Broadhead Problems

[skip.jacobs1]

#3830

I recently transitioned from my trusty compound to a longbow. I have been practicing religiously and have gotten pretty accurate. However, today I decided to shoot some broadheads because I have been only practicing with field points. I used the same arrows but changed from 100 grain field points to 100 grain broadheads. Every broadhead I fired either flew off the bow sideways, flew 3 feet over the target, stuck in the dirt five yards away from the target, or did something crazy. Just to make sure it wasn’t the arrows, I changed back to the field points and the arrows flew straight and true. I have no idea what the problem could be.

Any Suggestions?

[Patrick]

#24055

Could be:
1. Fletching not adequate for broadhead.
-use longer and/or wider fletching
-use more of a helical twist to fletching
-use narrower broadhead

2. Arrows are not spined correctly, causing broadheads to magnify (I doubt it’s this one since there’s such a drastic difference)
-try different spined arrows
-try lighter and/or heavier broadheads

3. Broadheads/inserts aren’t straight.
-roll the arrows on a flat surface and watch the tip of each broadhead.

[Chris Shelton]

#24096

what type of broadhead?

[skip.jacobs1]

#24099

Greatreearcher wrote: what type of broadhead?

Muzzy 3 blade 100 grain.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#24146

Those broadheads have extremely low wind resistance due to small, vented blades. Even if you were shooting large, wide solid heads, my below advice would be the same.

The first thing I would suggest is to strip the fletching off a few or your arrows and bareshaft tune your equipment. With very, very few exceptions, every time I have seen someone having the issues you are experiencing with broadheads, their bow was not properly tuned.

[Hiram]

#24157

Yes, all of the above.Field tips do not have the resisitance aerodynamically that broadheads do.you could shoot Field tips with an out of tune set-up and not realize it being new to one strings. What Wesbrook said; Bare shaft the shafts to see if they are close to correct spine. Shoot a bare shaft from ten yards at your target. Goes in point left, nock right, they too stiff. Point right, nock left they are too weak. You can weaken or stiffen the shaft by cutting it down, or adding a heavier tip, lighter tip. More info if you need it. Just ask, we want to help you.

[skip.jacobs1]

#25132

Thanks for the advice. I shot a bare shaft today and the they are too stiff. I ordered some 130 grain Zwickey 2 blades and once they come in I will try it again and let you know how it goes.

[Patrick]

#25237

skip.jacobs1 wrote: Thanks for the advice. I shot a bare shaft today and the they are too stiff. I ordered some 130 grain Zwickey 2 blades and once they come in I will try it again and let you know how it goes.

Good to hear. I know how frustrating it can be. What a stress reliever it is to find the solution to a problem (speaking from VERY recent experience :-).

[Hiram]

#25306

Good deal Skip! Care to share your set-up with us?
Whats your Bow weight at your draw length?
What type of Bow, and string? Fast flight string?
What arrow are shooting and tip weight?
How long is your arrow?
Do you shoot three under or split?
What is your current nock heighth on the string?
How far out from centershot is your arrow?
What is your Fistmele (brace heighth?
We want to help you in any way through the tuning process!
Heck, we might learn with you. I enjoy trad Bow tuning because I believe it is very gratifying to see that arrow “Fly straight and true” to the mark! Arrow flight is a pleasure to see, and part of the enjoyment in archery.:D

[Steertalker]

#25811

Skip,

I would definitely agree that you have a tuning issue, probably too stiff, as you have already figured out. When you get your new shafts in and begin your tuning process you want to tune the shafts to the point that they are indicating just slightly weak. Remember, you are doing all this with field points. In other words, don’t tune all the way to the point that the bare shafts are impacting exactly where your fletched shafts are impacting. Assuming you are right handed then you want your bare shafts to impact just slightly right of the fletched shafts…..say about 3 inches right at 25 yds.

The reason is, for some darned reason for which I cannot explain, the BH will act to stiffen the shafts. So you have to leave a little lee way. Once you get you shafts tuned to this point you will want to do your final tuning with BH’s. Good luck!

Brett

[Bloodless]

#26278

Steerstalker? Man, I tried it onct — thougt it was a elk until I got there a hour later. Them fat suckers are really hard to sneak up on! Lucky, they don’t run far when they catch you! No objection intended … just can’t help having fun. Seriously, good comments. bullyboy (what variety of bull is up to you! All my x-wives vote for Bull-S! :roll:)

[skip.jacobs1]

#26366

Steerstalker,

Thanks for the advise. I will put that all to use. Hopefully I get the broadheads and new shafts soon because I am getting pretty impatient. This traditional stuff is pretty addictive.

[Steertalker]

#26903

Steer…..TALKER…not stalker!::roll:

Brett

[skip.jacobs1]

#27284

Sorry. my bad.

[Hiram]

#30725

The reason for tuning a tad weak? Well fletching acts to stiffen the arrow up a little so after Bare shafts show a little weak they usually fly right with fletched arrows. You can cheat this a little by wrapping the back of your bare shaft with electricians tape.

[skip.jacobs1]

#31789

I got my feather fletched cedar arrows from King Kustom Archery and tipped 125 grain field points or 130 grain Zwickey No Mercy’s the bow shoots fantastic. I appreciate all of your help or else I would still be standing in my backyard scratching my chin.

[Author]

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