New arrows!! problems with broadheads.

[jjnapp]

#5932

I just crafted my first set of arrows. Port Orford Shafts, Red Oak Stain, Gasket Lacquered, 5 inch feathers. I am very excited with how they look and they shot great when I installed my 125 grain field points. However when I mounted the 130 grain zwicky no mercy broadheads I plan on hunting with, their flight was very erratic. The weight is so close I don’t think that the problem is an extra 5 grains on the tip. I mounted them in the 12 o’clock position and I feel like they are on straight, however I don’t know how to correct this problem. Please help!

[Fletcher]

#46070

Broadheads are more critical than field points and will show errors in tuning and form that field points ignore. Starting with the simple things, I’d suggest rechecking your broadhead alignment. Pretty good or close doesn’t work very well; they need to be spot on. While you’re messing with the broadheads, change a couple to horizontal and see it that helps. Check the nocks for straight, too. Another thing is to paper tune your setup to make sure you have the right spine and nocking point adjustment. This ought to keep you entertained for a day or two.:lol:

Good looking arrows, BTW. Are they hand spined or factory spined? Straight?

[jjnapp]

#46097

I’m not sure if they are hand or factory spined. I’m positive they are straight though.

I have never paper tuned an arrow before. However I have tried bareshaft tuning. I became very frustrated when doing this because I was never able to get the arrow to fly with out the nock finishing up. No matter how high or low I set my knocking point the arrow’s nock always enters the target well above the point.

I heard something about this when watching “masters of the barebow 2″…..the gentleman from Black widow bows talked about how some people have trouble with the back end of the arrow kicking off the rest. I’m not positive but I think this is happening with me. It also makes the nock finish left no matter what spine I am using. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Although what I am describing sounds like a disaster, my groups are pretty tight out to 25 yards with a field point. Sometimes my arrows would waggle a little the first few yards of my shot but I have never had major problems until shooting with broadheads.

I would be happy to hear any suggestions you all have. I need to figure this out before Sept 25th or I might have to skip my first traditional whitetail bowhung.

[mswickard]

#46109

Based on what you stated, I’m leaning toward your arrows being too weak. Here are some thoughts:

Do you have room to shorten the shaft? If so I would give it a go to see if you can stiffen up the spine some.

The reason I’m leaning toward weak is you are getting nock left. (right hand shooter?) If lefty I say you are too stiff. Is this with bare shafts or fletched or both?

Even though you are shooting wood, I experienced the same thing with carbons. I thought I had them tuned but they were still weak. Fletched shafts would wiggle a little but would go where I was aiming. Once I shortened them up the wiggle went away and the bareshaft was hitting the target square with no nock left. Also, once I shortened the shaft the nock high also went away. i believe you are experiencing this since the shaft is on the weak side and it is flexing up off the shelf.

Hope this helps some.

Mike

[maineac]

#46679

I agree with Mike. I am no expert but when bare shaft tuning it is not so much the nock direction in the target (though that can be an indicator) but if the arrow flies right or left of a fletched group of arrows. Right is weak and left is stiff. If you watch closely you can often see the arrow flying with point right or left indicating weak of stiff. The fletching will cover a lot of problems with spine if you are just shooting field tips. I am currently tuning some new arrows and so the topic is fresh in my mind. I will say that when i got the length right the unfletched arrow flew like a dart from 35 yards, no wobble or yaw to the flight at all.

[jjnapp]

#47234

I’ve tried tuning my shafts in the past but I had such little success that I figured I would never find out a solution for these arrows. However, you guys were spot on!! My shafts were definitely too weak. Even before trying to cut and reduce the weight of my points I was given some great advise from my friend Lamont Granger at “The Footed Shaft” in Rochester, MN (Great trad store by the way). He mentioned that I might want to increase my brace height. Once I did that my problem with the nock finishing high went away. The arrows immediatly flew better….I increased my longbow brace height from 7 inches to 7 3/4 inches.

I thought the problem was solved but when I barshafted my first wood arrow it hit the target at such an abrupt angle (point right..nock left) that it actually snapped after penetrating a few inches. To test out if I was actually shooting too much weight for my arrows I launched a few arrows at 3/4 draw and the arrows flew perfectly straight. I went ahead and shortened my shafts by an inch and my broadheads are flying perfectly straight now. I am extremly excited for my first trad bowhunt Sept 25th!! Thanks for help guys.

[mswickard]

#47265

Good Deal!!! Glad it worked out. By bareshafting you can learn a lot what the arrow is doing. My experience has been if I can get those bare shafts hitting where I aim and hitting the target almost square maybe slightly weak they will be spot on once fletched. I typically do this at around 10-12 yds. I feel if they are stabilizing this quick they will be fine at distance.

Good Luck!

Mike

[jjnapp]

#47863

I’m pretty much all set for hunting. However I’ve been told it is a good idea to waterproof your feathers. Any ideas for a quick way to do this?

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