Bareshafting POC - does this sound right?

[adirondack46r]

46@28. I draw the full 28. 58" whisperstik cut to center. The more I shoot the more I think that everything is as you would expect it. my 63# shafts hit right at 15-20 yards indicating weak. I am thinking that the correct spine is around 65, but I don't have any POC shafts in that spine.

[aromakr]

I would go down in spine, 55/59 cut to 29" BOP with a 125gr point should be right on. From what I've read on the thread, I would guess tight nocks might be a factor, how do the nocks fit the string? And Shaun, might be on too something also, are you sure the bow is center cut and not past center?
Bob

[adirondack46r]

Originally posted by aromakr:
I would go down in spine, 55/59 cut to 29" BOP with a 125gr point should be right on. From what I've read on the thread, I would guess tight nocks might be a factor, how do the nocks fit the string? And Shaun, might be on too something also, are you sure the bow is center cut and not past center?
Bob

Bob,

According to the bowyer it is cut to center, but know I don't know that for a fact. The nocks take a couple of pounds of pressure to pull off. I tried a 57# bare shaft and got a weak result.

Thanks for the input. I will go down in spine and retry.

Bob

[O.L. Adcock]

One thing that is VERY common...When folks try to shoot different spined shafts and draw conclusions from them, the variables involved may not show what they think they should see. Pick a spine, see what they are doing then tune the point weights and or bow centershot till they shoot. You can do that with any arrow between 45# and 60# out of that bow if you so desired.

50-54# would tune up just great out of that bow but you might have to use a lower point weight then you want. The 55-59# like Bob said will be close to perfect but may need 145-160 up front or leave them a bit longer. If you are looking for a set to shoot perfect right out of the box, won't happen barring pure luck...O.L.

[adirondack46r]

Originally posted by O.L. Adcock:
...Pick a spine, see what they are doing then tune the point weights and or bow centershot till they shoot. ...

I like that approach. Thanks for all your help on this one. I would still suggest, however, that the 63# shafts I have been working with show a touch weak. That is with a 29" shaft and a 125 grain point. If I can get my hands on some 100 grain points I will find out for sure if that shaft will work.

Thanks again.

[adirondack46r]

By the way, I built out the strike plate with a thick piece of leather and the 63# bare shafts now shoot like darts.

[adirondack46r]

Originally posted by Scrub_buck:


I did notice the arrows did hit the target at a downward angle (showing nock high) almost every shot I made, no matter where I nocked the arrow.  I was a little baffeled that I couldn't get it any better than I did.  The best I could pull off was the arrow maybe hitting at a 20 degree angle (still point down and tail up) at a nock point at 3/8ths of an inch above parallel.  

Any thought on why the arrows wouldn't level off and hit perfectly?

No idea, but this is exactly my experience.

[Don Stokes]

There is a "sweet spot" where your nocking point will shoot level. If you are above that, it will shoot nock high. If you are below that, it will shoot nock low up to a point, and then start rebounding off the shelf and look nock high.

It's very important to get the nocking point right before anything else. Trying to bare-shaft with the nocking point off is useless. You may find a shaft that shoots reasonably straight, but if the nocking point is off, accuracy will suffer and broadhead arrows will do funny things.

To set the nocking point, I shoot a soft target at 5 yards with no fletching. After the nocking point is found, you can adjust spine until the shafts are close to straight in the target, then you can move back for fine tuning. I adjust until the shafts fly level, then go up just a fudge. It helps with fletching clearance.

Some recurve bows that are designed to be shot from an elevated rest have a nocking point that looks very high when shooting off the shelf. These bows will kick nock high because of rebounding off the shelf at positions that look good, but aren't because of the tillering for elevated shelf.

[adirondack46r]

Don,

That's good info on setting the nock point. My results over the past few days confirm exactly what you are saying regarding the nock point.

In the end, I learned that when bare shafting, as long as you are close in spine weight it's important to trust the results you are seeing. With this whisperstik, my bare shaft results CONSISTENTLY show that the optimum spine weight is between 65 and 70 with a 29" arrow and a 125 grain point. As OL mentioned my fine tuning can be done adjusting tip weight and centershot.

But again, let me repeat - bareshaft testing at 15 to 20 yards is not difficult and you can generally trust the results you are seeing. And while we can generalize about the correct shaft, no one can know for certain without walking through the tuning exercise with you. I hope that doesn't sound ungrateful for all of the advice, because every little bit helped me narrow down the details.

Thanks guys for all your help.

[Shawn Leonard]

Only one thing, I found it funny everyone started giving advice without know what length the shafts were and what point weight you were shooting. Add 10#s for a high performance recurve that is cut to center, if past center ya may add 15#s and thna for every inch over 28"s add 5 more #s of spine with a 125 grain point. I would say a 29" shaft with 125 grain point you would want a woodie right around 58-60#s as ya want a bareshaft a tad weak so when ya add a broadhead and fletch it up, it will be about perfect. Your bow is cut to center add 10#s and 5#s more for the inch over 28"s so 61#s but ya want the bareshaft a bit weak, so that is why I say 58-60#s should be about perfect. Shawn