lbs! I also shoot POC, I built prolly 100 arrows in the last year! I have shot 65/70, and 70/75 out my bows with 125 and 145 pts, and mine fly great so I think your spine is in the wheel house! If the shafts are straight maybe check the following: spin test them to see if all the points are seated right with no wobble, maybe they are not clearing the shelf and rest cleanly, as you stated check brace height and nocking point! Once in while I will find a wood arrow that will not fly right no matter what I do, then it goes in the stumper pile!

To change the dynamic spine of your current arrows you can change the weight of the points. If they are too stiff then add weight and if they are too weak reduce the weight. I would recommend trying some 145gr or even 160gr heads on your current arrows to see if it makes a difference in flight.

TK — since your arrows are flying “every which way” I’m inclined to think the problem is crooked arrows, or badly mismatched spines, or mismatched shaft weight. I have quit using POC due to the increasing inability to get good consistent shafts. If you bought “bargain” arrows it’s likely that they’re not only not straight, but all over the map in spine and shaft weight as well. In addition to spinning the shafts to get a close check on straightness (and you shouldn’t have had to straighten them all in the first place), weigh them all — anything more than 10 grains difference between lightest and heaviest is unacceptable, and conscientious arrowsmiths and shaft providers shoot for 5 grains or less. I don’t know how you can check spine, but if any of these three basics is way off — straightness, weight, and spine consistency — you’re wasting your time with changing point weights and paper tuning. I’m quite happy with Surewood (Douglas fir) shafts and I always buy my shafts from an arrow specialist and never a big warehouse operation. Good luck.

I will totally agree with everything Dave has stated, but didn’t want to go down that path as you stated you didn’t want to think about having to buy more arrows. Thanks Dave for saying what I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. Bargain arrows are just that, a bargain for you pocketbook but a headache for your shooting. The only thing I don’t agree with Dave is the Surewood as I perfer and recommend Sitka Spruce, but I’m also not saying Surewood are bad shafts, just a little on the heavy side for me. Sitka Spruce on the other hand are close to the same weight as POC, but hold up much like hard wood shafts. I also go straight to the source for my shafts and not some second hand place that is likely buying seconds and selling them at first grade prices.

It sounds like you are well on your way but I also want to echo what David said about weight. I have a kitchen portion scale and weigh all of my shafts as soon as I get them. I then make batches within that batch. I’m real persnickety when it comes to weight. Ripforce and I did a lot of testing on this area in particular this summer. You don’t notice a difference at 15 yards but you REALLY notice it at 20-30 yards – a range that is most definitely relevant in my opinion due to how difficult it is to judge range in the woods. One significantly heavier or lighter shaft (weight-wise) will drive you CRAZY at the range or in the woods.

You could likely be dropping your bow arm down and to the left at release. You could also be too heavy on the spine. Now, what point weight where you using for the grouping you described? My inkling is your arrows are too heavy on the spine. Jawge

I was once given a tip that may help the next time you buy wood shafts. Take an aluminium arrow that works well for you, check it on a spine gauge, then order your shafts at whatever that came out at. As for you problems now, apart from playing around with length of shaft and point weight I can’t really add any more than has already been suggested. I have found that if your nocks are too tight on the string they ted to “grab” the string on release and that affects flight badly to my experience. I usually use Classic nocks, sometimes Snap-ons too, and apply a layer of dental floss to the string an inch above and below nock point as they can be a bit loose, but if I apply too much and make the string too thick I get the bad flight I mentioned before. The only other thing I can think of is lots and lots of practice as woods tend to need almost perfect release, and we all know how hard that can be to apply consistently once you’ve been out in the field for hours and are beginning to tire.
Good luck to you, matey. Woods can be very frustrating if your used to carbons and aluminiums but it’s very satisfying once you get ’em right.

I have also been pulling the bow back alittle farther back then I typically do and the arrows seem to fly alittle better.

I would have to say your arrows are still too heavily spined. (It got better when you pulled back more – this increases the affective draw weight for your bow, because you’re drawing it farther.) Keep going up in point weight and your groups should continue to group further to the right until you are on the money. Good luck, and do keep at it! It’s a very good feeling when you get it right!

I was able to get Troy fixed up. Dave pointed out the problems with cheap arrows from places like 3Rivers, Cabelas and other places, they are not well matched in spine and weight and most of the time need to be straightened badly. I sent Troy some matched and straight arrows along with tuning instructions, and the last I heard he was tearing up the ole bullseye.

I’ll admit that I have not read every word on this string but I do not recall anyone mentioning your fletching. So, is your fletching consistnt or is it a mix of lengths, and such? Also, how about your knock fit. That should be consistant from arrow to arrow as well.