feather position

[ozy clint]

gday. i think i'm having some clearance problems. i'm shooting a damon howatt recurve, 55# @ 28". at the moment i'm using alloys, with the cock feather (5") at 90 degrees to the riser. the only way i could get good nock high/low flight is with a nocking point 3/4" above square. that can't be normal surely? i can see that the bottom feather is contacting the shelf material. (it's wearing it away). do you think a cock feather position closer to 90 degrees to the shelf, feather up, might be better. what's the postion that is considered the norm? any suggestion would be greatly appreiciated. thanks

[Blackhawk]

By holding the bow vertical with arrow on the string, my feather position is in the 12, 4, and 8 0'clock position.  A nock position of 3/4" is not necessarily abnormal...especially if flight is good.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Yep, if that's working, that nock height is fairly standard.

Feather position is a personal preference, I think. I stick with the good old cock feather out, and I'm sure many here do. Lon mentioned another increasingly popular alternative which has excellent reasoning behind it. And some folks even shoot cock feather in, with no detrimental effects!

[Shawn Leonard]

I have to agree with above, all my bows are 3/4"s or a tad more. I started shooting cock feather up a couple years back and really like it. Shawn

[wtpops]

You can also give cock feather in a try. it works good for me, it rotates the bottom hen feather off the shelf and if your spined right there is very little cock feather contact if any with the riser

[WidowEater]

I tried shooting cock feather up as BW states but couldnt get the right clearance because of severe helical and went to cock feather out.  If you think your having problems currently try the method of trimming your fletching down to i/8 inch and seeing if your arrow that should be properly tuned already from bareshafting kicks around in the beginning of flight.

[longbawl]

If you are getting shelf wear its the quill not the feather. If your a right hand shooter an shooting RW turn the cock vane in. Or i should say 4:00. If your shooting LW cock out an put the inter lower vane at 4:00. Leave a gap between the shelf pad an strike plate. For the quill to pass through. Its what i do an it works for me Good luck