Ghost arrow?! Idk anymore.

[Whattohunt]

So I have a hoyt buffalo 60#. I used to shoot 400 spine arrows , but they seemed to impact right with nock left. I then bought a dozen 340 spine easton fmj arrows. After playing around with them, I finally have my bare shafts impacting the target straight.(nock straight) (175gn point with 75gn insert) The problem is that the arrow always impacts left of where I am aiming (shooting a fixed crawl). What is causing this? Am I getting a false correct spine or something? Is there a point where an arrow that is too stiff flies straight? Help!

[McDave]

There are a number of form errors that can cause left misses.  If the left misses are consistent, it could be that your dominant eye is not centered over the arrow.  Or, that you are “pushing” the arrow to the left by not coming to full draw.  In other words, the arrow will tend to follow your string forearm; if it is at an angle to the arrow, the arrow will tend to fly in the direction your string arm is pointing.  Same with your shoulders: if they are pointed to the left when you are at full draw, your arrow will tend to fly to the left.

If your form is okay, you can move the POI to the right by using a softer strike plate, such as a Martin rug rest, instead of leather or Velcro.  

If you don’t think it is any of these, let us know and we will come up with some other possible reasons.

[Whattohunt]

Well I don't think I had this problem before. And I am looking straight down the arrow as far as I can tell. I don't understand how I'm getting what seems to be true flight with the arrow flying left.(impacting left) What's even more strange is that before my arrow seemed to be true, I was nock left and still impacting left. Is it possible that the arrow is way too stiff and causing a nock left or straight nock? The bow is 60#s @ 28" and I have about a 25" draw.

[Jakeemt]

If possible post a video of yourself shooting or just record yourself and watch in slow motion. Kinda hard to say over the net. Also are you a right or a left handed shooter? How long have you been shooting a stick bow. Ect Ect.

[Whattohunt]

I'll try to post a video later. I'm right handed and have been shooting about 2 years.

[YosemiteSam]

Other possibilities:

String slap if you're pulling too far or gripping so that the string hits your arm.  Had to mess with this myself lately.

Pull the arrow a little tighter to your face.  Maybe you're not as centered as you think.

Adjust the angle of the cant.  More cant = arrow impact right & down.

Plucking the release.  Shoot a light bow, say 25# and really work on getting a clean release.  Then pick up the 60# bow again & see if you still impact left.

Adjust your strike plate in toward the center.

Increase your brace height.

Clear yourself out of the equation first.  Once you've determined that you are not causing the left impacts somehow (say with 50-100 good shots and consistent results), then mess with the equipment.

[mahantango]

If your draw length is only 25", you're only getting about 51# so I would say 340s are pretty stiff even with that Buffalo.

[Whattohunt]

Originally posted by mahantango:
If your draw length is only 25", you're only getting about 51# so I would say 340s are pretty stiff even with that Buffalo.

Even shooting 250gn @ the end of the arrow? (75gn insert 175gn point)

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by mahantango:
If your draw length is only 25", you're only getting about 51# so I would say 340s are pretty stiff even with that Buffalo.

Run it through a calculator or spine chart & you'll see that 340s with a lot of up-front weight and full length are perfect around 50# with a lot of production bows.  A long shaft flexes more than you'd think.

[BMorv]

I struggle with not coming to full draw and every time I impact left it's exactly what McDave described, I'm pushing the arrow left even though I'm looking dead center.
There's a lot of diffenent things that can happen when you shoot a bare shaft and your form and/or release isn't good.  That's why most sources say not to focus on the nock positions but where the bare shafts impact vs fletched shafts.
 http://www.acsbows.com/bareshaftplaning.html

[Whattohunt]

All great info here. I just got half a dozen arrows fletched. Tomorrow I'm going to try again. Also, I shoot a fixed crawl. Is it normal to have the nock point slightly short of an inch high? That's what it takes to get my arrows straight.

[YosemiteSam]

Yes.  Maybe.  A straight arrow is a straight arrow.

If you're straight but impacting left on a fixed crawl at 25" with a nocking point an inch over center, you're stacking variables on top of each other that are all going to contribute to a stiff reading.  In other words, your bow is 60# but you're only pulling 25", and the arrow isn't even getting the full length of that since the nocking point is well above your hand.  Add to that any possible tuning glitches with the fixed crawl setup and you might be losing enough energy in all those variables to really throw things off.

Out of curiosity, how far back are you bareshafting?

[Whattohunt]

I've tried all distances the farther I go the more left. When using a full length bare shaft they impact right, nock left. When I start cutting the shaft to stiffen the arrow it creeps in where I'm aiming, but still nock left. I can keep cutting until the arrow impacts left with nock left or or cut more and make the arrow impact more left with a straight arrow. In other words, when the arrow is tuned, impact is left. Week spine is seen impacting left center and right (depending on length)

[Whattohunt]

Also, what spine would you guys reccomend

[YosemiteSam]

All the distances?  So out to 20-30 yards?  An arrow that hits center but leans nock left at 10-15 yards should, at 25 yards, start impacting right due to the shaft steering the point a bit.  If at 25 yards, it's still  hitting center but leaning left, I'd just fletch 'em up & blame it on a glitch in your form or some other random variable.

Instead of cutting, do you have different inserts & point weights you could play with to weaken it?

The 3-rivers calculator is pretty good -- especially once you know your "personal form factor."  Input your stuff there & you should get pretty darned close.  A little tuning with the point weight should take out whatever you're losing with the fixed crawl.

[kenneth butler]

Whattohunt, McDave has the form issues covered. I may have missed the cut length of your arrows and you didn't mention your arrow rest. I believe the Buffalo is cut well past center but the strike plate and arrow rest can negate that. I would bet with a 25" draw the arrows are too stiff. Hope you get it worked out.>>>----> Ken

[Whattohunt]

Okay so the only thing that I could find that would fix my problem of left impacts all the time is to Kant the bow. For some reason whenever I shoot the bow vertically I always impacted left. Does anyone have a likely cause for this phenomenon?