Confused..quick bareshaft question

[rybohunter]

When bareshafting carbons...you shoot 3 arrows fletched & 3 bare and compare impacts. Correct? Figure that the bareshafts show weak. Trim 1/4 - 1/2" from them....now how do you trim the fletched arrows (assuming cutting from the back)or don't you have to trim those until you've determined your actual arrow length? In which case wouldn't you still have to re-fletch them once they are cut?

Can I just shoot the bareshafts and go by if they hit left or right of where I am aiming? Then I don't even have to worry about fletched shafts.

[Stringdancer]

Shoot, and cut the bareshafts till they show slightly weak, and fletch, and go.

Mike

[McDave]

If you use a dab of hot-melt glue, or teflon tape to temporarily hold in the inserts, you can trim from the front.  The hot-melt glue will soften if you hold the tip of the arrow in boiling water.

Most carbon arrows allow the use of supplemental weights that attach to the inserts, which is nice as you can trim your arrow to your desired length and not change the length in tuning.

You don't need a whole bunch of arrows to tune with.  Maybe two fletched and one bare shaft is fine.  Just look at the orientation of the nock end of the bare shaft compared with the fletched arrows.

If your bare shaft is way out of tune, you will see it veer right or left, but if it is pretty close to being in tune, it is nice to have fletched arrows to compare it with.

[Shawn Leonard]

Sorry to disagree with McDave, but if ya go by nock orientation you need a target that is super consistent and most of us do not have one that is.  I agree to use hot-melt and just a touch with a flame will allow you to remove the inserts. To do point of impact ya have to shoot a group with each, fletched and bareshaft, if ya group left with the BS than ya are stiff(RH shooter)right ya are weak. As said above ya want to end up with a bareshaft that is a tad weak, so when fletched it will stiffen it a tad. Shawn

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by Shawn Leonard:
As said above ya want to end up with a bare shaft that is a tad weak, so when fletched it will stiffen it a tad. Shawn

How do you get there? start off with just the bareshaft... Do you go by flight or the way the nock faces out of the target? I just fletch some wood'n arrows and cut them down till they fly great.

With carbons do you do it the sameway, or You just start with the lenght you think is right/same as other arrows.. I might try carbons this year so I need more info. I have shot GT 3555 with 190 plus points... They flow great...

[Hardhed]

I'd be wary of cutting off a full 1/2' at a time, as frequently I've seen a less than 1/4' have an effect.  

As someone who's learned the hard way,- you can always trim off a little more, but you can't add it back.

[Doc Nock]

I'd recommend that you read OL Adcock's website and his "tuning" section, print it out and study it.

I agree w/ Shawn that homogenious target material is hard to come by. Everythign I 've shot into veers and steers on impact distorting the nock position when it comes to rest.

I took some old hard stick glue, heated my insert, smeared a tiny bit on it and smoothed it out...then sanded it a touch till it slid into the shaft and had good grip. I shoot into bag targets with plastic wrap guts. Arrows pull out with 2 fingers...

Shoot 3 bare, shoot 3 fletched. OL's guide tells you what to do..add point weight or cut shafts slowly.

BUT...WHATever you do to the bare shaft, due exactly the same to the fletched and shoot again. Keep adjusting till the bare hits slightly...very slightly low right of the fletched and then when you fletch, boom...yer on the money.

I shot arrows that "flew nice" for years till I bare shaft tested. All my shafts were weak!  :(  Explains why I had noticed occassional "kick" and such.

Enjoy. It's kinda fun when you get the directions printed on a chair besides you outside.

[Apex Predator]

I keep a pocket full of different weight field points when tuning.  I will drop down in point weight if my shafts are showing weak, and make absoulutely sure before cutting my carbons.  It's really hard to put length back on them!

[Doc Nock]

Good point, Apex (no pun intended)  

I've also shimmed out the side plate to "test" for weakness fix" using platic elect. tape... if that fixes the "weak" then I'll cut, knowinig dead sure.

I've gotten so confident with the bareshaft tuning process, following OL's site directions, that as long as I'm getting "groups" with both bare and fletched, I feel confident that the "cut" will solve the issue.

But dropping point weight or shimming side plate both help "fix" the weak thing to raise confidence for shortening.  

[akbowbender]

My "homogenious target material" is polystyrene from the building supply. A 2"x2'x8' sheet quartered and bound together and inserted into a base I made from scrap lumber works great for me. Should handle broadheads too.

[Roadkill]

At our archery shop we friction fit inserts by using a simple piece of plastic-like what everyhting comes wrapped in.  put it on the insert and shove on the floor really hard-it'll hold while you do your test and trimimming.  if it gets too hard to remove with pliers, heat the tip-it'll transfer enough heaat to the insert to melt the plastic and it'll slide out.this alone will speed up the process....

[Hoytman]

I am very familar with the bare shaft planning test and the dynamics of arrow spine from my years in archery using compound bows. But being a novice recurve shooter who is just starting to take this more seriously, my question is. Can I  do an accurate bare shaft test before becoming a good shot. As a reasonably good shooter with a new bow am I able  to determine what size arrows to shoot. Or should I forget the test til I am proficient with the new bow. I realize that proper arrows will make me a better shot more quickly.

[McDave]

Hoytman, I would go ahead and bare shaft tune, to the extent you can.  It will take some of the variables out of your learning process.  Your tuning may change with time, your draw length may increase, or other changes in your form or release may affect the arrow flight.  Or, you may decide you want a heavier or lighter arrow overall, and have to retune for that.

Shooting groups with bare shafts and fletched arrows, per the Ol Adcock plan, is a good method for an accomplished archer who can shoot groups.  However, you can tell a lot just by looking at the bare shaft flight yourself, or better, by having someone else look over your shoulder.  That is Ken Beck's method, and it has worked well for me.

You don't have to make up a whole bunch of arrows to start with, until you feel comfortable that things have stabilized.  It is such a good feeling to shoot reasonably well-tuned arrows, that I would never want to shoot anything less.

[Hoytman]

Thankyou, McDave. I do a lot of bowfishing instictive and have have managed to kill a few rabbits with an old recurve this winter. I was concerned with trying to tune a new bow before I got comfortable  with it. I will go ahead and test right away. I have a big selection of shaft sizes to choose from.

[akbowbender]

I forgot to mention that I used the paper tuning method as described at Elite Arrows to get close before bare shafting. With paper tuning you don't have to shoot groups and it seems to work fairly well. Because of the close ranges used in this method, I was able to do it easily in my garage.

 http://www.elitearrows.com/proper_arrow.html