Right/left fletch and nose on the feather?

[T Folts]

I am a right handed shooter and have always used right wing off set fletching. Recently after reading posts on using the feather to touch the nose for consistancy I decided to refletch the feather back a bit and rotate my nock so I could see the effects and yes it improved my left/right accuracy, it didnt seem to bother the arrow flight one bit so that it what I have been doing, however me not one to leave things alone I decided that left wing feathers would be a better choice because I wouldnt need to rotate the nock if I set the rear of the feather off  just a smidge and the arrow would rotate better off the shelf. So as a reality check hows my thinking am I missing something or not. I plan on using 5 1/2 inch sheild cuts on heritage 150's. (I love the feed back of this site)
Terry

[McDave]

Left wing seems to work better for this anchor.  The cock feather needs to be at about 9:00, and there isn't much leeway up or down to position the back correctly against your nose.  Be careful that you are touching the BACK of the cock feather with your nose, as it feels like you're doing that when you're really touching the side of the feather, and of course that won't work for establishing a consistent draw length.  I find that shield cut gives me a better indication that my nose is in the right place than parabolic feathers.

Because of the position required, left wing gives better clearance on the shelf side.  I find with left wing feathers, the quill on the inside hen feather will slip nicely into the corner between the rest and the strike plate.  This is the main reason for using left wing feathers.

Because of the forward mounting of the feathers, I find it difficult to use feathers longer than about 4 7/8".  Otherwise, the feather sticks out of the end of my fletching jig.  Also, the feather reaches almost to the shelf when the arrow is nocked, which is particularly a problem with longbows that have a low brace height.  Fortunately, my feather chopper is adjustable so I can cut slightly less than a 5" feather.  I would be interested to know if you're able to solve this problem with 5 1/2 inch feathers.

[dragon rider]

I agree with McDave completely for a RH shooter.  I use 4" RW shield cut but I shoot LH.  I don't see that the longer fletching adds anything to accuracy, though that could just be me. I've heard folks say the long feathers are better with really heavy arrows, so maybe that'd be a reason to use them, but shoitng 425 to 450gr I don't see the longer feathers add anything. It's also easier to fletch with the 4" if you're using the nose to cock feather method because you don't run into any of the "damn I'm getting way down the shaft" effect with the 4" cut.

[T Folts]

I like the high visiblity of the high backs but I may have a clearance issue as you say.