Steve, you can build out the side plate with anything. A second smaller strip of velcro under the outer layer or a bit of skived leather glued to the sight window under the strike plate - most anything will do.
We intentionally cut the bows 3/16" past center so the bow can be tuned to your arrows. Often a tiny bit of strike plate build out (1/16" or so) can change the needed spine of an arrow out of the bow by more than 10# (depending on arrow length and point weight and bow draw length). There's no simple magic formula.
I draw 30" when bored and a bit more when excited. I don't build out the side plate on my bows. On my hunting arrows (which are on the heavy side - around 600-650 grains) I'll have 250-300 grains of that total weight at the point. So with a 31.25"-long arrow shaft to the BOP and with that much weight up front and pulling around 60# @ 30" I have to use THE STIFFEST arrow shafts I can find - usually carbons with a total deflection of .280". That translates into a very stiff spine - around 125# as I recall.
Now, with wood arrows and using one of my lighter set of test limbs (as the R&D guy all I get to play with are the experimental sets I build) I'll have perhaps 125-145 grain points with a tapered shaft. Again, without building out the strike plate the arrow shafts (11/32nds or sometimes 23/64ths with the butt tapered to 5/16") will be spined about 15# heavier than my draw weight, again with a 31.25" arrow.
Lots of things changed between my heavy carbon hunting arrows and my lighter target wood arrows. Notably the point weight and the diameter of the arrow. The wood arrow is a larger diameter than the carbon, and that changes the alignment of the shaft and the plane of the string when it's on the string and resting against the strike plate. With less point weight and with a larger diameter (and still without building out the strike plate) my long wood arrows are spined closer to the draw weight of the bow - perhaps 15# over.
Now, all of the above changes if I simply build out my strike plate. Let's say I already have a dozen carbon arrows with a weaker spine and I wanted to shoot them with that much point weight. They'd fly weak. But if I were to simply build out the side plate maybe 1/16" or 1/8" they'd fly just fine out of the same bow. That's the beauty of any bow - not just the ACS - when it's cut well past center. You can tune the bow to your arrows (within reason) and therefore you don't have to find just the perfect spine arrow.
I personally don't like to build out the side plate because of my shooting/aiming style. Unless my surroundings absolutely prevent it I will always choose to shoot with the bow nearly or perfectly vertical. I anchor under my jaw and I use the alignment of the shaft in my peripheral vision to help me with my windage (left/right) as I form my sight picture before releasing. I like the arrow shaft, when on the string, to be as nearly perfectly in the same plane as the string - perfect center shot. I'm a draw, hold, form-a-sight-picture, then release sort of guy. Because of my aiming/shooting technique I don't like to build out the strike plate.
If you don't use the arrow shaft for alignment and aiming (like I do) but instead if you focus solely on your point of aim then it doesn't matter if you build out the strike plate or not.
I hope this explanation clears the water a bit instead of making it more muddy. Bottom line - there's no single answer for your question. Simply put, building out the sight plate is just one more tool (like altering arrow shaft length or point weight) which enables you to get perfectly tuned arrow flight.
Topic: ACS and Wood Arrows (Read 726 times)
