Bare shaft tunng question

[artvin]

By the way, O.L. has one of the best discriptions of bare shaft testing  any place you can look on his web site.

The biggest mistake made with bareshaft testing is looking at the nock and not the point of impact..where the arrow is sticking in the target.

If you are within an 1" 1.5" of two fletched shafts your tune is good. I bareshaft test out to 20 yards.  There is no need to go farther when shooting traditonal equipment off the shelf.

Remember the farther you get away from the target the more your shooting form has to be right on...  You really need to make sure you are getting off good shots with proper form when testing...take your time and be warmed up before you test.  I wouldn't consider doing a bare shaft test before  I have shot 30 to 35 arrows.
Be honest with your self, if you do not have good form, don't bareshaft past 10 yards.  Any father out more than likely will just be magnifing any problems with shooting form.  

10 yards is all you need to know you have your arrows matched to your bow.

Remember follow the impact. If the bare shaft hits high move your nocking point up, low then lower it.

good luck

Art

[Traditional-Archer]

Its a good thing the reason we all shoot trad-equipment is becouse its simplified.  

[Allan Hundeby]

Hehe!

Today I was again amazed:  ...how much a small change in brace height, or in nocking point height changes how well the arrows group together.  I think I just about doubled my effective hunting distance from 15 to 30 yards by going back and re-adjusting both!

O.L., thanks so much for posting your excellent tuning resource online.  I've referred to it many times, and still keep learning more each time.  Question:  Even though we're looking for point of impact - and not nock point direction to judge stiffness and nocking point - what DOES a "nock-left" or "nock-high" arrow point out?  ...flaws in shooting form?

[Scott J. Williams]

Thanks O.L. for coming to my rescue.  I recently learned of your tuning method in "Traditional Bowhunter" from "Tips from the Old Timer".  I am in the process of using the bare shaft method of Black Widow(Beck) which I have used for years and to great success, and a final tune using your method.  I can assure everyone who will listen, your broadheads and your field points will fly the same, in the same group, and are supposed too. If they don't, you owe it to yourself, the game you hunt, and the sport to get it right.....NUFF SAID!

[artvin]

The first thing to do when starting to bare shaft test is to make sure you are warmed up properly....shoot several arrows first.  

The the next  thing to do is make sure your nocking point is correct. Last is to  get the spin correct.  The below is a short form of O.L.'s proceedure.

Always move the nocking point in the direction of the arrow hit or impact in the target.  High -move it up....low - move it down. Do not pay any attention to the direction the nock end is pointing only pay attention to the actual impact of the arrow tip.

If your bare shaft is impacting right of you flectched shafts (weak shaft) take a few twists out of your string to stiffen the shaft.  Impact right is a stiff shaft and you can weakend the shaft by doing the reverse of the above, just add a few twist to your  string.

Slightly low and right impact is considered idea by many.  Within 2 inches of the fletched shafts.
Most Olympic shooters do strive for center impact with bare shaft but they are on a whole different level than most tradional archers.

Art

[Pinecone]

You can make all of this even simpler by just remembering to tune for a slightly weak (where the point strikes)bare shaft.  If this is done, when fletchings are applied, the stiffening effect on the shaft will bring the point right into center.  OL's site is a wealth of great information on arrow tuning, but if you do nothing but the above, you will still have an arrow that is tuned better than most and be able to enjoy the benfits of a forgiving if not obedient projectile.

Claudia