Bare Shaft Tuning

[David Holt]

Been making my owm arrows for fun for a while and haven't realy paid too much attention to spine and such.  Going to hunt trad for the first time this season and want to get consistant shot placement.  I just bought some new arrow PO arrow shafts and was going to try some bare shaft tuning.

Question 1: Do you have to tune every arrow if the whole bunch is the same spine or can I assume that once one arrow is tuned I can cut them all the same length?

Question 2:  I've got 125gn target points but will be hunting with 160gn grizzly's.  Do I need to tune the hunting points separetaly?

Thanks
Dave

[David Holt]

   

[Randal Blanchette]

I gather that you found other threads about this subject  

[David Holt]

nope.  hadn't looked yet but guessing I shoulda!!

[babs]

You want to shoot the same grain field point as your broadhead

[s_mcflurry]

I'd recommend cutting three shafts longer than you think they should be then tune.  Cut these down quarter inch or so at a time until they fly right.  Three should give you a good indication of tuning.  Once you find the right length, cut the rest to the same length.  You can safely assume that arrows that are setup the same will fly the same.  Variation in your form will greatly overshadow [minor] variations in arrow setup.

[Whump]

Whump Sez: I can tell you with the ut-most confidence that wood is  like archers---all different. I shot wood for 20+yrs or so and you will have to shoot every arrow that you install a head on and make sure it is shooting the same as the rest of your arrows. You can tune it by cutting one shaft a bit shorter in case it shoots weak .You can also sand a stiff shaft down in the middle to correct it. I have turned a wild flying shaft into a shooter just by shooting it cock feather in instead of out. This is a long rant but I want you to understand that you cannot tune one arrow and expect the rest of them to shoot the same unless you are very very lucky. ---this is not carbon or aluminum so it will have its individual qualities. That buck in my avatar was taken with a ramin wood shaft and out of 2dozen shafts I had about 8 that would not tune to the standard of a hunting shaft. So even if you get them to fly with a field point you can have a disappointing day when you install broadheads and they head to the target like bats. Be sure your hunting shafts are the straightest of the bunch and take great care installing the broadheads square and straightening the shafts if needed. I started shooting carbon last season due to joint problems because of the excess shooting involved  tuning  wood, but there is nothing like making wood shafting and taking game with it.If you intend to hunt with wood, get 6 or 8 arrows with broadheads flying to the mark and put those aside. You can tune the remaining shafts to fly the same as the hunting shafts with field points for practice.   Hunt safe

[RocketDog]

Personally, I would go to wood or aluminum.

[David Holt]

Thanks for the input guyz.  As much as I would like to switch to carbon arrows for consistancy it just doesn't seem right o shoot them out of a self bow IMHO.  Kinda like being baptised in a whore house.....what's the popint?  I have take the arrows, 3 at time, and stared to tune them.  I bought 40-45# shafts.  My draw length is only 26" so I figured I could stiffen them by cutting them down.  My bow shoots about 47-48# at my draw length so I started out by cutting them down to 28".  I helped my buddy install some well points for his sprinkler system all day the spent the rest of the evening trying to tune thae arrows.  needless to say, they are not tuned yet (prob due to poor form) and I hade to take a couple of days off cause I strained my right chest muscle.  Probably get back on it tomorrow.  thanks again!

[NJWoodsman]

Bareshaft tuning is the same whether they're wood, aluminum, or carbon. With wood you just have to make sure the shafts are straight and matched for weight and spine first. I make a matched set of 1/2 dozen, only fletch 3 of them, and leave them all an inch or so long. Shoot groups at 15 yards, shorten as required,or adjust side plate/plunger or brace height. In your case with a selfbow having arrows a little on the weak side is probably good, but a 160 gr broadhead may be too much.

[David Holt]

Got some 125gn broadheads and target points to try also.  We'll see which ones fly beter.  Just another reason to shoot my bow....OH DARN!!

[David Holt]

OK,

I got my 125gn ace BHs in so I'm gonna try and tune them.  As I stated before, my draw length is 26".  The shafts are 11/32 POC 40-45# spine.  I cut them down to 28" and installed nocks and fletching (sealed and straightened of course).  I have only glued on one BH.  I figured if you guyz help wth this one I can do the rest.  If I can't get this tuning thing down I'm not going to hunt with this bow cause I don't want to risk wounding something do to poor arrow tuning.  so here goes.

 
 

I aimed at the center dot from 15yds with no adjustment to distance.  40/50 shots landed around the lower left dot as pictured.  I think I have the nock hight ajusted where I want it but have read conflicting articles in the internet about where to go from here.