Brace Height arrow flight

[spurdude]

Howdy , I was hitting left (Of Course) but had great arrow flight. I raised my brace height 3/8" and my arrows came over to the middle (Good Thing) and tightened my groups considerably, however now my arrows are leaving the bow a little wonky. I can't tell if their proposing or a little tail left maybe both. I'm guessing I have to move the nock point but not sure which way or how much.  I am using two nocks one up one below the arrow nock . thoughts?

[McDave]

The answers to your questions are provided by tuning your arrow to fit your bow and your own style of shooting.  It is impossible to provide meaningful answers in the abstract without going through this process.  What is possible is to choose a brace height within the bowyers recommended range, and arrows that are a fairly close match to your bow and draw length.  For now, just set your nock point at 5/8”, and you'll be pretty close.

If you don't have much experience, it doesn't make much sense to try tuning arrows until you have developed a consistent form, because the arrows you select will change as your form changes.

If you will tell us what your bow is, the bow weight, your draw length, and the arrows you are using, we can tell you if you are in the ballpark, and then you can just enjoy shooting.  When you think you are ready, Ken Beck does a good job of explaining bow and arrow tuning here:

[Kirkll]

I had never watched this video before now and was intrigued by the notion of how changing brace height could effect arrow tuning.

Ken Beck stated Even though a lower brace height has proven to give you a faster trajectory and a better transfer of energy to the shaft, changing the brace, changes the timing of when that arrow leaves the string and gives you a nock right    At lower brace, and nock left at higher brace…..

This  seems backwards to me too because more energy to the shaft is going to flex that arrow more….. This may be a fact with Black Widow bows, but as a bowyer I highly recommend not using brace height to tune arrows.

 Every bow has a recommended brace height range for best over all performance and quietness, with the least amount of vibration. I suggest staying with the bowyers or manufacturers recommendation, and find the proper arrow spine through bare shaft tuning.

This is a good video explaining arrow tuning basics. But Ken left out one adjustment than can easily be used for tuning arrows that are slightly weak. Your strike plate can be padded bringing the arrow slightly before center and bring that weak shaft back to the left again.   

Different bows have a different shelf depths,  and some are cut closer to center shot than others. Your shelf depth plays a big part in arrow tuning, and shaft selection.   Food for thought.     

Kirk

[spurdude]

Thank you for the responses and my apologies for any confusion. I wasn't asking about tuning arrows but rather a general question regarding changing brace height. I should have phrased my question as: When you raise your brace height how does that affect your nock point? I have since figured it out.  i should not have mentioned it changed my arrow flight. thanks

[Roy from Pa]

No problem AL.

The guys are here to help you out.

Watch the video McDave posted, it's a good one.

[McDave]

Hi Kirk,

I agree with what Ken says about the relationship of brace height to nock L/R, which I have confirmed with my own testing.  Another, and more useful in my opinion, way of stating “lowering the brace height gives you a nock right,” is to say that “lowering the brace height compensates for a weak arrow.”  That is to say that if you have a bare shaft that is showing slightly weak, you can sometimes bring it back to center by lowering the brace height.  And vice versa, of course.

Why would this be so?  As you state, “But Ken left out one adjustment than can easily be used for tuning arrows that are slightly weak. Your strike plate can be padded bringing the arrow slightly before center and bring that weak shaft back to the left again.”  Assume the arrow is sitting on the arrow rest slightly proud of center, as it should in a traditional bow, before any adjustments are made.  When you reduce the brace height, you are slightly increasing the angle between the arrow and the centerline of the bow, similarly to what would happen if you build out the strike plate.  The effect is the same: it can compensate for a slightly weak arrow.

This said, I agree with your conclusion that changing the brace height is not the best method of fine-tuning with a bare shaft.  The purpose of setting a brace height is to optimize the performance of the bow, which can only be accomplished at one brace height for any bow/arrow/shooter combination.  To increase or decrease an optimal brace height to fine tune the bow is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[Kirkll]

Dave,
I never thought of the angle the arrow sets on the bow at brace changing with a brace height change, but your right...Makes much more sense now...... Thanks for pointing that out.   

Sounds like the OP has got her figured out now.................. Kirk 

[Appalachian Hillbilly]

If you are staying within a bowyers recommended brace height, that often can give you 1/2" , maybe 1 " to play with.
I have found 1/2" to change left or right to compensate for slight spine differences.

After 2 days of shooting multiple bows over my chrono, I found no difference  in speed at 1/2" brace height difference.  It was all within the range of statistical error.

A shooting machine with exact drawlengths might have been noticeable. I could have easily varied 1/4" in either direction on my draw and created the same spread that 1/2" brace height would fall under.

That has been my experience.  I have found 1/2" to make a difference in sound of the bow!

There  are trade offs using brace height tuning, but it is a quick an easy way if you don't want to go to through the process of really fine tuning the arrow.

Just my thoughts...

[woodchucker]

TTT! Good Video!!