Bare Shaft Tune Observations

[bigcountry]

Holy cow, I think I saw the light yesterday.  

I have a longbow that shoots well.  It shoots well with 2018's with 150gr point, and 2016 with 125gr point.  Very dynamic bow.  I bare shaft it in my garage at 3 yards and at 15 yards, and shoots a bare shaft great, so I figured I could use that same procedure at 3 yards with any bow and come out with the same great results at 15 yards. Espeically since my longbow is faster than my recurve.  WRONG

Ok, I have a recurve, 50lb dreamcatcher. A hair slower than my longbow, so I figured I needed the same spine or less than my longbow.  I have been fighting with this thing since day one for months.  Adding material to the shelf, taking it away.  Paper tuning, moving nock up and down a hundred times.  Different string material. Tried 2016's and 2018's with 100gr tips to 250gr tips all close up at 3-4yards in my garage.  Bad, bad, bareshaft fight.  I was about ready to get rid of it.  

But went out my yard and spent a few hours with it.  At 15 yards bareshaft tuning told me all my 2016's and 2018's were way too weak spined.  totally different than in the garage.  Wow, I thought.  I found some 2117, 2216, and 2219 shafts.  I tore off the fletch and went to work.  At 15 yards, 2117 with 100gr and 125gr tip showed weak spine.  But 2219 showed stiff, put a 200gr head on it, and bam, its shooting like darts.  Didn't give 2216 much time.  But I might this week.  Not sure if I want to buy 200gr broadheads.

So all I can figure is I was not giving the arrow enough time to come out of paradox which gave false indicators.  But it worked great on my longbow, cause maybe my centershot is more centered???  I don't know.

But who would have thought a slower recurve would have needed that much more spine than a longbow?  I mean 2219 and 2016 is a big difference.

[O.L. Adcock]

BC, Amount of centershot has more to do with the spine then bow weight. Sounds like you are using the kick method. Put a big wide BH on those 2219's and shoot them at a distance with your fields tips. I'd bet they'll group left..Way over spined. There's no reason you can't get 2018's or 2020's to fly out of a 50# bow, and they are on the stiff side......O.L.

[bigcountry]

As usual your right OL.  I am not sure how I came to my conclusions I did on Sunday.  Some days I want to just throw up my arms. Maybe fatigue from shooting well over 200 arrows that day?

Here's where I have been
For a long time, 2018's and 2016's have shown stiff reactions with dacron strings but I couldn't go below 8.5" BH.  

Just got a 452+ string, and started at 7" BH, with no silencers.  My 2018's and 2016's showed very weak reaction with 125 and 100gr points. So weak, I couldn't hit a target 15 yards out. So I tried 2219's and got decent flight with 250gr point.  Still showing a tad stiff.  Ok, so I figured, I finally found a good spine.  So that night I put on some cat whiskers cause it was loud that day, and moved my BH to 8" to quieten it down.  Ok, so now I show slight stiff reaction from 2216 and 2219 with all points from 100gr to 250gr.  AFter putting a 125gr Magnus Broadhead on, my slight stiff reaction now would make me hit 8" to the left at 15 yards.  

So this mornign went back to 2018's with 125gr point, and everything if flying great?  I show a very slight weak reaction.  Magnus are hitting slightly to the right of field points.  Thinking of taking off 1/2" and see what happens.  

So I don't know what happened, maybe adding cat whiskers, maybe I was fatigued with sloppy release on Sunday.  But all is right with the bow world again.

Thanks again for bringing me back to reality.

[Barry Winner]

Big - FRUSTRATING isn't it? Glad to hear the 2018s are working for you, though.  Hang in there.  Once you get the right combination, all in the world is good.  Been hunting yet?  Maybe we could get together for a hunt once the weather breaks.

Barry

[bigcountry]

Hey Barry, yep, got me a slickhead on Patapsco State park with the longbow.  Just too hot.  But looks like weather is prime soon.

I decided to come back and give the recurve one last try.  

You get out?

[Barry Winner]

Congratulations on the longbow doe!  

I got a doe on 9/17.  Been out at least one evening per week, and passed on a few opportunities due to the heat. I had a spike at 20 yards yesterday, but he's my son's deer.  At least I hope he'll be my son's first archery deer!

[bigcountry]

I would love to get together and shoot with you sometime.  Maybe you can watch me and give me some pointers.  With my longbow, I have never been more confident. But always use some pointers.