help: I keep shooting high and left

[Gnat]

I've just been starting out with traditional archery over the last two weeks. I have a 48# Griffin longbow and I've been shooting Gold Tip 7595 arrows that are about 30 inches long, more or less intuitive-style.

Considering that I'm just starting out, I feel like I've been doing pretty good and I'm having a hell of a lot of fun. I can hit my 2ft x 2ft target most of the time from about 40m. But most of the time I'm shooting around 15m for practice and form work, and having a hard time keeping arrows in the center.

I've been noticing that most of my arrows hit the target with the nock a bit left. Their flight seems to take off slightly up and left and then spiral back around. Generally when I'm off (which is fairly often) I am high and left, regularly missing the target and losing my damn arrows way too often.  

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on what I might be doing wrong. This is my first bow, so I'm not sure that it's tuned all that well for me. The weight feels about right, it looks good to the eye and generally feels okay, with everything seemingly in alignment. When I had my girlfriend take some pictures, my form looks pretty good, but I'm guessing it could easily be a problem with my follow-through. I've tried adjusting the nock point and it seems to be more than that.

Do you figure this is a bow-tuning problem, an arrow problem, or a form problem? What would you recommend trying to do to narrow it down, to straighten out the arrow flight and give me more consistency? Or should I just be aiming a bit more down right to compensate?

Thanks for your help.

[zinndl]

I am a newbie myself but I know that those arrows have too much spine for that bow; try gold tip 3555 shafts.

[Scott J. Williams]

I think that you might be a little stiff on the spine, even at 30 inches of draw.  I am not sure, but you didn't say if you were shooting right handed, or left.

If your arrows are launching high off the bow, and sometimes you can see this down range, it could be that your nocking point is off.  Check for undue wear on your rest and strike plate.  

There are many great threads on tradgang that will help you through this.  Take one step at a time,  in the old days there wasn't much information around.  A lot of us did it wrong for a long time before we got it right,  now there is information overload.  

Start with the basics, get her tuned correctly, with the right arrow.  The rest will take care of itself.

[BRITTMAN]

I know you want to shoot carbons but I bet 2016 or 1916 aluminms with 125 up frount would fly perfect out of your bow . im guessing your draw lenght is around 28 in. so I would say 2016 cut to 29 in would be perfect .

mike

[Gnat]

For the record, I am shooting right-handed.

Any more advice on arrow selection would be much appreciated. I'll also be reading up on other threads...

Is it then most likely arrows that I should be looking at? I feel like my nock point is okay.

[Whump]

Whump Sez: I agree with ScottJ> if you are seeing a cork screw effect when the arrow is flying you have a nocking point issue along with a spine issue assuming you have a decent release.Also make sure your nocks are not snapping on the string tight. Nock an arrow and turn your bow with limbs parallel to the ground-[arrow pointing down]-tap on the bow string lightly and the arrow should drop off--if it does not your nocks are too tight and this will cause tunning problems.   You never mentioned what point weight you were shooting--you could try and add weight but I think 7595 is way too stiff even at 30" draw. If I were you I would hook a scale to the string and pull to    :rolleyes:   anchor and let us know what the poundage is---this is a big help when tunning and keeps down surprises when buying shafting.    Hunt safe

[zinndl]

The 7595 being too stiff is not allowing the arrow to flex as it leaves the bow which is causing it to hit left; if the spine was too weak you would be hitting right. I shoot a 49# long bow and I use gold tip 3555 arrows. If you want to try aluminum you could try the 1916 or 2016.

Here are a couple links on spine selection.

 http://domino.htcomp.net/bhn/Columnists.nsf/d731dec9a617821886256590000646df/ca196c7c196f33ef862565a20066391f?OpenDocument

 http://www.arrowsbykelly.com/Spine_Charts.html

[Bjorn]

There is a helpful section on tuning arrows to your bow at ACS bows. It includes set up and bareshafting. Keep at it, change only one thing at a time, and this will be in the past real soon.

[1shot1bull]

I would agree with these guys and say you are way over spined. I also have a thirty inch draw length and so, basically shoot full length shafts.  what has always worked the best for me is an arrow spined about five pounds over my draw weight. That is draw weight at 30".  That at least gets me close enough that i can then finish tuning with point weight, usually either 125 or 145.  if your planning on shooting a heavier point then possibly ten pounds over draw weight, but thats just a guess.  i always shoot either 125 or 145.  Also if you can get shafts in different spine weights to shoot, then bare shaft tuning is great. the proper shaft will shoot middle, while light will shoot one side and heavy will shoot to the other side, and tail up or down will let you know if your nock position is correct. Good Luck!

[Gnat]

Thanks for the tips. Here's an update in case anyone else has a similar problem:

I went to my local archery shop and asked what they thought. The guy looked at me like I was an idiot when I suggested dropping to 3555s, so I tried 5575 Gold Tip Traditionals, cut to 29.5 with 125 point per his suggestion.

Been shooting a lot better with this set up (I've been drawing about 51# at ~29''). The arrows seem to fly much straighter through the air and penetrate better, with better nock alignment. Gonna keep experimenting, though...

[twotimer]

i would have suggested 2016 alumn.cut to 30' with 125 gr.up front.but if you are doing better with the 5575s you can now start playing with brace height and string nock placement.moveing the brace up or down just an 1/8th of an inch will do wonders on your accuracy sometimes,also shooting cock feather in gives you better fletch clearence off the shelf.keep at it,when it all come's together it is great.