helical on feathers needed for 20 yards?

[compound_convert]

at 20 yards or closer is the helical needed ? i do not feel that comfortable shooting further than that so with the speed of my bow ( martin 55# @ 28'' my draw @ 30.5 '') gpi of the arrow at 9. does it even matter? i know its a newbie with another 1 of those questions. thank you for answering.

[Jake Diebolt]

Helical gives your arrows a lot more stability, especially with broadheads. It evens out any wobble with the spin, such as planing or poor release. If you can, do it.

[reddogge]

Yes it matters with broadheads. It's best to have arrows tuned well too before mounting broadheads.

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by reddogge:
Yes it matters with broadheads. It's best to have arrows tuned well too before mounting broadheads.

Yep

[PaddyMac]

I hope this doesn't constitute thread theft, but can you have too much helical? I have some I think have too much, but they seem to fly fine. A little noisy... a hiss, so I don't hunt with them.

Just wondering.

BTW, my first batch of arrows were almost straight, and they seemed to cork screw. I think that's paradox I'm seeing. But they hit at the same place my more helical arrows hit.

[Coonbait]

I try and get as much as I can, but I shoot MFX's so you don't have a hole lot of arrow shaft to work with.
Glenn

[PaddyMac]

When I shot a compound I insisted on straight because my main concern was clearance, and now I'm thinking that bump that causes paradox is actually not a bad thing to be so drastically avoided.

On a couple of this latest batch I really slanted the Bitz so that that last inch of feather was in the air when I too the clamp off and I attached it by hand. It looks like a ship propeller. If I don't go out in the morning I'll try and snap a photo.

[stack]

I must be different because I shoot straight fletch and my arrows are flying like darts with my broadheads on. IMHO if your arrow is tuned to your bow and you can shoot straight with a bare shaft it really shouldn't make that much difference which fletch you use. Helical is slower than straight but will stabilize your arrow faster if needed.

[Rob DiStefano]

for the very most part, at reasonable trad hunting distances, lotsa helical feather fletching is yer friend and good huntin' buddy.  when yer release is a bit off, or some other bugaboo rears up, helical helps.  lotsa feather twist straightens out the arrow faster than feather offset.  the downside might be on longer shots, where less arrow speed from the added spin increases the need for higher arrow trajectories.  imo, this is another area where less holding weight makes everything more critical.

[AdamH]

There's been many a debate on this, as Stack says, if tuned well, it isn't supposed to matter, me, I've been puttin as much as I can on my arras that my Bitz will let me {for well over 20 years} just because, I guess ... That being said, I guess we shouldn't let "hard helical fletching" cure our flight issues ... But it sure looks cool ... {he he} ...

[Rob W.]

My old broadheads always turn into my compound buddies coyote/squirrel heads. I've seen woodsmans, snuffers, and zwickey's fly from 300fps down to 150fps. This includes everything from heavy helical feathers to small straight vanes. If the spine is right and the bow is in tune straight or helical doesn't matter.

That said my favorite is lw helical 4"-4 fletch. Rob

[Night Wing]

I don't know how much of an advantage a helical fletched arrow will give at 20 yards, but I want any and every edge I can get when the arrow is tipped with a broadhead.

[customcrester]

An arrow is like a bullet,it must spin to be accurate.The more helical an arrow has the more stable it is as it spins. Helical is your friend.

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Bless you Jake Diebolt. Helical does even out any planing tendencies of a broadhead.

It does not stabilize an arrow the way spin stabilizes a bullet. I won't go into the formulas, but an arrow would have to spin a whole lot faster than feathers can possibly spin it to achieve gyroscopic stability the way rifling stabilizes a bullet. Spin stabilizing of arrows is a widespread but false concept.

[Flying Dutchman]

I am a 3D shooter and never use broadheads and shoot also at large distances. Long ago I decided to use helical only.
Much more forgivin, accurate and I don't meet difficulties with loosing speed at longer distances.
Helical all the way for me!

[hammer08]

I like a strong helical in hunting conditions. I don't shoot deer at 40 yards so I'm not too worried about loss of speed.

[PaddyMac]

Sorry this took a couple of days -- I'm busy walking around the sage brush and woods wearing out my moccasins -- but here's a photo of my helicals. The little white thing on the target next to the two lower arrows is a broken nock used as an aiming point. The center arrow is done relatively straight on a left helical Bitz. The top right one is extreme helical. And the bottom left is "normal" which is what I'm hunting with. This are at 20 yards, the same point of aim.

   

   

[Shakes.602]

To Concur with Mr. Green..... "Yep."

[Jake Diebolt]

Jim from Maine: if helical doesn't stabilize arrows, what does it do? I've always been told that helical or offset arrows spin and are therefore stabilized (That's on the trueflight website, as well).

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just wondering why trueflight and other sources would recommend it for fletching. Do they stand to benefit? Or are they deluded? Is it some kind of marketing ploy?