Can nocking point be too high?

[TRAD JOE]

Hi all, I bought beautiful Thunderhorn bow from a fellow Tradgang member a couple of months ago.
Bow shoots great, but I had to set the nocking point about a full inch above center (of bow square) to get my arrows to fly straight. Brace height is within specs.

Does it affect shooting (or the bow) in any way? Does it have anything to do with tillering?

Thanks for any help on this matter!

[rustyspike]

If the nock point is to high your arrow will hit nock end high. (your arrow will have the nock end higher than the point in the target)You will not see this unless you bare shaft. With feathers you will not see it much of a angle.

Rich K.

[JRY309]

That could be possible the tiller may be off,measure from the fadeout to the string.The upper limb is usally an 1/8" to 1/4" further then the lower limb.Giving you a positive tiller for shooting split finger.If it is even it could be set for 3 under.Usally if a bow is tillered either way you can shoot but you just have to adjust the nocking point.I got a bow a few years back and the nock was about 1&1/4" above 90 and the tiller for some reason was way off.I adjusted it by sanding the limbs to bring it inline.If you feel yours is off you may want to contact the bowyer and talk to him.

[McDave]

If you are shooting 3 under and the bow was tillered for split fingers, that might be the reason you need such a high nocking point.

I recently switched to 3 under from split fingers.  I found that to get good bare shaft flight, my nock had to be set at least 1/8" higher than it was for split fingers, for my bows that were tillered for split fingers.  For example, if my nock point was 1/2" for split fingers, which is usually the case, it would have to be 5/8" - 3/4" for 3 under.

I have one longbow with a nocking point just above 5/8" for split fingers, that I fooled with all one afternoon to try to get it tuned for 3 under.  I ended up with a nock point of 1"+ (the bow square ran out of marks at that point).  The bare shafts from that bow fly squirrelly, sometimes high, sometimes low, which leads me to think that that bow really can't be successfully adjusted to shoot 3 under.

I think 3 under gets a reputation for wobbles in the arrow flight because people are shooting with too low of a nock point and the arrow is deflecting off the shelf.  When I re-tuned a bow that was originally tuned for split fingers, I would initially get a false nock high with the bare shaft caused by the bare shaft recoiling off the shelf.  As I raised the nock, the nock high would go away and I would often get a nock low at about 5/8", followed by a slight nock high which I like between 5/8" and 3/4".  For my bows that I have successfully retuned for 3 under, the arrow flight is as good as it was with split fingers.

I think as long as your bare shaft arrow flight is good, and the angle it is hitting the target is the same or slightly higher than fletched arrows, you should be fine.

If you're shooting split fingers, 1" does seem quite high, though.

[TRAD JOE]

Thanks to all who replied!
I shoot split finger but I don´t know how the PO shot or how the bow is tillered. I guess the best thing is to contact the bowyer as JRY309 says.

Arrows are flying fine though, can make decent groups (decent for me anyway), mostly I was worried about damage to the bow if it was tillered one way and shot another.

McDave, thanks for sharing detailed explanation.

[Shawn Leonard]

I know several guys including me and Bob Morrison who have high nocking points, most of my bows are 7/8ths. We believe it has to do with the way we apply pressure to the string with our fingers. Shawn

[Jeff Sample]

I'm with Shawn and Bob. I have two Schafer Silvertips, each with different sets of limbs, and both shoot best with the nocking point a good inch above perpendicular. I even checked Dave Windauer's personal ST at the '06 PBS Gathering, and he too uses a high nocking point, though not as high as mine. I've written it off to bow shelf design, the fact that I shoot 5 1/2" high-back fletching, and my own personal split-finger release style.

[Bob Sarrels]

I agree with the "way you dig with your fingers"  I shoot split but at anchor my top finger leaves the string so I am in theory shootin 2 under.  I have to shoot a slightly higher nock height because of this.  But 1" just seems like a bunch.  Check your tiller.  I had a customer bring in a bow that would not shoot.  "Won't say the name."  The bow was so far out of tiller the only way I could make it shoot was to turn it upside down and shoot of my knuckle.  I worked on the bow and made it shoot good but lost about 5 lbs in the process.

[Boneyard Bowhunter]

I have a very high nock point. It use to bother me because I thought It may cause problems. I finally
decided to forget about it and just shoot. The only problem I had was between my ears.

[TRAD JOE]

Hey Shawn, makes sense. Never thought it could be something about my form, but it actually makes a lot of sense because my previous bow was a D shaped 64" longbow. This bow is a 58" forward handle R/D bow, so my style had to change completely to accomodate to this bow.

And Boneyard, I´m gonna take your advice and just keep shooting!

Thanks again for all your help!

[Dave Worden]

In answer to your question, of course the nock point can be too high.  That being said, if the arrows  are flying well, it's not too high.  It's just right!!